MAAA Wingspan - Quarterly Magazine

30 Almost 700km away from his aeromodelling club, Ben Vickery of Deniliquin, NSW didn’t let distance hinder his passion for flying or his determination when he competed at this year’s 71st National Model Aircraft Championships. After witnessing the F2B Aerobatics event at last year’s Nationals, Ben bought a few motors from fellow pilot (and MAAA Vice President), Bruce Hoffmann, in addition to purchasing a speed controller, timer and propellers and then decided to join the Doonside Aeromodellers Club. “At our club we fly control line in Western Sydney, however Ben lives in Deniliquin, which is inland NSW, not far from the Victorian Border,” said Bruce, who is club secretary. “We kept in loose contact through the year up until the Nationals at West Wyalong where we met again. I did tell him that there was no ‘novice event’ but that was sometime prior to the Nationals – and he came along and entered anyway.” “Over the course of the year away from the Nationals, Ben took it upon himself to learn the sport of aeromodelling through YouTube videos and basic trial and error. His passion and persistence was evident at this year’s 71st Nationals where he competed in the F2B Aerobatics event, doing an amazing job against highly skilled pilots. Due to his obvious passion and persistence, Ben was awarded an ‘Encouragement Award’. Bruce says that Ben didn’t let anything hold him back and even entered the advanced category due to there being no novice category. “It’s extraordinary that Ben was able to learn to fly the advanced pattern within twelve months without any assistance,” continued Bruce. “This is exceptional, as to do the manoeuvres required, a pilot must be able to fly inverted. This is hard on its own, more so when you are teaching yourself, as up becomes down and down becomes up. Typically, many accidents occur when learning to do this. “He did unfortunately crash one of his models and in the last round of four he had to revert back to his back-up aeroplane to finish the competition. [However], it seems nothing can hold Ben back from his passion for flight,” said Bruce. FLYING HIGH: BEN VICKERY AN ENCOURAGEMENT AWARD FOR THIS SELF-TAUGHT PILOT