RC Helicopter. July 12, 2007 Inside today s issue: CL Speed CL Racing CL Stunt CL Combat RC Helicopter. July 12. Weather

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1 July 12 CL Speed A Speed B Speed *NASS Sport Jet Speed CL Racing Rat Race *NCLRA Quickie Rat CL Carrier Profile Carrier *Sportsman Carrier CL Aerobatics Precision Aerobatics Qualifying Rounds 3 & 4 Advanced Aerobatics Qualifying Rounds 3 & 4 CL Combat ½ A Combat RC Combat Tech Inspections (afternoon) for: Scale Combat Open Combat *2548 *Limited B *SSC -RC Helicopter Thursday Hi 84 F Lo 59 F Partly Cloudy Weather Saturday Hi 86 F Lo 58 F Partly Cloudy Nats Helicopter Numbers: I m sitting in the White Whale after all the competitors have left, reflecting on the helicopter portion of the Nats. It s been a busy last couple of days to say the least. The turnout was quite a bit lower than I would have liked, but the competition was just as intense. Class I had a few new pilots this including one who came all the way from Great Britain to compete. Class II started with just one entry, but moved up to three contestants. Class III was a real dogfight, with all the pilots turning in some great flights. The FAI F3C Class was not as full this year as it has been in the past, primarily because it is a World Championships year in two weeks to be exact. The biggest gain this year was in Scale. Typically Scale has the lowest turnout, but this year it had the largest contingent. There were 15 pilots more than any previous year I can remember. The numbers tell the tale, but they don t fill in the background about how and what happened. To understand the rest of it, a person needs to experience the Nats firsthand. July 12, 2007 Inside today s issue: CL Speed CL Racing CL Stunt CL Combat RC Helicopter RC Helicopter Note the double nose wheel on Mike McHenry s A-7 to keep the accuracy of the airplane s overall original look. See CL Stunt. I encourage other pilots to experience the Nats; you ll be hooked just as I was. Give it a try, it s great! Before I close I want to thank all the people who help make the Nats run so smooth. It s a lot of work and they get way too little thanks. We do appreciate all that you do. Til next year. Craig Bradley Event Director RC Helicopter Helicopter Event Director Craig Bradley (L) receives an award of appreciation from Ron Morgan, Nats Director/Manager. Friday Hi 80 F Lo 58 F Partly Cloudy Sunday Hi 85 F Lo 62 F Partly Cloudy Weather courtesy of WTHR s Skytrack Weather at Academy of Model Aeronautics International Aeromodeling Center, Muncie IN Web site: nats@modelaircraft.org Copyright Academy of Model Aeronautics 2007 Helicopter s FAI F3C Class winners. 1

2 Class I Helicopter winners. Class II Helicopter winners. Class III Helicopter winners. Matt Reuben s Raptors and Len Mount s Scout. CL Combat Speed Limit Combat: Another beautiful day in Muncie, Indiana. A cool front came through last night. I actually saw some people wearing jackets in the morning! We had the pilots meeting at 9:30 a.m. and got the first match off at 10. Flying Speed Limit you have to work around scheduling because some of your pilots are flying other events. We had a new Junior competitor, Ashley Wilk, who ended up being our top Sportsman Winner. There were a number of good matches but the best match of the day was between Phil Cartier and Steven Wilk. Today is 1 /2A and we re hoping for a good turnout. Wayne Mc Daniel Winners of Speed Limit Combat are (L-R) Ashley Wilk, Top Sportsman; Steven Wilk, second place; Phil Cartier, first place; and Pat Zerfas, third place. 2

3 Left to right: Ron Columbo, Phil Cartier, and Charlie Johnson relaxing between rounds. Above: Steven Wilk and his daughter Ashley getting ready for first-round action. Phil Cartier (R) telling Charlie Johnson how big it was. Left: Pat Zerfas preparing for the second round. CL Stunt Jake Moon proudly holds his dad s Bob Hunt-designed Saturn just before pull testing the four-stroke-powered model. His dad Steve represents UHP and kits the model for sale to the Stunt community. Positions changed multiple times in CL Classic Stunt on Tuesday and Jim Lynch of Memphis, Tennessee, stood tall at the end of the day with his Bill Werwagedesigned Super Ares. His color scheme depended upon the happiness of his grandson, since the hues were stolen from the youngster s ball team uniform. Jim s in the wind was an out-of-the-park home run, using Randy Smith s PA.40 big-case motor and tongue muffler. Jim s version weighs 58 ounces and took the wind to task. Don McClave of Oregon placed second with an O.S..40-powered Ed Southwick Skylark. Don did give Jim Lynch a moment when Don s best flight of 527 went on the board. Bud Wieder of New Jersey brought his John Simpson-designed Cavalier to third with a Even Don McClave was sweating to the stunt oldies with Bud s posted numbers. Gordan Delaney of Salt Lake City, Utah, was fourth with a 521. The last three trophy places were taken by John Leidle with a 515.5, Mike McHenry with his 515.0, and Roger Wildman and his score. Bob Brookins sent word that the Pilot s Choice in Intermediate Stunt was taken by Thomas Case Jr. and the best built, painted, and flown Brodak kit award was 3

