July 22, 2019: CL Precision Aerobatics (Stunt)
By Matt Neumann (mrstuka@cinergymetro.net)
Saturday the fliers woke up to hazy skies and light wind. It was a welcome change from the day before.
Nats News
July 21, 2019: CL Combat
By Phil Cartier
Fast Combat has been growing slowly at the Nats the last few years. This year saw 10 fliers competing. Most of the action has moved to F2D, mainly from the chance at getting on a US World Cup team and the ease of buying and shipping top-performing models at a fairly reasonable cost.
July 20, 2019: CL Precision Aerobatics (Stunt)
By Matt Neumann (mrstuka@cinergymetro.net)
Gray skies, nothing but gray skies … at least for most of the morning.
Friday is traditionally called top 20 day. It is the day that the top 20 from the Open skill class flyoff to find the top five who will move on to Saturday’s event. It is also the day that, in this case, the top 16 from the Advanced class flyoff to find out who will be crowned the Advanced Class National Champion.
July 20, 2019: CL Combat
By Phil Cartier
1/2A Combat is a bit like swatting mosquitoes. The planes are small (proportional to Fast Combat aircraft), have very tight turning, and are difficult to see. It’s hard on spectators, buts great fun for the pilots. The planes are scaled down and look like Fast Combat aircraft to the pilots. They just pull a lot less—a couple of pounds instead of 12 to 15 or more. The aircraft are cheaper too.
July 19, 2019: CL Combat
By Phil Cartier
Speed Limit Combat keeps the speed below 75 mph. A total of 21 fliers turned out, including some who generally don't travel extensively except for the Nats. This year brought out a more-limited range of engines. The list included Fora 15, LA and FP, Fox 36, Nelson, LA 40, and probably one that I missed.
July 19, 2019: CL Racing
By Tim Stone (stone-tim@sbcglobal.net)
The competition wrapped up Thursday with the running of Clown Race and Sport Goodyear.
Clown Race rules specify a standard design, the PDQ Clown, a 50-plus-year-old design currently kitted by Brodak Manufacturing and PDK. Any engine can be used, up to a .19 displacement. Engine preference has become RC car conversions and FAI combat motors. Unlike other racing events, the winner is determined by who has flown the most number of laps in a specified time period.
July 19, 2019: CL Precision Aerobatics (Stunt)
By Matt Neumann (mrstuka@cinergymetro.net)
Blue skies, nothing but blue skies … well at least for the morning. The contestants were greeted Thursday morning with a blue sky and very light wind. It was a welcome change from what we have been getting; however, things would change as the day went on.
July 19, 2019: CL Navy Carrier
By Dick Perry (tailhooker@comcast.net)
The Scale Carrier classes, Class I (up to .40 displacement engines) and Class II (.40-.65 engines), competed on Wednesday. In addition to vying for top honors in each class, the contestants were seeking to add enough points to their Profile scores from Tuesday to take home the Eugene Ely Award as the outstanding CL Navy Carrier modeler at the 2019 Nats.
July 19, 2019: RC Combat
By William Drumm (midair72@hotmail.com)
Day 3 for RC Combat started out beautifully. Only a few clouds painted the sky, and the sun was shining brightly.
GNAT Combat was on the agenda for Thursday. GNAT airplanes are easy to build and are quite rugged because they are built out of coroplast and are all of the same design. They use a .15 engine that is legal for SSC and use the same 8 x 3 propeller without an rpm limit.
July 19, 2019: RC Precision Aerobatics (Pattern)
By Monte Richard (mrichard@compassengineering.com)
Day 3 of the Nats, our second day of flying competition, went well. We shut down flying at 8:30 a.m. to allow a Learjet to come in and land. The show was worth the slight delay.
The sky was overcast, which kept temperatures cool. All sites started flying and we completed FAI about 11 a.m. Advanced is the longer class and didn’t finish its second round until roughly 1 p.m., just in time for the start of Intermediate and Masters.
