Tweet
Zone 2012 A review as it should be
temporarily removed . buy Model helicopter world october 2012 to read it
...now reposted I dont think it will affect sales
Zone 2012 A review as it should be
Call me bias I dont care,Ill try and be as objective as possible.
Zone 2012. How I saw it.
Friday
The fun fly a precursor to the competition and a chance for the public to fly. It was held in the field adjacent to the "Zone village"(A pub/Inn with rooms , camp site , and large garden area). It started around 10.00am, The grass had been cut and was reasonably short certainly enough for the larger heli's and the smaller 450ish size flyers just had to pick their spot carefully.A few hay rolls were left in the field but these were moved aside and that gave plenty of room.It was a quiet start with a few of the comp pilots doing test and set up flights and a few visitors taking their chance to fly along side them.The day continued with a steady stream of flights and although it couldn't be called busy there was not a moment when there were no heli's flying. Evening came and things got a little more hectic and the planned cut off time of 8.00pm came and went! It continued on till around 9.15pm.
Saturday.
the morning of the competition, and the weather was bright,sunny but the wind did no favours at all. It was going to be around 20mph and straight into the pilots faces, not ideal, the early sun was also just to their right so they had that to contend with as well.
A quick briefing for the pilots and things were underway more or less on time.Duncan Osbourne as the reigning Zone champion kicked things off with a Steady not particularly crowd pleasing flight but still very technical and presice.(Exactly as it should be done,clinical, you need the points but you also need to keep something for the later rounds,not to mention your machine nobody wants to total their heli straight off even if they have spares and back ups.)
There is no point in me listing each pilot/flight and it would get fairly repetitive as each guy followed suit.Needless to say some stood out and some had disasters,not of the poor performance variety though just bad luck in the conditions and of course through mechanical failure.(A couple of note were stefan simmons who didn't hold back and despite two crashes in his first rounds got through by acquiring enough points to get himself into the next round prior to the bumps, top lad)(pete bedborough who flew a borrowed heli as his was not delivered by couriers on time,sadly had to drop out with a mechanical failure, Man i can tell you that was hard to watch he so wanted to impress and was very sporting to even get out to the line considering. Gutted for you squeaky!)All pilots put on a good show and I honestly dont think any single one could be picked out as poor or lacking in the required skills.
The day was broken up by short intervals of aircraft flying, Turbine jets,a raptor f22 and a boomerang I believe.Also a couple of prop driven planes an extra300 and a Yak. These guys put on a good show with some prop hanging and general aerobatics and the jets with some good fast flypasts a lovely smell and noise!
the wind slowly dropped later in the afternoon and things ran slightly over by about 45minutes
Saturday night
After leaving the museum everyone headed back to "the village"(for the posh people)..the pub (for the rest). a barbecue was already underway and the local rc boat club were doing there thing on the "village" lake,sadly they had already consumed most of the burgers and so by 7.00 that was more or less over! So the evening flying started,within 5 minutes a complaint had been made about the loud music by a local resident trying to watch the voice on telly so It ended up being a quiet affair.....boring? hell no! as it got dark the madness set in or was it drink ? who knows? Duncan Boisson did a spectacular night flight in just the light of a couple of spot lamps. Jack Bishop did the funniest most amazing flight with Rachels wing set up with lights/leds . the only way to describe it would be ..,frighteningly,brilliantly,crazyly,gobsmackingly bloomin hilarious.Stu Smith did a short lit up night flight but loose lighting strips cut that short.(Dan has a video on facebook If my internet speed will allow I'll get it over to youtube and you will see just how good it was) And of course afterwards it was back to the bar to be entertained by the madmen that are the pitch brothers
Sunday
Anticipation was building and the weather gods were smiling. the wind was light 5mph across the line this time, the early low sun masked by very light cloud.Perfect! Now it was on!
