Sensei John Roe with his Vindicator 60" Racers.

To Ride the Wind

League of Silent Flight: Level III

Laguna Niguel Slope Soaring Guild: Slope Racing Coodinator

Harbour Soaring Society: Hand-Launch Coordinator

California Slope Racers: Southern Vice President

Torry Pines Gulls: Member

Academy of Model Aeronautics: Member


Sensei Roe and his F3-J and Open TD competition machine, the Grand Esteem by Inventec. Sensei won his division (sportsman, TPG) the first time out with this excellent ship, the first time he ever flew it! (April, 1997) He has since earned four more firsts in Sportsman (5 for 5 at the TPG), a first in Expert/Master (SULA) and a third at an SC*2 (TOSS) contest in sportsman. Sensei also won first at SC*2 at Costa Mesa (HSS) in his divsion. At Visalia Sensei finished 15 over-all, out of approximately 240 competitors. Sensei Roe started flying and competing in Thermal Duration in February of 1997. Thank you Mike Popescu of Inventec!


Here is Sensei Roe at the 1997 International Hand-Launch Festival, San Diego, Ca. He is throwing his Climmax in one of the early rounds on Saturday. Sadly for Sensei, a mid-air collision in the 4th round of the contest (as well as only averageing 923 for each of the other nine rounds) dropped him from the top 10. Next Year!

Sensei Roe did get a win soon after, in the S.U.L.A. "Champion Of the World (COW) Hand-Launch contest the very next weekend, and while not as prestiguous, he did receive a nice plastic cow from CD Randy Spencer : -)

Sensei has also competed in the two TPG hand-launch contests held since the Internationals, winning the first and placing third in the second one.

At the hand-launch contest at Visalia this year, Sensei Roe finished second to Joe Wurts, after a close battle at the limbo bar!

At Sula's October Hand-Launch contest the format was a fun one- F3B! The contest caught the attention of Joe Wurts, who came and not suprisingly-won. Mark Navarre was second, winning speed, and Sensei was third.


Sensei with his 3rd place plaque, won at the ISS Hand-launch contest in Riverside, CA. This was his second Hand-launch contest, and he flew the DAW EPP-Foam S 1-26.


Sensei (foreground) throwing his Zagi-GS for some combat at his local slope. In the background is Bob Lenard, who won the first combat contest ever to be held using the rules formalized by the Laguna Niguel Slope Soaring Guild, and now widely accepted for full-contact combat.


Sensei's three COMBAT foam planes, yes these are EPP foamies, the current state-of-the-art in rubber plane technology. Sensei Roe has the distinction of being the second-most winningest combat pilot on the west coast, just behind his buddy and nemesis Mark Navarre. Sensei Roe just got a new Zagi-GS to compete with, so watch out!

UPDATE!

This just in- After winning the July 5th contest in Laguna Niguel, Sensei has moved ahead of Mark as the "winningest" west coast combat pilot!

Here are the records of the two rivals for comparison for the season so far:

Sensei: 2nd, DNF, 1st, 3rd, 5th, 1st, 4th, 1st

Mark: 3rd, 1st, DNF, 1st, 4th, 5th, 5th, 2nd

Entrants: 43, 63, 35, 17, 15, 34, 17, 12

Doug Reel, from LA has brought it to Sensei Roe's attention that HE is really the "King" of the west coast pilots, and sure enough, he does have the best record, with three firsts, a second and three thirds thirds to his credit. that computes to three points better than Sensei's record. Stay tuned for their next meeting, and don't forget about Mark...


Sensei with his newest trophy and his Zagi-GS.


Sensei's three combat wings. From left to right, Zagi-GS custom built by Mark Navarre, Zagi-GS also built by Mark Navarre, and TSAGI-PP, an all-EPP "clone" scratch-built by Sensei from 100% EPP foam, it has five carbon spars. All three weigh 23.5 ozs, which has proven to be a little too heavy for the light lift conditions which are sometimes encountered during contests. Sensei Roe is working on a 16 oz version of his Tsagi.


Here are two prototypes for a scale "Zagi Killer". This is a semi scale ME-163 Komet flying wing. All EPP and coroplast, with the MH45 airfoil combined with a 20-22 weight, and 432 sqare inches of wing area. This plane was designed by Wade Kloos, a combat pilot in the Laguna Niguel Slope Soaring Guild. The design is currently being optimized by Dave Sanders with help from his design test team. It will be available from DAW as of August 11th, and has already proven itself to be equal or better than even the "tool" flying wing designs in decent lift, while blowing them away in style!


Here is the first of the production versions of the "FoaMe-163". This is the same plane Sensei Roe was seen bungy-launching and hand-launching at the Pasadena two day contest July 27th. It has amazing light-lift performance, and will thermal easily, or stay up in the lightest slope lift. This same light wing loading is the key to winning combat contests, as it allows the plane to recover from impacts with little altitude loss.


Here is an action shot of the new ME-163 being hot dogged inverted on the slope at Laguna Niguel. Notice the shadow on the ground. Pilot is Bob Lenard.


Mark Navarre at Parker Mountain about to launch his DAW FoaME-109 into a brisk 60mph wind. Yes, a measured 60mph, no ballast, no problem. Mark Navarre has helped Sensei Roe a great deal, helping him to learn the tricks of the trade for thermal duration, and timing and calling lift for Sensei at the contests.


Sensei Roe performs his unusual "kick-launch" with a Bowman's Hobbies Ruffneck in Laguna Niguel.


Sensei Roe with his own-design Spitfire Foamy combat plane. (Sort-of own design, Gus Morphus plans and some DAW parts)


Sensei's spitfoamy cruising on a search and destroy mission.



