Jersey International Model Air Display 2000

The year 2000, was the 40th anniversary of the forming of the Jersey Model Aero Club. To celebrate this, they held an international model air display on the 30th of July, with general flying on Saturday the 29th. Around a dozen GMC members attended and we saw what can only be described as mind blowing flying. For many the highlight of the weekend was seeing Christophe Paysant le-Roux and his brother Benoit flying formation aerobatics with 42% scale Cap aircraft. The planes weighed 38 lbs each and were powered with 150cc Petrol engines and were capable of every manoeuvre in the book and more, prop hanging, torque rolls, rolling loops.

 You name it, these planes and pilots can do it. And what's more, they were doing this in thick fog too. 

This is Christophe's big (and I mean BIG) Cap 232.  This is one hell of an aircraft to see fly. God only knows what it must be like to actually control. Another of Christophe's aircraft was this very strange looking red thing seen here taxiing on the grass. Remember the Mick Reeves Disco. Well, there have been many variations on this design including square wings like this one. This is, believe it or not, a Lawnmower. A lawnmower which looks very strange in the air as they are normally seen on the ground.   This Cap 232 is that of Benoit Paysant le Roux, Christophes brother. While not a world champion, he can certainly hold is own when it comes to freestyle aerobatics. This Cap is almost identical to his brothers, being the same weight with the same wingspan and power plant up-front.  This big Cap 232 below is slightly larger than that of the le Roux boys and is owned and flown by Colin Bliss. Just like the others though, it has the same 150cc motor as the other 2.  Another Large plane on show was this fairly big Ultimate. This was a very impressive aircraft which attracted a lot of interest.   Another big name at the display was Dave Stevens, one of the best fun-fly pilots in the UK. He was prop hanging inches from the ground with planes weighing up to 16.5 lbs with 50cc motors. His ability can be seen in these 2 photos.  That weekend in Jersey I heard a model Jet engine for the first time. I was surprised at just how quiet it was. It didn't fly during the weekend though as the plane had not been thoroughly test flown beforehand.  Of course, it was not all planes at the show. How could it have been a model display without the appearance of some helicopters? Well, there were plenty of helis on display too, the most impressive probably being those flown by Dave Wiltshire, the national helicopter champion. The Heli highlight for me was seeing Dave's scale Agusta 109 doing full 3D aerobatics! This one though, a Huey was not Dave's but still flew very well.   Some of the quickest planes in Jersey were these Weston Tigershark deltas. Most of them were done up in Formula 1 colour schemes as well to make them look as well as they go! But I think the thing that got most people was the sheer number of aircraft present at the show. The photo below shows the very crowded pit area with more than 80 models. Rumour has it that the number was nearer than 150! To finish off, I would just like to say that the Jersey Model Aircraft Club have done a fantastic job in every way possible as far as this weekend was concerned. Thank you JMAC for a great weekend.