July 7, 2025: Control Line Precision Aerobatics

By Many Neumann

On Monday, July 7th, there were three events being held: Old Time Stunt (OTS), Classic, and Nostalgia 30. 

Old Time Stunt is when the contestant flies a replica of a plane that was either built, kitted, or had plans drawn up before 1952. These planes fly the old time pattern, which is a simpler pattern than the one that we fly today, which started in 1952.   

Models flown in the classic event are replicas of planes that were built, kitted, or drawn up before 1970. Aircraft competing in Nostalgia 30 are replicas of planes that were built, kitted or plans drawn up over 30 years ago. Nostalgia 30 has a rolling cut off date. The later two events also use the modern pattern.

The day started off nice with a light breeze, but it did grow as time went on. The wind was not super exciting, but enough to keep the pilots on their toes. For the most part it was cloudy all day, with only a hint of rain drops. Although there were times we were wondering if mother nature was going to let us have it. But fortunately the heavy stuff missed us. 

In OTS, there were nine entrants. Classic had 14, while Nostalgia 30 had 10.  Fresh off of his 5th place Intermediate finish the day before, ten year old Wesley Smith again flew his plane in Nostalgia 30, which was a delight to see. These events are separated by when the original plane was built and are not a skill or age class.  Because of Wesley's size and the plane’s size, he had to fly with two hands. It is a delight to see someone so young have such enthusiasm for the hobby. His grandpa is very instrumental in making this happen.  Hopefully he will keep interest and be able to stay in the hobby for a long, long time. Wesley’s younger brother is also flying. So it is certainly a family affair. 

In the end, the winner in OTS was Joe Gilbert, Classic was won by Bob Hunt and the Nostalgia 30 winner was Bob Storick. 

Due to the appearance point judging being at 3 o’clock, the Classic event took the top 10 contestants from the first round and they flew a second flight. This cut down the time so that everyone could get their Advanced or Open planes ready and over to the building for appearance points. 

Later on in the day, the appearance point judging began. This is what it sounds like.  Points are given to the plane based on how well the plane was built and finished.  Points range from 0 to 20. Rarely have there been 20-point airplanes.  A few, but not many.  The planes are arranged in the gymnasium by the amount of points they were given. In this case, the planes that were awarded 19 points were put in the front row, 18 points behind that and so on. The least amounts this year was 10 points. It is an honor and a lot of bragging rights to have your plane placed in the front row. 

This is also the time that the planes are weighed. This is to determine the amount of pull a plane gets during its safety pull test. This is a test given before every official flight.  More on this later.

During the judging when all the planes are in the gymnasium, the pilots are kicked out so the judges can work without interference. The pilots are then brought to a large meeting room where the official pilots meeting is held. Here the official greeting is given, any new rules gone over and the official roll call is done. Once all that has taken place the final flight order is figured up using a computer program. This program seeds the fliers based on past NATS placements. This has been quite helpful in the past because when the meeting is done, we know when we are to be going up for an official flight.

A short time after the meeting is done, the judges were done with their judging and the pilots were then let back into the gymnasium. We then got to see where we placed and how many points we received. We were then given some cards so we could vote for the Concourse De Elegance award. This is the pilots’ choice award for the best looking airplane. It is a very prestigious award that very few have gotten. We won't know that outcome until tomorrow. 

It was a long day for those who competed and then had to go to the appearance judging. But still fun. 

Tomorrow, the first day of qualifying flying begins. We get to see who could be in the running.