4 won by Ronnie Thompson. A storm preceded the flights of Advanced and Open on Wednesday, but left a very bright but windy and gusty day. No one knew what would await them on the circles as they went through the pull-test procedure and placed their models on the assigned circle. By 11 a.m. on Wednesday at least three models were lost to surprise attacks by the blustery conditions. A discussion of model carnage is not what pilots like to talk about between rounds or over evening dinner meals. Today the pilots move to a different set of circles and work to get in their best flights of the day. Their best score of the two flights today will add to the best score of their two flights yesterday to move them on to fly Friday. Normally the judges remain on their own respective circle and the pilots go to their assigned circle for that flight of the day. Allen Brickhaus Old Time Stunt Champion Charles Reeves is flanked by Classic Stunt Champion Jim Lynch. Build it and they will come. I did not stay around long enough to see what Stunt legends might have materialized and walked out of the Indiana corn field. Charles is from Paducah KY and Jim is from Memphis TN. Left: Pat Johnston and Dee Rice kibitz on the Classic circles on Tuesday. Pat CAD drew the P-47 design used by most of the Brazilian model pilots. Dee designed the Oriental of which three were flying on the Classic venue. Right: Michael Schmitt hand signals to the judges that he is ready to engine-start. He is flying an Encore 50 and is assisted on the circle by Dennis Vander Kuur. Both are from the Chicago area. Mike McHenry of Indianapolis IN brought his father s design to Classic on Tuesday at the 2007 Nats. It is an A-7 Corsair and the fuselage is formally Classic legal since it is the same fuselage used by his father during the late 1960s. Mike used what was left from the original model and built the rest according to his father s information. Who will step up and argue the documentation? Upper right: Note the double nose wheel on the A-7 to keep the accuracy of the airplane s overall original look. Right: The nose treatment on the port side of the fuselage, adds a nice touch to the Navy flair of the paint scheme. 4

5 Roger Wildman pull tests his Davis Special and readies the model for a test of the wind. I am sad to say that the air masses won this round on circle four at the L pad. Roger is from New Palestine IN and is retired and loving it. Marshall Busby (R) helps get Bill Rich in the air for a test flight during a judges break. Bill is flying a Randy Smith-designed SV-12XL. I am including another shot of Scott Condon s Bob Palmer-designed Venus flown in Old Time Stunt. This was such a nice finish and well planned by Scott. Phil Granderson (R) holds for Bob Sparky Storick as his.75-powered P- 47 is ready to take to the air. Bene Rodrigues of Brazil stops a moment for a grin and a digital shot just after pull testing his self-designed P-51. Walt Brownell is flying a twin electricpowered Stunter entitled the Gemini. Wish I could have helped him name it! The Gemini flies fine and won Expert at the Broken Arrow, Lafayette Esquadrille contest at Buder Park near St. Louis last fall. 5

6 CL Racing A busy day a very busy day! Allen to step in. Jason also flew his own entry, and as luck (and skill!) would have it, he also qualified for the finals (3:02.92). So Mike had a real problem: finding a pilot for this very demanding event. But lurking in the shade of the contestants tents was Dave McDonald, who was here while on his lunch hour from work. Dave is an old Rat pilot, and Mike pressed him into service. Super Slow Rat winners (L-R) Dave Hull with pit man Bob Oge; Bob Whitney and pilot Dave Hallas; and Ashley Wilk (her Dad/pitman was off at the Combat circles when the photo was taken). Weather on Tuesday afternoon threatened rain, but none of any consequence fell on the Racing circles; however, nearby portions of the AMA Flying Site got a good drenching. After Tuesday s flying, all of the racers gathered at Bill Lee s RV in the parking lot at Stage Center for barbeque, drinks, and fellowship. Overnight a cool front went on through. There was a small amount of rain but the morning saw cooler temperatures and dryer air. However, that welcome change was accompanied by steady northwest winds of about 15 mph. Racing started with the three entries in Fox Race. We flew a couple of qualifying heats to give all a chance to sort out any problems and then a final. Paul Smith, assisted by Ron Colombo, took first place with a 7: He was followed closely by Dave Betz at 7: It was an exciting race with Betz in the lead until a third pit was needed two laps short of the end of the race. Super Slow Rat had five competitors entered. Dave Hull from California showed the way to the others by posting the fastest qualifying time of 5:53.06, followed by a winning time in the finals of 6: Second place went to Ashley Wilk at 6: After lunch, the big guns in Slow Rat were brought out. Mike Greb, perennial Nats Slow Rat champion had a very fine qualifying run of 2: Mike s usual pilot, Russ Green, was unable to make the Nats and Mike asked Jason Bob Whitney and a very nice original-design Fox Racer. Lots of carbon fiber inside, and an actual doped finish that is unusual in today s world of Mylar coverings. In the finals, the two models (Allen and Greb) were quite evenly matched. But Mike s reign as Nats champion came to and end when his power pack failed and he was unable to complete the race. Jason Allen went on to first place with a time of 6: Clown Race saw nine entries with eight actually flying. 6

