Vegas Huckfest Verdict: Windy, FUN!

[madmax]

The FlyingGiants Staff and Crew have finally made it back home from the loooooong weekend. The 2007 Las Vegas FG/DA Huckfest was indeed a BLAST! Las Vegas weather can be a bit unpredictable - take your pick between blazing' hot, windy, or perfect. The wind on Friday was over the top, and and I'm happy to report, we received a reprieve on Saturday, and the fun was over the top.

Upon arriving on Friday, we picked up our friend Snapasaurus, Heydick, Toro, and our big 'ol motor coach. Friday morning was excellent flying, and there were about 30 pilots registered who all had planes in the air through the mid afternoon. Andrew Jesky, Jason Krause and Kyna, Jeff & Matt Szueber, and Alan Szabo, and the rest of our friends in attendance made the most of the sky and absolutely tore it up! Andy is a SICK heli pilot as well as a plank master, and spent alot of time with the shank boys. JK and Szabo have this new maneuver which was passed on from Matt Botos - it's called Crackin'. We'll have video up soon and show you what this is, but it basically involves trying to rip the gimbal out of your radio. The winds started howlin' around 3pm and all but stopped around dusk. Foamys were all over the place into the evening.

More planes came out as our friends continued rolling in with campers. Later that evening, we all packed up and headed to Sam's town for some much needed beverages.

Saturday was always presented as our "big day" and the morning kicked off with a pilots meeting & colors. The Boy Scouts were in attendance to help with the day's activities which started off with a balloon chase. We released about 6 balloons in the air, which were hunted down by 4 big gassers and a heli. Trust me folks, they are a biznatch to hit. No midairs luckily, and Dave "Plane Bender" Sullivan won the round! Following through the lunch hour, Monica and Elie feverishly continued to sell raffle tix, register pilots, and hand out goodie bags while the BSA took photos and helped with traffic, balloons and more. Before we knew it, the noontime demos were upon us, and we made the decision to run 'em at 11am to avoid gusty conditions.

Demos were AWESOME! Mike Stroup, Matt Szueber, Eric Powell, Andy Jesky, Jason Krause, Alan Szabo, and Reza Gholampour put on a GREAT show for the now large crowed of spectators and pilots in attendance.

After the demos, we had open flying. We had water balloon pops setup for a few courageous pilots, and even a heli, and other activities to keep the momentum going of the day. Mad props to Kim3D for almost busting that balloon! At around 3pm we had an awards ceremony where we gave pilots some pretty cool acrylic "stars" with the FG logo, and our pre-determined award names:

Big Huckin': Matt Szueber for the inverted wing scrape during the noontime demo
Best of Show: Andrew Jesky for the killer airbrush job on his TREX Canopy
Hell of a dude: Sam Gaglio for is efforts in organizing and CD'ing the event
Dirt Nap: Joey "dontmesswithgus" Cass -- glad you got the plane back in 1 piece!
Long Distance: Elie from Massachusetts

After a few more hours, we did the pilots raffle. Now get this, due to the generous donations of our sponsors, we ended up with close to $8-10k worth of prizes! I want to take this time to thank all of our sponsors, a few members cleaned up! Hi light prizes included a 40% Dalton 260 kit, DX-7 Spektrum, 6-EX Futaba 2.4, a WHOLE BOAT LOAD of Performance Aircraft planes including a giant scale ARF & ARC, Fromeco gift certificates and more. THANK YOU SPONSORS! This was absolutely KILLER!

Flying Giants
Desert Aircraft (on site)
Dalton Aviation
Performance Aircraft (on site)
Spektrum
Horizon Hobby
Fliton (on site)
Great Planes/Hobbico
Extreme Flight
Fromeco
Futaba
Smart-Fly
DW foamies
Las Vegas Radio Control Club (LVRC)

As the afternoon came to a close, FlyingGiants sponsored dinner and cold refreshments for all of the pilots in attendance in form of pizza galore! This is where the fun continued throughout the evening. The events kicked off with Dave Johnson's (DA) much anticipated top secret contest dubbed "Das Paperhuckin". All pilots were handed a piece of paper and had 10 minutes to make a plane. Standing on the grass, about 50 people chucked their paper airplanes and went for distance, and one lucky member won a Desert Aircraft DA-85!! This was soo much fun I don't even know where to begin! Thanks Dave!!