The competition progressed with each flight getting edgier(I hope thats a real word) and edgier,The pilots revealing more and more of their skills and bravery as the day progressed.There were a few surprises as pilots we picked out between our selves as through or not,defied our opinions and pulled stunning stuff out of the bag, many risking going for the crowd appeal rather than technical skill.Tomas Klickanic accidentally beating off his canopy and skids but still completing an incredible auto and landing! Siomon Von Baur Had the crowd screaming by continuing to the end of his flight with delaminating blades after a scrape on the deck and not easing up in the slightest.And of course some played safe and very technical and precise collecting points along the way.
Today saw the plane side of the event sporting the Yak the extra and an f14 jet . Again sterling flights and Giving the judges time to correlate the scores and results for the next rounds.Heli Harry at only 10years only also put on two spectacular demo flights for horizon hobby using the new Blade 450X picking this young man as a demo pilot was a clever move by H.H he will inspire many many youngsters into the hobby i hope. anyway.. on wards we go.
Running over by about an hour we finaly came to the final. Jamie Robertson went first after loosing the coin toss and been put up by Duncan Boisson...Tactics?...Of course!
Jamie Nailed a fabulous flight and got a huge cheer from the crowd,time for Duncan to step up,He knew he had to go for It,and thats exactly what he did,it was looking good but sadly about a minute in he clipped the deck and it was over.Jamie I have to say was exceedingly sporting and dashed out to the flight line to give his opponent a big hug and hand shake(that kid has impeccable manners)
Jamie then invited Duncan to share his victory flight(generous as well) To see the results of that find the video's what can I say? except being there next to the flight line beats any youtube clip into a cocked hat!
A raffle and a short presentation ceremony followed as it over ran again and we had to clear the museum.
The venue
It was held at the Fleet air arm museum and the RC flight line was actually on the flight line of RNAS Yeovilton an active military airbase.An area was fenced off for crowds Which was quite narrow about 10yds and around 80/100 yds long. The pilots had set up areas inside the museum and a pits area outside in front of the fence so visitors had the chance to get up close and personal.Trade stands were placed in the display hall before the exit to the flight line, now dont forget this is a open museum so room between exhibits was at a premium and had to be used as best as the traders could(nothing was moved for them and no exceptions were made.If I can recall them All there were
Hobby Hangar (who had a large amount of stock on display and for sale,Please remember this was primarily an RC show not a helicopter competition ,Zone was an add on.so they had cars, boats, planes, and heli's on sale.)
optifuel/power
Andy had fuel for sale and I'm not certain but I think his batteries were just display items(i'm sure someone will jump on me if that is wrong)
Scorpion
a display of motors esc electronics etc and a neat range of clothing.
Dirtydog sunglasses for sale but extrodinarily expensive. Are they a big designer name? I dont know, but they must know their market I presume?
Horizon Hobby
I think they must have had just about every model they provide on display.(Lets not forget these guys arn't the retailers they wern't there to sell to the public directly they were there to show there wares)
Spin Blade Had a large selection of their blade not exactly on display but rather laid out in their boxes(which they were happy for the public to open and inspect.(unusual way of doing things I think!)
TSA helicopters displaying their new range of machines, again not selling as i believe they are still in development?
My mind is blank! any more anyone can add?
A few points that have popped up in other threads that I feel I should address
Tareq
as we all know now he couldn't make it. this was a massive blow he was after all the main attraction. a post did appear on heliaddicts however not on the zone site. bit of an oversite there i think. But it was a very busy time for the organizers perhaps thats why? However you'll be happy to know he was there in spirit and Krunnder Rassmussen made sure he had a good look around the museum and meet as many people as possible(look forward to some very funny and very irreverent pictures emerging in the near future.you didn't get away Scott free Tareq!
The PA system
I thought it sounded ok I'm no sound engineer but to me it was acceptable personally I didnt find it too loud and at times lets face it I was a lot closer to those speakers than most(OMG perhaps I'm going deaf!),Nick did a good job of commentating it must be difficult having to keep talking all day without repeating yourself and lets face it the guy didn't have any brief nor script so it was ALL of the cuff
Facilities
The only real food available was right at the front of the museum in the restaurant. Although I didn't need to sample it I believe it was a tad expensive. I would like to have seen maybe a burger bar and ice cream van( Did the museum stipulate no food sellers I dont know?) on the sunday they did put a small sweet stall and drinks cooler at the rear near the flight line.)
