NEAT Fair 2007 Report Part Two

Arguably the biggest attraction at the NEAT Fair was the noon time demo session, which was booked solid. The event staff did a great job of keeping things moving by having these flyers ready to go back to back.

For me, there were two standouts during the Saturday demos. The first one was five year old helicopter pilot Justin Chi, who flew an incredible acrobatic performance worthy of any adult. This kid is phenomenal - he even has his own web site. I got to chat a bit with his dad later, who was kind enough to describe his son's setup. Justin flew a T-REX 600 with a 9S 3850 mah LiPo battery, and handled the wind well.

The second head-turner was a shockingly fast performance by FastFrankie from the Silent Electric Flyers of Long Island. I have never seen a plane climb or turn as fast as this Surprise 9 hotliner. There were several times the crowd gasped as he gave it full throttle or made an incredibly quick 180 degree turn. The general consensus was that he was well over 100 mph. I wish someone had brought a radar gun to find out just how much over he was. One surprising fact was that Frank was flying NiMH batteries on Saturday to give the plane some more weight and stability. I hadn't expected to see anything other than LiPo at the show, given the way the hobby has moved to them.

The other lunchtime demos were also fun, and represented an array of styles. Steve from the AstroFlight Team flew an impressive 1/4 scale World Models Cub powered by their own brushless motor. He put it through some slow rolls and graceful maneuvers, as well as some pretty aggressive moves for a 17 pound trainer. It was one of many Cubs I saw during the day - people seem to have a fondness for these distinctive yellow planes. Can you believe Steve runs this huge plane with a Berg 7P micro receiver?

Two pilots from Hobby Lobby flew together, with a Gee Bee monoplane and a pretty 78" Tiger Moth biplane:

Later there was a nicely detailed P-51 Mustang flown by Greg Covey:

We got treated to a 100" Great Planes Matt Chapman CAP 232:

There was also a great looking 73" Cox Pitts M-12 biplane flown by Dave Baron:

Alfred Fusco flew a fast Electro Kulbutin with a 71" wingspan:

A red Little Tony pylon racer from Devin McGrath put in a fast show as well:

Later in the afternoon there was a fun prize giveaway. The organizers put two 12 foot wingspan Hobby Lobby Telemasters in the air and invited everyone onto the field. After lining up with the grass runway, they made a slow pass and dropped about a dozen toy soldiers on parachutes over the waiting mob. Total chaos ensued, as the crowd made every effort to grab a parachute and win a prize.

When the demos were over I chatted with Arlen Harbaugh who showed off his Telemaster. It's pretty incredible that such a large plane can be driven by a single electric motor these days. The horizontal stabilizer on this thing is larger than the main wing of most of my planes! Arlen was using A123 14S2P LiPo batteries to power a Hyperion Z5045-18 turn brushless outrunner through an 85 amp Castle Creations ESC. He chose a 22x10 APC-E prop out front.

A variety of planes shared the air in the open flight sessions in the afternoon. A large Sig Rascal dwarfed my 48" version back at home, and a few jets made appearances too. The pilot registration booth held all the radios not in use, and I noticed a large number of FM units there. Clearly 2.4 GHz is having a big impact though.

The 2007 NEAT Fair was a blast, and I recommend attending if you're in the area next year, or can make the trip. A one day visit works OK if you come as a spectator, but if you plan to fly, spread it out over a weekend and enjoy some of the other events, like the night flying and indoor flying sessions. There are also clinics on a variety of topics running through the day. Hope to see you there in 2008!

I want to say thanks to various posters on RCGroups' NEAT Fair Forum who helped identify some of these planes. It's a great place to find more photos and videos from the show. Also, the show's organizer Tom Hunt was kind enough to share his spreadsheet of demo pilots and their equipment.

In case you missed it, check out part one of our 2007 NEAT Fair coverage to see everything that went on on the ground.