Glen Van Sant ready to launch his Formula 40 plane while his Son James is all set to fly it for him.
On day 3 of the Control Line Speed Nats, we flew Formula 40 Speed, 21 Profile Proto Speed, and Fox 35 Stunt Speed. There were a total of four flyers in 21 Proto, three entered Formula 40, and 11 flew Fox 35 Speed.
Today we flew the AMA Fast 2D class. It was another great day of combat! There were several really good matches, and several poor ones. There were pilots from all over the USA and we had zero altercations or complaints.
On Wednesday, the contestants were greeted with cloudy skies, light winds and mid to upper 60s for temperatures. The winds, once the official flights started, stayed in one direction. So in the words of Sergeant Shultz from Hogan's Heroes, the day was Be-u-ti-ful!
Lynn Boss flying his Top Flite Gold Edition P-47 Thunderbolt that uses a modern 2.4 GHz radio for throttle, flaps, retracts and bomb drop. OS-91 four stroke for power.
There are multiple Control Line (CL) events at the Nationals. They all share a bellcrank to control the elevator and fly in a circular pattern. But each CL event is very different in its purpose. The goal in a CL Scale event is to build a smaller version of a full-size aircraft in appearance and flight qualities.
David Betz judging Everet Shoemaker's low speed flight.
Both Profile Carrier and Electric Profile Carrier were flown on Tuesday. The Profile Carrier events are divided into two categories; Sportsman Carrier and Open Carrier. Sportsman Carrier is intended for those who are just getting started in the carrier events, while open carrier if for those who have been flying Carrier for a while.
Expert pilot and world F3C judge, Gordie Meade, in his first scale competition.
Today began with a gloomy gray sky and ended with sunshine after a very short downpour around mid-day. Again, we were able to get three rounds of AMA/FAI competition, as well as one round of Scale flying and the static portion of the judging.
Monday July 7, 2025 was the first day of Control-line Speed. We flew ½A Speed and ½A Proto Speed. The difference between the two events are that ½ A speed is timed for five laps after the plane gets up to speed. Proto, however, is flown from a standing start and is timed for 10 laps total.