2023

It looked a little dim for the Team Trials Saturday morning, with heavy rain and occasional lightning. By midday, the bad weather vanished and was replaced by a beautiful day. During the transition, there was a fair amount of wind which made matches flown during that period fast and furious with most maneuvering downwind at accelerated rates.

What a perfect day to start the Team Trials for the 26 hopeful candidates. The temperature was in the low 80s with just a whiff of wind, a blue sky, and no rain … yet.

Approximately 100 people, RC and Control Line (CL) combined, attended the Saturday night banquet. The program for the evening began with an auction of several donated items. The items included a set of plans, a Pica T-28 kit and retracts, a bottle of bourbon, and a bottle of wine. The auction netted a total of nearly $500 to be donated to NASA’s FAI team sponsorship.

Once again, the winds were light and the sky was clear. The static judging area was a busy place as Control Line (CL) and RC static judging took place at the same time. New this year were the FAI entries, both CL and RC, which are judged separately according to FAI rules.

We were greeted with great flying conditions on Sunday, the last day to fly for Rounds three and four of the AMA events. With overcast skies and light winds, it didn’t get too hot which made getting good flights very possible for those who decided not to fly on Saturday afternoon.

Rainstorms put the Control Line (CL) Scale flying to a halt in the morning; however, by noon, the skies had cleared and we were able to get flying again.

Static got started early with check-in to get the models weighed, and then the pilots lined up the models to be judged. Instead of being on the flight line near the runway in the RC area, we were across the road in an open area with a large tent and plenty of room to spread out.

Sunday was a very pleasant day weather wise. I arrived at the field from my home in Vincennes, Indiana, around 11:30 and found several of the guys practicing. A few even had jackets. I could tell they were from the south because they were used to extreme heat. I, being a Midwesterner on the other hand, thought this was a nice, cool Midwest morning.

The racing was very tight today and several Novices moved up to Expert. From the beginning, it was pretty clear that the boys from Canada were going to be tough to beat. After eight rounds of racing, the team of Roy Andrassy and Cory Paine from Canada cruised into first place and fastest time!

Celebrate, celebrate, it is time to strike up the band and have a celebration!

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Nats, and the 50th anniversary of the special interest group (SIG) Precision Aerobatic Model Pilots Association (or PAMPA for short). These are two big milestones to be achieved.