RC Helicopter

Closing report by Mike Unger

Well, the final rounds of the 2021 Heli Nats went off without a hitch on Wednesday morning.  Sportsman started off the day with the first flight at 8:04 a.m., followed by Advanced, Masters, and F3C. The weather was perfect, with temps cold enough in the morning for me to break out my hoodie for a couple of hours. Final flights were completed about 11:30 and we started the awards ceremony at noon.

By Mike Unger

Muncie, Indiana, gave us another awesome day of weather at the AMA Site 5 for Day 3 of the AMA Helicopter Nats.

High temps of 78°, a sunny sky, and low wind made it idea for flying.  Just like the day before, we picked up again Tuesday with the first flight at 8 a.m.

By Mike Unger

Day 2 of the Heli Nats was one of the best days weather wise we have had in years at the Nats.  Temps in the mid-70s, low humidity, nearly clear skies, and low wind. 

We started at 8:02 a.m. with the first flight of the Sportsman class and ended about 6:15 p.m. with the fourth round of the F3C class. 

Day 2 also brought in the Scale helicopters, with one round of static judging and two rounds of flights. The Scale pilots put on quite a show with some very impressive craftmanship and impressive flying.

By Mike Unger

Well, it's the beginning of August and that means it's Heli Nats time again. 

With COVID turning everything upside down last year, it is nice to have a more normal Nats competition this year. 

The 2020 Outdoor Nats took place July 12-August 5 at the International Aeromodeling Center in Muncie, Indiana. Although the pandemic made for an interesting and complicated year, several events still took place safely, allowing competitors and AMA members to continue to enjoy our hobby.

We have created a photo gallery for this year's event. Please feel free to like, share, download, and print a few!

By Mike Unger Tuesday: Day 2 and the final day of the Heli Nats is now in the books. We arrived at the field to low cloud cover and cooler temps than expected, so we delayed the start of the final rounds of competition a few hours. This gave everyone time to charge batteries, tweak helicopter settings, and mentally prepare for the final three competition flights of the 2020 Nats. Once the clouds burned off, we started with F3C flying the F schedule. The F schedule is not only another set of maneuvers to learn, but it is also more difficult than the P schedule.

By Mike Unger

Well its finally that time of the year again: the 2020 Helicopter Nats! If you are like me, given everything that is going on in the world, I never expected to be writing about Nats this year, but here we are …

AMA looks forward to hosting a fun and safe Nats this year at the International Aeromodeling Center (IAC)! Today, we have new developments to announce for Nats 2020. 

After careful deliberation, the AMA Executive Council has agreed to not cancel the 2020 Outdoor Nats. This decision is aligned with state and federal guidelines for events concerning COVID-19.

The 2020 AMA Nats will take place to the extent that individual Nats organizers plan and conduct their respective events. Additional safety measures will be in place to protect our members, staff, and community. Nats participants and visitors to the International Aeromdeling Center will have limited access to AMA facilities and should anticipate a scaled-back Nats experience.