Here is the new Training Glider #3, or TG-3. Made by Dave's Aircraft Works of indestructable EPP foam with excellent flight properties and scale looks. This 2 Meter plane can launched on a winch "pedal to the metal" without any fear. Sure going to miss those wood trainers...NOT!!


Here is Sensei with the TG-3 after winning 1st place in the "1st timer" division of the TPG "First Annual President's Cup Challenge" held on February 25th in San Diego, CA. Not too bad for a foamy. Sensei's score was within 95% of the best score at the contest in any division that day. See the April, 1997 issue of RC Soaring Digest for a complete report on this contest. Sensei plans on competing through this season with this plane in 2Meter and RES.


Joe Wurts launches his TG-3 at the Pasadena two day, competing in the two meter class. The TG-3 gets great launches, and can be zoomed off the winch with absolutely no fear.


Joe is ...Joe, with another "ON and IN" perfect time, max landing points. Remember this is a FOAM two channel poly-TRAINER with no glide-path control other than Joe's highly skilled thumbs managing energy and time.


The unbelievable result, Joe posing for another of the countless victory pictures he has endured in his amazing career in this sport, as he wins the 2M class over all the hopefulls with their full-house composite wonder sleds. It must be good to be King.


Believe it or not, this slick T-tail is a kit-bashed TG-3.


And here is the man responsible for this transformation, Eric Hansen of Laguna Hills. He has bashed several very cool planes from DAW TG-3 kits, and plans to do more. The EPP and coroplast construction lends itself well to imaginative builders, as it is fast and easy to work with. And yes Eric was combating with his creations...


The DAW guy, Dave Sanders. Looks about how you imagined, huh? Dave is the owner of Dave's Aircraft Works, and writes the bi-monthly slope soaring columns for Radio Control Soaring Digest and Model Aviation (the AMA) magazines. He also writes features and reviews for most all the soaring mags.


Poly version of kit.


Flaperon version of kit.

And here is the latest DAW foamy, the S-126 scale 60" Radio Controlled Hand-Launch Glider. Performance is excellent, durability is unbelievable, as it is all EPP and coroplast. This is probably Sensei's most often flown plane, as he flies it in front of his house, in front of his business, around the neighborhood, before and after contests, everywhere! RC hand launch is very addictive!


Brian Mclean in his Academy T-shirt. He is the owner of Mclean's Models, makers of high performance racing and F3B planes, as well as building composite planes for Ed Slegers, Ron Vann, NSP and Daryl Perkins. Check out his Vindicator slope racer in the NSP catalog.


Here is Sensei's APEX, Mclean's Models top-of-the line Unlimited Racer (F3-F) and F3-B competition sailplane. Sensei flew this to second place at the California Slope Racers 1996 State Championships, the first time he ever flew the plane. It was finished the night before the race, and so it's first flights were the real thing. It was also Sensei's first composite plane bigger than 60" Great plane. Sensei Roe has raced this plane twice more in CSR 1997 season points races, taking a Second and a First place.


Sensei Roe and his Apex, taken inside the work-out hall (Dojo) of his Martial Arts Academy. The Apex will thermal with considerable amounts of ballast, Sensei has specked it out with 2.5 pounds of lead in it more than once, and placed well in several thermal contests with it. The USA F3B team had some good things to say about this plane the first time Sensei flew it with them!!


While Sensei Roe may be a 4th Degree Black Belt in Martial Arts, he is just a "Green Belt" in soaring. He is a member of the League of Silent Flight, which has tasks and tests to perform and pass. The rating system is from Level 1 to Level 5. Sensei Roe is currently a level 3.


Here are the planes Sensei Roe learned to fly with. He got started with the Wanderer, which he taught himself to fly out on Kite Hill in Laguna Niguel. Then wishing for more speed and aerobatics he built the Quicksilver to learn ailerons with. The Quicksilver was chosen simply because it was the only kit at the Hobby store which could use full-size radio gear, and that's all Sensei had at the time!


Here is when Sensei gave up on wood kits, in favor of all-composite construction.


Here is a photo of a group of slope racers, taken in Yorba Linda California last spring. Slope racing is extremely fun and challenging.


Dave Sanders and Sensei Roe doing a "Blue Angels" fly-by. Dave is piloting the bottom plane and Sensei Roe the inverted one.


One of the first Zagi flying wings. Sensei Roe built this to look kind of like a WWII era experimental bomber. Was retired with 67 kills.


Dave Garwood (L) and Fred Mallet signing off on Sensei Roe's LSF.


The Box Plane...patented by Ron Davis, and a favorite of Joe Wurts for dynamic soaring demos and for slope bowling. It is made simply of folded cardboard and flys great. Span is 48", area 648 sq. in., weight is about 39 ozs. You can call Ron at 805-850-0020 for more information.


Joe Wurts holding the remains of one of Sensei's Vindicators after a slight 100mph mishap. Joe is a fantastic guy, as well as being an incredible pilot. This picture was well worth the loss of the racer.


Sensei Roe's wife, Maureen Roe. Sensei says, "My wife is the greatest, she is totally supportive of both my work as a professional Martial Artist, and my hobby as a serious R/C sailplane pilot. I am always appreciative of the sacrifices my wife makes so I may have time to train to excel in both areas." Maureen Roe is a College Professor, and a Certified Black Belt Instructor. She has flown R/C, but.....yawn...finds it utterly uninteresting.


By popular demand these pictures of Sensei Roe's new son, Zachary Taylor Roe have been added. Zack was born May 6th, 1997 and weighed 7.0lbs. In the above picture from the hospital he is about 5 minutes old.