The author’s F1R model takes flight inside the Mini-Dome. Photo credit: Nick Ray
By Nick Ray
Grand Champions:
Don Slusarczyk (Open)
Declan Rhodes (Sr)
Jaden Elizabeth Andraka (Jr)
Parting Words
The 2025 Indoor Free Flight Nats is in the books. The participants are in the process of returning home with new memories and plans for what to build before next year’s contest. David Lindley, and by extension, the National Free Flight Society (NFFS), were instrumental in organizing the Nats and working with East Tennessee State University to ensure the contest ran smoothly. David Beazley volunteered his time as the contest director and processed countless models and scores over the course of the contest.
An unseen but important job at an indoor contest is to constantly check that air handlers stay off and doors stay closed so that the air inside the building remains stable. This was a community effort at the Nats, but whenever support was needed to interface with ETSU’s athletic programs, David Lindley made sure that we maintained flyable air and a good relationship with our hosts.
In many ways, the Nats is about more than winning flight times. It’s about the anticipation. The effort the competitors put into preparing and flying the best that they can regardless of where they end up in the final standings. It’s about the moments like watching world champion, Kang Lee, mentor Hamish Christie as he learned to steer by way of something that looked akin to a waltz. The impromptu concert put on by the Kharagov family will become part of the Nats folklore. Ultimately, it is about continuing 102 years of traditions and passing them on to the next generation for modelers.
