Jeff Pike’s B-24 was built from a Jack Stafford kit. Engine problems kept this good-looking model grounded for Round 1. Let’s hope it gets sorted out for Round 2!
By Gerry Garing
Once again, we were greeted by a great morning at the field, albeit the grass was still quite wet from yesterday’s storm; however, nothing delayed Contest Director (CD) John Boyko’s 8:30 a.m. pilot meeting. The registration area was kept busy with those yet to register. In the meantime, static judging was under way, handling the remining half of the airplanes from yesterday. We had about an hour before Round 1 was set to begin at 1:30 p.m.
This year’s Nats is using four flightlines. There are considerations which complicate what appears to be an easy task. For example, it is important that all pilots in one class are judged by the same sets of judges for consistency. The second consideration is that some pilots are flying in two different classes. Therefore, their flights must be staggered to prevent flying at the same time. Only a few minutes were required to sort out the bugs.
It seems like a never-ending conversation is the need to attract new Scale fliers, particularly young ones. 16-year-old Jack Satterfield and his mother, Linda, showed up this morning to compete in his first Scale contest. Jack has been flying aerobatics and 3D maneuvers with his Extreme Flight 64-inch WS MXS. He spent yesterday visiting AMA’s International Aeromodeling Center to see the various events. At the end of the day, it was the RC Scale event that captured his interest. He went home to learn more through YouTube videos and returned today to register. John spent time explaining the appropriate class for him and what he would need to do during a flight. Others were eager to lend him advice, after which he immediately flew a practice flight to put words into action. When asked what attracted him to Scale, I was surprised to hear him say that it was the challenge. He said flying Scale is not easy because it requires precision and discipline. His goal for this winter is to build a Kawasaki Ki-61 Tony kit for next year. How refreshing to see the interest in building!
Prior to Round 1, the eight flight judges assembled to critique and discuss a demonstration flight by Will Berninger and his T-34. The goal is to bring agreement and consistency among judges. Round 1 began about 15 minutes later and wrapped up at 4:30 p.m. Once all of the scores were in and tabulated, pilots were given their static and first-round flight scores. See below for the scores.
Just like yesterday, brief but heavy rain moved in at the end of the day, not long after Round 1 was concluded. Mike Barbee once again treated guests to a Friday evening pizza party. While the idea is to kick back and socialize, things get very quiet once the food arrives! It’s off for some much-needed rest until we are back at 8:30 a.m. tomorrow morning.
![:] Tim Dickey, assisted by Jack Buckley, assemble the Romania-bound FAI F4C Waco Cabin.](/files/2_Garing12_resized.png)
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!