Aerobatics 2003/12

December 2003 31
THE 2003 AMA Radio Control Aerobatics
Nationals open contest held July 13-18 was
my ninth consecutive Nationals attendance,
the eighth at the AMA Headquarters site in
Muncie, Indiana, and my 11th total in 21
years. This was to be my second one as the
Model Aviation columnist covering the
event. A new transmission, two oil leaks, a
leaking power-steering box, and one bent
16-inch rim later, we were on our way.
The drive to the Nationals cannot help
but bring back myriad memories. The miles
in my mind are filled with the anticipation
of reunions and contest challenges. I wonder
what I forgot and what will be new when I
get there!
There is a degree of magic associated
with any national event. Some entrants are
there for the experience itself and can be
easily identified by the number of hats and
shirts they buy for their friends back home.
Some are definitely there for the social
interaction and will spend the week reveling
in recalling the stories of yesteryear’s
Nationals. All attend because it is the
“Nats.”
A e r o b a t i c s
Eric Henderson, 303 Shady Ln., Marlton NJ 08053; E-mail: [email protected]
Intermediate-class entrant Michael Radeke with O.S. 1.40-powered Focus.
Winners in Intermediate class (first through fourth from left to right) are Kristopher
Kovanda, A.C. Glenn, Joe Dunnaway, and Michael Radeke.
Albert Glenn bought JR 10X radio in
NSRCA Team Trials auction and
generously donated it back to be
auctioned again.
RADIO CONTROL
A large contingent comes to compete
seriously. They have a desire to be the best
in the US open Nats. They have practiced
every week since last year’s Nats. They
have practiced every day for weeks leading
up to the event, and some even came out a
week early to get acclimated and, of
course, practice.
Jeff Hill was the precision Aerobatics
event director for the third year in a row.
There are four classes contested:
Intermediate (402), Advanced (403),
Masters (404), and Fédération
Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) F3A
(406).
Jeff’s plan required the use of three
flying sites at the AMA facility. Each had
two flightlines that were employed in the
morning and the afternoon for three days in
a row. Each site used 12 judges per day:
six in the morning and six in the afternoon.
That’s a total of 108 judges in the first
three days and 10 for the finals. Add to that
a scribe for each judge per half day. I’ll
wager that Jeff can spell “logistics.”
F3A and Masters used a league system for three days to select
finalists for the fourth day. The pilots were divided into four
groups per class. The Masters pilots flew in the morning and the
F3A pilots flew in the afternoon. Each group was seeded based on
last year’s performances.
In Masters there were 10 pilots per group, in F3A there were
six pilots per group, and eight top-seeded contestants were
distributed among the four groups so that no set of fliers had a
bias of “dominant” competitors.
After three days the top 20% flew in a final of three rounds. In
actuality, 10 pilots were selected for F3A and 10 were chosen for
Masters to make sure that the league system and groupings had
not unfairly kept “bubble” pilots out of the finals.
In Masters they flew the second year of the 2002-2004
schedule. In F3A they flew the last year of the P-03 schedule in
the qualifying rounds and a different schedule called F-03 for the
F3A finals. The pilots carried their best scores forward to finals
day, when three flights were made.
The league is used to select finalists by taking one best score
from each day and a fourth remaining best result from any day.
Thus it was vitally important to fly well every day and in every
round in that day.
Arrival: Joe Lachowski, Michelle (my better half), and I set out for
the Nats at 7:10 a.m. Friday morning (July 11) from Cherry Hill,
32 MODEL AVIATION
These Double Visions were flown in this year’s Nationals, and
one of them is off to the F3A World Championships.
Donny Wright shows off his top-end Zen Pattern ARF.
Winners in Advanced (first through sixth from left to right) are Michael Hill, Robert
Fortino, Tim Pazara, Brett Bowen, Terrence Brown, Michael Middleton.
2002 Intermediate winner Michael Hill, YS 120-powered Prophecy.
RADIO CONTROL
December 2003 33
Winners in Masters (first through sixth from right to left) are Donny Wright, Dave
Villwock, Glen Watson, Earl Vincent, Jim Woodward, and Rusty Fried.
Winners in F3A (first through sixth from left to right) are Don Szczur, Chip Hyde, Troy
Newman, Trent Byrd, David Lockhart, and Todd Blose.
New Jersey. We arrived in Muncie at 8:30
p.m., which was 7:30 local time.
Just as we arrived there was another one
of those heavy rainstorms that had been
drenching and flooding the Midwest for
weeks. We found Tom Weedon and his
trailer, and we headed (waded) out for a
meal. Tom had volunteered not to fly and to
do the scoring on the Intermediate and
Advanced site.
We had the customary reunion steak
dinner, and then we were treated to the most
spectacular rainbow I have ever seen. The
colors were so strong that there was a
shadow (second rainbow).
All of the hotels in Muncie were full that
night, so we headed up I-69 to Marion,
Indiana, for a good night’s sleep. The next
morning we drove to Fort Wayne, Indiana,
and were later joined by Earl Vincent, who
drove in from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
I can’t begin to tell you how gracious and
accommodating the Fort Wayne Flying
Circuits were. Instead of feeling like
intruders on their site, we felt like honored
guests. I had more fun there than I did the
rest of the week!
That evening we headed back to Muncie
and participated in my favorite part of the
Nats: the reunions. It is the greatest
experience to see people with whom you
have been bonded to by this great sport of
ours. We ran into Dorothy and Roy Speights,
then Ken Velez and Myra, Jim Woodward,
and others. Gary Harris was there with the
North and South Carolina crowd. Many of us
headed off for yet another steak dinner!
Most of the people I’ve mentioned stayed
in tents, trailers, or RVs. AMA has laid on
power and water, so now quite a big
community is building up there every year.
Sunday is when the event starts to take
shape. The AMA site was open for practice,
and many pilots converged on the three sites
to get in just one more flight and get oriented
on their flightlines.
It was one of those Bill Murray
“groundhog days” that you live again and
again. Some are good and some are not so
good! The temperature was hovering just
below 80°, with light wind and hotel-pictureperfect
puffy-clouded skies.
While a questionably merry band of
pilots was being judge-schooled by Don
Ramsey at AMA Headquarters, the rest of us
settled in for some practice flights at the
sites. The frequency pins were allocated to
the sites the way they would be on Monday.
My traveling buddy Joe Lachowski was a
casualty of failed-elevator syndrome, and he
created a new “box marker” on the left of
Site 1. That was tough to watch. We gave
Joe some room to mourn the loss of his new
Temptation, and we were rewarded with him
pulling out his backup Focus and proceeding
to fly some nice stuff. This sport really does
test you, and Joe passed the test this day.
Meeting the faces is always a rich thing
to take away from the Nats. Chip Hyde’s
biplane was at our site, as was Dave
Villwock’s. Chip answered many questions
about his model. It was great to be able to take
pictures of two Double Visions together.
Andrew Jesky scared us all when his
ailerons went nuts. He chopped the gas and
landed quickly. It seemed like a problem with
vibration when the engine was opened up. He
was last seen pulling out his backup model to
fly as the sun was setting.
Lee Davis had the prototype Focus 2 on
display. It was so new that it had no
equipment in it. It looked right, and I can’t
wait for mine. I promise not to change this one
at all!
The pilots’ meeting was held at 5 p.m.
Mickey Losardo gave a terrific live rendition
of the national anthem. My youngest son had
signed up for the Navy the week before the
event, and I had many mixed feelings as I
gazed at our flag fluttering in the breeze. He is
into naval aviation, and our sport influenced
his decision. Jeff Hill asked us to remember
deceased Tournament of Champions (TOC)
founder Bill Bennett for all of his
contributions to our sport.
My day ended with precontest sound tests,
which were available to all contestants. Most
took advantage of the service. (My
Temptation with an O.S. 1.60 engine, an ES
carbon pipe, and a 17 x 13 APC propeller got
an 86-decibel rating over grass. That really
made my day!)
Donny Wright was doing a roaring trade,
selling some neat stretch airplane covers. He
quickly ran out of them and was last seen
ordering a fresh FedEx batch for Monday.
Monday, July 14: Flying began at 8 a.m., and
all transmitters were required to be in the
RADIO CONTROL
impound by 7:45 a.m. No engine runs were
permitted before 8 a.m. Masters and
Intermediate classes had the morning slot last
year, so F3A and Advanced got to fly in the
morning this year.
After lunch Masters flew on sites 1 and 3,
and Intermediate flew on Site 4. The first day
began with a slight breeze which was only
blowing slightly harder by midafternoon. (I
had F3A flights that were approximately an
hour apart, so I was able to scoot over to the
other sites to get some pictures of the groups
who were flying.)
