Jaden Andraka Launches Catapult Glider. (Dave Lindley photo)
By Nick Ray
The morning of the first day started smoothly, with the Standard Catapult Glider and the Hand Launch Glider events. In the afternoon, Cabin, Easy B, F1R, and F1D flew in typical fashion until the last hour of the contest.
The Great Postponement
Around 6:10 p.m., three F1Ds were simultaneously blown to the floor by a downdraft on the north end of the building. While Brett Sanborn and Kang Lee escaped without damage, John Kagan suffered a broken rear stab post. At the same time, the author was nearing the end of his record-setting F1R flight. The model was flying about 10 ft from the north wall, where the air was more stable. Brett and John identified the source of the downdraft as one of the large ventilation tubes located at the 25% and 75% chords of the building. John suggested that I try to avoid steering away from the wall as long as possible. Due to the F1R’s relatively small circle and quick steer from the boom, the flight landed safely at 30:51.
A pilot’s meeting was called to decide what to do about losing the last 50 or so minutes of the contest. Those flying Easy B, Cabin, and F1R agreed that extending the contest was not going to change the results. These events ended at 7 p.m. as planned. However, many of the F1D fliers thought they could improve their standings with more time to fly. Four out of five of the USA F1D delegation are competing at the Nats just weeks after the 2026 World Championships, and the top spots are highly contested. Thus, a decision was made to add an hour to the end of day 2 to finish out the F1D event. At this time, it is unclear what caused the HVAC to turn on during the contest.
Dave Lindley presents Don Slusarczyk with the Cabin Award.
Easy B winners (L to R), John Kagan - 3rd, Tom Sova - 1st, Don Slusarczyk - 2nd.
F1R winners (L to R), Nick Ray - 1st, Billy Batkins - 3rd, Tom Sova - 2nd.
Cabin results.
Easy B results.
F1R results.
Hand-Launched Glider results.
Standard Catapult Glider results.
