SCCMAS 2008 Show Report

The Santa Clara County Model Aircraft Skypark (SCCMAS) airshow was held July 12th and 13th in Morgan Hill, California. This free annual show spans a wide range of radio control flight, from gliders to gas powered acrobats, and helicopters to turbine powered jets. It's a great chance for existing pilots and those new to the hobby to see a little of everything that RC has to offer in the air. Keep reading to see these planes and helis in action.







The club's field is located south of San Jose, with the runway parallel to highway 101. Although there weren't any vendors selling products at the show, there was a raffle with a good assortment of prizes, and hot food and drinks available all day. Century Helicopters also had a display of a variety of their larger models.



The SCCMAS show is designed for spectators, with a fixed program between roughly 10am and 3pm each day, with open flight before and after. Having a structured schedule allows the club to show off a range of models, mostly one at a time, and let the crowd focus on the featured pilots.










The morning had a variety of planes in the air including EDF jets and gliders. Reggie Dell Aquila flew his 110 inch wingspan Sig Rascal like he stole it. I have never seen anyone fly what is basically a large trainer like this, including some very adventurous knife edge flying.



Later there were a couple of impressive control line demonstrations. I admit I never understood the attraction of CL until seeing it in person, especially at 100 mph. These planes change direction incredibly fast and take a lot of skill to fly.




The warbirds segment had up to four aircraft in the air at a time. Chris Luvara demonstrated the lowest passes of the day which his beautiful Corsair. There were a number of other great scale planes out there including a Curtiss P-6E Hawk, and an assortment of bombers.





A Pitts Python piloted by Dantley Davis warmed up the crowd with acrobatics which hinted at the wild finale to come. There was also a pylon race demonstrating how hard it is to fly fast and precisely at the same time.




Without a question, the big draw of the show is the jets. These kerosene burning turbine planes can top 200 mph and easily cost up to ten thousand dollars. They all featured retractable landing gear and vibrant color schemes. Some had smoke systems which made the performances even more enjoyable.

Jim Mongiello led off with his red and white A4 jet:




One of my favorites was Russ Giordano's CompositeARF Flash jet:





This Blue Angels F-18 is a Jet Legend kit flown by Rafael Villeda:




There were also three Tam Jets F-16s which flew at the show, including one which lost an elevator in flight and crashed. Thankfully the plane was headed parallel to the crowd at the time, and went down harmlessly off the field. By shutting the turbine down as soon as he lost control, the pilot prevented the kerosene from igniting. The result was a nasty wreck but thankfully no fire or injury.



At noon the club opened up the flight line to let the crowd get up close and personal with the aircraft. In addition to checking out the models on the ground, there were three stations where experienced pilots offered anyone the chance to take the sticks and fly with a buddy box. The left-most station had a Century Predator helicopter while the other two had fixed-wing aircraft to try out. I applaud SCCMAS for bringing new pilots into the hobby this way.



There were a few novelty planes flown during the show, including the famous flying lawnmower. Reggie (the Rascal pilot) came back out to show off his flying stop sign, which was fully acrobatic and overpowered, the way he seems to like it. He also performed one half of a Snoopy and the Baron dogfight featuring a flying dog house, which he told me later was quite a task to land.







Although planes dominated the show, 17 year old Brian Linderman put on a great display with his nitro powered Freestyle helicopter. He flew a full 3D performance and kept it low and in control - well done Brian!




The last two performers of the day surpassed even the jets in my opinion. Mike Conrardy flew an incredible demo with his huge Ultimate Bipe, starting off his routine at high altitude and diving with the smoke on. This thing hovered, tumbled, climbed, and did it all.





Finally, Greg Milosevich closed the show with his 39 pound Yak, featuring a 170cc 3W gas engine. In addition to the amazing airbrushed paint job, this plane was packing some serious hardware. Note the three servos per aileron, and four servos total on the elevator. All of this added up to some fantastic acrobatics.








The SCCMAS show was a lot of fun to attend, with a wide variety of aircraft to watch. If you live in northern California I recommend coming out and spending a day at the show. Thanks to Xavier Ducrohet for loaning me camera equipment and Chris Luvara for his help identifying the planes and pilots.