The event is being held at the Arvada Associated Modelers, west of Denver. Same as the last few years. It features an 800 foot runway with 100 foot runoff on all three sides.
It was real windy today, gusting from 10 to over 30mph, so there wasn't much flying going on.
Here are a few of the better pictures that I took today.

More tomorrow.

Twas great flying weather today. Lots of good flying today.

This event turned out to be terrific, 83 pilots this year and lots of terrific flying.

Pilots came from all over the country. Canada, Florida, Texas, New Mexico, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, Montana, Utah, Nevada, Washington, California, and Arizona - I'm sure I missed a few- sorry.. It sure was a good turnout.
I took lots of pictures and had a hard time reducing them to 103 of the better pictures..

This is one of the few events I need to check off my bucket list.

I attended Saturday, and did see some pretty cool stuff, but a lot of it didn't make it into the air on Saturday--the big P38 and big P47, to name the ones I really wanted to see lol.


It was my first time attending, and as a pilot, I can understand not wanting the masses milling about the planes, but I have to say I was quite disappointed in the restricted access to even photograph the planes that weren't flying.


If I could make a recommendation, it would be nice to have a couple times a day for a "pit walk", so you could get closer and take some pics and visit with the pilots/builders. I've been to both FIM MotoGP and World SBK motorcycle events, and they don't allow unlimited access either, but do have a time where you can get some close ups. Cool event anyway--nice facility and some good flying.

They were very strict this year for some reason. There were only a handful of us sitting in the spectator section on Friday. I roamed the pitts for 10 minutes before they threw me out. Need to take a play book from Joe Nall and let the crowd roam all around.

Originally Posted by jbarnes

They were very strict this year for some reason. There were only a handful of us sitting in the spectator section on Friday. I roamed the pitts for 10 minutes before they threw me out. Need to take a play book from Joe Nall and let the crowd roam all around.

Yea there's 2 sides to that and I see both sides. If you're going to keep the pits closed I've been to several events where they do a show and tell and open everything for an hour after lunch or something. That way pilots can prep planes without being distracted but the public feels like part of the action.

Even though some of the flyers left late Sat night, there were still plenty of flyers there Sunday and lots of good flying.
An interesting note: There were several junior flyers flying during the event. One was 8 years old and he flew very well. There were 2 - boys 11 years old also putting on a fine performance.

All of my pictures have been reduced to (1024x 768 -200kb) to facilitate uploading them. If you want a full-size image (~ 6mb x 4mb -11mb) of one of my pictures send me an email or PM with the number of the picture.. (ie IMGP4822.jpg)

Originally Posted by jbarnes

They were very strict this year for some reason. There were only a handful of us sitting in the spectator section on Friday. I roamed the pitts for 10 minutes before they threw me out. Need to take a play book from Joe Nall and let the crowd roam all around.

I agree--Joe Nall at least lets you get close to the planes. I know I wouldn't want every curious kid or clumsy adult that might stumble into my multi-thousand dollar plane around all day, but some access would be nice.

Originally Posted by BarracudaHockey

Yea there's 2 sides to that and I see both sides. If you're going to keep the pits closed I've been to several events where they do a show and tell and open everything for an hour after lunch or something. That way pilots can prep planes without being distracted but the public feels like part of the action.

That's exactly what I was talking about in my post above. I know myself and 2 other pilots I attended with aren't interested in going back, based on the limited access to see anything...

I'm sorry to hear that. Half the fun of going to events is sharing the fun, tips, techniques or whatever with others.

I attend a scale heli event each year and one year we had 6 or 7 national champions, you could approach any one and get a masters course in finishing, building, radio/gyro setup, multi-blade head, whatever there was someone there that had mastered it.

We need more events with that attitude in all disciplines if we are going to grow and really even survive.

Would have liked to get a LOT closer look at this cool Skycrane and big P38. The picture down pit lane over the fence was as close as you could get...

Originally Posted by wyo69cowboy

I agree--Joe Nall at least lets you get close to the planes. I know I wouldn't want every curious kid or clumsy adult that might stumble into my multi-thousand dollar plane around all day, but some access would be nice.




That's exactly what I was talking about in my post above. I know myself and 2 other pilots I attended with aren't interested in going back, based on the limited access to see anything...

My wife actually got tossed out for not having a wristband on! I think there is a handful of attending pilots who don't like spectators around their airplanes? I agree the pits should be open for people to come and look at the scale details most of these planes have to share.

I love this event. the planes are always spectacular and the pilot comradery makes it live. Very nice touches like the announcer and the Friday full scale flyovers, tents, food trucks, crash retrieval vehicles (and BOY are they used), flight line marshals, etc, etc and this place is like a flash of man-toy glory that I hope keeps going.
mike's pics are great as always, but the naked eye gets so much more. and, as usual, a few planes meet their doom here (a little NASCAR attraction).
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I didn't realize the pits were so restricted this year (I was a pilot) but, no doubt, they will continue to listen to all and chose the best option for everyone. last year (or 1 yr previously?) it costed $10/day for a pit pass - I wonder if they had problems with 'non-payers' in the pits? or?
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Originally Posted by pretendpilot

food trucks (mmmm, piggy fries from that truck)crash retrieval vehicles (and BOY are they used), (sad that nice P33 went in--heard radio issues?)flight line marshals, etc, etc and this place is like a flash of man-toy glory that I hope keeps going.
mike's pics are great as always, but the naked eye gets so much more. and, as usual, a few planes meet their doom here (a little NASCAR attraction).
.
I didn't realize the pits were so restricted this year (I was a pilot) but, no doubt, they will continue to listen to all and chose the best option for everyone. last year (or 1 yr previously?) it costed $10/day for a pit pass - I wonder if they had problems with 'non-payers' in the pits? or?
.

I went to their FB page today out of curiosity, and found a reply that mentioned pit passes. I saw/heard nothing about pit passes while at the event