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Align Trex 600 Nitro Dominates the skies.
Rotorua 3D Helicopter Comp and Fun Fly - 27/28th October 2007
Written by Jason Greenwood
Friday
The day dawned bright in Auckland on Friday the 26th of October.
I was truly excited as I had taken the day off from the office
so I could drive down early to this event. I had 2 friends
meeting me there, 1 from Christchurch and 1 from Levin and
we all got to the Top 10 at around 3:00. Then it was off to
the field for some test flights, despite the gusty winds that
were blowing.
I promptly crashed one of my Trex 600 Nitro's on my first
flight - not a good start to my weekend. My Fuel Magnet had
disintegrated in the tank causing the engine to go lean and
die when I flipped it inverted for the first time. Oh well,
these things happen and the damage was minor so I wasn't going
to let it get me down. After all, that is why one brings at
least 3 Helicopters to these events like I did!
There were a few pilots already at the field when we arrived
and we soon found out that they had come all the way from
Tahiti for the event - talk about dedication! The Tahitians
proved to be some of the friendliest, most obliging and polite
pilots that you could ever meet, to say nothing of their skill.
Most of them flew very well indeed and also improved a lot
throughout the duration of the weekend. Nothing like a little
international flavour to spice up an event such as this one.
We all had a number of test flights but the wind was biting
and pretty cold so we called it a day by about 6:30 or so.
Saturday
Saturday was to be the day of the 3D Competition. It was comprised
of 3 grades and 3 rounds within each grade. The grades were
Clubman (beginner), Sportsman (intermediate) and Masters (advanced).
There was a good number of entrants in all classes except
Masters which only had 3 entrants, signifying everyone's appreciation
of the skills required to compete at that level. I was entered
in Sportsman and must say I was impressed with the level of
flying on display. My friend Glenn Evans managed to take 1st
in Sportsman handily and I was proud to have called his flights
for him. He flew very well, exhibiting a smoothness that was
amazing. I took out 3rd in the class with one of the Tahitians
taking out 2nd.
In the Masters I had already called for the dog fight that
ensued between Jonny Platt from my current Club in Auckland
(NHMC) and Robin Sallabanks who I used to fly with in Christchurch.
I knew that unless something strange happened it would come
down to these 2 young hot shot pilots, both of which I have
flown with before. It was a battle between Jonny's no holds
barred hard smack 3D, complete with reversing Chaos's (which
is a first in NZ as far as I know) and Robins cool as ice,
super smooth and ultra low 3D. The fight was on and both pilots
made some critical errors during their set maneuvers that
cost them some points. Once the smoke cleared, Jonny had won,
despite a tail failure induced crash in his final round. He
had already amassed enough points to edge Robin for the class
win. My heart was certainly pumping each time these guys flew
and they are a testament to how far 3D has come in the last
2 years in this country.
A special mention must go the Tahitian pilot who took out
3rd in the masters, his piro maneuvers were sensational, risky
and heart stopping. Initially quite a rough pilot, he had
smoothed out quite a bit by the final flight and everyone
was commenting on his skill and daring.
The Sportsman class is designed for budding 3D pilots and
we were not disappointed. There was some great flying all
around and the pilots displayed some skills that will make
them a force to be reckoned with in the coming years. The
Masters better watch their back, I know the Sportsman pilots
were taking notes and watching closely so they may be breathing
down your neck sooner than you think!
The wind was gusty as heck on Saturday and all of the pilots
handled the wind as well as could be expected I thought. I
must also compliment the organisers on the safety aspects
of this event with scrutineering happening Saturday morning
with no one flying until their bird was deemed safe by the
safety crew. I am confident that the safety team saved some
pilots a crash or 2, based on some of the things they caught
during inspections.
The final competition results were as follows (I apologise
for any mis-spellings or omissions as I had to scrounge for
this info as it was):
3DNZ Masters
1. Jonathon Platt
2. Robin Sallabanks
3. Mike T (From Tahiti)
3D Sportsman
1. Glenn Evans
2. Alfred (From Tahiti)
3. Jason Greenwood
Clubman
1. Aaron
2. Robert (From Sth Island)
3. Teva (From Tahiti)
Sunday
Sunday was the day for people to relax, fly and have some
fun! In a twist of fate it was the least windy of the 3 days.
The sun was shining and it was a great day to fly. Unfortunately,
late nights, early mornings and a few nightcaps the night
before meant I was feeling decidedly average and only flew
a few tanks before my brain turned to mush and I had had enough.
I walked around the pits and talked shop with some of the
guys and continued to see flying at a very high level from
some pilots - they apparently got more sleep than I did!
A nice BBQ was put on with the proverbial Burgers and Sausages
available at fair prices. In fact there was a BBQ on both
Saturday and Sunday to quell the pilots hunger.
Final Thoughts
I was absolutely blown away by how many Trex 600 Nitro's were
in the event and at the field. Align certainly seems to be
taking over the world with approximately 2/3 of the helis
at Rotorua being 600 Nitro's. It makes sense, it is a great
flying, hardcore 3D helicopter that is exceptionally cheap
to buy, own and crash. In fact I have 2 of them myself and
think they are a great 'bang for the buck' machine. Raptors
and other models are still represented but not nearly in the
numbers they used to be. It's no surprise then that the 3
pilots in the Masters Class were flying Trex 600 Nitro Pro's
and the event was won with one.
Oddly there seemed to be quite a large number of crashes
throughout the weekend which I am not used to seeing. I personally
saw 5 birds go in and think it was more like 10 overall for
the weekend. That is a high carnage count but everyone seemed
good natured about it and accepting of it as part of the hobby.
Some suppliers were on hand to get people back in the air
in a hurry, which certainly makes things easier. Vote for
best crash has to go to Neil Parkinson's Raptor 90SE, which
went down in dense scrub on Friday and was not located until
Sunday afternoon by Neil Harker. This was after several people
had braved the Gorse and bush to look for it over the 3 days
to no avail. Most of the weekends crashes happened during
warm up, practice and during the fun-fly. Surprisingly, very
few birds went down during the actual competition.
This is the 2nd time I have come to Rotorua and this event
never disappoints. The weather always seems to come right
for the event and fun is definitely had by all. The flying
field has to be one of the best in the country, with a lush
dark green mountain backdrop that makes visibility very good
indeed. The last time I was there was the event that Alan
Szabo Jr. and Jason Krause showed up for and although this
time there were no big name international pilots present,
the event is still one of my favourites and I will definitely
come back next year!
A special thanks goes to the organisers for all of their
hard work - these types of events don't just happen by themselves.
Thanks also go to the judges for scoring the flying. It's
hard to be a judge and they all did their best to score things
fairly. In no particular order, I'd like to thank: Neil Harker,
Wayne Ratclife, Graeme Sonntag, Glenn Evans, Grant Pemberton
and Neil Parkinson as well as Principal Sponsor "Hobby
Hangar" (Kevin Foote) of Hamilton (thanks for the prizes
and trophy's) and sponsor "RC Heli" (Chopper Mike
of Auckland).
Until next time, stay safe and fly hard....
Cheers
Jason Greenwood
I can be contacted about this article at jason@flashcards.co.nz
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