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Stories from the Flight Line

NATS News

Coverage, results, and stories from the National Aeromodeling Championships.

Small propeller plane with Red Bull branding on a grassy field.

Steve Petrotto’s Carbon Cub FX performs a touch-and-go.

July 13, 2025: RC Scale

Today was the final day of the 2025 RC Scale Nationals. Yesterday of course, it was cut short around noon by excessive winds, occasional heavy downpours, and a thunderstorm or two. There was even a brief power outage around 3:00 PM.
Jul 14, 2025
Red model plane flying low near a person on an airfield.

With flaps partially down, the author’s RV-4 is being flown in the Sport Scale class (Lee Ray photo).

July 13, 2025: Control Line Scale

The storms moved out and we had great flying weather to finish up the AMA events and fly Round 1 of the F4B team trials.
Jul 14, 2025
Man smiling next to a model airplane with a yellow wing and emblem on grass.

Curtis Switzer and his 1/3-scale Stearman.

July 12, 2025: RC Scale

We knew the weather could be problematic today. However, we were hoping for the best. Arriving at the field around 7:30 AM, the skies were clear with a breeze. By the 8:00 AM pilot meeting, the had wind picked up to a stiff direct crosswind and was forecast to become even stronger.
Jul 14, 2025
Man holding a large model airplane outdoors.

Ed Mason carrying his B-17 that he flew in Fun Scale

July 12, 2025: Control Line Scale

The summer weather in Muncie can unflyable due to high wind, and the weather on July 12th was one example. The pilots decided not to fly due to the high-wind conditions. So, the decision was made to return to the flying site on Sunday morning to finish off round 1 for the AMA events.
Jul 14, 2025
Three people outdoors with large model airplanes and trophies.

The first-place winners in the 2025 Nats are (L to R) Gabriel Alimov (Senior Class), Orestes Hernandez (Open Class), and Wesley Smith (Junior Class).

July 11, 2025: Control Line Aerobatics

On Friday morning, the group was greeted with warm temperatures and light winds. So far this week, we have been very lucky in that when we were flying the weather cooperated. Today would be no different.
Jul 14, 2025
Red biplane flying against a blue sky with white clouds.

50% Super Starduster, powered by a DLE 170 engine, designed, built, and flown by Tom Lowrie.

July 11, 2025: RC Scale

We have four flight lines in place this year. Assigning pilots to a flight line is a task that is never easy. Some of the pilots have entered several airplanes, When assigning the flight order, the CD must ensure that a pilot is not assigned to fly in two different places at the same time.
Jul 14, 2025
Two model airplanes on pavement, one red and white, the other orange and yellow.

Two Fast Jet models waiting their turn on the circle.

July 11, 2025: Control Line Speed

This was our last day of Speed. We would usually fly three classes of Speed. But alas, two of the fliers were so worn out from the day before, they elected not to fly Class C Speed and Class D Speed. Three other competitors wanted to fly their Fast Jet models, and that was all the noise you could hear coming from Site 2.
Jul 14, 2025
Two men smiling, holding a model glider on a grassy field.

July 11, 2025: Control Line Combat

We had 14 entries in 1/2A today. There was some mighty fine combat happening with itty bitty motors.
Jul 14, 2025
Model propeller plane on a runway with USAF documents nearby.

Ed Mason’s Constellation with four glow engines.

July 11, 2025: Control Line Scale

All of the AMA events were static judged today, and then we started flying round 1 of the four possible flights. However, the winds started to pick up when we started, which made flying more difficult than normal. Fun, Sport, and Profile classes were flown, but we were unable to fly the 1/2A, Team, or Authentic events.
Jul 14, 2025

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