Tucson Aerobatic Shootout

The Tucson Aerobatic Shootout has been held annually at Tucson International Modelplex Park since 2001. Over the course of five days, the best large-scale aerobatic pilots in the Sportsman, Intermediate, Advanced, Unlimited, and Invitational categories compete for the prestigious title and numerous prizes totaling over $80,000.

While pilots in the Sportsman through Unlimited categories must qualify for participation throughout the year by achieving outstanding results in the IMAC competition series, Invitational pilots—as the category name suggests—are invited by the competition organizers, similar to the TOC. In addition to the precision classes, a select group of pilots has the opportunity to demonstrate their skills in the Four-Minute Freestyle category. Due to the regular participation of the world’s best aerobatic pilots, the Shootout is now regarded as being just as significant as the former TOC in Las Vegas. This year, too, more than 60 pilots took part in the Shootout. Most of the models used were equipped with gasoline engines from Desert Aircraft, the event’s main sponsor. Only a small minority used engines from other manufacturers. Bernd Beschorner of Germany was one of two pilots who used an electric powerplant. At full load while stationary, his motor drew over 300 A and was in no way inferior to the combustion engines in terms of performance; on the contrary, it actually delivered slightly more power than many of the gasoline engines in use.

For the first time in the history of the Shootout, a Swiss pilot—Jean-Claude Spillmann from the Reichenburg Model Flying Club—also participated in the event. Flying a 37% Carden Yak 54 with a DA-150 engine provided by Brian Hueffmeier, he advanced to the final round of the top six in the Advanced category and ultimately finished in fourth place. In the freestyle routine—the Four-Minute Freestyle—he also took fourth place behind Quique Somenzini, Kyle Woyshnis, and Jason Noll with a harmoniously executed routine and very well-chosen music, thereby finishing ahead of world-class pilots such as Chip Hyde, Jason Shulman, and Bill Hempel. During the competition, Jean-Claude received moral support from his Swiss Model Shop teammates Martin Sannwald and Martin Forster, as well as part-time Tucson resident René Berger. It’s worth noting that Jean-Claude was able to spend three months at Desert Aircraft in the lead-up to the shootout and received fantastic support from them throughout his entire stay. They called him “Cheesy” there and, as a result, outfitted him and his teammates with cheese hats for the freestyle event, which was met with extra applause from the large crowd of spectators.

The Tucson Shootout was a fascinating event that I thoroughly enjoyed and where I was able to forge friendships with “experts” from the model aviation scene.

See you next year!

René Berger