The video features a detailed interview with Doug Kilibru, the contest director for the pylon racing events at the AMA National Aeromodeling Championships (NATS). The conversation provides an insightful overview of the ongoing pylon flying competitions, specifically focusing on the Super Sport Quickie event, which is part of a six-day series of races. The discussion covers the structure and rules of the races, the speed and precision required by pilots, the roles of the support teams, and the international nature of the competition.
Steve Petrotto’s Carbon Cub FX performs a touch-and-go.
Today was the final day of the 2025 RC Scale Nationals. Yesterday of course, it was cut short around noon by excessive winds, occasional heavy downpours, and a thunderstorm or two. There was even a brief power outage around 3:00 PM.
We knew the weather could be problematic today. However, we were hoping for the best. Arriving at the field around 7:30 AM, the skies were clear with a breeze. By the 8:00 AM pilot meeting, the had wind picked up to a stiff direct crosswind and was forecast to become even stronger.
Ed Mason carrying his B-17 that he flew in Fun Scale
The summer weather in Muncie can unflyable due to high wind, and the weather on July 12th was one example. The pilots decided not to fly due to the high-wind conditions. So, the decision was made to return to the flying site on Sunday morning to finish off round 1 for the AMA events.
The first-place winners in the 2025 Nats are (L to R) Gabriel Alimov (Senior Class), Orestes Hernandez (Open Class), and Wesley Smith (Junior Class).
On Friday morning, the group was greeted with warm temperatures and light winds. So far this week, we have been very lucky in that when we were flying the weather cooperated. Today would be no different.
50% Super Starduster, powered by a DLE 170 engine, designed, built, and flown by Tom Lowrie.
We have four flight lines in place this year. Assigning pilots to a flight line is a task that is never easy. Some of the pilots have entered several airplanes, When assigning the flight order, the CD must ensure that a pilot is not assigned to fly in two different places at the same time.
Two Fast Jet models waiting their turn on the circle.
This was our last day of Speed. We would usually fly three classes of Speed. But alas, two of the fliers were so worn out from the day before, they elected not to fly Class C Speed and Class D Speed. Three other competitors wanted to fly their Fast Jet models, and that was all the noise you could hear coming from Site 2.
All of the AMA events were static judged today, and then we started flying round 1 of the four possible flights. However, the winds started to pick up when we started, which made flying more difficult than normal. Fun, Sport, and Profile classes were flown, but we were unable to fly the 1/2A, Team, or Authentic events.