Love thy straight hucker..

[Boulder]

Article written by: Mike Darr


1st Annual East River Precision Aerobatics Contest Report

NSRCA District 4 has completed yet another successful contest. Mike and Cindy Darr held the contest at a friend’s farm in East China, Michigan, about thirty minutes northeast of Detroit. We had 16 pilots this year with seven flying Advanced, three in Masters, three in FAI, two in Intermediate, and one flying well in Sportsman. Weather was a bit of a challenge with temperature in the upper nineties and very high humidity both days, but plenty of cold drinks helped keep us cool. Cloud cover was minimal with light and variable winds coming mostly out of the Northwest. The heat and Humidity was a little uncomfortable at times, but we all made it through the weekend in pretty good shape.

A little over 2 hours of practice time was available each morning and many of the pilots took advantage of it.

We had three electric planes at this contest. Verne Koester flew his new PL Partner, Steve Maxwell flew his Panacea from PAC, and Andrew Jesky flew his Piedmont Models Brio. All three were powered by Hacker motors and Thunder Power batteries. Verne is getting his Partner dialed in more and more after each flight. He must be getting close because he won all six rounds.

On Saturday night Mike and Cindy hosted a barbecue at their home for all of the pilots and their families. There was plenty of food for all in attendance and I don’t think anyone left hungry. We flew foamies, Andrew tore up the sky with his electric T-Rex, and there was also one glow-powered helicopter enjoying the cooler evening weather.

Sunday morning we decided to run one flight line instead of two because we had some pilots that were unable to return for rounds five and six. The decision to run one flight line made judging a little easier, and gave some of the pilots a little more comfort by only having one plane in the air during these rounds.

We raffled off two airplane kits, and three $20.00 gift certificates, that were donated by Prop Shop Hobbies in Warren Michigan. www.prop-shop.com

Ken Alexander’s daughter won the Brio 10 and two of the $20.00 gift certificates, and Dennis Bodary’s girlfriend won the Fun Fly EP and a $20.00 gift certificate. After the winners of the raffle were announced we had the awards ceremony, before everyone departed for their drives home.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank everybody that came to the contest and the barbecue, making both events safe and successful for all.

Mike and Cindy Darr

Sportsman..........
1. Doug Novelly
4000.00
Intermediate.........
1. Ron Hanson
4000.00
2. Ken Thompson
3857.66
Advanced..........
1. Dennis Bodary
4000.00
2. Mike Darr
3936.14
3. Anthony Abdullah
3730.02
4. Ken Alexander
3705.73
5. Charlie Williams
3699.95
6. Matt Finley
3616.73
7. Thomas Weedon
3417.77
Masters..........
1. Verne Koester
4000.00
2. Bob Kane
3765.05
3. Brad Slaughter
2727.93
FAI..........
1. Andrew Jesky
4000.00
2. Ray Morton
3828.01
3. SteveMaxwell
3309.11

[madmax]

Thanks for the article Mike and Kenny!!!!

[50%plane]

Great article!

[Temptation]

Thanks guys,

It was a fun contest. This contest could never have happened without the help of many people, mostly my wife. This was a weekend that a group of friends were able to get together and do what we love to do most, and that is hang out and fly toy airplanes. This makes the 4th year in a row that my wife and I have held a pattern contest. 3 out of 4 of the years we have been pounded by rain as soon as we finished up on Sunday. I'm not sure what this means, but I can not believe how lucky we have been each time. No kidding...as soon as I dropped the trailer hitch on the ball of the truck, the sky let loose with forces of rain that words can not describe. The other two times that this has happened the forces were equal to this time. I am just happy that all of our quests were able to get packed up and on the road before all hell broke loose. How lucky is that? We may just have to incorporate the word rain into the name of the contest some how in the future. We look forward to holding this event for many years to come.

My wife and I always have a bar-b-que for all of the pilots at our house on Saturday night. It is a lot of fun. Lot's of foamy flying, helicopter flying, and definitley a lot of bench flying. It is nice for those that traveled to the event. They are in a town that they are not familiar with, and have nothing to do.

This weekend will be the first NSRCA D4 contest since mine. It will be in Quincy Ohio at the Quincy airport. I can not wait to get there. I always enjoy the first contest after mine. It is nice to watch another CD running around like a chicken with it's head cut off, while I sit back and relax. When you hold a contest, it really makes you appreciate what is going on at all the other contests that you attend that much more. There is a lot of stuff that is needed to run any contest, and I really believe that some people just don't understand how much work it really is, but it is so worth it when it is all over. I really take pleasure in handing out the awards that the guys have earned over the weekend.

Thank you,

Mike Darr

[tree2tree]

Mike,
Glad the event went well and sorry I could not be there. (You understand I'm sure!) I think I could have taken 2nd place in Sportsman! I would not have had to use my Avistar this time.

Well perhaps next year.