7 We flew back-to-back 7.5-minute qualifying races with the best three going to a final 15-minute race. In the qualifying races, Jim Gall took advantage of a competitor s problems for a long solo run and the best qualifying score of 160 laps. Al Ferraro, a teammate with Jim Gall, was second quickest in qualifying at 157 laps, and Bob Whitney from Florida was third at 152 laps. With both Jim Gall and Al Ferraro making the finals, the two teammates had to make special arrangements for piloting and pitting. Jason Allen was flying for Al while Jim did his own piloting. Jim asked veteran Bob Oge to pit for him. The finals again illustrated how important pitting skills are in winning races in CL Racing. Bob s unfamiliarity with Jim s model cost him valuable seconds on a couple of pit stops. After 15 minutes of serious competition, Al Ferraro came out on top with 293 laps, Jim trailing at 280, and Bob Whitney in third at 228 laps. Did I say a busy day? Evening saw the annual NCLRA Banquet and meeting, held at the Sirloin Stockade. Don Jehlik and Herb Stockton were inducted into the NCLRA Hall of Fame, and Bob Whitney was given the Sprotsmanship award. Bill Lee Left: Fox Race winners (L-R) Dave Betz; Bob Whitney and pilot Dave Hallas; and Ron Columbo, piloting for Paul Smith. Father-and-son team in Clown Racing: Patrick and Al Ferraro. Left: Slow Rat winners (L-R) Jason Allen and his Dad, James; Al and Patrick Ferraro, who pitted for John Ross; and Mike Greb and Old Rat Pilot Dave McDonald. Jason Allen's Slow Rat showing the inboard uniflow tank coupled with the swing-weight carburetor on the Nelson 36. Clown Race winners (L-R): Patrick Ferraro and John Ross helped Al Ferraro to a first-place finish with Jason Allen piloting. Jim Gall had Bob Oge doing pitting duties; Dave Hallas flew for Bob Whitney. 7

8 CL Speed Glenn Lee said that his second-place win at the 2006 Nationals inspired him to freshen up his proto engine during this past winter. His flights today looked as though he spent his time well! His speed of put him within two mph of the record for the event. Second place in.21 Proto went to Eric Olson at mph. Third place went to Bill Hughes at Bill was flying a new model that he was still working the bugs out of. He used all four of his attempts to place his time. Part of the.21 Proto event is a judging of models for appearance points. Eric Olson s model was awarded 3.0 points, the maximum possible this year. Second in points was Glenn Lee at Bill Hughes earned 1.28 points. In Formula 40, senior Bobby Poisson placed fourth at mph. Bobby and his dad Bob spent a great part of the day working on propellers. Their work gained them more than five mph. Glen VanSant s Formula 40 model closely resembles the flying-wing models used in F2C Team Race. Fuel feed problems plagued him all day. He had to use all four of his attempts to get the one successful flight of that put him in third place. Acting as his pit crew was his son Jim VanSant. Alberto Caballero powered his model with the latest version of the Nelson 40 called a 40 LS. This new engine has a smaller cylinder bore and longer crank stroke. The Pylon community has been very happy with the power increase this design change has produced. Alberto s lightweight, 22- ounce model went on its second flight putting him in second place. This is a great showing for an engine that is not yet broken in. James VanSant (R) holds the Delta wing model as his dad Glen fuels it for an attempt. The Team of Mark and Montagino used two flights to place a speed of mph for first place. At a contest in April this team bumped the Formula 40 record to mph. They flew a new model at this Nats that is still being adjusted to groove with very little control input from the pilot. Dave Mark Pilot Chris Montagino (center) tries to figure out how Alberto Caballero (L) and Dave Mark (R) can build a fast Speed jobs when they can t seem to find up on their trophies. Bobby Poisson (sitting) works on his model as his dad Bob checks the pitch on a propeller for their next attempt. Right: Sonny Williams works on his Yellow Bird 21 Proto 8

9 Scores and Standings Class I Helicopter Please note that all scores posted in this edition of NatsNews 2007 are unofficial until final tabulation has been made. Class II Helicopter Class III Helicopter F3C Helicopter 307 JS 21 Sport Speed Proto Speed 9

10 310 F2A Speed 308 Formula S Formula Slow Rat Additional photos from Allen Brickhaus.

11 Sport Speed Additional photos from Allen Brickhaus. 11

12 Ashley and father Steve Wilk. Michael Ramsey photo.