June 23, 2023: Indoor Free Flight - Final Report

By Don DeLoach

The morning hours (8 a.m. to 1 p.m.) saw the final flights in the F1N and F1N-150 World Cups. I don't have the results of F1N-150, but Tim Batiuk showed total dominance with two flights over 92 seconds in F1N. Stan Buddenbohm was second. Both were flying indoor versions of Stan's new "HAR" series for outdoor Hand-Launch Gliders.

Over in the F1D bay, the US teams for the 2024 World Championships were decided. The adult team will be Kang Lee, John Kagan, Emily Guyette, and Steve Brown. The Junior team is Daniel Guo, Guha Ekambaram, and Elijah Rose.

On the AMA side, about a dozen events, mostly FAC, were decided Friday. P-18 was won by Hamish Christie in spectacular fashion. He put up a 4:40 flight to win by more than 30 seconds … and his model was only climbing about halfway to the 150-foot ceiling! Hamish also dominated Phantom Flash with an unbelievable 7:25 best flight.

Tom Norell won Peanut and Dime with undoubtedly the two most spectacular Scale models at the Nats. His Peanut, a 2.9-gram B.A.T. monoplane, did 2:34 and had a perfect scale score. His Dime Scale winner was a hyper-light, immaculately detailed Martin MO-1.

Only someone who has planned and organized the Nats can understand the amount of work involved. National Free Flight Society president Dave Lindley has worked fervently planning this event since about October of last year. Dave deserves a huge thank-you. A thank-you also goes out to Bruce Kimball, who did an outstanding job as the Nats contest director. The outcome has been undeniably successful with 52 registered flyers. This is the largest and most competitive indoor Nats in more than a decade.

Now for many of us it's onto the Outdoor Free Flight Nats in Muncie, Indiana, from July 17-21. See you there!