Monthly Fun Fly

Monthly competitions and how they work:

On the 1st Sunday of the month, Croydon Airport Model Flying Club runs a Fun Fly event at the Fickleshole Flying Site. These monthly competitions are fantastic fun for members who get to fly outside of their comfort zone.

Scoring

If you come 1st place in your completion you’ll score 10 points, 2nd 9 points, 3rd 8 points etc. Your best 8 scores out of the 10 competitions are added up throughout the year and the person who has the highest score overall is awarded a prize at our AGM in January. This means you can have a couple of months off and still be in with a chance of winning.

Current League Table

2025 Leaderboard	Total Score	Position for November
Trevor	75	1st
Ian	73	2nd
Emay	71	3rd
Mike	71	3rd
Alex	70	5th
James	55	6th
John	21	7th
DJ	9	8th
Martin	6	9th
Peter	5	10th

Aim: To achieve the maximum combined score from balloon bursts and touch and goes within 2 minutes.

How: Contestants will take off, then attempt to burst 3 balloons placed on the runway using only their propellor. No objects may be attached to models to aid balloon bursting. In addition, contestants can perform as many touch and goes on the runway within the 2 minutes.

Scoring:

• Balloons: 10 points are awarded for every balloon burst by the model (while its wheels are off the ground). Taxiing into balloons does not count.
• Touch and Goes: 1 point is awarded for every qualifying touch and go within the designated landing square.

Results: 

Pilot	Passes	Score
James	27	10
Trevor	19	9
Mike	13	8
Emay	11	7
Ian	10	6
Alex	9	5

Aim: To “touch’n’go” and score a total of 21 points by touching numbered sections on a carrier deck style landing strip.

How: Scores are sprayed on the strip, split into scoring zones which get increasing smaller towards the end.  The smallest square worth 10, then 5, 2 and 1  The pilot must touch and go and each attempt is taken from the area the wheels first touch.  The pilot must touch in the squares to obtain a total score of 21 points.  If the pilot goes ‘bust’, over the score of 21 the last score is omitted and the pilot continues until a score of 21 is obtained.  The winner is the pilot to complete the flight in the shortest time.

Scoring: A maximum of 10 points are awarded to the first 10 contestants in order of least time taken to reach the score of 21.

Results: 

Pilot	Time	Score
Alex	0m 34s (1st)	10
Emay	1m 21s (2nd)	9
Trevor	1m 51s (3rd)	8
Ian	1m 55s (4th)	7
Mike	2m 34s (5th)	6
John	-m --s (5th)	5

Aim: Fy under the tape as many times as possible in 2 minutes.

How: A 2 metre high line of old video tape is strung up across the runway, facing into wind. Contestants are given two minutes to fly under the tape as many times as possible or until the tape is broken.

Results: 

Pilot	Number of passes
James	20 (1st)
Emay	1 (2nd)
Ian	0 (3rd)
Mike	0 (3rd)
Trevor	0 (3rd)

Video: 

Aim: With the wings removed, complete a slalom course in the shortest time

How: Starting behind the start line the pilot must race to a box marked by 4 poles and stop within the box. The pilot then races via two slalom sticks placed on the strip, and then races back to the finish line.Five second penalties are given for hitting the sticks with any part of the model or moving the model in anyway to re position it with any part of the body.

Results: 

Pilot	Score
Alex	10 (1st)
Emay	9 (2nd)
Mike	8 (3rd)
Trevor	7 (4th)
James	6 (5th)
Ian	5 (6th)
DJ	5 (6th)

Aim: Complete a circuit with the most amount of water remaining & land in the shortest distance.

How: Take off while carrying a cup full of water on the wing, fly one circuit and land in the shortest distance over the top of the tape. Extra points are awarded if you do a loop at some point in the flight!

Results: 

Pilot	Score
Emay	+162 (1st)
James	+156 (2nd)
Alex	+122 (3rd)
Trevor	+98 (4th)
Ian	+36 (5th)
Mike	-14 (6th)

Video (from 2022):

Aim: Complete in the fastest time possible, 3 touch & goes while racing to the pylon.

How: Time starts from the moment wheels are up, then the pilot flies to the flag and returns to the runway to do a touch and go. The pilot repeats this 3 times in the fastest time possible and after the 3rd & final touch, the pilot can land.

