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The previous week I watched the weather on TV, are the fronts going up ? down
? to the right ? trying to workout if we were going to strike
it right for the Spring Heli Gathering. Well in the end we
got an awesome day for the Saturday, but the same cannot be
said for the Sunday.
By midday Saturday we had 25+ pilots and many others on the
field, I know there were more because we managed to get through
over 65 American Hotdogs (complete with Sautéed onions,
Mustard and Tomato sauce) Nobody had two did they ? <vbg>
Saturday was a roaring success, no wind overcast skies and
a minimum of 3 helis in the sky from dawn till dusk.
The highlight of the day was seeing Colin Peard's huge Lama
Heli make three or more cautious trips into the sky. This
thing is huge (by heli standards) with three 1m blades driven
by a turbine the beast looks and smells and sounds perfect
as it lifts off. Colin is perfectionist and when you get up
close to this thing you will see the detail he has gone to
is close to making a perfect replica of its Belgium Airforce
big brothers. For those who are interested please also note
its running on a 2.4Ghz radio system and you could probably
buy a small African nation for less money than what it its
worth.
Sunday was unfortunately a little bit of a let down as the
cold gusty winds and rain forced most pilots to call it a
day at midday. We have had many Heli Fun flies at Hamilton
and hope we can continue to have a couple a year as it certainly
is one of the best fields in North Island for Helis, not to
mention being so central. This weekend was good to meet so
many new faces from heli fliers from areas that have previously
not come to Hamilton events. We had pilots from Wellington,
Whakatane, Whanagnui, and North of Auckland there. Let it
be said that the interest in Heli's is definitely not on a
decrease.
A few minor mishaps with Helis over the weekend as expected.
The only notable crash during the Heli Funfly ironically was
a 70inch plane that suffered radio lockout and the recoverable
bits fitted into a small shoebox. We had planned a few fun
competitions like a drag racers for the small electric helis
(read : always lots of carnage) but Saturday went so fast
nobody noticed the comps didn't happen.
Thanks to my Hamilton club for letting us use the field for
a Heli weekend, and thanks to all those that made it a success
by helping to organise it. Please note we have our next big
Heli weekend 27/28 October when we have the Rotorua Club Field.
By Neil Harker
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