Event

The Outdoor Free Flight Nationals are taking Muncie, Indiana by storm this week, July 21-25. Flyable weather is expected this week; rain showers are anticipated on Monday and Friday, while warm, cloudy skies will mark the remainder of the week.

Cloudy and overcast skies with threatening thunderstorms later in the day didn't deter a single pilot from cruising the skies over Muncie…searching, hoping to embrace and become one with that ever elusive rising air. Spotty lift for the first few rounds opened up into nice conditions until…

Saturday morning (7/19/25) begins the first day of the two-day Altitude Limited Electric Soaring (ALES) contest at the AMA’s International Aeromodeling Center in Muncie, Indiana. CD Norman Poti will manage the festivities.

Day three of the Cross Country (XC) portion of the 2025 Soaring Nats began just as the first two did…rain! It went away around 11AM. We began our day setting up the winch and starting festivities under heavily overcast skies. The ceiling was somewhere around 1500 feet and the air was buoyant with some really good lift in spots.

The day began much like yesterday, waiting for the ominous weather to pass us by, and it did! Launching the Pike Perfect on the winch is a nice stress-free experience, straight up and smooth.

What a week it was at the 2025 Nats! I have to hand it to the team that ran the show.

The Cross Country portion of the Nats got off to a rainy start at Monroe Central High School in beautiful Parker City, Indiana, postponing our day for a few hours. We, of course, sat under the pavilion telling tall tales as the moisture fell.

Flying at the AMA/LSF soaring Nats has been the highlight of my flying season for several years now. I spend two weeks camping and relaxing under the sunny/starry Indiana sky. I made it out after years of “next year, I’ll go next year.” Now, it's every year…because “Glider Camp” is awesome!

The 2025 AMA RC Scale Nationals is in the books. We’ll look back at a few of the highlights. There were 34 registered pilots. Thirteen pilots flew in more than one class. In total, there were 47 potential flights scheduled for each round.

Today was the final day of the 2025 RC Scale Nationals. Yesterday of course, it was cut short around noon by excessive winds, occasional heavy downpours, and a thunderstorm or two. There was even a brief power outage around 3:00 PM.