Inside: NatsNews Daily coverage of the 2010 National Aeromodeling Championships August 1, 2010 Sunday RC Electric Monday Electric Free Flight begins Tuesday-Wednesday Electric Free Flight Barney Bauer with his own design Pterodactyl. Gordon Buckland photo. Academy of Model Aeronautics International Aeromodeling Center, Muncie IN; Web site: www.modelaircraft.org; e- mail: nats@modelaircraft.org; Copyright Academy of Model Aeronautics 2010 Editors: Liz Helms, Ashley Rauen, and Jennifer Orebaugh Staff Contributors: Michael Ramsey and Jay Smith A special thank-you to members of AMA s Flight Support Team. Our community partners recognize that AMA onsite events bring thousands of visitors during the flying season who spend dollars in our community. Their generous donations help AMA continue to host the many competition events held annually, and in turn, AMA promotes and encourages our members to look for and support members of the Flight Support Team.
Text and photos by Gordon Buckland. RC SOARING Saturday, July 31 Twenty eight hand launch glider pilots arrived Saturday morning to gray skies and a threat of showers, maybe even a thunderstorm or two. At 7:45 a.m. Marna announced the radio impound ready for transmitters, and that the dessert buffet was officially open. Perhaps a little early for breakfast fare, but there were plenty of leftovers from the previous evenings on-field banquet. In a slight change from the soaring events so far this week, pilots were free to keep their transmitters after the first round, only having to go to the impound to collect and return scorecards. The relatively low number of entries and high proportion of pilots flying Spread Spectrum made this very doable. Contest Director Don Cleveland conducted a short pilots meeting, handing out task lists while covering a few pertinent points; one being the lack of any throwout rounds, meaning that all rounds flown are included in the final score. Not unusual for Nats soaring, but a little different from the F3K rules to which most hand launch events are flown. This places an emphasis on making the most from every round, and can reward or punish risky flight decisions. Hand launch gliders are limited to 1.5M wingspan, and typically weigh between 9 and 11 ounces. Model construction is usually all composite, with either bagged foam or hollow molded wings. Though considerably less costly, bagged wing models are extremely competitive and still a popular choice with many pilots. Bagged wing models are available from around $300, molded models typically cost three times as much, with the exception of the Blaster 2 which is great value at around $400. Pilots had been sorted into four flight groups of six to eight pilots, Round 1 Group A taking the field a little after 9 a.m. for a 5 x 2 task, requiring five two-minute flights in a ten minute window. Gavin Trussell took the win, Steve Meyer one second behind. In Group B Scott Zastoupil bested Ryan Thompson by four seconds to take the 1,000 points. Craig Greening won Group C with 9:53 total time, Larry Ruble next best. At this point a steady light rain set in and Don Cleveland called a break. The rain lasted around 30 minutes, then Group D took the field to complete Round 1, Jeff Pfeifer winning by three points over Bruce Davidson. The task for Round 2 was Last Two Flights, where the last two flights are scored, with a maximum of four minutes per flight. Two four-minute flights in the ten minute window give a perfect score. Conditions after the rain were tough, with a moderate breeze and very little real lift available. Many pilots chose to surf the tents to stretch out their flight times, and settling for two flights in the two-minute range rather than try for more and take the chance of nullifying a previous better flight. Reto Fiolka took Group A with a total time of 4:40, Gavin Trussell next best at 3:39. Considering that in normal conditions the full eight minutes is achieved by at least one pilot in each group, shows how difficult it was to find lift. Winner of Group B was Craig Greening with a time of 6:07. More rain set in before Group C could start, this time much heavier and with some thunder and lightning activity. It was almost 3 p.m. before flying resumed in a light breeze and still very light conditions. Ryan Gonsoulin was 8 seconds better than Bruce Davidson to take Group C, Jeff Pfeifer winning Group D by almost two minutes over Steve Meyer. The wind lightened