As the first rains of the Fall season visited us here in the Bay Area, over a dozen men and women not willing to let the weather defeat their R/C flying desire gathered at the MVP Arena in San Jose for an indoor flying event organized by Pete Lane and sponsored by AeroMicro. Scheduled to run from 7:30 am to 9:30 am on Saturday November 1st, anxious pilots gathered in the cloud darkened parking lot as early as 7:00 am. One pilot, Allen Strahm, offered the early risers a delicous assortment of fresh donuts. Filled with Christmas morning like excitement, the pilots were finally allowed into the arena where they found their new weatherproof flying field... a crash friendly astro-turf covered indoor soccer field with a netting that covers the ceiling and hangs from all the walls.

Many of the pilots, although friends on the BayRC.com Forums, were meeting in person for the first time. This was made easier since Ed W. had the foresight to bring name tags. With ample space in the arena, everyone jumped right into flying. But it wasn't long though before order was restored and a pilots meeting was called.

After the brief pilots meeting, the field was turned over to Chris and his T-REX 450SE. We were all quite impressed with the show he put on for us. Sounding like a huge nest of angry hornets, his helicopter danced hypnotically in front of us. Masterfully, Chris guided the helicopter through a routine that included flying inverted just above the ground. The crowd was all oohs and ahs during the performance which ended in a big round of applause as Chris finished with an autorotation landing.

With the half-time show over, the pilots returned to the field bringing with them a bevy of aircraft. Two of the more popular craft were the Blade mCX ultra-micro helicopter and the Vapor ultra-micro airplane. These craft, costing less than $150 with a 2.4Ghz radio, seemed best suited for flying at this venue due to their small size, light weight and ease of control.

At one point during the flying session, pilots tied a paper tail to their Vapor's and did battle with each other. It was amazing to watch this tumbling mass of planes float about the center of the arena as pilots tried to take the tail off of their opponents plane. This melee inspired numerous grunts and shouts of victory from pilots standing on the flight line.

Planes would collide with each other during the battle and drop to the ground. More often than not, there was no damage to either plane and the pilots would quickly launch their plane back into the fray.

Sometimes the damage was severe and, in at least one case, repair was not an option. Not to be discouraged, one particular pilot stopped at the hobby shop on the way home and bought a replacement for his battle damaged plane. He has sworn to return for more combat at the next event.

Although the two hours went by quickly, it felt like it lasted longer. There was so much going on and so many people to talk with that it was like a whole day had been crammed into one morning. Judging by the smiles on the pilots' faces as the field was relenquished to a group of young soccer players, I would say the event was a huge success.

Thanks go to Pete Lane for pulling together the event and to Perry at AeroMicro for paying half of the arena rental cost. Flying these aircraft at a large indoor arena and beating the weather outside is well worth the price of admission. Though, meeting new friends and sharing your passion for R/C flying is what an event like this is really about.

If you are interested in learning more about flying at an indoor event, join us at the Indoor Flying forum. BayRC.com has over 800 registered members that participate in all aspects of R/C flight...thermal gliders, hotliners, hand launch, warbirds, electric helicopters, 3D planes and more. If it's radio controlled and flies, someone on the BayRC forums has flown it!

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