TUCSON AEROBATIC SHOOTOUT

Tuscon Aero shoot 11/6/08 10:55 AM Page 2
TUCSON AEROBATIC SHOOTOUT
Skill and precision hit the mark at this aerobatic competition
by John Reid PHOTOGRAPHS BY JOHN REID This year’s Tucson Aerobatic Shootout Invitational was held on October 8-
12, 2008 at the Tucson International Modelplex Park Association (TIMPA)
flying site right next to Saguaro National Park. The “Shootout” has become
an international IMAC event and this year’s invitational attracted 77 pilots
from all over the world. Pilots from Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Germany
and Ireland all brought their best game in an effort to take the
Shootout title back home with them, but pros from Massachusetts, Florida,
Ohio, Oklahoma, Illinois, North Carolina, Michigan, Kentucky, Indiana,
Idaho, Louisiana, Texas, Washington, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah,
Nevada, California and Arizona were on hand to make sure that Shootout
trophy stayed in the U.S.
Quique Somenzini waves to the crowd after finishing
a great round of flying.
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For the seventh year in a row, the Aerobatic
Shootout Invitational was hosted by the
Tucson International Modelplex Park Association
(TIMPA) club. This club has one of
the nicest flying sites around and includes
a 750-foot long by 70-foot wide paved runway
with a steel Ramada to provide shade
and shelter to all of the participants.
Although the site is second to none, what
really makes the TIMPA club stand out is its
fantastic volunteers. These people keep
things running smoothly and did everything
from running the contest and
parking the cars to even controlling the
dust. This group deserves a big pat on the
back for all of their efforts.
Of course, an event this big really
depends on a hardworking group of core
volunteers, and the Shootout has some of
the best. Contest director Michael Marcellin
Quique Somenzini flying his
Python 100 in the Kimball
paint scheme during the
40 minute freestyle.
Frazer Briggs traveled all
the way from New Zealand
to compete in the
shootout. Here he is performing
a nice inverted
flyby with his PBG Extra
260.
Here are just some of the
planes that lined the pit
area of the Shootout.
kept the event organized and well run. Chief
judge Brian Howard and assistant chief
judge Jim Dornberger made sure the official
event scoring went smoothly. Anna Wood,
the official webmaster/scorekeeper, posted
numbers from each round to the internet at
blinding speed. This way, participants and
people from all over the world were updated
with the current contest results.
Desert Aircraft (desertaircraft.com) was
the major sponsor of this event and gave
away a number of motors in every class.
Desert Aircraft’s Dave Johnson and his crew
also did a lot of the behind-the-scenes work,
such as picking up people from the airport
weeks before the event and helping them to
find lodging and a place to practice. Desert
Aircraft stores some of the international
pilots’ planes so they don’t have to ship
them back and forth. Imagine what the cost
of that would be!
TAKING TO THE AIR
In the past, the Tucson Aerobatic Shootout
has had to battle some nasty desert weather
and this year was no exception. Luckily, the
bad weather only reared its ugly head once
and that was on Saturday. The other days
were outstanding and perfect for this contest
and each pilot flew two rounds per day.
On Sunday, only the invitational top 10
and 4-minute freestyle pilots flew. To have
that many pilots fly so many rounds over
five days, being very organized is crucial.
The scores were on the web right after they
were completed.
Saturday’s weather blew in with high
winds, a drop of about 20 degrees and a
number of dust devils moving across the
desert. The high winds caused the cancellation
of the 4-minute freestyle, which was a
good call. Many pilots went out before the
noon show with their freestyle planes and
performed anyway and the crowd really
appreciated it. They all did an outstanding
job fighting the high winds while flying
rather low. On the next day, Sunday, the
weather couldn’t have been better for flying
and the event started on time. That day the
crowd was treated to two rounds of invitational
and 4-minute freestyle flying.
During lunch on Friday, Saturday and
Sunday, everyone at the shootout was
treated to a full-size aerobatic flying show
by Matt Chapman in his Cap 580. Matt did
some impressive things, especially considering
he was physically sitting inside the
plane and not on the ground like when we
fly! During his performance, Matt kept in
continuous communication with Frank
Noll Jr. of Great Planes. This pilot banter
was of course broadcasted over the PA system
for the crowd’s enjoyment. Matt
challenged any pilot there to perform a
longer and slower slow roll than the one he
was about to perform. I have to tell you, it
was a thing of beauty. He traveled across the
sky from one end to the other, well beyond
the boundary lines of the field.
