I’m back from my awesome trip to SEFF.
The drive down took nearly 18 hours, but that was mainly because we hit traffic a couple of times and maybe my 3 Tricopter flights didn’t help speed things up. Since we were 7 people in total plus gear and airplanes we took two SUV’s. I was in the car with Chad, the producer and Josh Bixler so we talked RC non-stop the entire way down, which made the trip seem a lot shorter than it was.
I have to give a shot out to FATZ, which is the restaurant where we had dinner. They are located right next to a giant water tower shaped like a peach (which was awesome to fly around with the Tricopter). And despite the name they had one of the best burgers I ever had and the people there were super nice.
The gigant peach.
We arrived at the hotel at 2 in the morning and we pretty much went straight to bed. The next morning we got up early, bolted down some breakfast and drove straight to Hodges field.
SEFF is big! The flight line was smaller than I expected but the camping area was way bigger. There were people everywhere and planes in the air as well as on the ground. The first couple of hours were just sensory overload for me. I didn’t know where to look or what to do. It was awesome.
EZ-up’s and planes right next to the flight line
Luckily Fred Provost aka. Flying-Monkey, the president of the Flitetest fan club showed us around and introduced us to a lot of people.
I was surprised how many people recognized me. I felt famous ^^
Some of the people I got to meet were Diggs, Jamie and DJ Moose from ATTF, Just plane Chris from Inside Heli, Michael Hancock from the Crash Cast, Kevin Hines one of my FPV heroes and Bildo Baggins another famous RCG user.
Me, Flying Monkey and Josh Bixler
Everyday at 12 there were a noontime demo where vendors showed of new products and such. The most impressive part by far was Mac Hodges flight with his giant B29 equipped with 4 100CC motors. He did not fly gentle with it. He did hammerheads, inverted passes, loops, rolls, flat spins and even hovered with it! He also releases a Bell X1 that someone else pilots down to the ground, but just before landing it ignites a rocket engine and shoots back up into the sky. It was spectacular!
Mac Hodges huge B29
Right after the noontime demo it was time for the daily full contact combat. I wished so bad that I could have entered. There were like 50 planes in the air and parts flew everywhere. Total carnage.
Combat!
After the sun had set I expected that the flying would practically come to a stop but on the contrary, there seemed to be at least as many night flying planes at SEFF.
Night flying was big this year
I loved just walking around looking at different airplanes.
One of my favorite planes at SEFF
Hmm, wonder who owns this trailer
We got to interview a lot of cool people and I look forward to watching the upcoming episodes of Flitetest.
SEFF does has it draw backs though:
This is what happens when David is out of the basement for to long.
Since I’ve complained about Americans putting cheese on everything they eat, the guys though it would be amusing for me to meet this lady:
She was so nice. I hope she gets to sell a lot of cheese.
I’m so glad that I got to go to SEFF. I met so many great people and saw so many cool things. I hope I can return and stay the full SEFF week sometime.