Honduras Iguana Cup; Not This Year
Posted on August 31, 2009 by aaronredbaron
I had the incredible experience of going to the Iguana Cup in Honduras the past 3 years in a row; 2006, 2007, and 2008. This year, the event has been postponed, and it feels like something is missing from my summer of ‘09! With my friends in Honduras caught in the midst of a political nightmare, I thought it would be a great time to look back fondly on the time I spent there. It is amazing how many friends I made in central America, plus I had a chance to visit the island of Roatan, I flew in a Huey, and a Ecureuil! The most amazing thing about the Iguana Cup is the modelers down there have next to nothing in sponsorship from the hobby community, but they put on a huge professional “airshow” with an impressive amount of support from the local community, and they do it with style! Imagine, if you will, having a car dealership bring new cars to the field to show off in their booth. Imagine having banks, cell phone companies, restaurants, airlines, snack manufacturers and more bringing their products out to share. The modelers in Honduras have their event promoted all over the newspapers, TV and radio in the days leading up to the event, and the public’s response is great! Despite the location being off the beaten path, over 2,000 people make the trip from the capitol city of Tegucigalpa to see the show.
The first time I went I had just started my job as the Editor of RC Heli magazine. It was my first trip out of the country and my little brother went with me. The next year, I went with my girlfriend at the time, and we spent a week before the contest hiking in the rainforest and exploring around the capitol. The crash of my Synergy shown in the video below is from the second year. Last year, I went by myself, and spent 4 days prior to the event on the paradise island of Roatan off the East coast of Honduras. Flying on the little island hopper commuter was no fun for me… I kept telling myself I was stupid because I know WAY TOO MUCH about airplanes to have climbed in that heap for a trip across shark infested waters! Its never good when you notice patches haphazardly riveted on one wing strut, and the strut starts to shake in its mount when they fire up the engine. The airplane also had a lovely violent yawing motion when we blasted down the runway, which stopped as soon as we lifted off… I can now say I survived TACA Airlines.
Anyway, I miss my friends in Honduras, so I thought I would share some pictures and video. One video is from my most recent trip, when I filmed my flight in a Ecureuil. The other vid is of my Synergy biting it hard. Chief Wilson filmed it two years ago, and it still ranks right up there with worst crashes I have ever had! It has to be my worst crash ever caught on film! I miss the way the Synergy flew, and I kick myself to this day I didn’t land and tune that engine before I tried a tail slide while flying at 4000 ft….