The shootout is known to have some of
the latest and greatest in airplane design
with power and performance being an
absolute must, particularly when competing
at this level. Nowhere is this more relevant
than in the 4-minute freestyle where pilots
ask their planes to do things they were simply
not designed for—all while keeping in
time to choreographed music. In addition,
the 4-minute freestyle had 24 of the best
pilots (largest of all the classes) in the world
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Tuscon Aero shoot 11/6/08 10:55 AM Page 4
TUSCON AEROBATIC SHOOTOOUT
Bill Hempel’s giant
cub is ready for its
debut in the fourminute
freestyle.
competing for the top spot. You can see
why the pilot would want the best possible
plane for that event. That is why
many people were scratching their heads
when they saw the plane Bill Hempel was
going to compete with in the 4-minute
freestyle. He used his 50-percent Clipped
Wing J-3 Piper Cub powered by a 3-W
200cc engine. This plane has a 180-inch
wingspan (15 feet) and a 142-inch long
fuselage with a weight of 60 pounds. Its
performance was spectacular and Bill
had the crowd on their feet. His Cub was
performing all kinds of 3D maneuvers,
including some rolling harriers and hovering.
Although he did put in a winning
performance, he did not score as high
with the judges as he did with the crowd.
AND THE WINNER IS…
This year’s Tucson Shootout finally ended
with some new and familiar faces taking the
podium. In the Sportsman class, Kyle Goodwine
came out on top and Cody L. McLean
took first in Intermediate. In Advanced, the
top dog was young Ryan Archer with Adam
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Chris Brislin from Queensland,
Australia rehearses the unknown
before his flight.
Bry netting the Unlimited top spot. For the
fourth year in a row, Mark Leseberg proved
that he is the man to beat, winning over
Bernd Beschorner by a mere 52 points out
of 4,000 total points. This year, Mark also
added the 4-minute freestyle event to his
long list of victories, and won that contest
by 53 points out of 2,000. This is an
amazing accomplishment, especially
considering that Mark was pitted against
some of the best pilots in the world in
freestyle, including some truly outstanding
young pilots with unbelievable
skills.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Plans are already in the works for next
year’s Tucson Aerobatic Shootout and it’s
looking like it will just keep getting better
and better. The names are changing on
the lineup of contestants with younger
pilots making their move for the top spot.
Mark will have his hands full next year,
but I’m sure he’ll be up to the challenge.
If you have never been to the Tucson Aerobatic
Shootout, you owe it to yourself to
check out this event in person. Even after
attending this event for years, I still catch
myself saying “Wow!” at least a couple of
times during the freestyles. For information
on next year’s Tucson Aerobatic Shootout,
go to desertaircraft.com.
SPONSORS Desert Aircraft, Ace Hobby Distributors, Advanced Ceramics Research, AeroWorks, AirWild Hobbies, Big Plane Stands, Bill Hempel, Carden Aircraft,
Chief Aircraft, Composite ARF, Dalton Aviation, DownOnTheDeck.com, Duralite Flight Systems, Emcotec, Exclusiv Modellbau, Fliton, Flying Giants, Futaba, Great
Planes, Greeve Exhaust Systems, Higher Plane Productions, Hobbico, Horizon Hobby, JR, JTEC Radiowave, Kirbys Kustom Vinyl Graphics, Krill/Skyline Aviation, KS
Exhaust Systems, Larry Arsenau, Mejzlik Modellbau, MTW Exhaust Systems, PBG Composites, Peak Electronics, PowerBox Systems, Prop Wash Video, Slimline
Manufacturing, Smart-Fly, SWB Manufacturing, TruTurn, UPS, Vess Propellers, Wild Berry Productions, Wing Bags by Caroline
To the cheers of the crowd,
Sean McMurtry brings his
AeroWorks Extra 260 42%
right down on the deck for
a nice low hover.
Jeffrey Szueber, Jr.
performs a nice low
harrier roll with his
Extreme Katana S.
Planes lined up waiting for
their turn in the air; it was
this way every day at the
shootout.
ONE OF OUR OWN
Jason Benson is a name you may have noticed
many times as a regular contributor to Model
Airplane News and Backyard Flyer. This year,
Jason decided to compete in the IMAC competitions
in the Sportsman class, and he did so in a
big way. At the beginning of the year, Jason
attended 11 IMAC contests in California, Nevada,
Arizona and Texas so he could qualify for the
Shootout. These efforts paid off—in addition to
winning the Southwestern Championship and the
Southwest Region Season Point Title Challenge,
Jason netted six first places, one second place
and one third place finish. All of these victories
gave Jason the second highest qualifying ranking
points in his class at the Shootout. It’s been
quite a first year for Jason and we can’t wait to
see what he does next year!
FEBRUARY 2009 5