NEAT Fair 2015
The 16th annual Northeast Electric Aircraft Technology (NEAT) Fair was held September 18-20, 2015. This was a great year to attend the NEAT Fair because it featured excellent weather and light-to-moderate winds throughout the weekend. I had a great time checking out the action on the flightline and hanging out with my friends.
This year I was asked to bring back the micro aircraft seminars. Adam Woodworth and I talked about the models that we would be flying at the Indoor Night at NEAT event. The micro talks started in the early years of the NEAT Fair when merely a few of us were showing off our latest creations. Most of our airplanes had 12-inch wingspans or larger, and they were state-of-the-art for that time.
We used to pack the tent with curious onlookers who wanted more information about what we were doing. I remember the big thing at the time was to see if we could get an airplane to fly in the tent. We eventually did and everyone was truly amazed!
Indoor Night at NEAT
My wife, Cindy, and I were the event directors of the 2015 Indoor Night at NEAT, which was held at the Downsville Central School gymnasium on September 18 and 19. With great weather outdoors, I was worried that the attendance for the Indoor event would be down. However, that was not the case.
We had a good turnout of spectators and pilots. Many pilots were regulars who had flown at the school gym in the past, but we also had a few newcomers. One of them was 12-year-old Ross Clements. He had several great-flying micro models with him. One that interested me was his Living Room Flyer (LRF). The model featured a thin, lightweight foam wing and tail and a carbon-fiber fuselage. He powered it with a Plantraco GB05 drive unit swinging a carbon-fiber propeller. The model flew great!
My friend, James Bhasin, surprised me this year. He showed up with two new models that he built for the event. One was a beautiful Cartoon Scale Pitts constructed from a Gordon Johnson laser-cut kit. The other was a Mini Dakota built from a kit that is available from BSD Micro RC.
Jin Woo Choe brought a beautiful collection of micro fliers, including his 1/35-scale Horten VII flying wings, Avro 504K, and Sopwith Triplane. He sells kits of several of his designs, which are available from Jing Models.
Paul Stamison constructed an Avro 504 from one of Jin’s kits and did a beautiful job of building it. The 1/24-scale model has an 18-inch wingspan and flies as good as it looks.
Paul won the Best Micro Scale award for his efforts.
Adam Woodworth had some amazing new models. First, he flew his 30-inch wingspan Cartoon Scale C-130, which was done up in the Blue Angels paint scheme to complement his formation of Cartoon Scale F-4s that he flew last year.
The C-130 uses four 7mm brushed motors. The model flew great and was extremely maneuverable. He graciously let me fly the airplane, and I was impressed with it. Adam won the award for the Best Cartoon Scale model.
Adam also had his Imperial Speeder
Bike that looked as though it was right out of the movie Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi! He made the model using parts from a quadcopter and an old Hasbro Power of the Force 12-inch-series speeder bike. He stripped down the bike to save some weight. It was exciting to see the model fly in the gym! Adam was awarded the Best Micro Aircraft award for his outstanding work on this project.
If you want to see some of the action that took place at the event, SKS Video Productions was on hand to film the highlights! You can purchase a copy of NEAT Fair, which includes coverage of the Indoor event, from the SKS Video Productions website.
I would like to thank all of the pilots, the Bergen County Silent Fliers, BSD Micro RC for sponsoring the awards, and Downsville Central School for its support of the event.
SOURCES:
NEAT Fair
www.neatfair.org
BSD Micro RC, LLC
(417) 358-9521
www.bsdmicrorc.com
SKS Video Productions
(800) 988-6488
www.sksvideo.com
Jing Models
contact@jingmodels.com
www.jingmodels.com
Plantraco Microflight
(306) 955-1836
www.microflight.com