Value for money
I hope every one agree's it was.
Technically it was free! Every one that attended got it for the same price as visitors to the museum paid last week and will pay next week with nothing for the extra entertainment provided added to the entrance fee.If Zone had not been held the RC Airshow would have been just the jets and planes
And one last little gripe of my own,the museum staff!OMG. I hope they didn't speak tothe general public like they did to us,constantly picking fault with small oversites,one pilot accidentally spilt fuel ( an egg cup full no more,)that resulted in a radio conversation between two of them standing less that twenty feet apart followed by a ten minute lecture for me!Later I also learnt that a fire extinguisher stood in the sun is a fire hazard!Guys you need to relax a bit maybe.
Thanks
Aidie, Stu ,and Graham Smith. whose brain child this format was.I think the Idea behind Zone is to bring back big international names and competition to Britain and to promote our sport/hobby to that end.... Result boys!
Rich and Jane Smith...A.K.A HOBBY HANGAR who have undeniably supported their lads through out this last year at I would not doubt inconsiderable expense! Massive respect to you two.
All the pilots who attended.... you were the entertainment after all.
The guys of the South West Helicopter Club... I am extremely proud to have worked with you on this we had no real brief and it was all done off the cuff with us turning out on saturday morning at half 8 and James sort of became team leader we just followed his ques!Big respect to you mate.And last but definatley not least James's wife Nicky moon who helped indoors and took charge of the VIP area.
My son Dan what can I say I am massively proud of him ,he ran the line for two days solid stood out in that heat without flinching or complaining. and would not leave his post for a break no matter how much we pleaded.(I think he secretly liked having the power to eliminate a pilot should they have breached the safety line!) Thank God none did!
I have deliberately not used any emoticons or smilies throughout this post . there are No sarcastic digs at anyone or humerus jibes at previous posts or threads. I can and will always accept constructive criticism However I will Not Accept Inaccurate Rubbish written in Haste.A review after all has the power to persuade or dissuade someone from attending one of these events and maybe robbing them of an experience of a life time which Zone for me was!
...now reposted I dont think it will affect salesZone 2012 A review as it should be
Call me bias I dont care,Ill try and be as objective as possible.
Zone 2012. How I saw it.
Friday
The fun fly a precursor to the competition and a chance for the public to fly. It was held in the field adjacent to the "Zone village"(A pub/Inn with rooms , camp site , and large garden area). It started around 10.00am, The grass had been cut and was reasonably short certainly enough for the larger heli's and the smaller 450ish size flyers just had to pick their spot carefully.A few hay rolls were left in the field but these were moved aside and that gave plenty of room.It was a quiet start with a few of the comp pilots doing test and set up flights and a few visitors taking their chance to fly along side them.The day continued with a steady stream of flights and although it couldn't be called busy there was not a moment when there were no heli's flying. Evening came and things got a little more hectic and the planned cut off time of 8.00pm came and went! It continued on till around 9.15pm.
Saturday.
the morning of the competition, and the weather was bright,sunny but the wind did no favours at all. It was going to be around 20mph and straight into the pilots faces, not ideal, the early sun was also just to their right so they had that to contend with as well.
A quick briefing for the pilots and things were underway more or less on time.Duncan Osbourne as the reigning Zone champion kicked things off with a Steady not particularly crowd pleasing flight but still very technical and presice.(Exactly as it should be done,clinical, you need the points but you also need to keep something for the later rounds,not to mention your machine nobody wants to total their heli straight off even if they have spares and back ups.)
There is no point in me listing each pilot/flight and it would get fairly repetitive as each guy followed suit.Needless to say some stood out and some had disasters,not of the poor performance variety though just bad luck in the conditions and of course through mechanical failure.(A couple of note were stefan simmons who didn't hold back and despite two crashes in his first rounds got through by acquiring enough points to get himself into the next round prior to the bumps, top lad)(pete bedborough who flew a borrowed heli as his was not delivered by couriers on time,sadly had to drop out with a mechanical failure, Man i can tell you that was hard to watch he so wanted to impress and was very sporting to even get out to the line considering. Gutted for you squeaky!)All pilots put on a good show and I honestly dont think any single one could be picked out as poor or lacking in the required skills.
