Event

Day one of official racing was greeted by perfect weather and a perfect flying circle facility. It was a day of victories as well. For many, just completing the long and arduous travel was a victory.

A great week of competition was had by everyone. This was a very well-run Nats event, and the team that accomplished it should be very proud.

Good morning, race fans! With a few days of prior rainfall, it looks like the freshly paved and marked Control Line (CL) Racing circles are squeaky clean and just asking to be broken in.

The 2024 AMA Nats has been in progress for several weeks. This week, at the International Aeromodeling Center in Muncie, Indiana, model helicopter pilots are arriving from all around North America to compete with model helicopters in a variety of classes and difficulties.

If you have been following NatsNews closely, you will have noticed that there is a trend with the 2024 AMA RC Precision Aerobatics (Pattern) Nats—weather delays.

I have heard that Control Line (CL) Precision Aerobatics is like a dance between the partners of pilot and airplane. When they are in sync, it can be a thing of beauty to see as an airplane is put through the pattern. I have to believe that that is quite true.

Day one of flying at AMA’s International Aeromodeling Center started off with a low ceiling that delayed the start of the competition until about 9:30 a.m.; everyone waited patiently, as this is a normal occurrence at Pattern contests. The pilots were excited to get started!

It's a beautiful morning at Site 5 of the AMA International Aeromodeling Center! It's warm, a big change from the cold, damp mornings of the past two days. The wing tape actually sticks! This makes for nice, buoyant morning air.

6:30 a.m.—it’s chilly and damp, not the greatest conditions for setting up your sailplanes (I hate it when the tape won't stick), especially when you haven't had enough coffee, yet the pits begin to fill up with pilots and airplanes getting ready for the 8 a.m. start.