NatsNews

The final day of the 2024 AMA RC Precision Aerobatics (Pattern) competition didn’t disappoint. It was a well-run event with great staff supporting it. All of the finals rounds were mapped out, and all classes got their flights in between the low cloud cover and pop-up showers. It made for a long day, but everyone managed to get their flights in

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.

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.

The 101st AMA Outdoor Free Flight (FF) Nats wrapped up with the final day of official flying on Friday, July 26. The weather remained excellent for flying with mostly sunny skies, high temperatures in the low 80s, and winds ranging from 4-8 mph.

“Working time will begin in five minutes.” That's the automated call at 8 a.m. from the scoring program … and so begins three days of hardcore competition by some of the best F5J pilots in the country. It's amazing how much carbon you can gather in one place!

It's 6 p.m. on July 25, 2024 … do you know where your F5J pilot is?
They are at Site 5 of the AMA International Aeromodeling Center attending the pilot meeting for US F5J Team Selects, which will determine who represents the US at the F5J World Championships being held in Argentina.