By Rob Romash (rob@eclipsetoys.com)
Lead photo: Logan “The Beast” Alves puts his all into a DLG launch and is having a blast doing it! He won the Junior HLG title.
Thursday saw the final battles in the main glider events. It also saw something noted earlier: You have to pick your air carefully at this site! As the sun came up and started to warm the floor, it was evident that to really win, picking your air is key. Considering many of these pilots also fly outdoor Free Flight, they are akin to watching the signs for lift. For instance, when a cloud would come over the site it grew visibly dark and you could actually feel a slight drop in temperature. When the sun would pop out, you had to position yourself so that the top rollout of your model put you squarely in the “sunny” spot on the floor. In the morning here, it was across the site near the bleachers, and moved slightly as the day progressed.
Kurt Krempetz’s classy DLG with composite wing panels.
Stan “The Man” Buddenbohm’s DLG models. It’s truly cool to watch him fly.
Gliders that usually average 1 minute could gain an extra 30 seconds if you played your cards right. This happened to your humble narrator giving me a personal best flight at 90 seconds (also pushing me into second place, besting Kurt Krempetz for the first time in my life!). Some may argue that this isn’t true indoor flying, but we are all flying in the same air at the same time, so everything goes!
Having a cool model box is where it’s at when showing up at an indoor event.
Dmytro Silin’s winder, complete with torque meter that measures the quantum molecular real-time rubber density time as it relates the altitude, air density, and the alignment of the planets, which contributes to gravity dispersal. It also can make a great cappuccino!
The only problem is that the pilots whose models average high times anyway in normal indoor air, still pull away out front. Again Stan “The Man” Buddenbohm dominated with epic flights right to the ceiling nearly every time. He is like a glider machine and although he flies discus, his style is to stand in one spot with no full-body turn like the others. Instead, he looks like a major league pitcher—cocking his leg up high and wailing his machine skyward.
Rob “No Neck” Romash and Stan “The Man,” proud of their first and second-place finishes in Standard Catapult Glider.
Logan is loving life with his first-place finish in Junior HLG.
Don “Flip Flops” DeLoach also showed perfect form with a slightly different style of steel-cold focus right before launch, reaching his hand out to start his wristwatch stopwatch and doing a power half wind to nail nearly every flight with ease.
Don “Flip Flops” DeLoach struggled early on in standard Catapult Glider, only to overcome his early setbacks and put up a strong finish.
It has to be said that we were missing one of the very elite top pilots, Jimmy Buxton, who holds the national record of flights of more than 90 seconds. He would have been right in there. We missed you man!
One notable absence was Tim “Erratic” Batiuk, who showed up for qualifying, looked promising, but didn’t show up for the race.
Jet Cat glider also made a big splash here with a multitude of creative designs derived from—you guessed it—jets. Extra points are given for details as in other scale events. With the right batch of extra engines or canards, you can pick up as much as 11 seconds bonus time! I believe this was also the first time that Jet Cat was flown at the Indoor Nats and looks to be a staple event. Jet Cat was the most popular glider event this year. It is clear to see that the variety tricks that were learned resulted in plenty of smiles all around.
Henry Towes’ cool suicide Japanese Jet Cat model.
Jerry Murphy’s Cutlass Jet Cat. Jerry is a true gentleman competitor from my hometown of Colorado Springs who takes part in a multitude of indoor and outdoor Free Flight events.
Three happy Jet Cat fliers and their unique models.
Tom Norell is truly all about his German Arado Jet Cat. He placed second.
You could see the results after the morning dust settled. As we moved into the afternoon and early evening, the first of the lightweight models made their way out of the custom storage boxes. For me, the boxes are not as important as the models themselves. Some competitors show up with Tupperware and carboard, and others with elaborate high-end cabinetry worthy of a high-end home. In the end, it isn’t the boxes, but the flying that matters.
A rare supportive wife at an indoor meet!
Rick Pangell and Chuck Etherington doing what they do best.
At the end of the day, as the light faded and the LED lights came into play, the last flights were being put up by the die-hard nerds—I being one of them.
Friday we will see where folks stand in the long duration events. As these are broken up over a few days, the standings are sure to change. Stay tuned.
Comments
Excellent, enjoyable
Great reporting, Rob. Keep up the good work and good flying.
Very nice coverage. Very enjoyable.
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