The 2024 F3RES pilots.
By Mike Bergerson
What has a 2-meter wingspan, is 99% wood, and gets shot into the sky on a big rubber band? If you said a glockenspiel, you might be correct, as I have no idea what the specs are … of course, it's an F3RES sailplane!
F3L is its official Fédération Aéronautique Internationale class designation. You're allowed a carbon spar, fuselage boom, and some other structural reinforcements, but the airplane must be wooden. You're given a 9-minute window to make a six-minute flight and precision landing. You may land and launch as many times as you’d like within the window, but your last flight is the one that’s scored. You must be on the ground before the final buzzer, or you forfeit your landing points.
It all begins July 22 at 8 a.m. on Site 5 of AMA’s International Aeromodeling Center at the 2024 AMA RC Soaring Nats!
Blue Skies!
Note from AMA: Do you have photos from the Nats that you’d like to share? If so, email them to Clarissa Poston at clarissap@modelaircraft.org. Please include a brief description in your email, naming any individuals pictured in the photo(s), the name of the event that the photo(s) were taken during, and the name of the individual who took the photo(s). Your submission(s) might be posted on AMA’s Flickr page, which can be found at www.flickr.com/photos/modelaircraft/albums!