Expert pilot and world F3C judge, Gordie Meade, in his first scale competition.
Today began with a gloomy gray sky and ended with sunshine after a very short downpour around mid-day. Again, we were able to get three rounds of AMA/FAI competition, as well as one round of Scale flying and the static portion of the judging.
Monday July 7, 2025 was the first day of Control-line Speed. We flew ½A Speed and ½A Proto Speed. The difference between the two events are that ½ A speed is timed for five laps after the plane gets up to speed. Proto, however, is flown from a standing start and is timed for 10 laps total.
The top five Intermediate competitors posed for a photo.
Beginner and Intermediate classes of Control Line Precision Aerobatics were flown on Sunday July 6th. There were two entrants in Beginner with seven in Intermediate. These events were flown on the grass circles. Grass is much more forgiving, than asphalt in case of an accident.
Nick Maxwell discussing the freestyle maneuvers for F3N competition.
Most of the competitors arrived bright and early (8:00am) for our pilots meeting by the Event Director (ED), Chris Goodin, for the AMA and FAI classes. Scale helicopters, due to slight miscommunication, will have its official pilots meeting on Monday morning.
(L to R) Bill Hughes, Patrick Hemple, and Chris Montagino hold their F2A speed models
Welcome to the 2025 National Aeromodeling Championships for 2025. My name is John Moll, I’m from The St. Louis, Missouri area and I’ll be filling everyone in on Control Line Speed events for the week.