I actually beat Chip, as did everyone
else—for roughly an hour. He had to abandon
his second flight because of a nonstarting
engine. His first score was removed because
he wasn’t wearing a contestant tag. He
protested this, and his protest was upheld
when it was revealed that as a late entry he did
not have a tag in his packet. (It would not be a
34 MODEL AVIATION
Radio Control Aerobatics Nationals Equipment
RADIO CONTROL
Place and Name Model Type Fuselage Wing Stabilizer Gear Engine Intermediate (402)
1. Kristophe Kovanda Carrera Kit CF Foam Foam Fixed YS 140 FZ four-stroke 2. A.C. Glenn Ariel Kit Nomex Foam Foam Retracts YS 140 FZ four-stroke 3. Joe Dunnaway Patriot Kit Balsa Foam Foam Retracts YS 140 L four-stroke 4. Michael Radeke Focus ARF Balsa Foam Foam Fixed O.S. 1.40 two-stroke 5. Thomas Collins Temptation Kit FG Foam Foam Fixed Mintor 1.40 two-stroke 6. Scott Pavlock Summit III Kit FG Foam Foam Retracts YS .61 AR two-stroke 8. Harry Wagner Focus ARF Wood Foam Foam Fixed Webra 1.45 two-stroke 10. Eugene Villa Finesse II Kit FG Foam Foam Retracts YS 140 L four-stroke 11. Vito Pascucci Hydeout Kit FG Foam Foam Fixed YS 140 L four-stroke Advanced (403)
1. Michael Hill Prophecy Kit FG Balsa Balsa Retracts YS 1.20 four-stroke 2. Robert Fortino Hydeout Kit FG Foam Foam Fixed YS 140 L four-stroke 3. Tim Pazara Temptation Kit CF Foam Foam Fixed YS 140 DZ four-stroke 4. Brett Bowen Olympian Kit FG Balsa Balsa Retracts YS 140 DZ four-stroke 5. Terrance Brown Phenom Kit FG Foam Foam Fixed YS 140 DZ four-stroke 6. Michael Middleton Angel’s Shadow Kit Balsa Molded Molded Fixed O.S. 1.40 RX two-stroke 7. Thomas Phistry Viper Kit Balsa Foam Foam Fixed YS 140 L four-stroke 8. Steven Byrd Shazaam Own Balsa Foam Foam Fixed YS 140 L four-stroke 11. Larry Mercer Epicure Kit FG Foam Foam Retracts YS 140 L four-stroke 13. Buddy Brammer Mirage Own Balsa Foam Foam Retracts YS 140 L four-stroke Masters (404)
1. Donny Wright Zen III Wood Wood Wood ARF Fixed O.S. 1.40 RX two-stroke 2. Dave Villwock Double Vision Prototype Balsa Balsa Balsa Fixed YS 140 DZ four-stroke 3. Glen Watson Smaragd Kit Kevlar/CF Foam Foam Fixed YS 140 DZ four-stroke 4. Earl Vincent Jr. Temptation Kit FG Balsa Balsa Fixed O.S. 1.40 RX two-stroke 5. James Woodward Phase One ARF Balsa Foam Foam Fixed Mintor 1.40 two-stroke 6. Rusty Fried Hydeout Kit FG Foam Foam Fixed YS 140 DZ four-stroke 9. Joe Walker Storm EX Kit FG Foam Foam Retracts YS 140 FZ Sp four-stroke 10. Jeffrey Carrish Eclipse ARC FG Balsa Balsa Fixed O.S. 1.40 EFI two-stroke 11. Roy Speights Hydeaway Kit CF/Kevlar Foam Foam Fixed YS 140 DZ four-stroke 12. Steve Miller Typhoon 2000 Kit Nomex Foam Foam Fixed O.S. 1.40 RX two-stroke FAI F3A (406)
1. Don Szczur Focus ARC Balsa Foam Foam Fixed YS 140 DZ four-stroke 2. Chip Hyde Double Vision Kit Wood Foam Foam Fixed YS 160 DZ four-stroke 3. Troy Newman Hydeaway Kit CF/Kevlar Foam Foam Fixed YS 140 DZ four-stroke 4. Trent Byrd Angel’s Shadow ARF Balsa/FG S/A S/A Fixed YS 140 four-stroke 5. David Lockhart EMC Kit FG Foam Foam Fixed O.S. 1.40 EFI two-stroke 8. Michael Harrison Rhapsody Own Vacuum-bagged Foam Foam Fixed O.S. 1.40 two-stroke 10. Bryan Hebert Patriot II Own Wood Wood Wood Retracts O.S. 1.40 EFI two-stroke 11. David Snow Smaragd Kit CF/Kevlar Foam Foam Fixed YS 140 DZ four-stroke 12. Raiko Potter Silhouette Kit FG Foam Foam Fixed YS 140 L four-stroke 13. Tony Stillman Smaragd Kit CF/Kevlar Foam Foam Fixed YS 140 DZ four-stroke *CF = carbon fiber
**FG = fiberglass
Nats without something to debate.)
In AMA classes 402-404 you get three
minutes to start your model’s engine, then you
make the flight. In F3A you get 10 minutes to
get it all done. (The watch is stopped for
interruptions such as sound tests, models
landing, etc.) The F3A pilots took from 8 a.m.
to 10:30 a.m. to complete their two rounds.
The 40 Masters pilots made for a really big
group to process and took the whole afternoon
slot.
The league system does not make it easy
to see who is winning until Wednesday. Kris
Kovanda won two rounds in Intermediate and
set the standard for his class. In Advanced,
Michael Hill took Round One and Robert
Fortino took Round Two. The battle lines
were drawn.
Tuesday, July 15: This was a weather day in
terms of rain and big winds; it was a whether
December 2003 35
RADIO CONTROL
Header Pipe Mount Propeller Spinner Radio Battery Fuel
CD CD Hyde 18 x 10 CF Futaba Ni-Cd Cool Power 30%
CD Assano Hyde 15 x 12W Tru-Turn 3-inch Futaba Sanyo Magnum 30
CD Hatori Hyde 16 x 11 Tru-Turn 3-inch Futaba NiMH Morgan #2
O.S. ES Dave Brown 17 x 12 Tru-Turn 3-inch Futaba Sanyo Cool Power 15%
Mintor Mintor Hyde 16.5 x 5 x 12W Tru-Turn 3.25-inch JR NiMH Cool Power 15%
—- Hatori —- 10 x 8 Tru-Turn Futaba Ni-Cd PowerMaster 15/18
Mac Greve Own 17 x 12 Tru-Turn JR Li-Ion Wildcat 15/16
Central Hatori Hyde 15.5 x 12 Tru-Turn JR Ni-Cd Magnum One
Central ES Hyde 15 x 13N Tru-Turn JR Ni-Cd PowerMaster 30%
Hatori Hatori Hyde 15 x 11 Tru-Turn 2.75-inch Futaba B&P Cool Power 30% helicopter
CD CD Hyde 15 x 12W Tru-Turn Futaba Futaba PowerMaster
AAP ES Hyde 16.5 x 12W Tru-Turn Futaba Li-Ion Magnum
NHP Hatori Hyde 16 x 12 Tru-Turn 3-inch Futaba Sanyo Cool Power 30%
CD ES Hyde 16.5 x 12W Tru-Turn 3.25-inch JR Duralite Cool Power 30%
Mac ES Hyde 18 x 10 ME Tru-Turn JR PowerFlite 20/20
AAP Bolly Dave Brown 15 x 12 —- Futaba NiMH Magnum One
Hatori Hatori Own 15.5 x 12W Tru-Turn 3-inch Futaba B&P Cool Power 25%
AAP Hatori Hyde 16 x 11 Tru-Turn 3-inch Futaba B&P Rich’s Brew 30%
AAP ES Hyde 15.5 x 13N Tru-Turn 3-inch Futaba B&P Rich’s Brew 30%
Asano Asano Budd 17 x 12 World Models Futaba NiMH Cool Power 25%
APC ES Hyde —- Tru-Turn 3.25-inch JR Duralite PowerMaster 30%
Central Hatori Hyde 16.5 x 12W PL Prod. Futaba NiMH —-
O.S. Greve Hyde 17 x 13 Tru-Turn 3.25-inch JR Ni-Cd Cool Power
Mintor ES Hyde 17 x 10 Tru-Turn 2.625-inch Futaba Li-Ion Cool Power 15%
AAP Hatori Hyde 16.5 x 12 Tru-Turn Futaba Duralite 30/24
Hatori Hatori Vibradamp 15.5 x 12W Tru-Turn 2.75-inch JR Ni-Cd Cool Power 30% helicopter
O.S. 3M Hyde 17 x 12 Tru-Turn 2.75-inch Futaba NiMH PowerMaster 15%
Own ES Hyde 16.5 x 12W Tru-Turn 3.25-inch Futaba Ni-Cd Magnum One
O.S. Bolly Hyde 17 x 12 Tru-Turn 3-inch JR Sanyo Cool Power 25%
Central ES Hyde 17 x 12 Tru-Turn 3-inch JR Duralite Magnum
CD ES Dave Brown 17 x 12 Tru-Turn 3.25-inch Futaba Li-Ion Cool Power 30%
Central Hatori Hyde 17 x 12 Tru-Turn 3.25-inch JR JR Cool Power 30% helicopter pro
AAP ES Hyde 16.5 x 12W Tru-Turn 3.25-inch Futaba Duralite Red Max 30% helicopter
Asano Asano Hyde 15.75 x 11x Tru-Turn 3.25-inch JR NiMH S&W 20%
Mac ES Hyde 17 x 12W Tru-Turn 3.25-inch Futaba NiMH Cool Power 15%
Hatori ES Hyde 17.625 x 12 Tru-Turn Futaba B&P Cool Power 30%
Central ES Own 16 x 13 Tru-Turn Futaba Li-Ion Magnum
Hatori Hatori Hyde 16 x 12 Tru-Turn Futaba Sanyo Cool Power 30%
Hatori Hatori Hyde 16.5 x 12W Tru-Turn 3-inch Futaba Ni-Cd Cool Power 30%
day in the sense of whether you would make
the finals or not. If you got the slot before
the storm, you had a chance. If you got the
flying slot after the storm, you flew
sideways and your chances of a good Day
Two score were slim—to say the least.
