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TBM & Magic Hand congratulate TBM sponsored pilot Terry Hahn for winning the Night Flying Contest at the XFC. Terry pushed the new Magic Hand Sukhoi 26 to the max! The plane survived all abuse thrown at it including fireworks! This just proves Magic Hand planes are competition winning models!!
Want your own 107" Sukhoi 26? Check it out! |
Event Overview
This was an awesome event. While a contest, it was really a show and a lot of fun for spectators and pilots alike. The pilots who weren’t flying were intently watching the action to cheer on their competitors and maybe pick up a new maneuver or two. It was all about having fun and a little about competing. The weather was a little rainy on Friday, but Saturday and Sunday were stellar.
The rules were such that torque rolling was not encouraged, but when someone did torque roll, it was low and well done and it always brought a roar from the crowd. The flying was a mixture of precision flying and 3D. As you watch the videos, you will see the airplane pilots fly a lot of straight line point rolls, rolling circles and such, not just down on the deck wild action. With the heli’s, most of the action was concentrated down on the deck with non-stop extremely perilous maneuvers which were very unnerving. Heli’s are much better suited for 3D, because their quick actions went well with the high energy music.
For both the airplane and heli pilots, you could tell immediately that these were the best of the best. Pilots came from all over the world were in attendance. Korea, Germany, Israel, and Mexico to name a few were represented. Pilots from within the US came from extreme distances as well. In addition, the sound system was really great and so were the announcers.
Futaba was the main sponsor of the event, though there were plenty of sponsors who took part. Without the support of the sponsors, the event could not have taken place. The cost to the spectators was minimal, while the expense of the show was tremendous. There was even a fireworks display on Saturday night paid for by sponsors. This was no slouch of a fireworks display! It was way better than I ever imagined.
There were actually 2 fireworks displays on Saturday night. During the night flying competition, GTO (Go Team Orange) headed up by pilot Terry Hahn and his companion pyromaniac/mad scientist Darrin Cash were the hit of the weekend. There were lots of GTO T-shirts at the event, outnumbered only by Futaba shirts!
The GTO team spent $1200 on fireworks which was shot up from the ground with the possible intent of shooting down the night competition plane that Terry Hahn was flying. Terry hovered and circled in the midst of the fireworks with nerves of steel! Even funnier, was the fact that Terry had hit a pole on takeoff in the dark, and knocked off most of his right stab and elevator. Did that matter? Hell no! In addition, Terry flew a little too low on his daytime flight with another plane, and did some damage to the engine and other parts. GTO worked for hours pulling repairing the GTO plane using parts from their night-flight plane, and had it ready for the afternoon flight. Then, team GTO pulled the parts from the day-flight plane, and put them back in the night-flight plane. Then they repeated the process again as they readied for the next day of competition with the day-flight plane. Of course they won the night competition, and everyone had a good laugh at all the antics. Terry and Darrin are home on a short break from Afghanistan and we are all glad these two characters are on our side! I guess they needed to blow off some steam, but this was borderline insane!
Even though the night demonstration didn’t start until about 10pm because that was when it got dark enough, everyone stayed to watch. There were 3 night-flights by planes and 3 by helis. I tried to make videos of the action so you can enjoy. I dropped the camera a couple of times during the GTO flight when bombs were exploding because it scared the bejesus out of me, but I got most of it.
As far as the competition went, every pilot there did a really outstanding job, and to declare a winner wasn’t necessary. The real winners were all the people who attended: pilots, team members and spectators. Everyone got what they came for which was lots of fun, excitement, and just a great time.
PREFERRED EQUIPMENT
I spoke to only the airplane pilots about the equipment they were using. For heli’s I noticed several Thunder Tiger pilots. After seeing this event, I’m going to suggest that TBM get into heli’s because heli’s are the ultimate 3D machines. Anyway, this is what I found:
Airplane airframes preferred: There was no clear favorite. Many manufacturers were represented like Dalton, Krill, Carden, Aeroworks, Hangar 9, Great Planes, PL Products, Magic Hand, Composite ARF, Quique Somenzini, Extreme Flight, and others.
