Open winner Orestes Hernandez and his wife.
By Matt Neumann
The day almost started out as a carbon copy of the previous days. However, today we started out with a few spotty clouds and a little wind. There was nothing major with the wind, but the pilots knew where to place their maneuvers. None of this, “Maybe here, or is it there?” type of thing. The wind never really picked up much during the competition. Later on, when the clouds went through and we got clear skies, the wind was actually less. So overall, it was a beautiful day for stunt flying.
Today was top-5 day for Open division. The day consists of each pilot flying three flights and the top two flight scores getting added together to get the final placement. Today, pilots do have a throwaway flight, which came in real handy for Paul Walker. More on that later.
It was also the day to find out who would win the Junior (age 13 and under) and Senior (age 14 to 18) championships. However, we only had one contestant each for Junior and Senior. So there really was no suspense about who won. Wesley Smith is the Junior champion and Angstrom Eberenz is the Senior champion.
When I got to the field, about a half hour before the official flights I found out that Paul Walker was having some issues with his B-17 during the practice time. It seems for some reason number 4 motor did not want to start. When I got there, he had the nose off and was looking at the spaghetti of wires, trying to trace down the issue. Fortunately, he was able to find the issue and fly with all four motors. He has done patterns with three motors before, but he would rather not.
Remember yesterday when I mentioned that today was going to be a knock down drag out fight? Well, I was right. With three world champions, a national champion, and one very hungry-to-win competitor, how could I not be? The competition started off with Doug Moon putting up a terrific flight. He was making the others take notice, and they followed suit. Everyone was, of course, giving it their all when it came time to fly.
We really did not know who was going to win until the very end. The only “little” mistake was made by Paul Walker. During his second flight he forgot the horizontal eights. Oops! He did put them in at the end, but it cost him 25 pattern points because they were out of order. Remember what I said about throwaways? Well, that flight was his. Even the top guys can forget something once in a while. He did take it in stride, at least, and was joking with the judges about it before his final flight, which was mighty good, by the way.
In the end, when the dust settled, Orestes Hernandez came out on top with Derek Barry second, David Fitzgerald third, Doug Moon fourth and Paul Walker fifth. The separation between first and second was nine points, which is only 4.5 points per flight. Two and a half points separated second and third, and less than two points between fourth and fifth. It really was a close one.
After the Open class winner was determined, the Walker Cup fly off commenced. This is where the Junior, Senior, and Open contestants fly against one another. The Walker Cup is a perpetual trophy that is given to the winner from year to year. And again, Orestes Hernandez was the winner.
Before the awards ceremony, a special tribute and award was given to Mark Overmeir. He has been the chief judge for approximately the last 20 years. He said that he actually started judging in the early 80s, so he has been doing this for quite some time. The award and special card signed by all was given to him as gratitude for his long tenure of service as a judge for our hobby. We hope you enjoy your retirement, Mark. We will miss you. As my dad said after he retired from the ministry, you never fully retire. I do hope to see you back once in a while, even if only to visit. You said it yourself, everyone there is like family. You are part of this family.
Once that special award was given to Mark, the other awards were given out and the final pictures taken. Then the 2026 Control Line Precision Aerobatics Nats was concluded. All that was left were the goodbyes. Fortunately for everyone, we do seem to keep in touch throughout the year via different ways, whether it is social media or local contests. So, it is never a final goodbye. It is only a “Until next time.”
