Outdoor FF Nats Day 4

By Rick Pangell

Carryovers …

F1B had a tie after Wednesday night between Patrick Mackenzie and Alex Andriukov. Patrick flew and Alex had two blown motors, allowing Patrick to win. Congratulations, Alex!

Starting off the day at dawn was Unlimited. The crowd had 6 fliers with Josh Finn topping the fleet with a time of 340 seconds … over a minute ahead of second-place Mark Vancil.

The balance of the day’s flying was on the west side of the field, as the drift was to the east and remained that way the rest of the day. There was heavy dew on the field, and it took nearly an hour to burn off leaving, some very good flying conditions. The thermals were finicky. The air was very buoyant and seemed to hang low, ultimately breaking free and forming large bubbles. Many of the HLG fliers were punching through the thermal layer, boiling over, and dropping off. Those lucky enough to catch that thermal breaking loose enjoyed a ride on the thermals.

Most event fliers set up around groups of “their own kind” all over the field, making it nice for taking photos of each event.

Overall times were surprisingly low in Hand Launch Glider, with Skilly DeLoach taking first (of 7 fliers) in Junior with a score of 247 seconds, Robby Mossey, high senior with a 79, and Jan Langelius topped a field of 11 with a 348. Only 18 seconds separated first through third places … many flights in the pen. Jan also won the perpetual Tulsa Glue Dobber trophy presented by Bobby Hanford, a lifetime Tulsa Glue Dobber.

There were 14 F1G fliers this year with a two-way tie between David Gesbacher and Greg Simon for first place at 600 seconds. In third place was David Mills, only 2 seconds behind with a 598! A flyoff is needed to determine the winner.

Young Hayden Ashworth, sporting a moustache (!), topped a field of 4 in F1P with 900 seconds … excellent flying Hayden! Ronnie Thompson and Gerald Brown won A Gas and CD Classic respectively over fields of 8 and 6 fliers.

Electric A flying (as well as all electric models) is becoming a very popular event. It’s fortunate that many who fly E-36 have a built-in Electric Model and can carry their model “over the line” to fly. Phillip Calvert topped 12 fliers with an incredible score of 1406 seconds. That translates to over 11 maxes! Second place of 809 seconds by Bob Sowder is still a respectable score, but 1406 is hard to beat.

C NOS Gas with 10 fliers was won by Denny Dock, OT ABC Pylon by Richard Kacmarsky, and Chuck Powell of Kansas flying in OT Rubber won over 10 fliers.

Flightline scores are obtained by using the following web link:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vTbTqo_IZE33Qi4eUssAr3Tf1oQ7CNmisn_KmCIupY5cfHY0g90ebjGPvM9P973ZadYstLiBiJW-tlb/pubhtml?gid=379879557&single=true

Thermals!!