The work that Lamar Blair did on the
new YS 160 DZ prototype paid off for Chip
in F3A. He won a round but elected not to
fly in the gale after the midmorning storm.
This left him in a situation in which he had
to make two stellar flights on Wednesday or
he was out of the running.
The wind was so strong that several
pilots chose not to fly. Some low clouds also
tested quite a few fliers. My hat is off to
those who handled the wind and the clouds
and scored well in their rounds. (We
probably need to look at the wind limits
again. The ones we currently use were
relevant to an entirely different type of
flying 15 years ago.)
Kris Kovanda dropped a round to Joe
Dunnaway in Intermediate, and a diminutive
14-year-old A.C. Glenn kept chugging away
in second place, looking for a round to win.
We were worried that the wind would blow
him away! Michael Hill and Robert Fortino
took a round each, and Robert was
mathematically in front.
Wednesday, July 16: It was a big day for
all of the contestants. Advanced was having
a close-fought battle and would be decided
in the last round. Intermediate was a
dogfight for second place.
By 4:30 p.m., the 402 and 403 pilots’
contests were over. Their final results and
awards awaited them at the evening
banquet. For Masters and F3A pilots, the
day was going to be long. The higherscoring
competitors basically knew who was
going to be in the finals. Those on the finalsgrouping
cusp (the bubble) had to wait to
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36 MODEL AVIATION
38 MODEL AVIATION
see who would get another day of flying.
A.C. Glenn was rewarded with a lastround
win in Intermediate, and you could
not get the smile off of his young face. Chip
Hyde came through with two strong flights
in F3A. However, he did not have it all his
own way, and the “quiet man”—Don
Szczur—did not stop in his quest for a
national championship and continued to fly
like a TOC veteran.
I took the chance to fly my number-two
model—a Mintor 1.70-powered Hydeout—
in the last two rounds of F3A. The engine
started on the first back flip for each flight; it
is definitely a viable Pattern power plant. It
never missed a beat, even though it was
running rich on its eighth and ninth runs.
The twin plug head does its job, and the
engine has the grunt!
The National Society of Radio Controlled
Aerobatics (NSRCA) banquet agenda
consists of a meal followed by a short
general meeting to report on the NSRCA
Annual General Meeting, then the real fun
begins.
NSRCA President Tony Stillman ran the
show well and kept us entertained with a
raffle and auction. The banquet had much
better food this year, and the auction and
raffle raised approximately $5,000.
Trophy winners in Intermediate (402)
were, in order, Kris Kovanda, A.C. Glenn,
Joe Dunnaway, and Michael Radeke.
Trophy winners in Advanced (403) were,
in order, Michael Hill, Robert Fortino, Tim
Pazara, Brett Bowen, Terrance Brown, and
Michael Middleton. Michael Hill had to win
the last round to take the title from Robert
Fortino; it was a great duel that was well
fought. Look out, Masters! Here come the
“kids” again!
The big buzz on banquet night is always
who will be in the finals. The names are read
in alphabetical order with no scores revealed
so that the next day the judges do not carry
any preconceived notions of who should
win.
The Masters finalists were Jerry Budd,
Jeff Carrish, Rusty Fried, B.W. Ponder,
Dave Villwock, Earl Vincent, Joe Walker,
Jim Woodward, and Donny Wright. John
Fuqua was the warm-up pilot.
The panel of judges consisted of me,
Charlie Barrera, Lamar Blair, Roy Speights,
Paul Nesbitt, and Earl Haury.
The F3A finalists were Todd Blose,
Trent Byrd, Peter Collinson, Mike Harrison,
Bryan Hebert, Chip Hyde, Andrew Jesky,
Dave Lockhart, Troy Newman, and Don
Sczcur. The warm-up pilot was Raiko
Potter.
The panel of judges included Ron Barr,
Don Ramsey, Greg Frohreich, Bob Noll,
Juan Romero, and Luis Rodriguez.
Thursday, July 17: On finals day, two
events were run in parallel. The scores
show that a close-fought battle took place in
F3A between Chip Hyde and Don Szczur.
Don carried 1,000 points into the finals
versus Chip’s 988 points.
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December 2003 41
Chip won two of the three final rounds,
but Don won the title by a margin of .7 point
in a 3,000-point pool. All Don could say
when he received his plaque was “This is
like magic,” and he smiled—a lot.
Donny Wright led Masters all the way.
He carried a 1,000 into the finals against Earl
Vincent’s 992. Earl had a balky engine that
cost him a set of takeoff points in Round One
of the finals and kept him edgy for the next
two flights.
Donny surrendered the 1,000 baton points
in that last round to Jim Woodward, who
succeeded in winning a round in the Masters
finals on his first attempt. Second through
fourth places were separated by only seven
points out of 3,000.
Jeff Hill presented the trophies for F3A
and Masters classes at Site 3. In the interval
before the presentations, Don Szczur flew his
Focus with 3-D wings, then Chip followed
with a low-altitude rolling demonstration
with his Double Vision biplane. This made
US team manager Tony Stillman hold his
breath more than a few times.
Trophy winners in Masters (404) were,
in order, Donny Wright, Dave Villwock,
Glen Watson, Earl Vincent, James
Woodward, and Rusty Fried.
Trophy winners in F3A (406) were, in
order, Don Szczur, Chip Hyde, Troy
Newman, Trent Byrd, David Lockhart,
Todd Blose, and Andrew Jesky.
So what was the big news at this year’s
Nats? The biplanes are viable as long as
you have the patience to screw in all of
those fasteners! The YS 160 DZ is a big,
stump-pulling horse. Jerry Budd showed us
that the Webra 160 will launch anything
vertical.
The Mintor 3M 1.40s and 1.70s are here
as part of the two-stroke’s resurgence. YS
fights back well with the DZ. The O.S.
1.40s were back and running well. The O.S.
1.60s will also get the job done.
The biggest news is that a Focus and a
Zen 120 won the top classes, and both are
Almost Ready to Flys (ARFs). You can say
goodbye to the perceived price barrier!
See you at the Nats next year with your
ARF! MA
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December 2003 31
THE 2003 AMA Radio Control Aerobatics
Nationals open contest held July 13-18 was
my ninth consecutive Nationals attendance,
the eighth at the AMA Headquarters site in
Muncie, Indiana, and my 11th total in 21
years. This was to be my second one as the
Model Aviation columnist covering the
event. A new transmission, two oil leaks, a
leaking power-steering box, and one bent
16-inch rim later, we were on our way.
The drive to the Nationals cannot help
but bring back myriad memories. The miles
in my mind are filled with the anticipation
of reunions and contest challenges. I wonder
what I forgot and what will be new when I
get there!
There is a degree of magic associated
with any national event. Some entrants are
there for the experience itself and can be
easily identified by the number of hats and
shirts they buy for their friends back home.
Some are definitely there for the social
interaction and will spend the week reveling
in recalling the stories of yesteryear’s
Nationals. All attend because it is the
“Nats.”
A e r o b a t i c s
Eric Henderson, 303 Shady Ln., Marlton NJ 08053; E-mail: [email protected]
Intermediate-class entrant Michael Radeke with O.S. 1.40-powered Focus.
Winners in Intermediate class (first through fourth from left to right) are Kristopher
Kovanda, A.C. Glenn, Joe Dunnaway, and Michael Radeke.
Albert Glenn bought JR 10X radio in
NSRCA Team Trials auction and
generously donated it back to be
auctioned again.
RADIO CONTROL
A large contingent comes to compete
seriously. They have a desire to be the best
in the US open Nats. They have practiced
every week since last year’s Nats. They
have practiced every day for weeks leading
up to the event, and some even came out a
week early to get acclimated and, of
course, practice.
Jeff Hill was the precision Aerobatics
event director for the third year in a row.
There are four classes contested:
Intermediate (402), Advanced (403),
Masters (404), and Fédération
Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) F3A
(406).
Jeff’s plan required the use of three
flying sites at the AMA facility. Each had
two flightlines that were employed in the
morning and the afternoon for three days in
a row. Each site used 12 judges per day:
six in the morning and six in the afternoon.
That’s a total of 108 judges in the first
three days and 10 for the finals. Add to that
a scribe for each judge per half day. I’ll
wager that Jeff can spell “logistics.”
F3A and Masters used a league system for three days to select
finalists for the fourth day. The pilots were divided into four
groups per class. The Masters pilots flew in the morning and the
F3A pilots flew in the afternoon. Each group was seeded based on
last year’s performances.
In Masters there were 10 pilots per group, in F3A there were
six pilots per group, and eight top-seeded contestants were
distributed among the four groups so that no set of fliers had a
bias of “dominant” competitors.
