July 11, 2024: RC Scale

By Gerry Garing

The RC Scale Nats kicked off on a beautiful Thursday morning. Some pilots arrived the day before and were already set up, while others began arriving the morning of July 11. Light winds, a clear blue sky, and temperatures in the mid-70s were perfect for practice flying. This was a welcome change from Wednesday’s rain and 25 mph winds, all courtesy of hurricane Beryl! The afternoon did bring some warmer temperatures and higher levels of humidity, but after all, it is mid-July.

Today, July 11, was a set-up and practice day. The beauty of Scale modeling is the variety of aircraft that show up at a contest. This one is no different, with subjects ranging from a pre-World War I pusher to several turbine-powered jet fighters. An outstanding Piper Cub, a Designer Scale Kraft Super Fli, a Fly Baby, and an Ercoupe are a few of the more unique airplanes that have been entered so far this year. Registration remains open until noon tomorrow (Friday, July 12), so I’m anxious to see what’s yet to arrive.

Following nearly two years of preparation, the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) team of Jack Buckley, Mike Barbee, Tim Dickey, and Team Manager Steve Eagle are on-hand preparing for the World Championship next month in Romania. They are all flying practice airplanes at the Nats this year to avoid any mishaps that could jeopardize the team’s chances. Don’t be misled by the term “practice” airplane. These are competitive airplanes by any measure!

Static judging began shortly after noon today. Airplanes entered in Sportsman Scale (both Sport and Expert), Designer Scale, Team Scale, and Open Scale require static judging. The static score is worth a maximum of 100 points, and each round of flight is worth a maximum of 100 points. The pilot’s two best rounds of flying are averaged together for the final flight score, which is then added to the static score.

The official AMA rules are revised every two years. This is the first year that Fun Scale has been renamed Pro-Am. Pro-Am does not include static judging. The only requirement is that the model represents a full-scale aircraft. A picture is presented to the judges as proof, after which the airplane is awarded five points. Additionally, the model does not need to be constructed by the pilot. Pro-Am is divided into a Sport category for novice pilots and a Pro category for those with experience flying Scale contests. To level the competition, Pro-Am Pro is further divided based on the aircraft’s performance—jets and aerobatics versus general aviation types, for example.

Today’s activities were cut short at about 4 p.m. by an unexpected 30-minute heavy rainstorm. The rain let up, after which some of the competitors packed up for the day and headed out to dinner. Others remained on-site and took advantage of the beautiful evening for additional flight time. Tomorrow’s weather outlook calls for partly sunny skies and light winds. However, the risk of a shower or thunderstorm can’t be ruled out.

Scheduled for tomorrow is an 8:30 a.m. pilot’s meeting. Registration and static judging will wrap up in the morning, and round one of flying will begin at noon.

Note from AMA: Do you have photos from the Nats that you’d like to share? If so, email them to Clarissa Poston at clarissap@modelaircraft.org. Please include a brief description in your email, naming any individuals pictured in the photo(s), the name of the event that the photo(s) were taken during, and the name of the individual who took the photo(s). Your submission(s) might be posted on AMA’s Flickr page, which can be found at www.flickr.com/photos/modelaircraft/albums!