The 2019 CL Combat Nats were held July 15-20 at the International Aeromodeling Center in Muncie, Indiana. See all the highlights of this year’s event and final results with our NatsNews 2019 CL Combat edition.
By Phil Cartier
Fast Combat has been growing slowly at the Nats the last few years. This year saw 10 fliers competing. Most of the action has moved to F2D, mainly from the chance at getting on a US World Cup team and the ease of buying and shipping top-performing models at a fairly reasonable cost.
By Phil Cartier
1/2A Combat is a bit like swatting mosquitoes. The planes are small (proportional to Fast Combat aircraft), have very tight turning, and are difficult to see. It’s hard on spectators, buts great fun for the pilots. The planes are scaled down and look like Fast Combat aircraft to the pilots. They just pull a lot less—a couple of pounds instead of 12 to 15 or more. The aircraft are cheaper too.
By Phil Cartier
Speed Limit Combat keeps the speed below 75 mph. A total of 21 fliers turned out, including some who generally don't travel extensively except for the Nats. This year brought out a more-limited range of engines. The list included Fora 15, LA and FP, Fox 36, Nelson, LA 40, and probably one that I missed.
By Phil Cartier
F2D Fast is a favorite with some F2 fliers. Any F2D plane from 2010 to present is allowed. They all have the same technical specs. The rules are AMA Fast Combat rules otherwise.
The bugs have been worked out. The planes fly the same as F2D. The shorter line length makes up for the slower speeds. Flying seems just as fast as AMA combat, but the line pull is a lot less. The planes have to be trimmed a little better because they don’t pull 15 or more pounds.
By Phil Cartier
The closing day for the F2D Nats went pretty slick right up to the end. Flying started promptly at 8:04 a.m. It ended just before 1 p.m., before the rain came.
The early weather was very nice—about 80° with mild breezes. It got windier before noon, and the last 45 minutes or so were flown with gusts up to 25 mph. Most of the fliers handled it pretty well. The crashes were mainly dead-stick, or when the wind mixed the planes up and the lines tangled.
By Phil Cartier
The first day of the 2019 F2D Team Trials had plenty of interesting incidents. A total of 28 fliers registered and flew. It’s not a record number, but a good turnout, nonetheless.
About half of the matches had loads of very intense, close-quarters flying. Actually, there really were not many cuts. The pilots were so good at evading them that it was hard to run up a big score.
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