Heli Funfly events
01-25-2002, 02:08 AM
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Heli Funfly events
We are a club with close to 60 airplane pilots we have a hand full of heli pilots and would like to boost our membership on that end. To do this and to draw some attention to our hidden away field we were thinking of having a heli funfly. What would some good heli funfly events be. and please explain with detail so I understand well. I don't fly heli's so I may be a little lost with a veigh description.
our field has a black top runway as well as a nicely maintained grass section which is about 40X100 ft long.
thanks
Paul
our field has a black top runway as well as a nicely maintained grass section which is about 40X100 ft long.
thanks
Paul
01-25-2002, 12:16 PM
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Heli Funfly events
Drag racing is fun if you can more or less match up pilots of equal skill.
For autos two popular contests are spot autoing. This just as the name implies, auto rotating onto a small spot. Usually there are concentic circles around the spot. Landing on the spot is worth 5 points, inside the next outter ring 3 points and the final ring is worth 1 point. After some predetermined number of attempts add up the points. Highest score wins.
Another autoing contest that is fun and can be done competitively by anyone that can do an auto is timed autos. The way it works is the pilot is given one practice run and 3 runs for time. The timer starts when the skids leave the ground and stops with the first touch of the skids. The pilot must fly their heli up to some reasonable minimum altitude, say 200 feet. Exact altitude doesn't matter as long as it's high enough that it will require a full auto. At the end the judges take the lowest time and subtract it from the highest to produce a delta time. The pilot with the lowest delta time wins.
This is a very fair competition because the overall time to complete the auto is unimportant and can vary from pilot to pilot. It can be 30 seconds or 2 minutes, it just has to be consistent over the 3 attempts to win.
For autos two popular contests are spot autoing. This just as the name implies, auto rotating onto a small spot. Usually there are concentic circles around the spot. Landing on the spot is worth 5 points, inside the next outter ring 3 points and the final ring is worth 1 point. After some predetermined number of attempts add up the points. Highest score wins.
Another autoing contest that is fun and can be done competitively by anyone that can do an auto is timed autos. The way it works is the pilot is given one practice run and 3 runs for time. The timer starts when the skids leave the ground and stops with the first touch of the skids. The pilot must fly their heli up to some reasonable minimum altitude, say 200 feet. Exact altitude doesn't matter as long as it's high enough that it will require a full auto. At the end the judges take the lowest time and subtract it from the highest to produce a delta time. The pilot with the lowest delta time wins.
This is a very fair competition because the overall time to complete the auto is unimportant and can vary from pilot to pilot. It can be 30 seconds or 2 minutes, it just has to be consistent over the 3 attempts to win.
01-25-2002, 05:23 PM
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Heli Funfly events
Well, I think I have some experience in this area, as this time last year I was wondering the same question. Here are my insights after putting on a very successful first time event, The Hoosier Heli Rumble.
1. Heli Pilots want to fly!! It is nice having events, but they should not dominate the funfly. We had 6 flight stations at 150 feet apart, and we only used two flight stations for events (i.e freestyle 3d, auto contest, and drag racing). So don't stop the general flying for your events.
2. Having a nice field and a organized setup is a must. I cannot emphasize that Heli Pilots just want to fly and hangout, they are easy to please in that aspect. But have your field layout planned before the event starts and having a "semi-permanent" schedule will go along way in helping you and you invited guest to have fun.
3. Attend other ff, I attended several events before my FF. I learned alot about the smaller things, i.e. food, field setup, raffles, prizes. You can learn alot from other events, but also you can get your name out to the helicopter community and promote your own event.
4. To address your questions about increasing your membership. Get the public involved in your event!!! Have a place for them to sit and watch what is going on, have someone available to answer questions or get them signed up in the club. Provide other activities...we provided full scale helicopter and ballon rides at a modest cost. Explain to them what is going on during the events (i.e freestyle, auto contest). It is all about showmanship. We advertised in the local paper, had the local TV station come down, it was an all out media blitz. This really helped increase out membership, and made the "club" accept the Heli pilots as a key member. We raised over 1000 dollars for the club. Everyone was happy.
5. Sounds like you have one of the best things to start with, a nice flying field. Nothing puts a smile on a heli pilots face like a nice flying site that they have to themselves for the day.
6. Set a date for your event and get it out on the net, newsgroups, etc.
Just some of my thoughts, you will have bumps along the way. Make a decision and move on, you will not please everybody!!!
Hope this helps
Erik
1. Heli Pilots want to fly!! It is nice having events, but they should not dominate the funfly. We had 6 flight stations at 150 feet apart, and we only used two flight stations for events (i.e freestyle 3d, auto contest, and drag racing). So don't stop the general flying for your events.
2. Having a nice field and a organized setup is a must. I cannot emphasize that Heli Pilots just want to fly and hangout, they are easy to please in that aspect. But have your field layout planned before the event starts and having a "semi-permanent" schedule will go along way in helping you and you invited guest to have fun.