Airplane servos preferred: Futaba 9155 and Futaba 9156. There were some JR 8711, 8611A, HS-5955 and a few others.
Airplane radios preferred: Futaba 14MZ was dominant.
Airplane Engines preferred: DA was dominant.
Airplane mufflers preferred: A mix of standard mufflers, canisters and pipes.
Airplane props preferred: Mejzlik was dominant.
Airplane Rx batteries preferred: Many were Li-Ion, though some LiPoly and A123 we used.
Airplane set up preferred: High throws were available on all the planes. Many of the pilots went through great pains to get extra throw. While the precision maneuvers used standard throws, the violent 3D maneuvers required up to 50 degrees of aileron, 60 degrees of rudder and as much rudder as possible.
I interviewed some of the pilots about their aircraft and following is the information:
Pilot: Yuri Haguci
Plane: Krill Katana
Engine: DA-150
Servos: Futaba 9152
Propeller: Mejzlik 32x10
Radio: Futaba 14MZ
Batteries: Li Ion
This plane was outfitted with 5 amps of lights. The high intensity led’s mounted on the wing tips and stab tips and pointed towards the plane to illuminate virtually the entire plane.
| Yuri’s explanation of how to do the air start. | Yuri’s XFC flight video. |
|---|---|
Pilot: Yuri Haguci’s backup plane
Plane: Composite ARF 3.1m Super Extra
Engine: DA-150
Servos: Futaba 9152
Propeller: Mejzlik 30x12
Radio: Futaba 14MZ
Batteries: Li Manganese
Pilot: Manuel Santos
Plane: Dalton 42% Extra 260 35.6 lbs
Engine: DA-150
Propeller: Vess 32A
This plane was finished just days before the XFC. Manuel lives in Mexico City where at 8,000’ in altitude, planes perform poorly. Manuel lightened the plane extensively. To avoid wing rocking in the thin air, Manuel changed the wing tips. They are thicker and protrude forward of the original wing. The Side Force Generators (SFG) were added to improve knife edge flight. After experimenting with one per side, Manuel added another pair which helped. Also the SFG’s were added to the front of the wing, putting them as far forward as possible. This provided a larger boost. The final adjustment was to put in 0.6 degrees of negative incidence into the wing. This in effect moved the CG back without actually moving the CG back. The plane flies inverted with less down elevator than before, and Manuel likes this set up so much, he’s going to increase the incidence to negative 1 degree.
Pilot: Andrew Jesky
Plane: PL Prod Extra 330 44%, 44 lbs
Engine: DA-170 with KS 1090 tuned pipes
Propeller: Mejzlik 32x10
Servos: Futaba 9156 (3-ail, 2 per ele, 3-rudder on pull-pull)
Radio: Futaba 14MZ with 6014 Rx
Andrew has 50 degrees of aileron and 60 degrees of elevator throw. This plane is short coupled so it is a great tumbler.
| Andrew Jesky's explanation of how to do the Death Slide. | Andrew Jesky's XFC flight video. |
|---|---|
Pilot: Jason Noll
Plane: Aeroworks 40% Yak 54, 39 lbs
Engine: DA-170 with Greves tuned pipes
Propeller: Mejzlik 30x12 (more rpm, more power)
Servos: Futaba 9156 (3-ail, 1 per ele, 3-rudder in tail)
Radio: Futaba 14MZ with 2.4 FASST
Watch for Jason’s Snake explanation and video.
| Jason’s Snake manuever explanation. | |
|---|---|
Pilot: Carlos Vargas
Plane: Aeroworks 42% Extra 260
Engine: DA-150 with MTW TD-110K canister mufflers
Propeller: Mejzlik 30x12
Servos: JR-8711 (2-ail, 1 per ele, 2-rudder)
Batteries: LiIon with Smart Fly PowerExpander
Radio: JR Spektrum 10X 2.4
Watch for Carlos’s Inquezuu maneuver. Carlos provides an explanation in Spanish. This is the maneuver that Carlos is performing when his wingtube snaps. This was a CF wingtube manufactured for Aeroworks. This is a high energy maneuver, and over time, aluminum or CF will weaken and can fail. This is a risk that 3D pilots take each time they perform maneuvers which stress the airframes. Be aware that many times the tube will break when the plane is just flying along at ½ throttle on a straight line. Many pilots are bewildered as to why the tube or wing or fuselage would fail during such an easy maneuver. The answer is that the 1,000 snaps, walls, blenders, parachutes and such have taken a toll on the plane, and all it took was a little vibration, and that was the end. On planes that I have abused for years I expect that my next flight could be my last.