The day was broken up by short intervals of aircraft flying, Turbine jets,a raptor f22 and a boomerang I believe.Also a couple of prop driven planes an extra300 and a Yak. These guys put on a good show with some prop hanging and general aerobatics and the jets with some good fast flypasts a lovely smell and noise!
the wind slowly dropped later in the afternoon and things ran slightly over by about 45minutes
Saturday night
After leaving the museum everyone headed back to "the village"(for the posh people)..the pub (for the rest). a barbecue was already underway and the local rc boat club were doing there thing on the "village" lake,sadly they had already consumed most of the burgers and so by 7.00 that was more or less over! So the evening flying started,within 5 minutes a complaint had been made about the loud music by a local resident trying to watch the voice on telly so It ended up being a quiet affair.....boring? hell no! as it got dark the madness set in or was it drink ? who knows? Duncan Boisson did a spectacular night flight in just the light of a couple of spot lamps. Jack Bishop did the funniest most amazing flight with Rachels wing set up with lights/leds . the only way to describe it would be ..,frighteningly,brilliantly,crazyly,gobsmackingly bloomin hilarious.Stu Smith did a short lit up night flight but loose lighting strips cut that short.(Dan has a video on facebook If my internet speed will allow I'll get it over to youtube and you will see just how good it was) And of course afterwards it was back to the bar to be entertained by the madmen that are the pitch brothers
Sunday
Anticipation was building and the weather gods were smiling. the wind was light 5mph across the line this time, the early low sun masked by very light cloud.Perfect! Now it was on!
The competition progressed with each flight getting edgier(I hope thats a real word) and edgier,The pilots revealing more and more of their skills and bravery as the day progressed.There were a few surprises as pilots we picked out between our selves as through or not,defied our opinions and pulled stunning stuff out of the bag, many risking going for the crowd appeal rather than technical skill.Tomas Klickanic accidentally beating off his canopy and skids but still completing an incredible auto and landing! Siomon Von Baur Had the crowd screaming by continuing to the end of his flight with delaminating blades after a scrape on the deck and not easing up in the slightest.And of course some played safe and very technical and precise collecting points along the way.
Today saw the plane side of the event sporting the Yak the extra and an f14 jet . Again sterling flights and Giving the judges time to correlate the scores and results for the next rounds.Heli Harry at only 10years only also put on two spectacular demo flights for horizon hobby using the new Blade 450X picking this young man as a demo pilot was a clever move by H.H he will inspire many many youngsters into the hobby i hope. anyway.. on wards we go.
Running over by about an hour we finaly came to the final. Jamie Robertson went first after loosing the coin toss and been put up by Duncan Boisson...Tactics?...Of course!
Jamie Nailed a fabulous flight and got a huge cheer from the crowd,time for Duncan to step up,He knew he had to go for It,and thats exactly what he did,it was looking good but sadly about a minute in he clipped the deck and it was over.Jamie I have to say was exceedingly sporting and dashed out to the flight line to give his opponent a big hug and hand shake(that kid has impeccable manners)
Jamie then invited Duncan to share his victory flight(generous as well) To see the results of that find the video's what can I say? except being there next to the flight line beats any youtube clip into a cocked hat!
A raffle and a short presentation ceremony followed as it over ran again and we had to clear the museum.
The venue
It was held at the Fleet air arm museum and the RC flight line was actually on the flight line of RNAS Yeovilton an active military airbase.An area was fenced off for crowds Which was quite narrow about 10yds and around 80/100 yds long. The pilots had set up areas inside the museum and a pits area outside in front of the fence so visitors had the chance to get up close and personal.Trade stands were placed in the display hall before the exit to the flight line, now dont forget this is a open museum so room between exhibits was at a premium and had to be used as best as the traders could(nothing was moved for them and no exceptions were made.If I can recall them All there were
Hobby Hangar (who had a large amount of stock on display and for sale,Please remember this was primarily an RC show not a helicopter competition ,Zone was an add on.so they had cars, boats, planes, and heli's on sale.)
optifuel/power
Andy had fuel for sale and I'm not certain but I think his batteries were just display items(i'm sure someone will jump on me if that is wrong)
Scorpion
a display of motors esc electronics etc and a neat range of clothing.
