NatsNews

The final day of the 2023 Team Trials looked to be over by early afternoon, as just a mere twelve contestants remained. The short day turned out to be a very long affair, thanks to a record number of re-flights.

It looked a little dim for the Team Trials Saturday morning, with heavy rain and occasional lightning. By midday, the bad weather vanished and was replaced by a beautiful day. During the transition, there was a fair amount of wind which made matches flown during that period fast and furious with most maneuvering downwind at accelerated rates.

What a perfect day to start the Team Trials for the 26 hopeful candidates. The temperature was in the low 80s with just a whiff of wind, a blue sky, and no rain … yet.

Approximately 100 people, RC and Control Line (CL) combined, attended the Saturday night banquet. The program for the evening began with an auction of several donated items. The items included a set of plans, a Pica T-28 kit and retracts, a bottle of bourbon, and a bottle of wine. The auction netted a total of nearly $500 to be donated to NASA’s FAI team sponsorship.

We were greeted with great flying conditions on Sunday, the last day to fly for Rounds three and four of the AMA events. With overcast skies and light winds, it didn’t get too hot which made getting good flights very possible for those who decided not to fly on Saturday afternoon.

Rainstorms put the Control Line (CL) Scale flying to a halt in the morning; however, by noon, the skies had cleared and we were able to get flying again.

Static got started early with check-in to get the models weighed, and then the pilots lined up the models to be judged. Instead of being on the flight line near the runway in the RC area, we were across the road in an open area with a large tent and plenty of room to spread out.

Today was the day that we celebrated our past. In conjunction with the 100-year celebration by the AMA, the Pylon community invited all pilots to bring out some old models to display and fly.

The racing was very tight today and several Novices moved up to Expert. From the beginning, it was pretty clear that the boys from Canada were going to be tough to beat. After eight rounds of racing, the team of Roy Andrassy and Cory Paine from Canada cruised into first place and fastest time!

Welcome back. I think that will be our motto this week. There is a buzz in the air regarding the 100-year celebration of the first Nats, and people have taken the time to make the annual trek to Muncie, Indiana