After three days the top 20% flew in a final of three rounds. In
actuality, 10 pilots were selected for F3A and 10 were chosen for
Masters to make sure that the league system and groupings had
not unfairly kept “bubble” pilots out of the finals.
In Masters they flew the second year of the 2002-2004
schedule. In F3A they flew the last year of the P-03 schedule in
the qualifying rounds and a different schedule called F-03 for the
F3A finals. The pilots carried their best scores forward to finals
day, when three flights were made.
The league is used to select finalists by taking one best score
from each day and a fourth remaining best result from any day.
Thus it was vitally important to fly well every day and in every
round in that day.
Arrival: Joe Lachowski, Michelle (my better half), and I set out for
the Nats at 7:10 a.m. Friday morning (July 11) from Cherry Hill,
32 MODEL AVIATION
These Double Visions were flown in this year’s Nationals, and
one of them is off to the F3A World Championships.
Donny Wright shows off his top-end Zen Pattern ARF.
Winners in Advanced (first through sixth from left to right) are Michael Hill, Robert
Fortino, Tim Pazara, Brett Bowen, Terrence Brown, Michael Middleton.
2002 Intermediate winner Michael Hill, YS 120-powered Prophecy.
RADIO CONTROL
December 2003 33
Winners in Masters (first through sixth from right to left) are Donny Wright, Dave
Villwock, Glen Watson, Earl Vincent, Jim Woodward, and Rusty Fried.
Winners in F3A (first through sixth from left to right) are Don Szczur, Chip Hyde, Troy
Newman, Trent Byrd, David Lockhart, and Todd Blose.
New Jersey. We arrived in Muncie at 8:30
p.m., which was 7:30 local time.
Just as we arrived there was another one
of those heavy rainstorms that had been
drenching and flooding the Midwest for
weeks. We found Tom Weedon and his
trailer, and we headed (waded) out for a
meal. Tom had volunteered not to fly and to
do the scoring on the Intermediate and
Advanced site.
We had the customary reunion steak
dinner, and then we were treated to the most
spectacular rainbow I have ever seen. The
colors were so strong that there was a
shadow (second rainbow).
All of the hotels in Muncie were full that
night, so we headed up I-69 to Marion,
Indiana, for a good night’s sleep. The next
morning we drove to Fort Wayne, Indiana,
and were later joined by Earl Vincent, who
drove in from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
I can’t begin to tell you how gracious and
accommodating the Fort Wayne Flying
Circuits were. Instead of feeling like
intruders on their site, we felt like honored
guests. I had more fun there than I did the
rest of the week!
That evening we headed back to Muncie
and participated in my favorite part of the
Nats: the reunions. It is the greatest
experience to see people with whom you
have been bonded to by this great sport of
ours. We ran into Dorothy and Roy Speights,
then Ken Velez and Myra, Jim Woodward,
and others. Gary Harris was there with the
North and South Carolina crowd. Many of us
headed off for yet another steak dinner!
Most of the people I’ve mentioned stayed
in tents, trailers, or RVs. AMA has laid on
power and water, so now quite a big
community is building up there every year.
Sunday is when the event starts to take
shape. The AMA site was open for practice,
and many pilots converged on the three sites
to get in just one more flight and get oriented
on their flightlines.
It was one of those Bill Murray
“groundhog days” that you live again and
again. Some are good and some are not so
good! The temperature was hovering just
below 80°, with light wind and hotel-pictureperfect
puffy-clouded skies.
While a questionably merry band of
pilots was being judge-schooled by Don
Ramsey at AMA Headquarters, the rest of us
settled in for some practice flights at the
sites. The frequency pins were allocated to
the sites the way they would be on Monday.
My traveling buddy Joe Lachowski was a
casualty of failed-elevator syndrome, and he
created a new “box marker” on the left of
Site 1. That was tough to watch. We gave
Joe some room to mourn the loss of his new
Temptation, and we were rewarded with him
pulling out his backup Focus and proceeding
to fly some nice stuff. This sport really does
test you, and Joe passed the test this day.
Meeting the faces is always a rich thing
to take away from the Nats. Chip Hyde’s
biplane was at our site, as was Dave
Villwock’s. Chip answered many questions
about his model. It was great to be able to take
pictures of two Double Visions together.
Andrew Jesky scared us all when his
ailerons went nuts. He chopped the gas and
landed quickly. It seemed like a problem with
vibration when the engine was opened up. He
was last seen pulling out his backup model to
fly as the sun was setting.
Lee Davis had the prototype Focus 2 on
display. It was so new that it had no
equipment in it. It looked right, and I can’t
wait for mine. I promise not to change this one
at all!
The pilots’ meeting was held at 5 p.m.
Mickey Losardo gave a terrific live rendition
of the national anthem. My youngest son had
signed up for the Navy the week before the
event, and I had many mixed feelings as I
gazed at our flag fluttering in the breeze. He is
into naval aviation, and our sport influenced
his decision. Jeff Hill asked us to remember
deceased Tournament of Champions (TOC)
founder Bill Bennett for all of his
contributions to our sport.
My day ended with precontest sound tests,
which were available to all contestants. Most
took advantage of the service. (My
Temptation with an O.S. 1.60 engine, an ES
carbon pipe, and a 17 x 13 APC propeller got
an 86-decibel rating over grass. That really
made my day!)
Donny Wright was doing a roaring trade,
selling some neat stretch airplane covers. He
quickly ran out of them and was last seen
ordering a fresh FedEx batch for Monday.
Monday, July 14: Flying began at 8 a.m., and
all transmitters were required to be in the
RADIO CONTROL
impound by 7:45 a.m. No engine runs were
permitted before 8 a.m. Masters and
Intermediate classes had the morning slot last
year, so F3A and Advanced got to fly in the
morning this year.
After lunch Masters flew on sites 1 and 3,
and Intermediate flew on Site 4. The first day
began with a slight breeze which was only
blowing slightly harder by midafternoon. (I
had F3A flights that were approximately an
hour apart, so I was able to scoot over to the
other sites to get some pictures of the groups
who were flying.)
I actually beat Chip, as did everyone
else—for roughly an hour. He had to abandon
his second flight because of a nonstarting
engine. His first score was removed because
he wasn’t wearing a contestant tag. He
protested this, and his protest was upheld
when it was revealed that as a late entry he did
not have a tag in his packet. (It would not be a
34 MODEL AVIATION
Radio Control Aerobatics Nationals Equipment
RADIO CONTROL
Place and Name Model Type Fuselage Wing Stabilizer Gear Engine Intermediate (402)
1. Kristophe Kovanda Carrera Kit CF Foam Foam Fixed YS 140 FZ four-stroke 2. A.C. Glenn Ariel Kit Nomex Foam Foam Retracts YS 140 FZ four-stroke 3. Joe Dunnaway Patriot Kit Balsa Foam Foam Retracts YS 140 L four-stroke 4. Michael Radeke Focus ARF Balsa Foam Foam Fixed O.S. 1.40 two-stroke 5. Thomas Collins Temptation Kit FG Foam Foam Fixed Mintor 1.40 two-stroke 6. Scott Pavlock Summit III Kit FG Foam Foam Retracts YS .61 AR two-stroke 8. Harry Wagner Focus ARF Wood Foam Foam Fixed Webra 1.45 two-stroke 10. Eugene Villa Finesse II Kit FG Foam Foam Retracts YS 140 L four-stroke 11. Vito Pascucci Hydeout Kit FG Foam Foam Fixed YS 140 L four-stroke Advanced (403)
1. Michael Hill Prophecy Kit FG Balsa Balsa Retracts YS 1.20 four-stroke 2. Robert Fortino Hydeout Kit FG Foam Foam Fixed YS 140 L four-stroke 3. Tim Pazara Temptation Kit CF Foam Foam Fixed YS 140 DZ four-stroke 4. Brett Bowen Olympian Kit FG Balsa Balsa Retracts YS 140 DZ four-stroke 5. Terrance Brown Phenom Kit FG Foam Foam Fixed YS 140 DZ four-stroke 6. Michael Middleton Angel’s Shadow Kit Balsa Molded Molded Fixed O.S. 1.40 RX two-stroke 7. Thomas Phistry Viper Kit Balsa Foam Foam Fixed YS 140 L four-stroke 8. Steven Byrd Shazaam Own Balsa Foam Foam Fixed YS 140 L four-stroke 11. Larry Mercer Epicure Kit FG Foam Foam Retracts YS 140 L four-stroke 13. Buddy Brammer Mirage Own Balsa Foam Foam Retracts YS 140 L four-stroke Masters (404)
1. Donny Wright Zen III Wood Wood Wood ARF Fixed O.S. 1.40 RX two-stroke 2. Dave Villwock Double Vision Prototype Balsa Balsa Balsa Fixed YS 140 DZ four-stroke 3. Glen Watson Smaragd Kit Kevlar/CF Foam Foam Fixed YS 140 DZ four-stroke 4. Earl Vincent Jr. Temptation Kit FG Balsa Balsa Fixed O.S. 1.40 RX two-stroke 5. James Woodward Phase One ARF Balsa Foam Foam Fixed Mintor 1.40 two-stroke 6. Rusty Fried Hydeout Kit FG Foam Foam Fixed YS 140 DZ four-stroke 9. Joe Walker Storm EX Kit FG Foam Foam Retracts YS 140 FZ Sp four-stroke 10. Jeffrey Carrish Eclipse ARC FG Balsa Balsa Fixed O.S. 1.40 EFI two-stroke 11. Roy Speights Hydeaway Kit CF/Kevlar Foam Foam Fixed YS 140 DZ four-stroke 12. Steve Miller Typhoon 2000 Kit Nomex Foam Foam Fixed O.S. 1.40 RX two-stroke FAI F3A (406)
1. Don Szczur Focus ARC Balsa Foam Foam Fixed YS 140 DZ four-stroke 2. Chip Hyde Double Vision Kit Wood Foam Foam Fixed YS 160 DZ four-stroke 3. Troy Newman Hydeaway Kit CF/Kevlar Foam Foam Fixed YS 140 DZ four-stroke 4. Trent Byrd Angel’s Shadow ARF Balsa/FG S/A S/A Fixed YS 140 four-stroke 5. David Lockhart EMC Kit FG Foam Foam Fixed O.S. 1.40 EFI two-stroke 8. Michael Harrison Rhapsody Own Vacuum-bagged Foam Foam Fixed O.S. 1.40 two-stroke 10. Bryan Hebert Patriot II Own Wood Wood Wood Retracts O.S. 1.40 EFI two-stroke 11. David Snow Smaragd Kit CF/Kevlar Foam Foam Fixed YS 140 DZ four-stroke 12. Raiko Potter Silhouette Kit FG Foam Foam Fixed YS 140 L four-stroke 13. Tony Stillman Smaragd Kit CF/Kevlar Foam Foam Fixed YS 140 DZ four-stroke *CF = carbon fiber
**FG = fiberglass
Nats without something to debate.)