3. Attend other ff, I attended several events before my FF. I learned alot about the smaller things, i.e. food, field setup, raffles, prizes. You can learn alot from other events, but also you can get your name out to the helicopter community and promote your own event.
4. To address your questions about increasing your membership. Get the public involved in your event!!! Have a place for them to sit and watch what is going on, have someone available to answer questions or get them signed up in the club. Provide other activities...we provided full scale helicopter and ballon rides at a modest cost. Explain to them what is going on during the events (i.e freestyle, auto contest). It is all about showmanship. We advertised in the local paper, had the local TV station come down, it was an all out media blitz. This really helped increase out membership, and made the "club" accept the Heli pilots as a key member. We raised over 1000 dollars for the club. Everyone was happy.
5. Sounds like you have one of the best things to start with, a nice flying field. Nothing puts a smile on a heli pilots face like a nice flying site that they have to themselves for the day.
6. Set a date for your event and get it out on the net, newsgroups, etc.
Just some of my thoughts, you will have bumps along the way. Make a decision and move on, you will not please everybody!!!
Hope this helps
Erik
01-27-2002, 03:04 PM
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FF Events
I've heard of some examples:
Bottle Knock-Over; fill some pop bottles 1/2 full w/ water...
Timed fly; have a starter say 'Go' and have the pilot try to fly close to a certain number of minutes.
Balloon Bust; fill some balloons w/ helium and release them and try to chase 'em down an pop 'em.
One big fav. was a paint-gun shoot-out at a planker. The Des Moines guys sold shots w/ a paint gun and had a member 'slo-fly' an old trainer plank past the firing line.
--just some ideas...
Bottle Knock-Over; fill some pop bottles 1/2 full w/ water...
Timed fly; have a starter say 'Go' and have the pilot try to fly close to a certain number of minutes.
Balloon Bust; fill some balloons w/ helium and release them and try to chase 'em down an pop 'em.
One big fav. was a paint-gun shoot-out at a planker. The Des Moines guys sold shots w/ a paint gun and had a member 'slo-fly' an old trainer plank past the firing line.
--just some ideas...
01-27-2002, 03:56 PM
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Events
I was at Big E's FF this past year in Lafayette, IN. He and his posse did a great job!!! The site was beautiful and the organization was superb. But it did not happen by accident. I agree with everything he said...and he did say it well didn't he??? <ROFL>
I’ve done 4 FF’s in my area over the past 4 years. This past year it was an invitational. I just have a few thoughts… Don't plan too many events. Sometimes pilots get “flight line shy” and don't want to participate. I have no idea why but they do. So if you plan too many events and spend a lot of time planning them you maybe let down as to how many participate in them. I've also been to FF's where they planned 4 events and did none of them. They just asked the group at the pilots meeting if they wanted to do them or just have open flying all day. Open flying was the unanimous decision. Just be alerted to this. Heli pilots are pretty easy to appease but "WE" can be a bit strange at times. <VBG> It's hard to get an event going for the first time. Again I agree with Big E, as problems arise just handle them and move on. If you provided on-site food – whether free or purchase, clean porta-john's, a good frequency control, and monitored pin time so nobody complains about not being able to get their channel, I'd say you be a huge success with just that. Don’t get me wrong, events are great and I do them if a FF has them. Some just don’t see it that way and would rather open fly and chat all day instead.
Good luck!!!
PS> Also, watch someone(s) does not hear what your group has planned and then grabs a sanction for a similar event to be held on the same weekend and claim it was their idea all the time. <THAT'S RIGHT - SLAM!!!>
I’ve done 4 FF’s in my area over the past 4 years. This past year it was an invitational. I just have a few thoughts… Don't plan too many events. Sometimes pilots get “flight line shy” and don't want to participate. I have no idea why but they do. So if you plan too many events and spend a lot of time planning them you maybe let down as to how many participate in them. I've also been to FF's where they planned 4 events and did none of them. They just asked the group at the pilots meeting if they wanted to do them or just have open flying all day. Open flying was the unanimous decision. Just be alerted to this. Heli pilots are pretty easy to appease but "WE" can be a bit strange at times. <VBG> It's hard to get an event going for the first time. Again I agree with Big E, as problems arise just handle them and move on. If you provided on-site food – whether free or purchase, clean porta-john's, a good frequency control, and monitored pin time so nobody complains about not being able to get their channel, I'd say you be a huge success with just that. Don’t get me wrong, events are great and I do them if a FF has them. Some just don’t see it that way and would rather open fly and chat all day instead.
Good luck!!!
PS> Also, watch someone(s) does not hear what your group has planned and then grabs a sanction for a similar event to be held on the same weekend and claim it was their idea all the time. <THAT'S RIGHT - SLAM!!!>
