Did you know that there are hundreds, perhaps more than a thousand, model aviation tapes and DVDs available? Not many new model pilots do. But there they are anyway. Many manufacturers offer educational videos detailing every subject from basic construction through the fine points of turbine engine tuning. “Blooper” tapes showing spectacular, but sometimes painful to watch, piloting missteps and accidents (read crunch crashes) are also available.

There are many videos covering most of model aviation’s largest events. Events such as the Scale Masters, the Tournament of Champions, Joe Nall and the Jet Rally are fun to watch and educational. One of the largest, and best known, model aviation video manufacturers is SKS Video Productions in Abbottstown, PA. One of their many new videos is a DVD of the 2004 Joe Nall Fly-in.

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Held at Triple Tree Aerodrome in Woodruff, SC, The Joe Nall Fly-in is one of model aviation’s largest events. The 2004 Fly-in hosted over 500 model pilots flying more than 600 aircraft on five flight lines. Pilots came from all over the world as well as from America. German pilots, Spanish pilots, pilots from Argentina and Australia, Canadian pilots and flyers from several other countries all spent a happy few days drilling holes in the warm Carolina skies. There were even three major full-size aerobatic shows this year.

The Joe Nall Fly-in is designed for larger aircraft and is not a competitive event. Pilots are there to have some fun flying their models, to see old friends and to make many new ones. There are also many manufacturers featuring new products. If you ever have the chance to attend, go there. But if you can’t, then let SKS Video Productions bring it to life for you.

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SKS videos have the knack to make you feel you are attending the event. The video work is very high quality, the subject is always handled in detail and all the major facets of the event are fully covered. In fact, you sometimes see more in their videos than you do attending yourself. The photos shown in this brief review are actually monitor photos. If monitor photos are this good, you know the actual DVD photography is excellent.

 
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Put the DVD in the player and let’s drive through the Triple Tree Aerodrome gate (photo 2) for this visit to the 2004 Joe Nall Fly-in. First, find a place to setup shop somewhere in the crowd (photo 3). Then put your airplane together and get out to the flightline (photo 4).

 
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Walk down the flightline and meet Karlheinz Ruf from Germany. His new Revolution has a 136 in. wingspan and is 46% the size of its full-size counterpart. Actually, that should be the other way around. The full-size aircraft is 218% the size of the model. Why, because the model was built and flown first to pave the way for the full-size aircraft.