The night time activities were sponsored by Mike from DW Foamies in San Diego. Mike put together a killer obstacle course which included pylons with a limbo in between. About 10-15 pilots flew their foam around and around, crashed a bit, while their callers kept score. The second round of the event brought out Mike's EVIL concept. Mike created essentially what looked like a cotton gin, or a combine. Borne from PVC pipe and a cordless drill, the gauntlet chewed up foam as the pilots flew through it. I've never seen anything this cool!!! Matt Szueber and Dave Fox took home the goods, and the "Foam Master" award. There was a TON of energy during the competition as the UNLV stadium was lit up for a football game and the lights took over the entire field. We socialized late into the evening, breathed a HUGE sigh of relief. Saturday was a COMPLETE success, and fully redeemed our brush with foul weather.

With Saturday wrapped up, the Vegas Huckfest came to a close. On Sunday, folks flew a bit, and started packing up and hitting the road. Memorable experiences from the weekend:

- 40% Ultimate crashing 1 mile into the swamp, found by a Sherriff chopper and a GPS unit
- Knee through the turtle deck incident
- Balloon popping
- Performance Aircraft Unlimited crew!
- Elie flying at the TOC field
- Foamy Gauntlet
- Eric Powell / Dave Fox balloon fight
- Mad flying from our special guests Jesky, Szabo, Szueber, SEG, Krause and more
- Seeing all of our friends in the SouthWest
- night time activities
- Shanks, Planks, good times, and friends!

With that, the 2007 Las Vegas Huckfest is a wrap. I want to take this time to thank the LVRCC, and all of our friends who traveled long distances to make our event, AND TO ALL THE PEOPLE WHO MADE THE HUCKFEST POSSIBLE!! The weather was not favorable and the weatherman turned away about 40 additional pilots, we turned lemons into lemonade, did our best to make sure everyone was entertained, and kept the action going. Special thanks as well to my lovely wife Monica for working the registration, and goodies, and to all of our supporters for making this event a complete success!!

We'll be back next year for sure! Next stop on the Huckfest Circuit - HOTLANTA!!

CHECK OUT THE FULL LVHF PHOTO FLOOD IN OUR GALLERIES LOCATED HERE!

[SuperDave]

Sounds like a great time Max. One to definately remember.

[Cracky]

I was upset the whole weekend because I wasn't there.........Sounds like ya'll had tons of fun.......there's always next year right????

[Animal Jesky]

Guys and girls,

I need to thank Max, Monica, Elie, Brett, Sam, Eric and Tom Powell, and all the other people that helped put on this show. I know Heather and Myself had a great time. Sure was nice to come out to Vegas and just hang out with some of the coolest friends around. I flew a ton of shanks this weekend and a bunch of planks as well. I also need to thank Leseberg for letting me use his truck, trailer and 120 inch yak. Even thought I had to fix all his problems with it (Just kidding) I had a wonderful time and I know that when and if this even happens next year I will be there for sure!!!!

Andrew

[Troy P]

Cool stuff. It sounded like a good time and will try to make one in the future. I was there in spirit, though. How'd you like my 'Girls Gone Wild' BAF Yak scheme!!?? Mike did a great job putting the paint to foam.

[whiteknuckleairlines]

Next stop on the Huckfest Circuit - HOTLANTA!!


DAAAAAAMN RIGHT!

[suraerobatics]

sounds like you made best of the hot wind. Great job as always huck on my friends!

[dontmesswithgus]

Up Date on Maxes MDS540. The plane is repaired and ready for covering. AD 100 is going in its nose. We will have it in the air within two weeks. Max you can fly it but you can not touch or try to carry it. We will get it in the air then let you fly. We will try for pictures later.

Larry

[sweetpea]

Hows they Ulti?

[50%plane]

Sounds like it was flatout awesome! How about some video???


50%

[sweetpea]

http://www.flyinggiants.com/gallery/...=32664&cat=717

[snap a saurus]

Regardless of the weather, I know for sure that everyone that made the Hukcfest had a RICKLAMESBEOTCH time, I can even say that I flew at the TOC field, thanks to Mithrandir for letting me fly his Super Xtra, thanks Mike.
I won 4 or 5 prizes from the raffle, thanks to all who donated stuff.
Whoever didn't come missed a good one, don't miss next year's event, I will not.
Flying Giants and Desert Aircraft Huckfest = BADASS.