Scores Photos
The Pilots at JCRC
L-R: CD Vic Koenig, Carl Zavalney, Ellis
Newkirk, Norman Bonnette (kneeling), Warren Oliver,
Terry Boston,
Dave Phillips, Jerry Black, Gordon Talbot, Jimmy
Russell, Ben Spidle, Jamie Strong and Derek Meacham.
Not shown: Jim Johns
The 4th Annual East Tennessee SPA Contest presented by the Johnson City Radio Controllers is in
the books. Fourteen pilots gathered for the 2023 version
of the Johnson City SPA contest - 6 from Tennessee, 4
from Alabama and 1 each from Kentucky, Mississippi,
North Carolina and Texas. Nine of them flew electric
powered models compared to only five glow powered
planes.
Many arrived early to get in
some pre-contest practice. Friday was the big practice
day with numerous flyers making practice flights in
between rain showers. There was also lots of hangar
flying.
Saturday dawned a little foggy but with
otherwise perfect weather. Temperatures stayed in the
70s all day and the winds were light with broken clouds
- perfect for a pattern contest. Registration was
completed and the pilot’s meeting held at 9 a.m. with
wheels up for the first plane shortly thereafter. Five
rounds were successfully completed on Saturday, with the
6th Round taking to the air at 9:30 Sunday. With the
contest officially complete, the Expert class pilots
decided to fly an unofficial 7th round which was
completed by 11:00 a.m.
There were several
incidents during the weekend.
-
Dave Phillips was
flying a 1980’s vintage glow powered model that had
been converted to electric power late Friday
afternoon. Unfortunately, the wing departed the
fuselage during his Outside Loops. The throttle was
still at 100% and the fuselage hit the ground with a
violent impact. As Dave walked over to retrieve the
wreckage, the damaged LiPo battery caught fire and
burned. Luckily, the plane landed in wet grass due
to the large amount of rain the area had recently
received, so the fire did not spread.
-
Jim Johns was
scheduled to be the first pilot in the air on
Saturday morning, but he passed in Round 1 after 3
takeoff attempts resulted in zero takeoffs. He
pulled out his backup plane which also had problems,
so he packed up and spent the rest of the weekend
behind the scoring computer.
-
CD Vic Koenig was
busy all day Saturday and accidentally installed an
uncharged battery in his plane for his 5th round
flight. He was only able to complete five maneuvers
before the battery died causing a crash and
destruction of the model.
-
Jimmy Russell and Ben Spidle attempted to occupy
the same piece of airspace late Saturday resulting a
mid-air. Ben’s plane received no damage, while
Jimmy’s only damage was having the right stab half
broken off. The broken stab half remained attached
by the wiring for his on-board lighting system. The
only possible way this could have happened is that
Ben's plane overtook Jimmy's and the prop struck
Jimmy's stab.
Everyone packed up their equipment and then gathered
for the award presentations. Each flyer that placed
received a nice trophy and a certificate and a 20 oz. YETI tumbler courtesy
of Ed Ritsko of Johnson City Heating and Air.
-
BASIC: Carl Zavalney won 3 rounds
to take 1st
Place, Norman Bonnette also won three rounds for 2nd, and Ben Spidle took 3rd.
-
SPORTSMAN: Gordon Talbot won all 6 rounds to win
Sportsman with Vic Koenig in 2nd Place.
-
ADVANCED: This was a very tight race. Dave
Phillips and Terry Boston each won 3 rounds, but
Dave was able to edge Terry by a mere 9½ points for
1st Place. Jim Johns finished 3rd.
-
EXPERT: Warren Oliver and Ellis Newkirk each won 3
rounds with Warren taking the win by 13 points!
Jimmy Russell finished 3rd and Jamie Strong was 4th.
-
MASTERS: Jerry
Black won all 5 rounds flown to take the win with
Derek Meacham in 2nd.
After all the awards were presented, it was time for
JCRC’s always amazing raffle.
- Ed Ritsko, JCRC member and owner of Johnson City
Heating and Air, donated many great items – lots of
20 & 30 oz YETI tumblers and a 36” Blackstone gas
griddle complete with all the trimmings right down
to the propane tank.
- Lucien Miller of Innov8tiveDesigns.com donated two
BadAss 3530 motors and 100Amp ESCs, a programmer
card, several t-shirts and many BadAss stickers.
- Anthony Blair’s wife Lynette donated two very nice
gift sets of wonderful smelling goodies for the
ladies. These were won by Peggy Phillips and Ellis
Newkirk.
Terry Boston and Don
Martin each won a Badass Motor, and Anthony Blair
won the Blackstone Griddle thanks to his nephew
Logan. You can see all the
other winners in the photo section.
There is such a wonderful spirit of pitching in and
volunteering by JCRC members - everything from registration help
to cooking lunch and contributing
to the raffle. This spirit starts from the
President, continues downward and is infectious.
Thanks to everyone who helped for the wonderful way
this contest was run. Apologies if I miss anyone,
but here are some of the folks who helped out.
- CD Vic Koenig
- Dennis Sams and Don Martin both spent the ENTIRE
WEEKEND in the judging chairs. I can personally
attest to the fact that it’s hard on the eyes to
judge one round, but these two guys judged EVERY
ROUND. Thank you, men!
- JCRC
President Glenn Ross took the pilot group photo and created
all the trophies.
- JCRC past President David Jones spent the entire
weekend at the field making sure everything ran
smoothly.
- Anthony Blair handled registration and raffle
ticket sales, and daughter Anastasia pitched in on
the raffle drawing.
- Jim Johns handled the scoring.
It was another wonderful SPA contest enjoyed by all
in attendance. JCRC club President Glenn Ross thanked
SPA for bringing the only dry and pleasant weather
they’d seen in weeks!
Jim Johns, Webmaster
