Stetsons Aerobatic Rally 2025:
HOT sunshine greeted eighteen pilots at the 2025 version of a Stetsons Aerobatic day this year. An increasing breeze during the day was very much appreciated by all and definitely added to the fun in balloon bust and spot landing events.
Starting things off, advanced RPAS pilot Michel flew some 400- and 700-foot passes for everyone which was great to truly see what those heights look like.
We were treated to some superb flight demos in both C/L and R/C disciplines, with Dwayne and Xavier flying circles around us with excellent sequences. Thanks, guys, for showing us how it’s supposed to be done! Are you dizzy yet?
The R/C guys were not to be outdone and enjoyed watching Dave and Xavier (again!) flying sequence lines and some really cool barnstorming moves. Seeing Dave’s knife-edge snap roll on the deck is a gut clincher for sure! Xavier’s knife edge full loop with his mid-sized F3A aircraft was a real treat. With Dave Percy calling on the PA, Gary flew a BASIC sequence, to give folks an idea what entry-level aerobatics can look like on the R/C side.
Two fun events were held during the day. The C/L gang held a very successful balloon bust event, with three balloons set out per flight. With Peter and Jeremy Wakefield running things (well, Jeremy blew up most of the balloons that I saw…), there were a lot of broken balloons, and amazingly, no broken airplanes! In a fly-off tie breaker, Brian Pepin edged out Dwayne by one balloon! Those guys were GOOD! The winning balloon was only a foot off the ground!
The R/C gang got into the spirit and into the wind with a fun spot-landing event. The dead-stick approaches were a lot of fun to fly and see, with that shifty wind throwing a sneaky variable into everything! Lots of fun, many laughs and shouts later, Dave Rees edged out Nigel by ONE point to take the glory.
On this super hot day, we were extra pleased to have FREE water donated by the canteen gang, under the wing of Robert St. Germain. The food was great, the servers and cooks all did a super job, and everyone enjoyed lunch. Thanks again go out to the canteen gang and Robert for organizing it all. Canteen lunch adds a major component to our events, and we are very fortunate to enjoy it at events.
A final thanks to everyone who came out and socialized, and to the field crew that had the place spotless and in great shape. Pierre and Mike painted on the spot landing marks after field mowing this week, and they were very visible. Great job!
Gary Robertson
Click on the link below to visit the photo album for this event.