Dirtydog sunglasses for sale but extrodinarily expensive. Are they a big designer name? I dont know, but they must know their market I presume?
Horizon Hobby
I think they must have had just about every model they provide on display.(Lets not forget these guys arn't the retailers they wern't there to sell to the public directly they were there to show there wares)
Spin Blade Had a large selection of their blade not exactly on display but rather laid out in their boxes(which they were happy for the public to open and inspect.(unusual way of doing things I think!)
TSA helicopters displaying their new range of machines, again not selling as i believe they are still in development?
My mind is blank! any more anyone can add?
A few points that have popped up in other threads that I feel I should address
Tareq
as we all know now he couldn't make it. this was a massive blow he was after all the main attraction. a post did appear on heliaddicts however not on the zone site. bit of an oversite there i think. But it was a very busy time for the organizers perhaps thats why? However you'll be happy to know he was there in spirit and Krunnder Rassmussen made sure he had a good look around the museum and meet as many people as possible(look forward to some very funny and very irreverent pictures emerging in the near future.you didn't get away Scott free Tareq!
The PA system
I thought it sounded ok I'm no sound engineer but to me it was acceptable personally I didnt find it too loud and at times lets face it I was a lot closer to those speakers than most(OMG perhaps I'm going deaf!),Nick did a good job of commentating it must be difficult having to keep talking all day without repeating yourself and lets face it the guy didn't have any brief nor script so it was ALL of the cuff
Facilities
The only real food available was right at the front of the museum in the restaurant. Although I didn't need to sample it I believe it was a tad expensive. I would like to have seen maybe a burger bar and ice cream van( Did the museum stipulate no food sellers I dont know?) on the sunday they did put a small sweet stall and drinks cooler at the rear near the flight line.)
Value for money
I hope every one agree's it was.
Technically it was free! Every one that attended got it for the same price as visitors to the museum paid last week and will pay next week with nothing for the extra entertainment provided added to the entrance fee.If Zone had not been held the RC Airshow would have been just the jets and planes
And one last little gripe of my own,the museum staff!OMG. I hope they didn't speak tothe general public like they did to us,constantly picking fault with small oversites,one pilot accidentally spilt fuel ( an egg cup full no more,)that resulted in a radio conversation between two of them standing less that twenty feet apart followed by a ten minute lecture for me!Later I also learnt that a fire extinguisher stood in the sun is a fire hazard!Guys you need to relax a bit maybe.
Thanks
Aidie, Stu ,and Graham Smith. whose brain child this format was.I think the Idea behind Zone is to bring back big international names and competition to Britain and to promote our sport/hobby to that end.... Result boys!
Rich and Jane Smith...A.K.A HOBBY HANGAR who have undeniably supported their lads through out this last year at I would not doubt inconsiderable expense! Massive respect to you two.
All the pilots who attended.... you were the entertainment after all.
The guys of the South West Helicopter Club... I am extremely proud to have worked with you on this we had no real brief and it was all done off the cuff with us turning out on saturday morning at half 8 and James sort of became team leader we just followed his ques!Big respect to you mate.And last but definatley not least James's wife Nicky moon who helped indoors and took charge of the VIP area.
My son Dan what can I say I am massively proud of him ,he ran the line for two days solid stood out in that heat without flinching or complaining. and would not leave his post for a break no matter how much we pleaded.(I think he secretly liked having the power to eliminate a pilot should they have breached the safety line!) Thank God none did!
I have deliberately not used any emoticons or smilies throughout this post . there are No sarcastic digs at anyone or humerus jibes at previous posts or threads. I can and will always accept constructive criticism However I will Not Accept Inaccurate Rubbish written in Haste.A review after all has the power to persuade or dissuade someone from attending one of these events and maybe robbing them of an experience of a life time which Zone for me was!
Comment