Results: 

Pilot	Time
Alex	50.63 (1st)
Trevor	52.57 (2nd)
Ian	56.75 (3rd)
Emay	60.25 (4th)
John	70.18 (5th)
Peter	74.06 (6th)
Mike	77.38 (7th)
DJ	159.69 (8th)

Video: 

Aim: Complete a series of manoeuvres in the shortest possible time.

How: Time starts on the first touch with each pilot completing: three touch and goes, three rolls and three loops. The clock stops after a final touch and the pilot with the fastest time wins.

Results: 

Pilot	Time	Score
James	36.69s (1st)	10
Alex	40.94s (2nd)	9
Mike	63.44s (3rd)	8
Ian	69.19s (4th)	7
Trevor	78.56s (5th)	6

Video: 

Aim: Score as many points as possible by dropping a Cadbury Creme Egg onto a target!

How: Score points by dropping the egg as close as possible to a target painted in the middle of the runway. Each flyer has multiple attempts (usually three), to drop your egg as close to the middle as possible. Points scored for where your Egg ends up (not where it first lands).

Results:

Pilot	Best Attempt (out of three)	Score
Mike	4.6m (1st)	10
Ian	5.0m (2nd)	9
Alex	5.1m (3rd)	8
Emay	8.2m (4th)	7
Trevor	11.2m (5th)	6

Video (from 2022):

Aim: Land on a carrier deck without going off the edge.

How: A Carrier Deck will be spray-painted on the runway with numbered areas 20, 40, 60, 80, 100. Each flyer has three attempts to fly a circuit then land on the deck from any direction. You must touch down and stop on deck.

Results:

Pilot	Attempt 1	Attempt 2	Attempt 3	Total	Score
James	40	60	60	160 points (1st)	10
Ian	40	40	60	140 points (2nd)	9
Mike	40	40	20	100 points (3rd)	8
Trevor	20	40	40	100points (3rd)	8
Martin	20	20	40	80 points (5th)	6
John	20	20	20	60 points (6th)	5
Emay	0	0	20	20 points (7th)	4

Video (from 2022):

Aim: Take off and perform as many loops as possible in one minute.

How: Pilot takes off and does as many loops as possible before landing as close to one minute as possible. There are no time calls so pilot has to guess. For every second under or over a minute one loop is deducted from the score. The winner is the one with the highest number of loops after deductions.

Scoring: A maximum of 10 points are awarded to the  contestants in order of total loops with deductions.

Results:

Pilot	Loops	Time (Sec)	Total	Position	Score
Alex	35	71	24	1st	10
Emay	21	55	16	2nd	9
Ian	25	74	11	3rd	8
Trevor	19	50	9	4th	7
Mike	7	40	-13	5th	6
John	6	84	-18	6th	5

Aim: Drop a satsuma as close to the target as possible.

How:

The pilot has to drop a satsuma as close to a pre-determined centre spot as possible. The pilot places a wooden ‘spike’ on the model, and placed on the ‘spike’ a satsuma. The pilot then flies over the target area releasing the satsuma in what ever manner they wish (roll, bump, etc) so that the satsuma lands as close to the target as possible. A measurement is taken from the final resting place of the satsuma, not where it first touches the ground. Each Pilot has 3 attempts, the closest distance in cm or inches is taken as the final score. The winner is the pilot who’s satsuma lands closest to the target.

Results:

Pilot	Drop1	Drop2	Position
Simon	1.2m	-	1st
Trevor	6.1m	-	2nd
Emay	12m	10m	3rd
John	11.9m	-	4th
Ian	15.4m	-	5th
Mike	22.9m	26.6m	6th

Video:

Coming Soon!

Aim: As many Touch and Goes as possible  within 2 minutes..

How:

Touch and goes or Limbo require the pilot to touch the wheels in a pre
designated square on the strip or fly under a pre-set tape as many

times in 2 minutes. Each pass must be completed in the same
direction(i.e into wind). Touch and gos must be in the square and at
least 1 wheel must touch inside. Limbo’s must be completed without
cutting the tape or touching the ground. Cutting the tape will be the
end of the attempt, limbos completed to this point will count. The
winner in either round is the person who makes the most successful passes

Results:

Pilot	Number of Touch & Goes
Emay	25 (1st)
Trev	24 (2nd)
Ian	22 (3rd)
Peter	18 (4th)
Simon	12 (5th)
Mike	10 (6th)