RC Helicopters
Larry Jolly
If you missed the 1980 Nationals, you missed the best helicopter contest of the year. In the past it amazed me that so few helicopter fliers were willing to travel for a contest. Perhaps the higher number of entries at this Nationals indicates a healthy change for the better.
Event and venue
This year the contest was held at Wright Field, approximately a half mile from the U.S. Air Force Museum. The site was on grass with plenty of room—ideal in anyone's book. The meet was professionally run by veteran contest director Dwayne Stephens and his able crew of helpers and judges. I would like to thank Dwayne on behalf of all the fliers; he did a great job.
Entries and equipment
We had 23 entries: 18 in Precision and five in Scale. There was a great variety of equipment flown—definitely not a one-design contest.
I was impressed with Faye Peoples' scratch-built entry. The machine-work was immaculate, and it flew as well as it looked. Faye even towed a banner around the sky after the contest.
Another standout was Hubert Bitner's original design, Horizon. The Horizon is a rigid-rotor, flybarless machine with a unique futuristic appearance. If Star Wars included helicopters, I'm sure they would resemble the Horizon. After the contest I was permitted to fly Hubert's ship; it has a very powerful feel. The Horizon is the best flybarless helicopter I have ever flown.
Not entered in the contest, but much in attendance, were Crickets by Gorham Model Products. I counted nine Crickets on the field during after-contest fun flying, and all were flying very well.
Precision results
- Novice (Senior age division)
- Chris Patton
- Open Novice
- Gary Saia
- Scott Slayman and Rick Chin were close contenders; Scott and Rick were busy dueling it out while Gary slipped past.
- Intermediate
- Doug Law
- Bill Cheng
- Bruce Buchanan
- Expert
- Mike Mas (defending champion; won his second consecutive national championship)
- Hubert Bitner
- Larry Jolly
- John Clark
Observation and recommendation
I closely watched the top Expert contenders and was surprised to see two distinct flying styles. Some pilots performed smooth, well-placed, and properly executed maneuvers. Others rushed their flying—some borderline sloppy, others almost dangerous. The three minutes allocated for Expert freestyle maneuvers is unrealistic and encourages rough flying.
I suggest the Helicopter Advisory Committee consider creating a Master class. Pilots could fly a set schedule similar to RC Pattern; FAI helicopter rules might be used. Two benefits would likely follow:
- Intermediate pilots would be encouraged to move up to Expert.
- Present Expert fliers would calm down and compete more safely.
Scale results
Kavan Jet Ranger still rules supreme.
- Bill Cheng — two-tone yellow-and-white Ranger
- Dave Davidson
- Bruce Buchanan (Toledo winner)
Conclusion
I had a lot of good flying and met a lot of good people. I really enjoyed myself; I saw many old friends and made many new ones. Helicopters are here to stay. We have a few growing pains yet to be resolved, but in general things look great for the future. Machines are definitely getting better and pilots are fine-tuning their skills. With a good set of rules and a judging guide, if you can spare the time and enjoy yourself, let's get together next year—the Nats should have a bigger, better contest in 1981.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
