Oliver Lei (bottom right) with his family after winning 1st place in his first-ever nationals.
By Jessy Symmes
The 2026 RC Scale Nationals closed on Sunday, July 12. Rain had stopped Saturday's round with four flights left in it, so those pilots went up first thing in the morning to finish it. The field then flew one more full round to close out the contest.
Division 1 belonged to Will Berninger, who flew a J-3 Cub and held first place after every round. There is nowhere to hide in a Cub. It is slow, it is honest, and every judge on the line knows exactly what it should look like in the air. Steve Petrotto was second with an FX3 Cub, and David Marenberg was third with an FX3 Cub of his own, which put two of the same airplanes on the podium and left the judging to come down to how they were flown.
Division 2 went to Chad Cotsamire and an L-29. Cotsamire also entered Division 1 with a Nieuport 17, which meant showing up ready to fly a 1917 French fighter and a Cold War jet trainer in the same week, with two routines and two completely different ways of managing energy in the air. He won one division and finished sixth in the other. Petrotto was second again, this time with a T-45 Goshawk, giving him runner-up finishes in both divisions. Curtis Switzer, who won a Pro-Am Pro division at last year's Nats, took third with his WW Racer.
Open Scale went to Jeff Thomas and the CT-133 that Contest Director John Boyko had singled out midweek as the best flying airplane he had seen. It flew that way to the end. Jerry Nugent was second with a P-47 and Frank Sarantidis third with a Stearman.
David Hayes won both of the Builder-of-the-Model events, taking Designer Scale with a Thrush and Expert Sportsman with a Turbo Thrush. Those classes carry the most detailed static scrutiny on the field, and an agricultural airplane is a demanding subject to bring to them. There is no dramatic paint or fighter silhouette to carry the eye, so every line and every detail has to be right on its own merit. Hayes answered that by building an airplane that does the job it was designed to do. His Thrush carries a working air-powered spray system loaded with baby powder. When he sets up a spray pass, a real cloud trails out behind the airplane and drifts down over the field. Judges see a lot of beautiful models in a week. They do not see many that go to work.
Pro-Am Sport belonged to Oliver Lei, the 11-year-old from Mahomet, Illinois, who readers met on registration day. He won it in his first competition of any kind, flying an E-flite Carbon-Z T-28 with his father, John, spotting. Patrick Dunlap was second, also on a T-28 Trojan, and Greg Vollmer was third with an Extra 300.
Petrotto, a two-time champion, was still at his flightline table when the last scores came in, and he had plenty to say about how the 100th Nationals came together.
"This year was really special because there were a lot of really talented pilots," he said. "The judges were extremely helpful, and the contest just ran very smoothly. Our contest director is always flexible and ready to help make the contest fun for everyone. I think the AMA did an exceptional job at preparing the grounds, making our flights just that much better, having a runway that is immaculate, and the facilities were just fantastic this year. So a huge shout out to JC Zankl and his team. Also, thank you to all the judges and staff that ran the contest. Ultimately, it was one of the best Nats I've been to in the past several years, and I look forward to going to the next one."
Readers of Saturday's report will remember the photograph of his FX3 Cub sitting in five or six inches of standing water. He laughed the whole thing off.
"Oh, everything was fine. It just was a little soggy on the tires, but nothing really. Being that it's a giant-scale, 165-inch wing airplane, the little bit of water on the wheels won't hurt it, and true to its STOL capabilities, it had no problem getting off the wet runway today and flying around."
He had a message for the pilots he competed against this week, and he pointed most of it at the newcomers.
“Congratulations to all the other winners for this year's Nationals, and also thank you to everybody else who showed up and put in the flights. Hopefully everybody learns something. I know I always do each and every year. Those of you that are just getting started and may or may not have placed as well as you'd hoped, just know that everybody started there. Just keep practicing and have fun."
Congratulations to every pilot who made the trip, and thanks to the volunteers, judges, and AMA staff who made it happen.
And thank you to everyone who followed along with us this week. From registration and static judging, through the rain, the banquet, and the final round on Sunday, it has been a pleasure bringing the 2026 RC Scale Nationals to you. The airplanes are coming off the flightline, the trailers are pointed home, and somewhere out there a builder is already starting the airplane that shows up next year. We are looking forward to seeing it. See you at the 2027 Nats.
Here are the results.
515 Designer Scale
1. David Hayes, Thrush
512 Expert Sportsman
1. David Hayes, Turbo Thrush
523 Open Scale
1. Jeff Thomas, CT-133
2. Jerry Nugent, P-47
3. Frank Sarantidis, Stearman
520 Pro-Am Sport
1. Oliver Lei, T-28 Trojan
2. Patrick Dunlap, T-28 Trojan
3. Greg Vollmer, Extra 300
4. James Miller, Extra 300
5. Bill Spencer, MB339
520 Pro-Am Pro, Division 1
1. Will Berninger, J-3 Cub
2. Steve Petrotto, FX3 Cub
3. David Marenberg, FX3 Cub
4. Curtis Switzer, Stearman
5. Tom Bean, Fairchild PT-26
6. Chad Cotsamire, Nieuport 17
7. Mark Radcliff, Cherokee
8. Phil Tallman, Ercoupe
9. Art Shelton, Jeannin Taube
10. Larry Folk, J-3 Cub
520 Pro-Am Pro, Division 2
1. Chad Cotsamire, L-29
2. Steve Petrotto, T-45 Goshawk
3. Curtis Switzer, WW Racer
4. Kaleb Spencer, Viper
5. Jeff Thomas, A-10 Warthog
6. Juan Cruz, T-28 Trojan
7. Phil Tallman, P-47D
8. Larry Folk, Super Chipmunk
9. Brian Taylor, Super Chipmunk