In AMA classes 402-404 you get three
minutes to start your model’s engine, then you
make the flight. In F3A you get 10 minutes to
get it all done. (The watch is stopped for
interruptions such as sound tests, models
landing, etc.) The F3A pilots took from 8 a.m.
to 10:30 a.m. to complete their two rounds.
The 40 Masters pilots made for a really big
group to process and took the whole afternoon
slot.
The league system does not make it easy
to see who is winning until Wednesday. Kris
Kovanda won two rounds in Intermediate and
set the standard for his class. In Advanced,
Michael Hill took Round One and Robert
Fortino took Round Two. The battle lines
were drawn.
Tuesday, July 15: This was a weather day in
terms of rain and big winds; it was a whether
December 2003 35
RADIO CONTROL
Header Pipe Mount Propeller Spinner Radio Battery Fuel
CD CD Hyde 18 x 10 CF Futaba Ni-Cd Cool Power 30%
CD Assano Hyde 15 x 12W Tru-Turn 3-inch Futaba Sanyo Magnum 30
CD Hatori Hyde 16 x 11 Tru-Turn 3-inch Futaba NiMH Morgan #2
O.S. ES Dave Brown 17 x 12 Tru-Turn 3-inch Futaba Sanyo Cool Power 15%
Mintor Mintor Hyde 16.5 x 5 x 12W Tru-Turn 3.25-inch JR NiMH Cool Power 15%
—- Hatori —- 10 x 8 Tru-Turn Futaba Ni-Cd PowerMaster 15/18
Mac Greve Own 17 x 12 Tru-Turn JR Li-Ion Wildcat 15/16
Central Hatori Hyde 15.5 x 12 Tru-Turn JR Ni-Cd Magnum One
Central ES Hyde 15 x 13N Tru-Turn JR Ni-Cd PowerMaster 30%
Hatori Hatori Hyde 15 x 11 Tru-Turn 2.75-inch Futaba B&P Cool Power 30% helicopter
CD CD Hyde 15 x 12W Tru-Turn Futaba Futaba PowerMaster
AAP ES Hyde 16.5 x 12W Tru-Turn Futaba Li-Ion Magnum
NHP Hatori Hyde 16 x 12 Tru-Turn 3-inch Futaba Sanyo Cool Power 30%
CD ES Hyde 16.5 x 12W Tru-Turn 3.25-inch JR Duralite Cool Power 30%
Mac ES Hyde 18 x 10 ME Tru-Turn JR PowerFlite 20/20
AAP Bolly Dave Brown 15 x 12 —- Futaba NiMH Magnum One
Hatori Hatori Own 15.5 x 12W Tru-Turn 3-inch Futaba B&P Cool Power 25%
AAP Hatori Hyde 16 x 11 Tru-Turn 3-inch Futaba B&P Rich’s Brew 30%
AAP ES Hyde 15.5 x 13N Tru-Turn 3-inch Futaba B&P Rich’s Brew 30%
Asano Asano Budd 17 x 12 World Models Futaba NiMH Cool Power 25%
APC ES Hyde —- Tru-Turn 3.25-inch JR Duralite PowerMaster 30%
Central Hatori Hyde 16.5 x 12W PL Prod. Futaba NiMH —-
O.S. Greve Hyde 17 x 13 Tru-Turn 3.25-inch JR Ni-Cd Cool Power
Mintor ES Hyde 17 x 10 Tru-Turn 2.625-inch Futaba Li-Ion Cool Power 15%
AAP Hatori Hyde 16.5 x 12 Tru-Turn Futaba Duralite 30/24
Hatori Hatori Vibradamp 15.5 x 12W Tru-Turn 2.75-inch JR Ni-Cd Cool Power 30% helicopter
O.S. 3M Hyde 17 x 12 Tru-Turn 2.75-inch Futaba NiMH PowerMaster 15%
Own ES Hyde 16.5 x 12W Tru-Turn 3.25-inch Futaba Ni-Cd Magnum One
O.S. Bolly Hyde 17 x 12 Tru-Turn 3-inch JR Sanyo Cool Power 25%
Central ES Hyde 17 x 12 Tru-Turn 3-inch JR Duralite Magnum
CD ES Dave Brown 17 x 12 Tru-Turn 3.25-inch Futaba Li-Ion Cool Power 30%
Central Hatori Hyde 17 x 12 Tru-Turn 3.25-inch JR JR Cool Power 30% helicopter pro
AAP ES Hyde 16.5 x 12W Tru-Turn 3.25-inch Futaba Duralite Red Max 30% helicopter
Asano Asano Hyde 15.75 x 11x Tru-Turn 3.25-inch JR NiMH S&W 20%
Mac ES Hyde 17 x 12W Tru-Turn 3.25-inch Futaba NiMH Cool Power 15%
Hatori ES Hyde 17.625 x 12 Tru-Turn Futaba B&P Cool Power 30%
Central ES Own 16 x 13 Tru-Turn Futaba Li-Ion Magnum
Hatori Hatori Hyde 16 x 12 Tru-Turn Futaba Sanyo Cool Power 30%
Hatori Hatori Hyde 16.5 x 12W Tru-Turn 3-inch Futaba Ni-Cd Cool Power 30%
day in the sense of whether you would make
the finals or not. If you got the slot before
the storm, you had a chance. If you got the
flying slot after the storm, you flew
sideways and your chances of a good Day
Two score were slim—to say the least.
The work that Lamar Blair did on the
new YS 160 DZ prototype paid off for Chip
in F3A. He won a round but elected not to
fly in the gale after the midmorning storm.
This left him in a situation in which he had
to make two stellar flights on Wednesday or
he was out of the running.
The wind was so strong that several
pilots chose not to fly. Some low clouds also
tested quite a few fliers. My hat is off to
those who handled the wind and the clouds
and scored well in their rounds. (We
probably need to look at the wind limits
again. The ones we currently use were
relevant to an entirely different type of
flying 15 years ago.)
Kris Kovanda dropped a round to Joe
Dunnaway in Intermediate, and a diminutive
14-year-old A.C. Glenn kept chugging away
in second place, looking for a round to win.
We were worried that the wind would blow
him away! Michael Hill and Robert Fortino
took a round each, and Robert was
mathematically in front.
Wednesday, July 16: It was a big day for
all of the contestants. Advanced was having
a close-fought battle and would be decided
in the last round. Intermediate was a
dogfight for second place.
By 4:30 p.m., the 402 and 403 pilots’
contests were over. Their final results and
awards awaited them at the evening
banquet. For Masters and F3A pilots, the
day was going to be long. The higherscoring
competitors basically knew who was
going to be in the finals. Those on the finalsgrouping
cusp (the bubble) had to wait to
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36 MODEL AVIATION
38 MODEL AVIATION
see who would get another day of flying.
A.C. Glenn was rewarded with a lastround
win in Intermediate, and you could
not get the smile off of his young face. Chip
Hyde came through with two strong flights
in F3A. However, he did not have it all his
own way, and the “quiet man”—Don
Szczur—did not stop in his quest for a
national championship and continued to fly
like a TOC veteran.
I took the chance to fly my number-two
model—a Mintor 1.70-powered Hydeout—
in the last two rounds of F3A. The engine
started on the first back flip for each flight; it
is definitely a viable Pattern power plant. It
never missed a beat, even though it was
running rich on its eighth and ninth runs.
The twin plug head does its job, and the
engine has the grunt!
The National Society of Radio Controlled
Aerobatics (NSRCA) banquet agenda
consists of a meal followed by a short
general meeting to report on the NSRCA
Annual General Meeting, then the real fun
begins.
