event

Electric Formula 1 (EF1) was flown today. We had 44 registered pilots in this class. The planes are replicas of full-scale F1 racers. This is a spec class run on 4S LiPos and an 8 X 8E APC propeller. This electric class is our only electric event and, just as with 424, we run both a Novice and Expert division.

Each heat of RC Combat lasts five minutes with a 90-second launch window prior to the call of start Combat. In those 90 seconds, the pilot must start their engine and be up in the air with a fully deployed 30-foot streamer. Once Combat starts, everybody converges on each other and a furball develops.

The final day of the 2023 Team Trials looked to be over by early afternoon, as just a mere twelve contestants remained. The short day turned out to be a very long affair, thanks to a record number of re-flights.

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.

Light rain quickly began to intensify shortly before the 8 a.m. pilot meeting, and it was apparent that flying was not an option, at least for the morning..

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.