Orestes Hernandez is the 2024 National Champion.
By Matt Neumann
The rooster crows, and the sun rises one last time for the 2024 AMA Control Line (CL) Precision Aerobatics Nats. The light brightens, and the words on the last page of the Nats’ history book come into view.
This has been one of the most enjoyable Nats in recent history. As I believe I stated in the first article, anything can and will happen—and it did. We saw some great flying throughout the event. We had some great weather and some not-so-great weather. It was hot and cool, sunny and cloudy, and calm and windy. Welcome to the Midwest.
Some fliers had everything working perfectly, while others had issues. Unfortunately, we did lose a few airplanes, which is never what anyone wants. However, it is part of the hobby that we all accept.
As to be expected, the scores at the end were close, and the points between fliers were minuscule. I do believe that the top fliers did rise to the occasion. Many pilots design their own airplanes, build their own airplanes as per the rules, and finish their own airplanes. In order to get to the top, you cannot do just one thing well; you must do all of that well. That is quite a challenge because it is only a complete package that will win the Nats. Without that complete package, you cannot win the Nats.
I would like to give many thanks to all of the volunteers who helped put this together. Without them, this event would not have happened. The people who ran this event wonderfully are Beginner Event Director (ED) Mike Stinson; Intermediate ED Dennis Adamisin; OTS/Classic/Nostalgia 30 ED Vince Bodde; Nats ED John Paris; Assistant ED Michele; Tabulator Kathleen Patterson; Howard Rush, Nats program writer; Head Judge Mark Overmier; judges Steve Smith, Tom Dixon, Frank Williams, Mark Gerber, Darrell Harvin, Joan Cox, John Simpson, Doug Patterson, Glen Meador, and Tim Wescott; appearance judges Mark Weiss and Bob McDonald; Doug Patterson, weigh-in staff; and Beth Mills and Jean DeMauro, runners. I am sorry that I did not get everyone's picture; the timing was just off for me this year. Competing, helping other fliers, and then trying to take pictures made me quite busy.
Of the things that are the most memorable are some of the airplanes. One thing that I neglected to mention is the Concours Award. This is an award that the pilots vote on for the best-looking airplane. This year, it went to Jim Aron for his beautiful airplane that has a Looney Tunes theme to it. It is certainly an out-of-the-box paint scheme that I applaud. It really stands out, and the award is well deserved.
Then, there was Rick Huff's airplane that had vectoring thrust. The motors moved up and down with the controls. It was very unique. Unfortunately, it was one of the airplanes that we lost. I certainly hope that Rick expands on this idea in the future.
The top five pilots had two electric airplanes, two tuned-pipe airplanes, and one airplane with a simple muffler. This goes to show that there is not just one set up that works. Do what works best for you, develop that, and shoot for the stars. While each has their strengths and weaknesses, I have to say that Todd Lee's muffled engine sounds the best to me. There is nothing like the deep roar of a Stunt engine going through the pattern. It is sort of like a powerful muscle car of yesteryear. Others may disagree, but that is just my opinion.
While the Nats is used to determine the National Champion, it is really an excuse to get together to see friends and family. We are really an extended family, and model airplanes only help tie each of us together. Most, if not all, actually have more fun connecting with the friends and family that we only see once a year at the Nats than they do with the actual competition. I do not just say this for my US friends, for I made new friends from Germany and the UK this year.
For many of us, our extended family actually extends across the entire world. That is something special. I am not the only one that feels this way. I have heard this same thing from many contestants, including my new German friend and another from England. This just goes to show that our extended family does not have to be just here in the US. It can be worldwide. I am happy to be a part of that.
With that, the sun will now set on the last page of the 2024 AMA CL Precision Aerobatics Nats’ history book. I will take the pages that were written this past week, bind them together, and give them an appropriate cover so that I may look back on these events in the future. I will have to say that after this long week of getting up early and being part of the “yawn patrol” many times, I am looking forward to getting a little bit of sleep in the morning. However, there is this certain rooster that keeps getting the sun up early. I think I might fix that by having some chicken tonight!
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!