NSRCA President Tony Stillman ran the
show well and kept us entertained with a
raffle and auction. The banquet had much
better food this year, and the auction and
raffle raised approximately $5,000.
Trophy winners in Intermediate (402)
were, in order, Kris Kovanda, A.C. Glenn,
Joe Dunnaway, and Michael Radeke.
Trophy winners in Advanced (403) were,
in order, Michael Hill, Robert Fortino, Tim
Pazara, Brett Bowen, Terrance Brown, and
Michael Middleton. Michael Hill had to win
the last round to take the title from Robert
Fortino; it was a great duel that was well
fought. Look out, Masters! Here come the
“kids” again!
The big buzz on banquet night is always
who will be in the finals. The names are read
in alphabetical order with no scores revealed
so that the next day the judges do not carry
any preconceived notions of who should
win.
The Masters finalists were Jerry Budd,
Jeff Carrish, Rusty Fried, B.W. Ponder,
Dave Villwock, Earl Vincent, Joe Walker,
Jim Woodward, and Donny Wright. John
Fuqua was the warm-up pilot.
The panel of judges consisted of me,
Charlie Barrera, Lamar Blair, Roy Speights,
Paul Nesbitt, and Earl Haury.
The F3A finalists were Todd Blose,
Trent Byrd, Peter Collinson, Mike Harrison,
Bryan Hebert, Chip Hyde, Andrew Jesky,
Dave Lockhart, Troy Newman, and Don
Sczcur. The warm-up pilot was Raiko
Potter.
The panel of judges included Ron Barr,
Don Ramsey, Greg Frohreich, Bob Noll,
Juan Romero, and Luis Rodriguez.
Thursday, July 17: On finals day, two
events were run in parallel. The scores
show that a close-fought battle took place in
F3A between Chip Hyde and Don Szczur.
Don carried 1,000 points into the finals
versus Chip’s 988 points.
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Maryland 21224 USA.
www.sullivanproducts.com
(It’s the splines).
Gold-N-Rod
Control Rods
Friction Reducing
Splines (S503 shown)
Smooth.
Visit the AMA Education Committee
Web site at www.buildandfly.com.
December 2003 41
Chip won two of the three final rounds,
but Don won the title by a margin of .7 point
in a 3,000-point pool. All Don could say
when he received his plaque was “This is
like magic,” and he smiled—a lot.
Donny Wright led Masters all the way.
He carried a 1,000 into the finals against Earl
Vincent’s 992. Earl had a balky engine that
cost him a set of takeoff points in Round One
of the finals and kept him edgy for the next
two flights.
Donny surrendered the 1,000 baton points
in that last round to Jim Woodward, who
succeeded in winning a round in the Masters
finals on his first attempt. Second through
fourth places were separated by only seven
points out of 3,000.
Jeff Hill presented the trophies for F3A
and Masters classes at Site 3. In the interval
before the presentations, Don Szczur flew his
Focus with 3-D wings, then Chip followed
with a low-altitude rolling demonstration
with his Double Vision biplane. This made
US team manager Tony Stillman hold his
breath more than a few times.
Trophy winners in Masters (404) were,
in order, Donny Wright, Dave Villwock,
Glen Watson, Earl Vincent, James
Woodward, and Rusty Fried.
Trophy winners in F3A (406) were, in
order, Don Szczur, Chip Hyde, Troy
Newman, Trent Byrd, David Lockhart,
Todd Blose, and Andrew Jesky.
So what was the big news at this year’s
Nats? The biplanes are viable as long as
you have the patience to screw in all of
those fasteners! The YS 160 DZ is a big,
stump-pulling horse. Jerry Budd showed us
that the Webra 160 will launch anything
vertical.
The Mintor 3M 1.40s and 1.70s are here
as part of the two-stroke’s resurgence. YS
fights back well with the DZ. The O.S.
1.40s were back and running well. The O.S.
1.60s will also get the job done.
The biggest news is that a Focus and a
Zen 120 won the top classes, and both are
Almost Ready to Flys (ARFs). You can say
goodbye to the perceived price barrier!
See you at the Nats next year with your
ARF! MA
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December 2003 31
THE 2003 AMA Radio Control Aerobatics
Nationals open contest held July 13-18 was
my ninth consecutive Nationals attendance,
the eighth at the AMA Headquarters site in
Muncie, Indiana, and my 11th total in 21
years. This was to be my second one as the
Model Aviation columnist covering the
event. A new transmission, two oil leaks, a
leaking power-steering box, and one bent
16-inch rim later, we were on our way.
The drive to the Nationals cannot help
but bring back myriad memories. The miles
in my mind are filled with the anticipation
of reunions and contest challenges. I wonder
what I forgot and what will be new when I
get there!
There is a degree of magic associated
with any national event. Some entrants are
there for the experience itself and can be
easily identified by the number of hats and
shirts they buy for their friends back home.
Some are definitely there for the social
interaction and will spend the week reveling
in recalling the stories of yesteryear’s
Nationals. All attend because it is the
“Nats.”
A e r o b a t i c s
Eric Henderson, 303 Shady Ln., Marlton NJ 08053; E-mail: [email protected]
Intermediate-class entrant Michael Radeke with O.S. 1.40-powered Focus.
Winners in Intermediate class (first through fourth from left to right) are Kristopher
Kovanda, A.C. Glenn, Joe Dunnaway, and Michael Radeke.
Albert Glenn bought JR 10X radio in
NSRCA Team Trials auction and
generously donated it back to be
auctioned again.
RADIO CONTROL
A large contingent comes to compete
seriously. They have a desire to be the best
in the US open Nats. They have practiced
every week since last year’s Nats. They
have practiced every day for weeks leading
up to the event, and some even came out a
week early to get acclimated and, of
course, practice.
Jeff Hill was the precision Aerobatics
event director for the third year in a row.
There are four classes contested:
Intermediate (402), Advanced (403),
Masters (404), and Fédération
Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) F3A
(406).
Jeff’s plan required the use of three
flying sites at the AMA facility. Each had
two flightlines that were employed in the
morning and the afternoon for three days in
a row. Each site used 12 judges per day:
six in the morning and six in the afternoon.
That’s a total of 108 judges in the first
three days and 10 for the finals. Add to that
a scribe for each judge per half day. I’ll
wager that Jeff can spell “logistics.”
F3A and Masters used a league system for three days to select
finalists for the fourth day. The pilots were divided into four
groups per class. The Masters pilots flew in the morning and the
F3A pilots flew in the afternoon. Each group was seeded based on
last year’s performances.
In Masters there were 10 pilots per group, in F3A there were
six pilots per group, and eight top-seeded contestants were
distributed among the four groups so that no set of fliers had a
bias of “dominant” competitors.
After three days the top 20% flew in a final of three rounds. In
actuality, 10 pilots were selected for F3A and 10 were chosen for
Masters to make sure that the league system and groupings had
not unfairly kept “bubble” pilots out of the finals.
In Masters they flew the second year of the 2002-2004
schedule. In F3A they flew the last year of the P-03 schedule in
the qualifying rounds and a different schedule called F-03 for the
F3A finals. The pilots carried their best scores forward to finals
day, when three flights were made.
The league is used to select finalists by taking one best score
from each day and a fourth remaining best result from any day.
Thus it was vitally important to fly well every day and in every
round in that day.
Arrival: Joe Lachowski, Michelle (my better half), and I set out for
the Nats at 7:10 a.m. Friday morning (July 11) from Cherry Hill,
32 MODEL AVIATION
These Double Visions were flown in this year’s Nationals, and
one of them is off to the F3A World Championships.
Donny Wright shows off his top-end Zen Pattern ARF.
Winners in Advanced (first through sixth from left to right) are Michael Hill, Robert
Fortino, Tim Pazara, Brett Bowen, Terrence Brown, Michael Middleton.
2002 Intermediate winner Michael Hill, YS 120-powered Prophecy.
RADIO CONTROL
December 2003 33
Winners in Masters (first through sixth from right to left) are Donny Wright, Dave
Villwock, Glen Watson, Earl Vincent, Jim Woodward, and Rusty Fried.
Winners in F3A (first through sixth from left to right) are Don Szczur, Chip Hyde, Troy
Newman, Trent Byrd, David Lockhart, and Todd Blose.
New Jersey. We arrived in Muncie at 8:30
p.m., which was 7:30 local time.
Just as we arrived there was another one
of those heavy rainstorms that had been
drenching and flooding the Midwest for
weeks. We found Tom Weedon and his
trailer, and we headed (waded) out for a
meal. Tom had volunteered not to fly and to
do the scoring on the Intermediate and
Advanced site.
We had the customary reunion steak
dinner, and then we were treated to the most
spectacular rainbow I have ever seen. The
colors were so strong that there was a
shadow (second rainbow).
All of the hotels in Muncie were full that
night, so we headed up I-69 to Marion,
Indiana, for a good night’s sleep. The next
morning we drove to Fort Wayne, Indiana,
and were later joined by Earl Vincent, who
drove in from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
I can’t begin to tell you how gracious and
accommodating the Fort Wayne Flying
Circuits were. Instead of feeling like
intruders on their site, we felt like honored
guests. I had more fun there than I did the
rest of the week!