as the day progressed, and during Round 3 some more solid lift developed though it was not always easy to track down. Three flights of three minutes was the task. No pilot in any group achieved the full nine minutes, though several were in the 7-minute range. Group winners were Craig Greening, Merrill Brady, Ryan Gonsoulin, and Jeffrey Walter. Task 4 was All-Up, where pilots launch simultaneously in each of three attempts at a three-minute flight. Only one launch per flight is permitted, if the three minutes is not achieved the pilot becomes a spectator, watching any airplanes still flying and wondering what could have been but for deciding to head a different direction. Doug Pike took Group A narrowly over Bruce Davidson, scoring in Group B was close with Tom Siler prevailing. Winner of Group C was Craig Greening, and Reto Fiolka was six seconds better than Bob Whitney in Group D. Last Flight Counts was the task for Round 5, where the goal is to achieve a five-minute flight, in this case the window was ten minutes. Conditions were still not great and each group was won with fewer than four minutes, sometimes three. The challenge when not having flown the full time is deciding whether or not to throw and again and risk having to keep a lesser flight time. Group A was won by Gavin Trussell with a 2:19, Craig Greening with a 3:21 was enough to win Group B. Reto Fiolka turned in a 3:01 in Group C, and Jeff Pfeifer 2:35 in Group D to each take the thousand points. Sunday s weather forecast is for warmer temperatures and sunny skies, Don Cleveland will send the first group out at 8:30 a.m. and we expect a full day of flying. 2
What are those soaring pilots using? Name Model Radio John Diniz Blaster 2 JR 11X Bruce Davidson Sirius JR X9503 Jeff Pfeifer Steigeisen Airtronics SD10G Gavin Trussell Blaster 2 Airtronics SD10G Doug Pike Lightspeed JR XP8103 Ryan Gonsoulin Sirius Futaba T12FGA Jeff Carr Salonit Airtronics SD10G Tom Siler Steigeisen Airtronics SD10G Larry Ruble Blaster 2 JR X9303 Bob Olson Blaster 2 Futaba 10C Al Nephew Taboo GT JR X9503 Robert Samuels Taboo Disser JR X9303 Adam Quennoz Taboo GT JR X9303 Bob Whitney Twister 2 Multiplex Evo 9 Ryan Thompson Blaster 2 Multiplex Evo 9 Steve Meyer Vandal Airtronics SD10G Ben Roberto No Name Airtronics SD10G Jeffrey Walter Scratchbuilt Airtronics SD10G Garth Kolterjahn Blaster 2 Multiplex Evo 9 Reto Fiolka Steigeisen Graupner MX22 Craig Greening Stobel v3 JR 11X Scott Zastoupil Taboo GT Multiplex Evo 9 Chris Lee Taboo JR X9303 Merrill Brady Arrow Pro JR X9303 John Ferguson Blaster 2 JR X9303 Barney Bauer Pterodactyl JR X9503 Rick Waitulionis Taboo GT Futaba T8FG Alan Schwerin Tabooish JR XP7203 Chris Lee s Taboo in flight. 3
Merrill Brady s Arrow Pro overhead. Marna Jeffrey. Contest Director Don Cleveland. 4
Scores and Standings 5
Ryan Thompson and Ben Roberto. Jeff Carr having fun taking pictures during the pilots meeting. Reto Fiolka and Tom Siler check each other s flight groupings. Bruce Davidson and Gavin Trussell look over the task list. 6
Bruce Davidson spots air as Gavin Trussell flies. Gavin Trussell s Blaster 2. Doug Pike with task list in hand. Chris Lee checking the sky before throwing his Taboo. 7
Round 1 Group A heads out for their flight. Tom Siler calling as Ryan Gonsoulin flies. Chris Lee and his caller Jeffrey Walter returning after a flight. 8
Bob Whitney s Twister 2. The Blaster 2 and JR 11X of John Diniz await their next flight. Jeffrey Walter urging his scratchbuilt model back to the field boundary after chasing lift downwind. Doug Pike retrieves his model from out of bounds. 9
RC soaring: Cross Country The air is looking up RC Soaring, Cross Country opened Saturday, July 31st with bright yellow on the radar. Not until about 4 PM did some of the competitors strike the course to win only about 4.5 miles out of the 20 mile course. We ll have to call that day practice. Sunday morning is shaping up to be a much better day, maybe even perfect. The lines are stretched out and the 5-meter beauties are taped up. Skip Miller and Rick Lederman we ll give us a shiny report on the national event and we ll see who put the cool in this traveling show. Thank you guys in advance for putting that together for us. Thank you also to Edward Wilson for directing Cross Country Soaring, and to Marc Gellart for directing the 2011 Soaring Nationals. Michael Ramsey 10 The Cross Country course.
More soaring photos by Gordon buckland. 11