We arrived early having left Germantown Hills at 5:45am and after feeling our way around (who needs stinking directions anyway?)

finally arrived at the armory. Arriving early was good and bringing our own card tables and lounge chairs was an incredibly good idea (Bryan!).

Off loading our gear early secured us a spot in the third row front and center – worked out famously, close to everything and the ever

important frequency board! Next year we’ll be on 2.4G and won’t have to worry about it!

 

Bryan, Steve, and I setup quickly and with Steve’s help got to flying quickly. We were airborne with the usual trepidation, which

quickly left to be replaced with a feeling of awe at flying in the huge vertical space which is the Armory – this place is awesome – lots

of vertical space to fly in and while we were restricted horizontally due to flight stations we made the most of the vertical space

available. Bryan and I usually flew simultaneously which afford us hovering and torque rolling in the same space opportunities,

which is always fun. At one point we were both doing simulcast rolling circles with our Byp Yaks – too much fun! We noticed

right away there was much more situation ally aware flying going on by all parties, which resulted in amazingly few midair incursions.

As a matter of fact everybody was doing their best to break off maneuvers to avoid the other guy, just the opposite of last year’s crash

fest. Amazing! To that point we both flew the entire day without ever touching a bottle of CA, which rarely ever happens, let alone at E-Fest.

 

The flying was superb, not only did we have a ball flying, but watching the best of the best was both enlightening and humbling –

these guys flew on total automatic mode and many were world class foamy drivers. Every maneuver you’ve ever heard of and some

that aren’t named yet were being flown here, and the young guns were all dazzling. The skills were great and these guys were all very

approachable. I stood in the flight line ready line talking to a young guy from Northern Il., you may have heard of him Jason Noll, who

shared with me the tricks he was using in his new scratch built bi plane – too much fun – and only at E-Fest 2008.

 

There was a world record established at this event with 318 registered pilots flying – the largest electric contingent ever! We’re

guessing there were easily 1000 - 1200 airplanes, maybe more. There were also vendors, flight simulators at every corner, and new

Futaba radios (10 Ch. – 10FGA) along with the 12 and 14 channel varieties. We received a cool pilot’s grab bag of stuff including

CA & accelerator and even a Futaba micro servo – pretty slick stuff! Ask Bryan about flying the Aerofly Professional with a full size

Spitfire – takeoff’s and landings are challenging, but flying this on a large HD plasma TV and a high end PC was almost like being there in real life.

 

We all agreed that the highlight of the show was the pylon racing with all manner of aircraft – but the hot tickets were the Hobby Lobby

Reno racer look likes with small wingspans and large electric motors and the pusher jet like Aero Cats – these guys were all smoking - an easy

80+ mph – indoors! Of course with high speed racing comes maximum carnage and we weren’t disappointed there, as a matter of fact two of

the Aero Cat’s slammed into a door frame at speed, resulting in airframe destruction and a minor Li-Po fire – that’s right when those batteries

stop fast bad things can happen! There was also a Corsair on steroids which escaped crashing for three consecutive laps, I’ve never seen a

plane saved so many times in such a short amount of time, every turn was an invitation to disaster. He finally piled it in on lap 4. So, not to

be excluded from the fun, I picked up an Aero Cat to build and practice for next year’s pylon event.

 

To say that we had a big time was an understatement of epic proportions. What a neat venue, well organized, and run by pleasant people

dedicated to making sure the pilots and spectators all had a great time. Looking for something to do next February? Come on down to

E-Fest and check out some of the coolest foamies in the country right in your own back yard at the U of I Armory in Champaign. You can

bet that Steve, Bryan and I will all be back and ready for action! You ought to join us – the more the merrier!

 

See you all soon!

TJ