That evening we headed back to Muncie
and participated in my favorite part of the
Nats: the reunions. It is the greatest
experience to see people with whom you
have been bonded to by this great sport of
ours. We ran into Dorothy and Roy Speights,
then Ken Velez and Myra, Jim Woodward,
and others. Gary Harris was there with the
North and South Carolina crowd. Many of us
headed off for yet another steak dinner!
Most of the people I’ve mentioned stayed
in tents, trailers, or RVs. AMA has laid on
power and water, so now quite a big
community is building up there every year.
Sunday is when the event starts to take
shape. The AMA site was open for practice,
and many pilots converged on the three sites
to get in just one more flight and get oriented
on their flightlines.
It was one of those Bill Murray
“groundhog days” that you live again and
again. Some are good and some are not so
good! The temperature was hovering just
below 80°, with light wind and hotel-pictureperfect
puffy-clouded skies.
While a questionably merry band of
pilots was being judge-schooled by Don
Ramsey at AMA Headquarters, the rest of us
settled in for some practice flights at the
sites. The frequency pins were allocated to
the sites the way they would be on Monday.
My traveling buddy Joe Lachowski was a
casualty of failed-elevator syndrome, and he
created a new “box marker” on the left of
Site 1. That was tough to watch. We gave
Joe some room to mourn the loss of his new
Temptation, and we were rewarded with him
pulling out his backup Focus and proceeding
to fly some nice stuff. This sport really does
test you, and Joe passed the test this day.
Meeting the faces is always a rich thing
to take away from the Nats. Chip Hyde’s
biplane was at our site, as was Dave
Villwock’s. Chip answered many questions
about his model. It was great to be able to take
pictures of two Double Visions together.
Andrew Jesky scared us all when his
ailerons went nuts. He chopped the gas and
landed quickly. It seemed like a problem with
vibration when the engine was opened up. He
was last seen pulling out his backup model to
fly as the sun was setting.
Lee Davis had the prototype Focus 2 on
display. It was so new that it had no
equipment in it. It looked right, and I can’t
wait for mine. I promise not to change this one
at all!
The pilots’ meeting was held at 5 p.m.
Mickey Losardo gave a terrific live rendition
of the national anthem. My youngest son had
signed up for the Navy the week before the
event, and I had many mixed feelings as I
gazed at our flag fluttering in the breeze. He is
into naval aviation, and our sport influenced
his decision. Jeff Hill asked us to remember
deceased Tournament of Champions (TOC)
founder Bill Bennett for all of his
contributions to our sport.
My day ended with precontest sound tests,
which were available to all contestants. Most
took advantage of the service. (My
Temptation with an O.S. 1.60 engine, an ES
carbon pipe, and a 17 x 13 APC propeller got
an 86-decibel rating over grass. That really
made my day!)
Donny Wright was doing a roaring trade,
selling some neat stretch airplane covers. He
quickly ran out of them and was last seen
ordering a fresh FedEx batch for Monday.
Monday, July 14: Flying began at 8 a.m., and
all transmitters were required to be in the
RADIO CONTROL
impound by 7:45 a.m. No engine runs were
permitted before 8 a.m. Masters and
Intermediate classes had the morning slot last
year, so F3A and Advanced got to fly in the
morning this year.
After lunch Masters flew on sites 1 and 3,
and Intermediate flew on Site 4. The first day
began with a slight breeze which was only
blowing slightly harder by midafternoon. (I
had F3A flights that were approximately an
hour apart, so I was able to scoot over to the
other sites to get some pictures of the groups
who were flying.)
I actually beat Chip, as did everyone
else—for roughly an hour. He had to abandon
his second flight because of a nonstarting
engine. His first score was removed because
he wasn’t wearing a contestant tag. He
protested this, and his protest was upheld
when it was revealed that as a late entry he did
not have a tag in his packet. (It would not be a
34 MODEL AVIATION
Radio Control Aerobatics Nationals Equipment
RADIO CONTROL
Place and Name Model Type Fuselage Wing Stabilizer Gear Engine Intermediate (402)
1. Kristophe Kovanda Carrera Kit CF Foam Foam Fixed YS 140 FZ four-stroke 2. A.C. Glenn Ariel Kit Nomex Foam Foam Retracts YS 140 FZ four-stroke 3. Joe Dunnaway Patriot Kit Balsa Foam Foam Retracts YS 140 L four-stroke 4. Michael Radeke Focus ARF Balsa Foam Foam Fixed O.S. 1.40 two-stroke 5. Thomas Collins Temptation Kit FG Foam Foam Fixed Mintor 1.40 two-stroke 6. Scott Pavlock Summit III Kit FG Foam Foam Retracts YS .61 AR two-stroke 8. Harry Wagner Focus ARF Wood Foam Foam Fixed Webra 1.45 two-stroke 10. Eugene Villa Finesse II Kit FG Foam Foam Retracts YS 140 L four-stroke 11. Vito Pascucci Hydeout Kit FG Foam Foam Fixed YS 140 L four-stroke Advanced (403)
1. Michael Hill Prophecy Kit FG Balsa Balsa Retracts YS 1.20 four-stroke 2. Robert Fortino Hydeout Kit FG Foam Foam Fixed YS 140 L four-stroke 3. Tim Pazara Temptation Kit CF Foam Foam Fixed YS 140 DZ four-stroke 4. Brett Bowen Olympian Kit FG Balsa Balsa Retracts YS 140 DZ four-stroke 5. Terrance Brown Phenom Kit FG Foam Foam Fixed YS 140 DZ four-stroke 6. Michael Middleton Angel’s Shadow Kit Balsa Molded Molded Fixed O.S. 1.40 RX two-stroke 7. Thomas Phistry Viper Kit Balsa Foam Foam Fixed YS 140 L four-stroke 8. Steven Byrd Shazaam Own Balsa Foam Foam Fixed YS 140 L four-stroke 11. Larry Mercer Epicure Kit FG Foam Foam Retracts YS 140 L four-stroke 13. Buddy Brammer Mirage Own Balsa Foam Foam Retracts YS 140 L four-stroke Masters (404)
1. Donny Wright Zen III Wood Wood Wood ARF Fixed O.S. 1.40 RX two-stroke 2. Dave Villwock Double Vision Prototype Balsa Balsa Balsa Fixed YS 140 DZ four-stroke 3. Glen Watson Smaragd Kit Kevlar/CF Foam Foam Fixed YS 140 DZ four-stroke 4. Earl Vincent Jr. Temptation Kit FG Balsa Balsa Fixed O.S. 1.40 RX two-stroke 5. James Woodward Phase One ARF Balsa Foam Foam Fixed Mintor 1.40 two-stroke 6. Rusty Fried Hydeout Kit FG Foam Foam Fixed YS 140 DZ four-stroke 9. Joe Walker Storm EX Kit FG Foam Foam Retracts YS 140 FZ Sp four-stroke 10. Jeffrey Carrish Eclipse ARC FG Balsa Balsa Fixed O.S. 1.40 EFI two-stroke 11. Roy Speights Hydeaway Kit CF/Kevlar Foam Foam Fixed YS 140 DZ four-stroke 12. Steve Miller Typhoon 2000 Kit Nomex Foam Foam Fixed O.S. 1.40 RX two-stroke FAI F3A (406)
1. Don Szczur Focus ARC Balsa Foam Foam Fixed YS 140 DZ four-stroke 2. Chip Hyde Double Vision Kit Wood Foam Foam Fixed YS 160 DZ four-stroke 3. Troy Newman Hydeaway Kit CF/Kevlar Foam Foam Fixed YS 140 DZ four-stroke 4. Trent Byrd Angel’s Shadow ARF Balsa/FG S/A S/A Fixed YS 140 four-stroke 5. David Lockhart EMC Kit FG Foam Foam Fixed O.S. 1.40 EFI two-stroke 8. Michael Harrison Rhapsody Own Vacuum-bagged Foam Foam Fixed O.S. 1.40 two-stroke 10. Bryan Hebert Patriot II Own Wood Wood Wood Retracts O.S. 1.40 EFI two-stroke 11. David Snow Smaragd Kit CF/Kevlar Foam Foam Fixed YS 140 DZ four-stroke 12. Raiko Potter Silhouette Kit FG Foam Foam Fixed YS 140 L four-stroke 13. Tony Stillman Smaragd Kit CF/Kevlar Foam Foam Fixed YS 140 DZ four-stroke *CF = carbon fiber
**FG = fiberglass
Nats without something to debate.)
In AMA classes 402-404 you get three
minutes to start your model’s engine, then you
make the flight. In F3A you get 10 minutes to
get it all done. (The watch is stopped for
interruptions such as sound tests, models
landing, etc.) The F3A pilots took from 8 a.m.
to 10:30 a.m. to complete their two rounds.
The 40 Masters pilots made for a really big
group to process and took the whole afternoon
slot.
The league system does not make it easy
to see who is winning until Wednesday. Kris
Kovanda won two rounds in Intermediate and
set the standard for his class. In Advanced,
Michael Hill took Round One and Robert
Fortino took Round Two. The battle lines
were drawn.
