Dear AHS friends.
After a long reflection, the committee of the Alpine Heli Smackdown have choose to do NOT organize the 2017 edition.
Alpine Heli Smackdown have always been a fun fly made to regroup friends and RC passionate from all Europe at the end of the season. We never wanted to organize anything lucrative or competitive, but the efforts in time and money to put in place an event that have touched in the years more than 250 pilots in a day with more than 10 fly stations, is a factor that ask us to stop a moment and evaluate the next future steps.
The market has changed a lot in the years, but we were lucky to have a format that worked for 9 editions without making a lot of adjustment. AHS is mainly organized by my dad Lorenzo and me, Lukas. This year we’re both really busy on our private business and we have taken the decision to have a break.
This doesn’t mean that AHS will never be organized again. The 2018 edition’s planning (in coincidence with the 10th AHS edition) will start earlier and we’ll evaluate what we need to improve in order to keep in line with the new market (fpv and drones for example). It will surely be a different kind of event but, in any way, we’ll never lose the meaning of this event: we started with RC helis and we will continue to have them as a core.
For this reason we want to thank all pilot, friends and sponsor, that have attended this event in the past 9 years. We hope to see you on the flight line for the 10th AHS edition in September 2018.
The AHS committee, Lukas and Lorenzo Riva.