Oops! Electric Sailplane. August 7

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1 August 7 Oops! Electric Sailplane 1/2A and Class A Wrap-Up Because of Tuesday s rain delay, both ½ A Electric Sailplane and Class A Electric Sailplane had to be flown on Wednesday. ½ A Sailplane flew in the morning and got in four, eight-minute rounds with 30-second motor run. The early morning condition suited the smaller sailplanes and George Parks took first place followed by Donald Richmond in second and Robert Burson in third. Class A was flown in the afternoon and consisted of four, 10-minute rounds. Motor run stated at 45 seconds the first round, 35 seconds the second round, 30 seconds the third round and finally down to 25 seconds the last round. This challenged the competitors more and more each round to seek out lift as they could not rely on the motor alone to keep them in the contest. Competitors were also limited to a battery pack that was 8.4 volts or less. Soaring to the top was Robert Burson followed by John Iafret and Donald Richmond. Today will be the last day of Electric Sailplane with Class B LMR. Jay Smith William May. Mike Cramer (standing to the right with a friend in photo) and David Dean converge on the same spot during landing approach in Class A. Thankfully both were true sportsmen and their were no hard feelings afterwards. Academy of Model Aeronautics International Aeromodeling Center, Muncie IN; Web site: nats@modelaircraft.org; Copyright Academy of Model Aeronautics 2008 Edited by: Ashley Rauen

2 SCORES AB Gas Reprint 1. Dave Rounsaville Greg Hinrichs Gerald Brown Gilbert Morris Norm Poti Daniel Berry Richard Covalt Reid Simpson Gary Oakins Denny Dock Robert Hanford P Jack Marsh Bob Sowder Ronnie Thompson Gary Baughman J G Pailet Guy Scott 235 Class A Sailplane 1. Robert Burson John Iafret Donald Richmond George Parks Donald Blackwell Tom Kallevang Robert Johnson Ed Franz Greg Prater William May Stewart Moore David Dean Mike Cramer Michael McGowan /2A Sailplane 1. George Parks Donald Richmond Robert Burson Robert Johnson Michael McGowan Donald Blackwell Ed Franz William May Well it looks like Bob Burson got 1st in Class A. 2

3 Free Flight Day 3 Heavy dew and moderate breezes greeted contestants on day three of the 2008 FF Nats. The previous day s heavy storms had forced cancellation of the entirety of Tuesday s flying. That deluge was one for the ages, as was reported in Wednesday s Nats News! So the contest must go on, and that it did. Weather guessers had predicted winds around mph for Wednesday. Not perfect, but a vast improvement we thought. To our surprise (and delight) the strong sustained breezes did not come to pass. There were isolated windy periods but most of Wednesday was very nice for FF with winds around 3-5 mph and plenty of sunshine. Best of all thermals seemed for many easier to pick than normal, as the many long max strings reflected. F1B, F1C, F1H, and F1P all were held Wednesday on a busy FAI line. All four events featured max-outs. Flyoffs will be required in all but F1H early Thursday morning. F1B flyer George Batiuk remarked, today s was the best air I ve seen at Muncie. Quite an endorsement for the quality of Wednesday s conditions since more often than not the thermalpicking is tricky here. Catapult Glider had more than 50 total fliers, and their Wednesday flying experience was not as outstanding. Fliers grumbled later about the hill-top location of the launch pen, which Phil Klinworth readies his Nostalgia Rubber entry. F1B action: Charlie Jones goes; Brian Van Nest waits. made gliders look great at launch but seemed to lack the sustaining air necessary to carry ships to maxes. Daniel Vucovich topped the Junior ranks, and Tim Batiuk coped the Open title. This was a watershed for Tim who has had many close calls in CLG but had never scored the Nats win. Congrats, Tim. Who is this guy? AMA s Technical Director, Greg Hahn, walks the walk built this Ramrod and trimmed it at the Nats! No one loves FF more than Gary Baughman. His spirited performance at the ROW pond proved that Wednesday. He took First Nothing like a smiling kid with a FF glider. in ROW Gas after seriously damaging his beautiful new CD Gas GYSOB. Gary took the accident in stride by quickly pulling out his Hydrostar and racking up test flights, then officials. Gary is a cheerful, engaging flier from Georgia who s made his second trip to the Nats in as many years. He s also a real gentleman; get to know him if you don t already. Don DeLoach 3

4 Free Flight Hall of Fame Inductees Sailplane pilots working hard. The hallowed Free Flight Hall of Fame inducted 6 new members Wednesday night at the NFFS banquet. Take a moment to congratulate these dedicated men (all of whom are present this week). Alexander Andriukov. Three-time F1B World Champion (1991, 1993 and 1997), Alex basically invented the modern F1B model. He was also many times European Champion and World Cup Champion and now manufactures some of the world s finest F1Bs and rubberflying support gear. Herb Kothe. Six decades after his first notable contest performance in Omaha, Nebraska Kothe is still one of the finest rubber fliers in the world. He made seven U.S FAI teams from 1955 through Since the 1980s Herb has dominated SAM and NFFS rubber competitions, and was the 2007 Moffett trophy winner. Reid Simpson. Designer of the Talon, Top Kick and Tornado, three of the most famous and best-selling FF kits of the 1960s and 1970s. Reid was also an elite F1C flyer and Team Manager of the 1981 World Champion USA F1C Team. Roger Simpson. The other half of the best-known set of twins in global Free Flight, Roger has been one of the world s best F1C flyers for almost four decades straight. He s been a Team World Champion and several-time F1C team member for the USA, among other notable wins. He also was founder of the famous Sierra Cup FAI contest. Walter Rozelle (posthumous). Walt was a tireless supporter of Free Flight and NFFS, most notably through his close association with NFFS Digest, which he expertly Edited in three separate spurts from 1967 until Rex Hinson. Like Walt Rozelle Rex has worked tirelessly for Free Flight for decades. He s been a NFFS volunteer, a District Vice-President, and President. He was also a FF team selection participant in F1B for sixteen straight cycles, from 1973 to

5 Free Flight Scores 1/2A Nos Gas UNOFFICIAL Nos Rubber Jr Catapult Glider F1H SO Electric A ABC Cabin F1P Jr F1H Jr ABC Cabin 5

6 142 O Catapult Glider Wind er up! Cargo F1C AB Classic Gas F1Q F1P SO 6

7 F1B Jimmy Allen Dan Berry was tops in AB Classic with smokin -hot Marval. A Nos Gas UNOFFICIAL CD Gas Hydrostar 7

8 Graham Selick with beautiful launch of B Electric entry. A lone FF model wanders over to the Sailplane events. Mon.-Thurs. Friday Saturday Sunday 9 a.m. - 7 p.m. 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. Surface Condition Weather Forecasting for Air Sports Aviators - general Muncie area - from 8