The Northwest Control-Line Regionals will be held at the Eugene Airport in Eugene, Ore., on Memorial Day weekend of 2006, May 26-27-28.
The Regionals is returning to its longtime home field after 10 years on the road.
Old-timers will remember a Northwest Regionals held at Sand Point in Seattle in the 1960s, but the modern regionals started in Eugene in 1971 and continued there until 1995.
Over the years, there were two different flying sites at the Eugene Airport. In 2006, the contest returns to the site where the Regionals was held from 1988 through 1995.
The site, which has remained the everyday flying site of the local club, the Eugene Prop Spinners, is one of the finest control-line venues in the world.
Its "real" use is as an overflow parking lot for the airport terminal. However, the parking lot was designed with control-line model aviation in mind, because when it was built it was intended to replace a designated flying site elsewhere at the airport that was plowed up during an airport upgrade project.
As a result, the parking lot accommodates three asphalt circles and four grass circles, plus plenty of area for parking and support facilities such as registration trailer, hobby shop truck, food concession, etc.
Circles are permanently marked on smooth asphalt, with lines for racing, stunt and speed. There's a permanent pylon base in the speed circle. The grass circles have concrete center pads. For the first time in 10 years, we will fly the Regionals on the site with no aircraft tie-downs to duct-tape over!
One of the great advantages of the Eugene site is that all seven circles are adjacent to one another. No quarter-mile walk (or drive) between the different circles as at the Albany site. You can stand in one place and see everything that is going on at once.
The flying field is on flat land away from buildings or trees, so there is a minimum of turbulence on the site. Winds tend to be light in the morning and pick up somewhat in the afternoons, and they're often slightly shifty in direction.
If there is a drawback to the site, it is that there are no permanent onsite facilities. Rest rooms will be portables brought in for the contest. Registration will be a trailer and concessions will be some sort of portable arrangement yet to be announced.
The annual Regionals-related swap meet will be held in the Oregon Air & Space Museum, elsewhere on the Eugene airport property. Click here for more information on the swap meet.
However, there is plenty of space for tent and motor home camping. There is a full-service restaurant at the airport terminal just across the road from the flying site. Motels are about a 15-minute drive from the contest venue. (Gateway Street motels are the most accessible from the flying field: Download a motel list). Downtown Eugene, with many opportunities for fine dining and entertainment, is about 20 minutes from the field. Two major shopping malls are a short drive from the field as well.
The contest itself will be almost the same as in past years. There will be some juggling of the schedule.
The stunt event list will be the same as in the past, with the addition of an expert class in P-40. Stunt will include P-40 (sportsman and expert), Old-Time, Classic and four PAMPA classes.
Combat will include high-performance 1/2-A, Vintage Diesel and 80 mph. There will be no fast combat in 2006 but it may return in the future.
Racing will include all the traditional Regionals events with the exception of Northwest Goodyear, which has been dropped due to lack of participation. The racing events will be Mouse I, Mouse II, AMA Goodyear, .15 Rat, Quickie Rat, Northwest Flying Clown, Northwest Sport and Northwest Super Sport. For more information on Regionals racing, see John Thompson's Fast Laps column in the Flying Lines Racing section.
Carrier will be the same as in the past, with Profile, Class I, Class II, .15 and Nostalgia (Profile and Class I-II).
Speed classes will be all the usual: 1/2-A, 1/2-A Proto, A, B. D , FAI, Jet, Formula 40, .21 Sport, .21 Proto and NW Sport Jet.
Scale will include AMA Precision, AMA Sport and Profile.
The flyer includes all the details of the schedule, directions to the site, etc. Flyers and entry packets have been mailed out. If you didn't receive one, e-mail John Thompson.
Questions about the 2006 Regionals can be directed by e-mail to John Thompson.
Or, you can join in the discussion of Regionals planning via the Regionals planning Web site or on the Northwest Message Board.
The Northwest Regionals Management Association invites you to attend the 35th annual Northwest Regionals. It will be a dandy!
To see a pdf document of the flyer of the 2006 Regionals, click here.
To download a copy of the Regionals Swap Meet flyer, click here.
To download a motel list, click here.
To download an advance entry form, click here.
For tips on non-modeling things to do and see while you're in Eugene, click here.
This page was upated April 13, 2006