By Melvin Schuette
This year, Navy Carrier has been a tale of what a difference a day makes. The Carrier gods once again looked down upon the competitors and gave them an almost perfect day. Other than the heat, you couldn’t ask for better flying conditions.
Some people say that the 60° angle of attack at which the slow speed portion of the flight is flown is not scalelike. To this I answer that the high angle of attack at which the low speed is flown at is the skill portion of our event. It takes a lot of practice to get the planes to fly at that angle and retain forward motion at the same time.
The two hardest parts about flying Navy Carrier at the Nats and/or any contest is setting the deck up and figuring out just where you want to put it, and at the end of the contest, packing the deck back up. If the events are held over multiple days, you hope the wind direction doesn’t change, causing the deck to be moved. Luckily, this year the wind was out of the same direction on all three days.
Thursday is unofficial Carrier event day. There were three classes of Carrier flown on Thursday: 15 carrier, Skyray Carrier, and Nostalgia Carrier. (There are no scale points awarded in 15 and Skyray Carrier.)
The results for the unofficial Carrier events are as follows:
15 Carrier
Place Name High Speed Low Speed Landing Total
1st Mike Anderson 25.13 2:06.46 100 250.4
2nd Robert Hawk att
Skyray Carrier
Place Name High Speed Low Speed Landing Total
1st Mike Anderson 22.89 181.3 100 257.9
2nd Pete Mazur 23.36 130.9 100 232.7
3rd Mike Hazel 24.46 48.50 100 193.4
Nostalgia Profile
Place Name High Speed Low Speed Landing Bonus Total
1st Mike Hazel 27.64 67.39 100 100 377.3
2nd Benard Suhamski 29.4 56.56 0 100 249.41
3rd Robert Hawk 35.89 0 0 120 170.3
The deck has put away, the awards handed out, the contestants have said their goodbyes until next year when we meet again. I wish you a hearty safe trip home and hope to see you again here in Muncie.
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Bob Heywood Judging Pete Mazur's slow speed flight.
Mike Anderson releasing Pete Mazur's Skyray Carrier plane.
Mike Anderson's 15 carrier making a landing.
Mike Anderson's Skyray Carrier plane at 60° nose high.
Putting the deck away.