Nats News

The final day of the Nats was a whirlwind. The morning greeted us with no breeze, only humid warmth. Contestants were easing into flights, hesitant, wondering if the air was full of thermals…or downers. The sky became a dark cloud in the afternoon, leading up to what was one of the worst rain storms the field in Muncie had seen.

Muncie experienced a cool south-west breeze today, as we passed the halfway mark of the Outdoor Free Flight NATS. The first event of the day began at the crack of dawn, before the official contest.

The 2025 AMA F3K Nats was finally on a weekend, after being held during the week for many years. The lineup this year reminded people of the Team Selects in Florida a few months ago.

It is just a beautiful day to fly 2-meter (2M) wooden sailplanes! The sun is out, there’s a light breeze of about 6 mph, and you have 30 pilots divided into seven teams shooting little wooden RES sailplanes into the sky on FAI regulation highstarts.