MAAA Wingspan - Quarterly Magazine

12 WING SPAN FEBRUARY From the rustic red soil to the clear blue outback skies, Alice Springs will be an amazing backdrop for aeromodellers competing in the 2018 Alice Springs Masters- held from 13-20 October. Known as the ‘friendly games’, the bi-annual event will host the sport of aeromodelling for the very first time, welcoming pilots fromacross Australia and the globe, highlighting the thrill, excitement and camaraderie that the sport provides. With 36 different sports on show throughout the week-long competition- the games have grown considerably over the years into one of the Territory’s major sporting events. Minister for Tourismand Culture, Lauren Moss said 2018 was shaping up to be another huge Games. “It’s great to see the Games evolve over the years and embrace new sports such as functional fitness, which is an immensely popular fitness craze amongst all ages as well as model aircraft flying which has a community of passionate followers worldwide,” said Ms Moss. Aeromodel pilots will compete in scale aerobatics, gliding and vintage old timers, over the week-long competition. Scale aerobatic aircraft will be flown in the International Miniature Aerobatic Club (IMAC) classes. This involves scale aerobatic models flying schedules to replicate the aerobatics of full size aircraft. These largemodels (often up to 50% scale with 200cc engines) and their highly skilled pilots, are an amazing spectacle and are scored on their flying precision and scale. IMAC pilots in Australia aremembers of the Australian Scale Aerobatics Association and compete in events all over the country and internationally ( www.scaleaeros.com.au ) . The gliding competition will be run under international F5J rules. Gliders up to 4mwingspan compete in this class, using electric motors to climb to a pre-determined height within 30 seconds. They then attempt to find naturally occurring thermals to extend their flight to 10minutes. Pilots are scored on achieving as close as possible to a 10-minute flight, with bonus points awarded for landing accuracy. Vintage old timer competitions are part of a worldwide community dedicated to building and flying models dating back to the 1930’s. It is a time often referred to as ‘the golden era of model aviation’. Both internal combustion and electric power will be catered for in this competition. Texaco and Duration events will be held for both types, while Gordon Burford and 1/2A Texaco will be held for I.C. and electric respectively. All events will be held under MAAA Section 5 rules, however both Texaco events will allow “Old Timer” models (up to December 1942) to compete alongside the “Antique” (up to December 1938) models. The Alice Springs Masters Games will be held from 13-20 October 2018. Registrations are now open at www. alicespringsmastersgames.com.au or by phone: 1800 658 951 A limited number of camping sites will be available at the flying field. Campers should bemostly self- contained as there is nomains power or water on site. Please contact Stephen Henderson for bookings and inquiries. TRAVEL Story Alice Springs Masters Games 2018 THE RED CENTRE TO SHOWCASE THE SPORT OF AEROMODELLING