By Matt Neumann (mrstuka@cinergymetro.net)
Wednesday morning greeted the contestants with clouds and light wind. It had rained fairly hard at 4 to 5 in the morning, so the area was wet, but at least the sky was not falling at the time that the contestants got to the field.
By William Drumm (midair72@hotmail.com)
Mother Nature did not let up with the rain overnight.
Day 2 of RC Combat started off with puddles all around. This again led us to start out using the red flagging tape streamers for the remaining three rounds of SSC. We continued flying all up and even with all of the planes up in the air. The scores were kept a little on the low side. This helped keep the rankings close together and the importance of every cut that much more important.
By Monte Richard (mrichard@compassengineering.com)
Hurricane Barry had its effects on the RC Aerobatics Nats, taking place in Blytheville, Arkansas. But despite the rain, we managed to process all of the planes on Tuesday. The airport authority at the Arkansas Aeroplex sponsored a barbecue dinner with fried catfish, barbecue brisket all the fixings, and banana pudding for dessert. Quite a treat.
By Phil Cartier
The closing day for the F2D Nats went pretty slick right up to the end. Flying started promptly at 8:04 a.m. It ended just before 1 p.m., before the rain came.
The early weather was very nice—about 80° with mild breezes. It got windier before noon, and the last 45 minutes or so were flown with gusts up to 25 mph. Most of the fliers handled it pretty well. The crashes were mainly dead-stick, or when the wind mixed the planes up and the lines tangled.
By Matt Neumann (mrstuka@cinergymetro.net)
Tuesday did not have any official events happening, but that does not mean that there was not any activity at the L pad.
By Tim Stone (stone-tim@sbcglobal.net)
There were two events being run Tuesday, Slow Rat and Goodyear. Slow Rat has been run with the maximum .25 engine size for a few years now. The powerful .36 engines previously used were getting hard to find and heavy, which made for a hard-pulling airplane.
By Dick Perry (tailhooker@comcast.net)
To say that the Profile class of the Navy Carrier event was exciting for the contestants would be a bit of an understatement. The forecast storms held off through the morning on Tuesday, but the wind did not. Wind speeds of around 10 to 12 knots steady state were tolerable, but the gusts in excess of 20 knots through the morning made flying precarious. Those who completed landings were few, and, of course, they occupied the top spots.
By William Drumm (midair72@hotmail.com)
Just as everyone was ready to fly the first round of Combat for the 2019 Nats on Tuesday, the sky opened up for a brief morning shower. Everyone did his or her best to get his or her gear covered up to prevent water damage.
After that little setback, RC Combat started out with Slow Survivable Combat (SSC). SSC is the most popular class RC Combat has to offer. Only having a .15 engine and an rpm limit reduces the speed and the severity of the crashes that are bound to happen.
Congratulations to James Gager (left) and Danny Kane (right) who were both inducted into the National Miniature Pylon Racing Association (NMPRA) Hall of Fame during the NMPRA Nats banquet Monday, July 15, 2019.
James, who has spent much of his life very active in model aviation wanted to give back to the hobby after receiving the award. He decided to make a very generous donation of $2,000 to the AMA Foundation and $500 to the NMPRA.
By Matt Neumann (mrstuka@cinergymetro.net)
Monday was the official start of Control Line Precision Aerobatics. It was officially about appearance point judging, and to have the pilots’ meeting. Unofficially, it was to meet and greet old acquaintances and to make new friends. To many, the latter is more important than the primary reason.
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