[TheTank]

This past weekend some of the Giant’s crew traveled to Milford, PA, to attend yet another aerobatic function in 2006, IMAC’s Northeast Region “Summer Sizzle” contest. The title of the event definitely fit the bill this year as temps were in the 90s with close to 100% humidity. Not afraid to sweat off a few of those unwanted pounds in the sweltering heat, a few dozen pilots from around the Northeast came together to throw down with some serious straight-huckin action.

A majority of pilots chose to arrive on Friday in order to check out the facilities, dial-in their airplanes, and even ATTEMPT to perform such dreaded maneuvers as the 0 of 8…. inverted!!! Of course, not all was fun and games; there was serious practice to be done with event starting the following day, so the majority of Friday evening had the sky filled with aerobats cranking out the various known sequences. This extra time also gives everyone the ability to catch up with flying buddies that they havent seen a while and to kick back and relax before the contest!

Saturday brought some early morning fog that quickly cleared to beautiful blue skies, perfect for drawing lines! After a quick pilots meeting, the flying began! It’s at this point, that an IMAC event really differentiates itself from other competitions. Although this is a competitive function, and everyone wants to win, you could never tell! In the Northeast Region, although winning is important for us competitive types, helping others is also the name of the game. Need a caller? No problem-ask anyone. Need a part, glue, wheel, airplane-no problem, someone is there to help. I ran into some mechanical problems on Sunday that grounded me in the last round of knowns, yet I was quickly offered the sticks of a brand new Carden Yak to fly my last sequence with, how's that for a great group? Newcomers are eagerly welcomed and shown the ropes, and are encouraged to ask any/all questions that arise, because someone will be more than happy to help. The rest of Saturday went off without a hitch and all classes were able to get 3 rounds of “Knowns” in before calling it a day for the contest and opening up the field to some free flying and some practicing. The day concluded with the unknowns being passed out (after your airplane was put away of course) so that pilots could prepare them for the following morning.

We rolled into Sunday morning with temperature gauge just about pegged off the scale. I don’t think I have ever sweated that much assembling an airplane at 7am. Although the temp was kicked up a notch from the day before, pilots were in good spirits and doing their ritual Sunday morning stick-plane dances. We gained a little reprieve from the heat when the sun ducked behind some clouds but still left us with a great sky for flying. All classes except Basic flew an unknown round, with Basic flying another flight of Knowns. After the unknowns, another round of Knowns were flown by all classes as well as freestyle (by a brave few) before calling it a contest and handing out the awards.

Many thanks to Albert Santiago for putting on a great event as the CD and a special thanks to the Milford Flying Hawks Club. There were gracious enough to lend their field to us and we are grateful to them for it. There field is set amongst the backdrop of the Pocono Mountains and offers up not only a great flying site, but also some beautiful scenery. If you have never taken them time to go and check out an IMAC contest, I strongly encourage you to do so. You will not find a better, more helpful group of pilots anywhere else. Better yet, bring a plane along and give it a try! I promise that after you get a taste of the fun, the great people, and the challenge of precision aerobatics, you will be hooked!

--Tank--