MICRO-FLYING
The NEAT Fair is held each year at the beautiful Peaceful Valley campsite.
NEAT FAIR 2023
By Joe Malinchak | joemal@echoes.net
THE 2023 Northeast Electric Aircraft Technology (NEAT) Fair was held September 14-17, 2023, and it was memorable. After having a very busy summer and completing all of my upgrade training on the A320, I was looking forward to my September vacation and the NEAT Fair.
I didn’t have much time to work on new projects, but the NEAT Fair is more about spending time with some good friends than building new airplanes. It is fun, however, to show off our latest projects and share ideas about new ones as we inspire each other to see what we can build next.
Vapor Games
Every year, the Jersey Coast Sport Fliers (JCSF) holds the Vapor Games on the Thursday night of NEAT in the big-top tent. The Vapor Games is a fun-spirited contest, and the JCSF crew does a wonderful job of organizing and running the event. The theme for this year was Halloween. The tent was well decorated, and several people were even dressed up in costumes.
The event featured two separate competitions with a fly-off of the winners of each one. The first event had each pilot fly through hoops that were suspended from the ceiling of the tent. They had a minute to rack up as many points as possible for each hoop they flew through. This year, a handicap was added and all of the previous winners had to wear an eye-patch. It was fun to watch! Spencer Weigand won this event flying his Mini Vapor.
Next up was a Pylon race around the tent poles. Each contestant had a minute to make as many laps around the poles as possible. Devin McGrath won this event flying his Vapor. For the fly-off event, there was a limbo contest to see how many times they could fly under the limbo pole in a minute. Devin McGrath won this event as well, making him the Vapor Games champion.
This event is great fun, and I am already looking forward to flying in next year’s Vapor Games!
Mike Cripps and his wife, Sandy, flew some beautiful models at this year’s Indoor Night at NEAT.
Mark Berardo landed his airplane right on the orange cone, winning Friday’s warbird mass-launch event with his micro model.
Halloween was the theme for the Vapor Games, which was held in the JCSF big-top tent. It was a fun-spirited contest.
At the Field
The weather for the event was perfect, although it was a little windy each day that I attended. The wind died down in the evening, so I did get to fly some small airplanes. I was also able to participate in the mass warbird launch right before heading to the indoor event.
The mass warbird launch is a sight to behold, with all of the airplanes flying at the same time. Each pilot pays $5 to fly. Music is played, and when it stops for the second time, you have 30 seconds to land as close to one of the orange cones as possible. The pilot who lands the closest wins the money. Mark Berardo won Friday’s mass-launch event flying a micro RC airplane!
Indoor Night at NEAT
The Indoor Night at NEAT event was held in the beautiful Downsville Central School gym. The school does a wonderful job of supporting our efforts to put on this event. I want to thank the school for allowing us to hold the event there throughout the years.
We have a small but dedicated group of modelers who fly some cutting-edge, micro-size models. Mike Cripps and his wife, Sandy, are among them and flew some amazing models, including a 6.25-inch wingspan Cootie; a 1/100-scale, 5.3-inch wingspan F-22 Raptor; and a 1/72-scale Zero. I really liked Sandy’s 19-inch wingspan Messerschmitt Me 209 V1 prewar German racer. The model features laser-cut balsa construction and Solarfilm Lite covering.
Gordon Johnson built a scale model of John Watkins’ great-flying, 28-inch wingspan Min-E-Bipe. Gordon’s model has a 16-inch wingspan and he calls it the Micro-E-Bipe. The Micro-E-Bipe flies as well as John’s larger version.
I had fun flying my new molded carbon-fiber, twin-motor biplane, as well as my CO2-powered Cartoon-Scale L-4 Cub.
The NEAT Fair, as well as the Indoor Night at NEAT event, are worth attending if you are looking for some good modeling fun. I always see and learn something new. You can view some video highlights from the event on my YouTube channel, listed in “Sources.”
SOURCES:
NEAT Fair
www.neatfair.org
Joe Malinchak’s YouTube channel
www.youtube.com/user/joemal214/featured
