Unfortunately, due to a family commitment, I missed the 2023 inaugural D6 pattern event hosted by my home club (Space City RC) held April 29th-30th. The event had challenging weather conditions, as I understand there was a 30mph gusting crosswind Saturday. The pilots voted not to fly Saturday. However, 17 pilots, 10 of which were Masters stuck around to fly 3 rounds on Sunday.
The second event of the season was held by the Jetero RC club in Huffman Tx. which is ~45 miles from my house. The 99 toll road makes the drive very easy by having only 1 stop light and 1 stop sign between my home and Jetero with a 70MPH speed limit most of the way. Keeping a close eye on the weather forecast the week leading up to the event, it appeared there would be a North wind during the event which means flying a right-to-left sequence. The winds were blowing from the NE and the West the days before the event. Fortunately, I belong to multiple RC Clubs with different runway orientations in NW Houston which enables me to take advantage of the different wind directions for practicing right-to-left sequences prior to the event. Feeling confident with the week's practice I charged batteries and packed the 2008 Honda Odyssey van Friday evening.
I arrived at Jetero at 9:30am set up camp and assembled the Hacker C54-powered BJ Craft Epilogue. As a backup, I brought my Hacker C50-powered BJ Craft Invitation. Both planes are equipped with the D3 controller and Futaba 32MZ radio. I shared my space with Mark Medonca and his beautiful CK Aero Allure. We both enjoy building and finishing our models with custom color schemes.
The first round kicked off around 10:30am which is commonplace due to the sun's position. Four rounds were flown on Saturday in 10-12mph NE quartering winds. I was successful in winning all four rounds. The CD planned to fly just a single round on Sunday. Since two flight lines were being used, combined with a close encounter with another pilot on Saturday, I elected not to fly on Sunday and judge a round of FAI F and be a caller for fellow competitors.
The Epilogue continues to feel locked and performs flawlessly. It handled the conditions with precision. The smaller Canilsier wing I'm using has really tamed the rudder response down making top rudder application and line corrections more manageable and consistent. I have a BJ Craft Anthem currently under construction. Based on reviews from several Antham owners it should perform equally as well if not better than the Epilogue.
