Michael Wizynajtys discus launching his CX5.
By Jason Cole
Day two of F3K is in the books, and we have a new National Champion. Mengchen Li won the title, followed by Joe Dougherty and Contest Director (CD) Mickey Nowell on the podium. The award for Best Junior went to Milan Bregman.
We flew another eight rounds today, bringing the total to 16 for the contest. The day began with cool temperatures in the upper 60s, mostly sunny skies, and some early morning fog and haze. Conditions were calm and the air was very neutral for the first couple of rounds, giving an advantage to those who could launch the highest and out-float the rest of the field. Then, the wind picked up to 5-10 mph, introducing more challenging conditions in which it became easy to miss your times.
A standout moment occurred in round 11 with Junior pilot Milan Bregman. The task was to score one flight in the 10-minute window. Milan got low initially but made an epic save, climbing out to score 9 minutes and 25 seconds, beating all but one pilot in the group, including the new National Champion. Great flying, Milan!
After lunch, conditions varied with great lift, huge thermals, big sink, and dead air, which shook up the scores toward the end of the contest. All in all, it was a super fun competition, and as I always say, you can't lose if you're having fun.
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!