Event/Southern Scale Helicopter Challenge

19 years of camaraderie

Events, even good ones, come and go: Club membership and leadership turns over, people lose interest in a particular discipline, or they just move on to other hobbies. That’s why it is astonishing when a single annual event is still going strong after 19 years, and still run by the same contest director and club.

Such an event is the Southern Scale Helicopter challenge, which takes place the first week and weekend following Labor Day each year in Dalton, Georgia. Dalton sits right on Interstate 75, just a few minutes south of the Georgia-Tennessee state line, in the gorgeous rolling foothills of the Smokey Mountains. I’ve attended the Scale Challenge for over ten years straight, and I even made it my evacuation destination when Hurricane Irma threatened my home. Despite the word “challenge” in the name, there is no competition at Dalton; it’s purely recreational flying.

The event is hosted at the club field of the Dalton RC Flyers and managed by contest director Darrell Sprayberry. Sprayberry is a wellknown scale helicopter guru with an impressive competition rŽsumŽ. In the Scale Helicopter Nats, Sprayberry has taken home the gold once, to go along with several second- and third-place finishes. In addition to competing, he has acted as contest director for the Nats, and operates his own business selling scale helicopter fuselages and mechanics. Even his so-called “beater machines” would be the center of attention at most fly-ins.

While the scale helicopter community is a small subcategory in the overall scheme of things, the pilots are a tight-knit group. This is especially true at the Dalton event, where the entire group often takes over a restaurant for several hours each night leading up to the weekend. Egos are generally kept in check, even when the attendees

include several national champions, three Nats contest directors, and a scale judge. Advice and help is given freely, and any of the pilots will put their machines aside to help someone who needs it, whether it’s mechanical or electronics. Scale contest judges are always approachable and happy to critique if asked (or, sometimes if not asked), in order to improve your flight presentation, should you decide to compete.

Some may equate scale helicopters with the fiberglass fuselage wrapped around pod and boom mechanics, and while that isn’t discouraged, many of the helicopters here would not have looked out of place on the flightline at the Top Gun Scale Invitational or Scale Masters National Championship. Creative details are featured, such as finished interiors, custom pilots, guns that turn with the pilot’s head during rudder inputs, even LCD panels animated with aerial attack videos. 3D printing and modern electronics have opened new vistas for those with the natural ability to apply them creatively. Walking the flightline and chatting with the pilots each year is like taking a master class in scale detailing.

Go into any Bob Evans Restaurant and you’ll see their motto:

“We greet strangers like friends, and friends like family!” That motto exactly describes this event, with most pilots returning year after year. This year saw pilots representing Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, Arkansas, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Arizona, and Mexico. The event even made the front page of the local Dalton newspaper! If you’re ever in the area or have a serious interest in scale helicopters, the Scale Helicopter Challenge is well worth the trip. Even with my six-hour drive, it is a permanent entry on my event calendar. I hope to see you at the next one!