July 13, 2024: RC Scale

By Gerry Garing

Today, July 13, started off with a serious feel to it. What does that mean? Thursday, July 11, was for registration, practice, and, if applicable, static judging. Yesterday morning, July 12, was more registration, practice, and static judging, if applicable. Today, Contest Director John Boyko held another brief pilot meeting, and then the pilots were off to fuel up, get in line, and be ready to start Round 2 of flying at 9:00 a.m. sharp.

The sky was bright, and any wind present was very light and right down the runway. The beauty of watching Scale competitions is the variety of airplanes and flight routines that you’ll see. Unlike some other events where each pilot flies the same set of maneuvers, the Scale pilot chooses a routine consistent with their airplane. A World War I airplane could be flying chandelles and wingovers, an aerobatic airplane could present an airshow display, or a warbird could be flying military maneuvers. This year’s AMA RC Scale Nats is no exception, with a 1900s Curtiss Pusher and Royal aircraft F.E.8 at one end of aviation history and a turbine-powered L39 and Grumman Cougar at the other.

It seems like the current trend at the local flying field is that one airplane is in the air at a time. Newcomers to larger contests are often surprised to learn that there are multiple aircraft in the air at the same time. This contest has four flightlines running simultaneously, for example. While a midair collision is rare, it can happen, as was the case this morning. A lightweight Ultralight model collided with a Giant Scale Corsair. Fortunately, it was a glancing collision and both aircraft landed with relatively minor damage.

There are pilots who approach the scorekeeper almost as soon as the airplane has landed and stopped. It is standard procedure that scores for the round are not posted until the round is completed and the scores are tabulated. The results are then displayed, and then pilots get a chance to see how they did. Imagine a feeding frenzy at a seaside dock! Competition is brisk, as evidenced by the shuffling of positions between Rounds 1, 2, and 3. Refer to the score sheets below.

Saturday night is the traditional contest banquet, held this year at The Clubhouse in downtown Muncie, Indiana. Aside from the camaraderie, awards are given to the high static scores in each class. This year, the highlight of the evening may well be the drawing for the UMS 160cc radial engine. Check back with tomorrow’s report to learn the winners.

Tomorrow is the last day of the contest, and the competition remains stiff!

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!