2020 Greater Southwest Aero Modelers SPA Pattern
Ft. Worth, TX
June 27, 2020


Scores                                               Photos



The 2020 GSW Pilots
L-R ((Kneeling): Daniel Boamah, Jason Nowicki, Keith Maddox, Sam F Corlett, Billy Law
L-R (Standing): Ken Knotts, unknown, Mrs. Boamah, unknown, Chris Berardi, Frank Cox, Sam Corlett, Dave Dingman, Wayne Galligan, Todd Blose, Eddie Bernaldez, Danny Jackson, Nathan Haycock, Paul Mayhan,
Charissa Mayhan


Greater Southwest Aeromodelers Spring 2020 contest summary

15 pilots gathered at the Greater Southwest Aeromodelers club field on June 27 2020 for the first contest of the year for the SPA West division. “Adversity” is the word I’d use to describe the whole process, and our pilots showed their spirit. The GSW field was attacked by feral hogs only a month before the contest and barely repaired in time. Rainstorms left puddles on the field 2 days before, but a day of bright sunshine took care of them. Texas’s measures in response to Covid 19 made the possibility of the contest uncertain and forced pilots to consider the risks of attending. The day of the contest was hot and windy with gusty rollers wreaking havoc on our landings. The contest itself was a day of attrition, with multiple models not able to finish. Sam Corlett lost his plane to a radio failure, Co-CD Paul Mayhan dropped out after round one with a wing mount failure, Ken Knotts lost his Curare in practice the day before but was able to compete with a backup plane, and CD Wayne Galligan had a wing tube failure but was able to finish with a backup plane. Then the scorekeeper was unable to attend due to a health issue, so co-CD Paul Mayhan took on scoring duties with some much-appreciated help from Jason Nowicki who normally flies novice but chose not to compete on this day. Pilots fought the wind and the sun to get in 4 rounds by 2:30 in the afternoon. Those who finished with winning scores certainly earned them!

The contest saw one new pilot trying out SPA with Daniel Boamah taking advantage of the “any plane” rule for novice class. He flew his Sbach 342 quite capably. While he wasn’t eligible for an award due to the engine rule, Daniel shows promise as a future competitor in the higher classes. Keith Maddox, the only other novice competitor, has shown significant improvement in his flying since last year and took home first place.

Sportsman was the biggest division in SPA West 4 years ago, but most have moved up. So it came down to SPA Vice President Frank Cox and Nathan Haycock. Frank chose not to fly in the windy conditions, so Nathan took it with some still quality flying.

Advanced class consisted of 3 longtime aerobatic pilots. With Paul Mayhan dropping out after round 1, it was a tight contest for first and second with Chris Berardi edging out Eddie Bernaldez for the award.

Expert class saw the most intense competition with 5 very capable competitors. 17 year old Sam F Corlett competed against his father Sam Corlett for the first time, choosing to move up to Expert class only a week before the contest. Kudos to young Sam for taking on the challenge and congratulations on your third place finish! Todd Blose took home the gold in Expert with some phenomenal flying.

The two Senior Expert pilots put on a good show as well with Danny Jackson edging out Ken Knotts for the title. Watching pilots who have been flying RC for 40-50 years shows a comfort and perspective that is unattainable any other way. I think we all hope to be flying as well at that age as both of these guys do.

The day ended with raffle prizes and congratulations all around for competitors. Many thanks to our sponsors Roy’s Hobby Shop, RTL Fasteners, and F3A Unlimited for prizes. I look forward to our next event.

Paul Mayhan


Final Scores
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