The Pilots competing at the
2024 Memphis SPA Championships
L-R: Dan Toombs, Victor McIntyre, Duane Wilson,
Howard Moore (kneeling), Jeff Owens, Norman Bonnette,
Joe Ryan, Terry Boston, Warren Oliver, Ellis Newkirk,
Jamie Strong, Jerry Black, Vic Koenig (kneeling) & CD
Jimmy Russell
Not shown: Jim Johns
15 pilots from 7
states competed in Knoxville this year - 6 from
Tennessee, 3 from Alabama, 2 from Georgia and 1 each from Florida,
Kentucky, Mississippi and Texas.
Ellis Newkirk drove all the way from Flower Mound, TX in
the DFW metroplex to fly with us as he does several
times a year. The weekend weather was virtually perfect with temperatures in the mid-80s. Winds
were very light with clouds keeping the sun at bay much
of the time both days.
Bobbie & I arrived at
the field about 9:30 a.m. on Friday to find many
of the contestants busily practicing. Several of the RVers
had arrived earlier to get in as much practice as
possible. The field grass was tall and hadn't been mowed
recently, but the mowing crew arrived by mid-afternoon
and got the job done quickly.
Saturday morning dawned
with clear blue skies and brilliant sunshine. CD Jimmy
Russell called the pilot meeting at 9 a.m. and flying
began immediately thereafter. We used two flight lines -
Basic, Sportsman & Advanced on the left line and Expert
and Masters on the right line. This worked well as both
lines finished their rounds at about the same time and
allowed for adequate judging coverage. Four rounds were
completed on Saturday.
Following an early
morning rain, Sunday's last 2 rounds went
quickly. Several competitors left early for various
reasons - other obligations, illness, etc. - and flying
wrapped up before noon. Final scores were tallied and
the awards were presented shortly thereafter.
There were tight
battles in several classes. Victor McIntyre took the win
in Basic, Howard Moore defeated Vic Koenig by only 57
points in Sportsman and Jim Johns finished 1st in
Advanced, mainly due to Terry Boston's many problems
(see below). Expert was very hotly contested between CD
Jimmy Russell and SPA President Jeff Owens, with the
lead being swapped following virtually every round. Jeff
squeaked out a victory in the end by a mere 13.28
points out of 4,000! Last but not least, Jerry Black took the honors in Masters class
over Ellis Newkirk by only 24.5 points. You can
see all of the placements below.
Next came one of
everyone's favorites - the raffle! The smaller prizes
were passed out first - lots of CA glue and
miscellaneous other small prizes - followed by the big
stuff.
-
Jeff Owens won a BadAss 3530-570Kv motor.
Welcome to the BadAss club, Jeff.
-
Dan Toombs won a GForce G46 electric motor.
- Joe Ryan won a GForce G60 electric motor and
a BadAss Rebel 80 Amp ESC.
-
Jerry Black won a Kwik Fli kit donated by
Warren Oliver.
-
Howard Moore won a Bob Smith designed T2-40 kit donated by Craig Dieter. This was
apropos as Howard
prefers smaller airplanes. In fact, he won Sportsman
at this contest flying a New Era III which is a
25-size model.
Two pilots had
aircraft damaged during the contest.
- Terry Boston had a very
frustrating, problematic weekend.
- Shortly after taking off in Round 1, his engine quit forcing a
dead stick landing in the tall grass beyond the
runway. Fortunately, his Deception was unharmed.
The culprit? The glow plug had somehow backed
completely out of the engine and was missing. No
compression = no power.
- Terry's 2nd
round started great with a new glow plug
and a couple of fine maneuvers. However, immediately after his Split S turnaround following his 2nd maneuver, his plane
disintegrated for no apparent reason. Pieces rained down over the Clinch
River which is just a short distance off the right end of the runway. The wing was the last
item seen as it gently flipped all the way down
out of sight. Luckily, some folks in the park between the field
and the river located some of the plane's fuselage and returned it to Terry. Unfortunately, he did not
recover the engine, receiver or any of the wing. Post mortem revealed bird guts on the horizontal
stabilizer. Can you say BIRD STRIKE?? OUCH!
- Terry pulled
out his backup Deception for Round 3. He fueled
up and fuel immediately began pouring from the bottom of his
plane. Inspection showed that the fuel tank had shifted
slightly and the clunk line had been perforated
by a bulkhead causing a major leak.
- GOOD NEWS! He repaired the leak and came back to win Round 4!
- Not so good news - Terry
didn't feel well and left for home early Sunday
morning.
-
Norman Bonnette flew his "waving American
flag" themed Killer Chaos
to start the weekend. His engine flamed out and his
plane was captured by one of the "plane eating
trees" off the right end of the runway. It was lodged
some 40' to 50' high with no apparent
damage. Several young men who were flying on the
club's drone racing course helped Norman recover his
plane. Everything was successfully retrieved from
the tree, but the tail feathers were damaged in the
process.
There are plenty of
special thanks to pass around.
-
A huge THANK YOU to
Lucien Miller of
Innov8tive Designs - click the link at left to
visit their website. He generously
donated several great items for the rafle at this
contest as he has for other SPA contests. These
included a
BadAss 3530-570 Kv motor and a Rebel 80 Amp ESC.
Electric power outnumbered glow power over 2 to 1 at this
contest with half of the electrics using BadAss
Power Systems. I personally used this exact power
combo in my Deception to win Advanced.
-
Bob Smith
industries supplied lots of their fine CA glue
products. This is something that every modeler needs.
-
KCRC members Warren Oliver and Craig Dieter
donated model kits.
-
Jim Johns once again took care of all the
scoring duties.
-
Last but never least, CD Jimmy Russell did a
great job running the show!
Everyone was
invited to the next contest in Johnson City, TN on
August 10-11. Howard Moore mentioned that he is
trying to revive the Cullman, AL contest for next
year. There's always room in the schedule for
another contest venue, plus it would be good to
return to Cullman.
We look forward to
seeing you in Johnson City.
Jim Johns
