If you were not there, we missed you and sincerely hope next year we’ll see you in the tow line. In 2011, a wonderful time was had by over 125 pilots and spectators at the JR Aerotow USA. Folks came from as far way as Australia, many from California, and a good group of attendees were there for the very first time. Team Horizon and their families went all out to produce their best event yet!
The “official” start was Thursday, but flying began on Tuesday evening with a few hardcore pilots showing up early. Wednesday dawned beautifully and flying took place all day long, ending about 8:30 that evening. As Wednesday rolled on, many pilots began to arrive and stake claim to their favorite “pit areas,” setting up tents, tables and flags.
RcAeroTowing anchored the right side of pit row for five great days
Thursday began with registration and a pilots meeting. By the large number of pilots at this day-one briefing, it was clear the tug pilots were in for a long day. Within the hour, there were two spectacular new Hangar 9 Piper Pawnee tugs sporting DA 100 motors up front in the sky at the same time, each with a sleek sailplane in tow. This seemed to be the standard for the entire weekend. As for registration, the goodies bag was once again stocked this year and included the annual custom tee shirt. What’s more, Horizon also included an aluminum transmitter case for every pilot!
As each hour passed, more cars and trailers arrived in the parking area and even more sailplanes were assembled and laid out across the infield. At the peak, over a quarter million dollars of hardware was on display. At a few peak lift periods, the waiting line for tows increased to 16-18 planes with pilots itching to get them airborne, but Team Horizon responded, fired up another tug and the line was quickly dispatched one at a time some 500 meters in the sky above the field.
Four identically-prepared Hangar 9 Piper Pawnees did towing duty during the entire event
Peter Goldsmith, the leader of Team Horizon provided a personal summary of the weekend. “What an awesome event, wow I couldn’t believe how much you guys flew! Here are some rough figures, these are of course very conservative estimates.”
- Rough estimate of models were around 170
- Amount of fuel we went through 48 gallons. 12 gallons per tow plane.
- Amount of tows per day 272
- Amount of potatos eaten Saturday night at the party 20lbs
- Happy faces 100’s
Peter added, ” Big thanks to the Tow team: Craig David, JD, and Wayne, what a dependable crew. With 1 hour of flight duration I got to have more of a break in-between towing duties, which was nice. Another point worth mentioning was the level of pilot skills this year. There were almost no incidents which is a testament to the level of pilot skills. Big thanks for Len and Steve for rustling the trees and some great momentum going this year and of course my buddies from Minnesota, thanks for the beers guys.”
Sailplanes and lift areas were all over the sky. Waiting for a tow, folks could take in the show!
Our good friend and RCAT team member Alex of IFlyTailies had a fantastic display and sales booth chock full of scale soaring accessories. In addition to Alex there were several sailplanes for sale on the field as well as a bit of “horse trading” going on in the pits. John from HKM USA also made a few deliveries on-site including a beautiful scale Wilga tow plane.
In addition to many days of flying fun and great hospitality, the Saturday night banquet also surpassed all previous versions. We feasted on sliced flank steak, BBQ chicken, a fantastic potato preparation, salads and polished off the meal with a strawberry sundae. Following the meal, Horizon/JR held the annual raffle where many thousands of dollars of merchandise was distributed including a 12X radio, 11X radio, 9303 radio, Pawnee ARF kit, a couple Radians, Night Vapor, Piper Cub ARF, a range of DSMX receivers, electronics, tee shirts and more.
Dates are already set for the 10th Anniversary JR Aerotow — May 31 – June 3, 2012. We’ll be back at the Piatt County Airport. Make plans now! More information can be found in our article by clicking this hotlink: JR 2012 The 10th Anniversary. Also visit the 2011 JR discussion thread on the RcAerotowing.com forums for many more photographs and pictures from the event: http://www.rcaerotowing.com/forum/showthread.php?370-2011-JR-AEROTOW…..-Photos-and-comments.
Thanks! Steve, Len, Alex and the entire RcAeroTowing.com team
