NEAT Fair 2007 Report Part One

The NEAT Fair is the largest show of radio controlled electric powered aircraft in the U.S., held annually in upstate New York. It is sponsored by the Silent Electric Flyers of Long Island, and features a wide variety of planes and helicopters.

The show attracts people from almost everywhere, some as day visitors, but many with trailers full of planes who camp out for the weekend in Peaceful Valley. And what a beautiful site! The event was set up as a long, thin strip through the bottom of the valley, with dramatic hills all around. Campers and teams were closest to the flying field, and vendors were in the second row. One price for this great location was the total lack of cell phone reception.

I arrived Saturday morning to find the open flying session was hampered somewhat by weather, as were all flights during the day. We had on and off drizzles with 10-20 mph winds, but this didn't deter some brave souls from getting airborne. With few planes in the air, I spent the morning chatting with modelers about what they'd brought.

One of the largest models I encountered was Marc Thomson's 96" wingspan Westland Welkin. This scratch-built scale model had a mix of molded and built-up parts, with custom-machined scale retracts. I felt pretty embarrassed about flying ARFs after chatting with Marc about the work he had put into this plane. He also had a beautiful seaplane next to it, but I neglected to get all the details about it.

In another tent I ran across an experimental foam VTOL plane, with rotating wings similar to an Osprey. I was told it was still in the testing phases, but does hover OK. I would have really liked to see it fly. Notice the third, smaller brushless motor mounted like a helicopter rotor just before the vertical stabilizer. I can only speculate that the tail drops without the extra lift. Don't get your hopes up for a commercial product though, this looked like a one-off brainstorm.

In addition to the numerous booths, there were planes along the whole length of the spectator fence, ranging from seaplanes to jets to gliders. Some were for sale, others just for show. One standout was a gorgeous Ford Tri Motor with incredibly detailed radial engines (these were fake of course, being at an electric-only show). You can imagine how windy it was if a plane this large needed to be tied down.

I got to meet a number of smaller manufacturers at this show who I had read about. Millennium RC is a recent success story of pilot-turned-designer James Karpy and his wife Karen, who started an RC company from their house. Jim flew his 42" Slow Stick X and 21" Micro SSX planes at the noon demos despite the strong, gusty winds, which was very impressive considering the SSX weighs less than six ounces. These planes are available as kits or in ARF form, and meant for small brushless motors and LiPo batteries. The rumor is a biplane is in the works too.

Another manufacturer I was impressed with was LightFlite. They make several variants of the RC Bug, a family of very light foam flying wings. With a strong headwind, these planes literally floated in place at eye level. They were also capable of extremely agile aerobatics, having very large control throws. How about a five foot diameter loop! One clever thing about this design is a curved carbon rod at the front which effectively surrounds and protects the propeller. You can basically drive this plane into the ground at any angle, pick it up, and fly again. Looks like a great indoor flyer too - I'm hoping to get a review sample soon.

Great Planes was at the show but didn't have too much on display when I went by. I suspect they had packed a lot of products away because of weather. They did have the new Synapse jet on the table which they were letting people fly, which was quite cool. I also got to watch one of their booth staffers fly the ElectriFly Extra 330S ARF with the stock setup, which was doubly impressive because he had never flown the plane before. Those 35mm outrunner motors really have an excess of power for a 41" wingspan model.

Besides manufacturers there to show off new products, the show also featured a number of retailers offering almost everything you can think of. It's a great excuse to stock up on supplies like servo extensions, which were a buck a piece. Most booths I saw seemed to offer pretty good discounts even over online prices. I caved in and bought an Esky Lama V4 Coaxial Helicopter. Expect a review in the coming months.

Continue to Part Two of our NEAT Fair coverage, featuring the noon demos from some of the best pilots around.