Pilot: Kevin Garland
Plane: Dalton 42% Extra 260
Engine: DA-150 with MTW TD-110K canister mufflers
Propeller: Mejzlik 32x10
Servos: Hitec HS-5955 (3 per ail, 2 per ele, 2-rudder in tail) with JR matchboxes
Batteries: LiIon with Smart Fly PowerExpander
Radio: Futaba 14MZ with 2.4 FASST
Pilot: Mark Trent
Plane: Comp ARF 3.3m Yak
Engine: DA-150 with Greves pipes
Propeller: Mejzlik 32x10
Servos: Futaba 9156 (3 per ail, 2 per ele, 4-rudder)
Batteries: LiPhos with Smart Fly PowerExpander
Radio: Futaba 14MZ with 2.4 FASST
Pilot: Mark Trent’s other plane
Plane: Comp ARF Python
Engine: DA-150 with Greves pipes
Propeller: Mejzlik 32x10
Servos: Futaba 9152 (1 per ail, 1 per ele, 3-rudder)
Batteries: LiPhos with Smart Fly PowerExpander
Radio: Futaba 14MZ with 2.4 FASST
Pilot: Nick Maxwell
Plane: Great Planes 38% Extra
Engine: DA-150
Propeller: Xoar 32x10
Servos: Futaba 9156 (2 per ail, 1 per ele, 3-rudder)
Batteries: Flight Power LiPoly with Smart Fly PowerExpander
Radio: Futaba 14MZ with 2.4 FASST
Pilot: RJ Gritter
Plane: QQ 35% Yak
Engine: 3W-106QS with stock mufflers
Propeller: Vess 27B
Servos: Hitec HS-5945 and HS-5955 (2 per ail, 1 per ele, 2-rudder)
Batteries: LiPoly with Smart Fly PowerExpander
Radio: Futaba 9Z with 2.4 FASST
Pilot: Chris Maier
Plane: Extreme Flight Yak
Engine: 3W 112 B4 (4-cylinder) with 2 into 1 PEFA exhaust
Propeller: Fuchs 29x10
Servos: JR-8711 (2 per ail, 1 per ele, 1-rudder)
Batteries: LiIon with Smart Fly PowerExpander
Radio: JR 10X
Pilot: Jason Danhakl
Plane: Aeroworks 42% Extra 260
Engine: DA-150 with Greves pipes
Propeller: Mejzlik 32x10
Servos: Futaba 9155 (2 per ail, 2 per ele, 2-rudder)
Batteries: LiPoly with Smart Fly PowerExpander
Radio: Futaba 14MZ with 2.4 FASST
Smoke: TME smoke pump
Pilot: Jason Danhakl’s other plane
Plane: Aeroworks 35% Extra 260
Engine: DA-100 with Greves pipes
Propeller: Mejzlik 28x10
Servos: Futaba 9156 (2 per ail, 1 per ele, 1-rudder)
Batteries: LiPoly
Radio: Futaba 14MZ with 2.4 FASST
Pilot: Kelly Gerber
Plane: Dalton 42% Extra 260
Engine: DA-150 with MTW TD100K canister mufflers
Propeller: Mejzlik 30x12
Servos: Futaba 9155 (3 per ail) 9152 (1 per ele, 2-rudder)
Batteries: LiIon
Radio: Futaba 14MZ with 2.4 FASST
Smoke: TME smoke pump
Check out the video that Kelly did on how to install at set up a smoke system coming soon...
Pilot: Chris Gini
Plane: Hangar 9 33% Extra 260
Engine: DA-100 with stock mufflers
Propeller: Biela 26x10 or Menz 27x10
Servos: JR8611A (2 per ail, 1 per ele), JR-8711 (1-rudder)
Batteries: Spektrum
Radio: JR 10X 2.4
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