Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye fellow model airplane aviators. The 15th Annual Worldwide Ringmaster Fly-A-Thon is over and what a blast!
The final numbers are in and as of October 14, 2022: 15 Nations worldwide submitted a total of 10,481 flights logged by 605 pilots. A whopping 2,154 flights more than last year's record setting 8,327 flights logged by 553 pilots!
For the Stetson Flyers Club it was the 4th consecutive year participating in this event.
Mother Nature graced us with a good weather weekend.
Stetson Flyers Club’s previous Fly-A-Thon records were surpassed: 15(14) pilots flying 12(5) variants of the "Ringmaster" logged a total of 241(66) flights over the course of the two days. Interest in control line (C/L) is definitely on the upswing. Piloting the model aircraft were new, very lapsed (i.e. decades), budding and veteran C/L pilots.
Our 2022 event participants and model aircraft are shown in the above photo: Left to Right: Dwayne Donnelly - Ringmaster S1, Christopher Simon - Baby Ringmaster, Wayne Karperien – Ringmaster Imperial, Mark Winstanley - Ringmaster SD, John Weekes - Ringmaster SD & Baby Ringmaster, Charlie Colwell - Ringmaster S1, Tony Garbish - Beginner Ringmaster, Peter Wakefield - Ringmaster S1 and Brian Pepin – Ringmaster Junior. Missing from the photo are one Baby Ringmaster, one Beginner Ringmaster and the intrepid pilots: Elckar Monsalve, Robert Covell, Fred Zufelt, Juergen Weichert, Greg Oliver and David Janashvili.
Some Statistics:
Flights logged by pilot:
| PILOT | #FLIGHTS | PILOT | #FLIGHTS | |
| Charlie Colwell | 136 | Wayne Karperien | 5 | |
| Peter Wakefield | 30 | Elckar Monsalve | 2 | |
| John Weekes | 14 | Christopher Simon | 2 | |
| Brian Pepin | 12 | David Janashvili | 2 | |
| Mark Winstanley | 12 | Fred Zufelt(guest) | 1 | |
| Robert Covell | 11 | Juergen Weichert | 1 | |
| Tony Garbish | 7 | Greg Oliver | 1 | |
| Dwayne Donnelly(guest) | 5 | TOTAL FLIGHTS | 241 |
Some Statistics
| RINGMASTER VARIANT | NUMBER | # FLIGHTS |
| Ringmaster S1 | 3 | 164 |
| Ringmaster SD | 2 | 12 |
| Ringmaster Imperial | 1 | 1 |
| Ringmaster Junior | 1 | 4 |
| Baby Ringmaster | 3 | 18 |
| Beginner Ringmaster | 2 | 42 |
| TOTALS | 12 | 241 |
We’d like to note: As of October 14, 2022 the Stetson Flyers submission of 241 flights logged during the two-day event placed our club 12th in the World. There were 128 submissions from 15 Nations.
Highlights:
At full throttle,Charlie Colwell’s ‘Hotrod’ Ringmaster S1 fitted with a OS .25 FX engine and a MACS tuned pipe, cranked out 3-second laps at 138 km/h. We normally fly a lap time of 5.5 - 6.0 seconds (73 – 69 km/h) for aerobatics.
Wayne Karperien, after completing 5 laps with his .049 powered Baby Ringmaster, added a featherlite touch-and-go because it just so happened the conditions were perfect and then continued for an additional 2-1/2 laps. Let's see if anyone can match this manoeuver without an engine throttle control!
Elckar Monsalve, only his 2nd time ever flying C/L, incorporated 2 well- executed loops and a wingover with the Beginner Ringmaster. Afterwards, we heard via the grapevine Elckar may soon be adding an airframe to his hangar that will require two cables and a handle attached for pitch control?!?
Dwayne Donnelly was the pilot who impressed us all with his skill flying the official C/L aerobatic competition sequence with his Ringmaster S1 but later turned a Beginner Ringmaster into a lawn dart trying to push the limits of the .049 powered airframe. Honorable mention goes out to Dwayne and Debbie Donnelly, who drove in from Kingston, ON to participate in this event with us.
David Janashvili, first time C/Liner, after completing 5 laps, felt it was necessary to lie down until the spinning motion subsided. David was the sole recipient of the "It's OK to Lie Down Afterwards" trophy.
Robert Covell has almost abandoned R/C because he’s now hooked on C/L flying which he did about 50 years ago. His words, "I didn't think I could do this now at my ripe old age....I really like it and need to build one of these!"
After flying 6 sets of 5 laps Charlie taxied his Ringmaster S1 fitted with an R/C throttle controlled engine to the C/L pit area. Engine at idle, the pit crew safely and successfully re-fueled the tank without flooding the engine. Charlie prompted the S1 back into the air and completed another 6 sets of 5 laps.
Eight year old Christopher Simon, only his 2nd time ever flying C/L, was able to complete a full 3-minute flight on the Cox Golden Bee .049 powered Beginner Ringmaster. A little wobbly after the landing, Christopher remained standing with a big grin on his face and said, "Now I’m ready to do a couple of loops, Ok?" He made mention of a C/Liner parked in the hangar at home!?
We had two great days of flying, catching up with old friends and making new friends as well. Each year our event grows with new pilots promising to return next year with a Ringmaster of their own. Thank you to everyone involved, pilots and organizers for making this a very special weekend. And of course a big thank you goes out to Charlie Colwell, who once again donated his ‘little’ Beginner Ringmaster for two days of absolute unmitigated torture at the hands of some ruthless control line trainees. Well done to all! See you soon at the Stetson's Control Line Circle!
For those interested to know more about the Ringmaster here are a couple of links:
We leave you with a few moments captured during the event.
