US National Drone Racing Championship 2016
Written by Patrick Sherman Hosting an AMA-sanctioned event in the middle of the city that never sleeps Event coverage Photos by the author As seen in the December 2016 issue of Model Aviation.
Bonus video: Pilot interviews
Bonus photos
Competitive RC flying came to Governors Island in New York Harbor this past summer—a mere 800 yards off of the tip of Manhattan—at the US National Drone Racing Championship. This is an amateur competition with a $50,000 purse, sanctioned by the AMA. AMA has provided support to flying competitions for decades, but several factors combined to make this event unique. First was the venue. Pilots steered their machines through gates and obstacles against a one-of-a-kind backdrop—the elegant facets of Freedom Tower rising high above New York’s Financial District, and the Statue of Liberty. Second was the attention that the event received. There were live broadcasts on ESPN3, plus write-ups in national media outlets, including Time, Fortune, and Forbes. Smaller publications across the country provided additional coverage, as did some of the hometown newspapers of the 150 pilots who qualified to compete.
The racecourse at the US National Drone Racing Championship was specifically designed to highlight the historic landmarks that surround it, such as the Statue of Liberty, seen here through the netting that was installed to protect spectators from rogue aircraft.
"I wonder: are these really drones, or are they traditional aircraft, something like all of us old guys fly? ... What, really, is the difference between this and what we’ve always done?"
CD Andy Argenio (R) confers with co-CD Stephen Brehm while supervising flight operations at the US National Drone Racing Championship.
A Historic Venue for Making History
Originally, race organizer Scot Refsland, the chairman of the Drone Sports Association (DSA), had entertained the notion of hosting the event in New York’s Central Park. “A friend of mine works for ABC and organizes concerts in the park, so I asked her about the possibility, and she said my chances were zip, zilch, nada. It was never going to happen,” he recalled. “However, as an alternative, she suggested Governors Island.” The 172-acre patch of ground had been a military outpost since the Revolutionary War, when the heavy guns at Fort Jay denied England’s Royal Navy access to the East River. At the start of the 19th century, the Army built Castle Williams on the island. Housing more than 100 cannons behind 8-foot-thick sandstone walls, the circular fortress became a model for coastal fortifications for nearly 100 years. In 1966, the Army withdrew and the Coast Guard established a base on the island. Then, after 30 years, the Coast Guard shut down its operations, ending more than 200 years of military history at the site. In January 2001, outgoing President Bill Clinton established the Governors Island National Monument, encompassing its historic structures. Later that year, incoming President George W. Bush sold the remainder of the island to the people of New York for $1.Completed in 1811, Castle Williams kept watch over New York Harbor during the War of 1812 and the Civil War. In 1903, it was converted into a military prison.
The only access to the island is by ferry, with departures from the southern tip of Manhattan to the north, as well as Brooklyn to the east. The island is open to the public during the summer months, with the number of annual visitors approaching 500,000. Scot’s ambition to hold the race on Governors Island was substantially bolstered by the New York City chapter of the Drone User Group (DUG), which is headed by the organization’s national president, Steve Cohen. A year earlier, DUG hosted a fly-in on the island. “The genesis of that event was that we had posted a meetup date on our website, but we didn’t actually have a location for it,” said Steve. “The Governors Island team approached us and said, ‘Hey, would you like to fly out here?’ For me, it was like, ‘Is this a trick question?’ New York City is such a challenge to fly in, because of all the low-altitude manned air traffic. “The Governors Island Trust is part of the mayor’s office, so that meant we had already cleared some hurdles. However, we did do our own due diligence—we filed a NOTAM, contacted all of the heliports in the area, the local FAA Flight Standards District Office, and the New York Police Department Air Division. Then, before we even let people get on the ferry to come over to the island, we made sure that they had geofencing set up on their drones to prevent flyaways.
Scot Refsland is the chairman of the DSA, which organized the US National Drone Racing Championship on Governors Island.
“In the final analysis, we may have been a little overcautious, but that’s how good events get run.”
The Road to New York
The Drone Nationals were unique in another regard. Every pilot who competed had qualified at a previous AMA-sanctioned event. There were 21 qualifying events across the US, from a cave in Kentucky to a polo field in Oregon. Roughly 1,400 pilots participated in those local races, and only 150 of them made it to New York. The competition was divided into four categories: the marquee individual drone racing championship, flown with 330mm FPV multirotors; a team racing event; a freestyle acrobatic competition (also flown with multirotors); and wing racing.Heather McDowell, a member of Team Legit, prepares to compete in a wing racing event at the US National Drone Racing Championship.
Zachry Thayer claimed the top prize at the US National Drone Racing Championship, winning the individual quad racing category.
According to Andy, the participation and interest in the Drone Nationals are reflective of a larger trend occurring within the AMA. “As of last March, we had about 4,000 members who were actively competing in drone racing,” he said. “Just about now, that’s hit about 20,000 members. It’s the fastest-growing area that we’ve seen in the hobby, and we think it’s going to continue that way because it does represent a hobby: a passion and a shared interest that relates to what all of us do in model aviation, no matter what particular disciple we’re engaged in.” Within the AMA, drone racing is overseen by a dedicated Special Interest Group: MultiGP. Also known as Multirotor Grand Prix, the group was established by Chris Thomas as a grassroots organization to promote the sport and encourage new pilots to get involved and fly in a safe, responsible manner. Its partnership with AMA was announced in November 2015, and in early September 2016, the group held its own national championship in Muncie, Indiana. On Governors Island, the race was held on a patch of open ground along its northwest shore known as the Play Lawn. Home to a pair of youth baseball diamonds, it was given over to the Drone Nationals during the extensive preparations leading up to the August 5-7 competition.
A drone provides an aerial perspective of the racecourse and the tents that provided shelter from the sweltering New York summer sun.
The course included a number of innovative features that would be unfamiliar at conventional RC flying competitions. The spectators, racing staff, and pilots were protected from wayward aircraft by 30-foot nets that surrounded the most vulnerable portions of the flight path. “I’ve been in the hobby since the 1950s,” said Andy. “Even after all those years, when I see the attention that has gone into the safety of this event, I’m very impressed. That netting completely protects everyone involved. Then, before the race, the pilots walk the course to build their familiarity with it. I’d like to see some of these ideas adopted by other competitions we hold within the AMA.” Andy was particularly impressed by the “Aquarium.” It is a box constructed with bulletproof Plexiglass that put spectators directly in the path of the oncoming aircraft, giving them a way to experience the speed and maneuverability of these aircraft firsthand. “I thought it was a great idea, although at first I didn’t realize you could stand in it,” Andy said with a laugh. “I thought it was another obstacle, but then I saw the people inside and I think they got a big kick out of it.”
The “Aquarium” proved to be a big hit with spectators, allowing them to stand directly in the flight path of the oncoming drones—fully protected by a sheet of bulletproof Plexiglas.
The course also included elevated gates, some up to 30 feet above ground level, which required pilots to navigate in three dimensions. Scot, who developed the course on a computer, described Quidditch as his inspiration for the design. For any muggles among the readership of Model Aviation, Quidditch is an imaginary sport played by Harry Potter and his chums at Hogwart’s School of Wizardry and Witchcraft, riding flying broomsticks in pursuit of the elusive Golden Snitch.
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