NatsNews

By Phil Cartier

The first day of the 2019 F2D Team Trials had plenty of interesting incidents. A total of 28 fliers registered and flew. It’s not a record number, but a good turnout, nonetheless.

About half of the matches had loads of very intense, close-quarters flying. Actually, there really were not many cuts. The pilots were so good at evading them that it was hard to run up a big score.

By Stan Alexander (onawing4602@att.net)

After a beautiful Saturday, Sunday dawned with cloudy skies and the threat of thunderstorms. We were out early scrambling to cover models under tents and pull sides down on canopies. The storms then sort of sideslipped the AMA site and we didn’t receive more than a few sprinkles.

Round 3 started around 8:30 a.m., and the conditions were great for flying competition. Several pilots put in their best flights of the weekend.

By Fred Cronenwett (clscale7@gmail.com)

The goal for the last day of flying was to get the airplanes that needed repairs flown or fly the models again to improve your scores from Saturday. There was a little bit of both going on Sunday.

By Stan Alexander (onawing4602@att.net)

Wow! What a perfect day! Yes, there was a little wind from the southwest, but everyone had a great time flying the first two rounds of competition Saturday in Designer Scale, Expert, Open class, Sportsman, and Open Fun Scale and Novice Fun Scale classes.

By Fred Cronenwett (clscale7@gmail.com)

The weather for the first day of flying was about as perfect as we could ask for. The temperature picked up later in the afternoon, but everyone was done flying by 1:30 p.m. before it got any hotter. Allen Goff gave new meaning to the term Dawn Patrol when he was one of the first pilots up with his Neiuport 17 World War I fighter. The flying started at 7 a.m. in both circles.

By Stan Alexander (onawing4602@att.net)

This year the weather has played a role in everything around Muncie, Indiana. Friday dawned a bit cooler, but much more windy. The weather has turned out to be another beautiful week and we are looking forward to a sunny weekend of great competition!

Competitors are here from across the US, as well as judges and officials all to make this a great Scale Nats.

By Fred Cronenwett (clscale7@gmail.com)

The airplanes were unpacked with care and assembled with static propellers so that the judges could compare the models to the pictures of the full-scale aircraft that they were copied from. Points were added up to determine the static scores, but they won’t be revealed until the first flight is complete.

By Stan Alexander (onawing4602@att.net)

For the last few years, we have had the pleasure of flying off of Site 4 at the very back of the AMA property, in Muncie, Indiana, at the national flying site. This not only allows the RC site a great grass field to fly from, but provides enough room to include the CL Scale Nats division at the same time on the other side of the property.

By Fred Cronenwett (clscale7@gmail.com)

Welcome to the 2019 CL Scale Nationals. The one change that you will notice is that RC Scale is happening on the same days this year. The only time that the CL and RC Scale models will be together is during the static judging on Friday, July 12.

By Rich Whitlow (rwhitlow@gmail.com)
Wednesday started with a bit of an edge in the air. It was final day, and everyone had to complete two Unknown and two Known single sequences. The results would be 20% of their score.

The day started well. There were clouds but flying could be done. Then there came a brief rain shower. We had a competitor’s aircraft in the air, but he was able to land safely.

After the shower was complete, all of the rounds were flown without incident.