What has more than 500 pilots from around the world, a 4,000-foot-long flightline, impounds more than 600 transmitters, is supposed to start Thursday but normally starts Monday, and logs a few thousand flights?
It’s the International Radio Controlled Helicopter Association (IRCHA) Jamboree!
This 14th edition of the huge, annual event took place August 10-13 at AMA’s International Aeromodeling Center. It was so large this year that all attendance records were broken.
The Jamboree is the largest helicopter event in the world. It is second in overall fly-in attendance only to the fixed-wing Joe Nall event by just a few pilots. The two gatherings are superbly run, and the primary goal is that the participants have a great, safe time. That certainly happened this year!
The Jamboree is flown at the southernmost part of AMA’s expansive property in Muncie, Indiana. The east-west road along the southern property boundary serves as direct access to the event. The flightline is laid out along the northern edge of this road for more than 3,600 feet. Sixteen flight stations are set up; each is a 200 x 200-foot box.
Pilots are required to fly within this box to assure safe operation and not interfere with any other flier. If a pilot decides to fly farther to each side, he or she must push out past the 200-foot box (away from the flightline).
Greg Alderman’s Bergen Intrepid Turbine is powered with a Wren 54. With 8 horsepower at the ready, the model is capable of 3-D aerobatics.
Dwight Schilling (R), a 2007 F3C team member, demonstrated the FAI sequence during a noon demo with caller Paul Giles.
Mark Fadely, Bert Kammerer, Eric Larson, and Bobby Watts make up the “Four Caballeros” flying team.
The center-most box (stage center) is 400 feet wide to allow for factory demonstrations and other organized activities and is typically closed to normal flying. Along the majority of the access road, pilots can park their vehicles and/or trailers directly behind their pit areas. The latecomers may have to park a bit farther away, but it’s never a very far walk from your vehicle to your pit area.
A 20-foot-wide walkway is maintained so that spectators can walk directly behind each pit and have a clear view of the machines so they can ask questions. Even though the pilots line their tents end to end, there is a temporary fence directly behind the pits to keep spectators from walking out onto the flightline.
A huge area that is centrally located behind the flightline contains the main vendor section, transmitter-impound trailer, registration trailer, audio/music trailer, two food vendors, and seminar tents. This area is a hotbed of activity every day and late into the night. Almost everyone calls it the “midway,” and it has much of the same atmosphere.
This is the place to introduce new helicopter equipment. Forty vendors displayed their wares this year, and everyone from major radio manufacturers to local hobby shops attended. Another great aspect of having so many vendors around is that if you break or need any part or piece, you can probably obtain it somewhere along vendor row.
A large public-address (PA) system and enthusiastic announcers kept things moving throughout the day. It was a treat to have Greg Poppel and Darrel Bell (Big D) return to fill that role. Bob Sadler, who is more well known within the fixed-wing ranks, also provided commentary and seemed to be having fun, and IRCHA Secretary Brett Walker and I filled in at times.
Michael George assembles his Synergy N90 kit at a leisurely pace during the four-day event. Tented close to center stage, he didn’t miss any of the action.
Kyle Stacy waits his turn to fly a 3-D demonstration. His Raptor 90SE is one of his favorite freestyle machines.
Music played continuously to keep the mood light, and the same system provided high-energy music for the noontime demonstrations and night-fly competition. And on the subject of the midday demos, wow!
Last year they were changed so that only manufacturers or invited pilots could fly. This was an excellent decision; it made the demos interesting, professional, and fun. You not only get to see the best fliers put on a show, but you also see some great new products shown for the first time by the manufacturers.
Past IRCHA president Ron Kummer serves as Jamboree event director. He and his wife Carol work all year to bring the myriad details together to make the event happen. As you might expect, this is a huge undertaking; Ron and Carol typically arrive the Saturday before the Jamboree to begin setup.
Many volunteers and the IRCHA Board of Directors serve as the labor to keep the gathering running. These workers willingly handle registration, impound, flightline control, raffle prizes, vendor row, and many other details. Several volunteers including John, J.C., and James Zankle; Craig Bradley; me; and many others are on-site by Sunday morning to provide the labor to get things up and running as quickly as possible.
Andy Rummer aggressively demonstrates Mikado Model Helicopters’ LOGO 10 3D to prove the stability and agility of the new V-Bar mechanics system.
Mikado’s virtual flybar (V-Bar) system utilizes CCPM mixing and gyro sensors to electronically stabilize the helicopter.
New to the IRCHA Jamboree was the T-Rex 450 pylon race. Friday’s contest was so popular that a second event was rallied together Saturday.
The AMA grounds crew sets up the AMA-provided tents, brings in tables, helps run wiring, and does a thousand other things. The rest of the IRCHA Board of Directors is on-site by Monday evening to help finish up the remainder of the details, and the Jamboree is typically in full swing by Tuesday morning. That’s not bad for an event that does not officially start until Thursday.
The early arrivals get the choice pit-area locations; flying buddy Craig Bradley and I were set up as soon as we could be. We prefer what I call the “cheap” seats down on the west end. This location gives us the best access to our pit area, which is just past where the vendor line ends.