Tuesday, July 15: This was a weather day in
terms of rain and big winds; it was a whether
December 2003 35
RADIO CONTROL
Header Pipe Mount Propeller Spinner Radio Battery Fuel
CD CD Hyde 18 x 10 CF Futaba Ni-Cd Cool Power 30%
CD Assano Hyde 15 x 12W Tru-Turn 3-inch Futaba Sanyo Magnum 30
CD Hatori Hyde 16 x 11 Tru-Turn 3-inch Futaba NiMH Morgan #2
O.S. ES Dave Brown 17 x 12 Tru-Turn 3-inch Futaba Sanyo Cool Power 15%
Mintor Mintor Hyde 16.5 x 5 x 12W Tru-Turn 3.25-inch JR NiMH Cool Power 15%
—- Hatori —- 10 x 8 Tru-Turn Futaba Ni-Cd PowerMaster 15/18
Mac Greve Own 17 x 12 Tru-Turn JR Li-Ion Wildcat 15/16
Central Hatori Hyde 15.5 x 12 Tru-Turn JR Ni-Cd Magnum One
Central ES Hyde 15 x 13N Tru-Turn JR Ni-Cd PowerMaster 30%
Hatori Hatori Hyde 15 x 11 Tru-Turn 2.75-inch Futaba B&P Cool Power 30% helicopter
CD CD Hyde 15 x 12W Tru-Turn Futaba Futaba PowerMaster
AAP ES Hyde 16.5 x 12W Tru-Turn Futaba Li-Ion Magnum
NHP Hatori Hyde 16 x 12 Tru-Turn 3-inch Futaba Sanyo Cool Power 30%
CD ES Hyde 16.5 x 12W Tru-Turn 3.25-inch JR Duralite Cool Power 30%
Mac ES Hyde 18 x 10 ME Tru-Turn JR PowerFlite 20/20
AAP Bolly Dave Brown 15 x 12 —- Futaba NiMH Magnum One
Hatori Hatori Own 15.5 x 12W Tru-Turn 3-inch Futaba B&P Cool Power 25%
AAP Hatori Hyde 16 x 11 Tru-Turn 3-inch Futaba B&P Rich’s Brew 30%
AAP ES Hyde 15.5 x 13N Tru-Turn 3-inch Futaba B&P Rich’s Brew 30%
Asano Asano Budd 17 x 12 World Models Futaba NiMH Cool Power 25%
APC ES Hyde —- Tru-Turn 3.25-inch JR Duralite PowerMaster 30%
Central Hatori Hyde 16.5 x 12W PL Prod. Futaba NiMH —-
O.S. Greve Hyde 17 x 13 Tru-Turn 3.25-inch JR Ni-Cd Cool Power
Mintor ES Hyde 17 x 10 Tru-Turn 2.625-inch Futaba Li-Ion Cool Power 15%
AAP Hatori Hyde 16.5 x 12 Tru-Turn Futaba Duralite 30/24
Hatori Hatori Vibradamp 15.5 x 12W Tru-Turn 2.75-inch JR Ni-Cd Cool Power 30% helicopter
O.S. 3M Hyde 17 x 12 Tru-Turn 2.75-inch Futaba NiMH PowerMaster 15%
Own ES Hyde 16.5 x 12W Tru-Turn 3.25-inch Futaba Ni-Cd Magnum One
O.S. Bolly Hyde 17 x 12 Tru-Turn 3-inch JR Sanyo Cool Power 25%
Central ES Hyde 17 x 12 Tru-Turn 3-inch JR Duralite Magnum
CD ES Dave Brown 17 x 12 Tru-Turn 3.25-inch Futaba Li-Ion Cool Power 30%
Central Hatori Hyde 17 x 12 Tru-Turn 3.25-inch JR JR Cool Power 30% helicopter pro
AAP ES Hyde 16.5 x 12W Tru-Turn 3.25-inch Futaba Duralite Red Max 30% helicopter
Asano Asano Hyde 15.75 x 11x Tru-Turn 3.25-inch JR NiMH S&W 20%
Mac ES Hyde 17 x 12W Tru-Turn 3.25-inch Futaba NiMH Cool Power 15%
Hatori ES Hyde 17.625 x 12 Tru-Turn Futaba B&P Cool Power 30%
Central ES Own 16 x 13 Tru-Turn Futaba Li-Ion Magnum
Hatori Hatori Hyde 16 x 12 Tru-Turn Futaba Sanyo Cool Power 30%
Hatori Hatori Hyde 16.5 x 12W Tru-Turn 3-inch Futaba Ni-Cd Cool Power 30%
day in the sense of whether you would make
the finals or not. If you got the slot before
the storm, you had a chance. If you got the
flying slot after the storm, you flew
sideways and your chances of a good Day
Two score were slim—to say the least.
The work that Lamar Blair did on the
new YS 160 DZ prototype paid off for Chip
in F3A. He won a round but elected not to
fly in the gale after the midmorning storm.
This left him in a situation in which he had
to make two stellar flights on Wednesday or
he was out of the running.
The wind was so strong that several
pilots chose not to fly. Some low clouds also
tested quite a few fliers. My hat is off to
those who handled the wind and the clouds
and scored well in their rounds. (We
probably need to look at the wind limits
again. The ones we currently use were
relevant to an entirely different type of
flying 15 years ago.)
Kris Kovanda dropped a round to Joe
Dunnaway in Intermediate, and a diminutive
14-year-old A.C. Glenn kept chugging away
in second place, looking for a round to win.
We were worried that the wind would blow
him away! Michael Hill and Robert Fortino
took a round each, and Robert was
mathematically in front.
Wednesday, July 16: It was a big day for
all of the contestants. Advanced was having
a close-fought battle and would be decided
in the last round. Intermediate was a
dogfight for second place.
By 4:30 p.m., the 402 and 403 pilots’
contests were over. Their final results and
awards awaited them at the evening
banquet. For Masters and F3A pilots, the
day was going to be long. The higherscoring
competitors basically knew who was
going to be in the finals. Those on the finalsgrouping
cusp (the bubble) had to wait to
CA’s.
We set the standard.
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36 MODEL AVIATION
38 MODEL AVIATION
see who would get another day of flying.
A.C. Glenn was rewarded with a lastround
win in Intermediate, and you could
not get the smile off of his young face. Chip
Hyde came through with two strong flights
in F3A. However, he did not have it all his
own way, and the “quiet man”—Don
Szczur—did not stop in his quest for a
national championship and continued to fly
like a TOC veteran.
I took the chance to fly my number-two
model—a Mintor 1.70-powered Hydeout—
in the last two rounds of F3A. The engine
started on the first back flip for each flight; it
is definitely a viable Pattern power plant. It
never missed a beat, even though it was
running rich on its eighth and ninth runs.
The twin plug head does its job, and the
engine has the grunt!
The National Society of Radio Controlled
Aerobatics (NSRCA) banquet agenda
consists of a meal followed by a short
general meeting to report on the NSRCA
Annual General Meeting, then the real fun
begins.
NSRCA President Tony Stillman ran the
show well and kept us entertained with a
raffle and auction. The banquet had much
better food this year, and the auction and
raffle raised approximately $5,000.
Trophy winners in Intermediate (402)
were, in order, Kris Kovanda, A.C. Glenn,
Joe Dunnaway, and Michael Radeke.
Trophy winners in Advanced (403) were,
in order, Michael Hill, Robert Fortino, Tim
Pazara, Brett Bowen, Terrance Brown, and
Michael Middleton. Michael Hill had to win
the last round to take the title from Robert
Fortino; it was a great duel that was well
fought. Look out, Masters! Here come the
“kids” again!
The big buzz on banquet night is always
who will be in the finals. The names are read
in alphabetical order with no scores revealed
so that the next day the judges do not carry
any preconceived notions of who should
win.
The Masters finalists were Jerry Budd,
Jeff Carrish, Rusty Fried, B.W. Ponder,
Dave Villwock, Earl Vincent, Joe Walker,
Jim Woodward, and Donny Wright. John
Fuqua was the warm-up pilot.
The panel of judges consisted of me,
Charlie Barrera, Lamar Blair, Roy Speights,
Paul Nesbitt, and Earl Haury.
The F3A finalists were Todd Blose,
Trent Byrd, Peter Collinson, Mike Harrison,
Bryan Hebert, Chip Hyde, Andrew Jesky,
Dave Lockhart, Troy Newman, and Don
Sczcur. The warm-up pilot was Raiko
Potter.
The panel of judges included Ron Barr,
Don Ramsey, Greg Frohreich, Bob Noll,
Juan Romero, and Luis Rodriguez.
Thursday, July 17: On finals day, two
events were run in parallel. The scores
show that a close-fought battle took place in
F3A between Chip Hyde and Don Szczur.
Don carried 1,000 points into the finals
versus Chip’s 988 points.
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December 2003 41
Chip won two of the three final rounds,
but Don won the title by a margin of .7 point
in a 3,000-point pool. All Don could say
when he received his plaque was “This is
like magic,” and he smiled—a lot.
Donny Wright led Masters all the way.
He carried a 1,000 into the finals against Earl
Vincent’s 992. Earl had a balky engine that
cost him a set of takeoff points in Round One
of the finals and kept him edgy for the next
two flights.
Donny surrendered the 1,000 baton points
in that last round to Jim Woodward, who
succeeded in winning a round in the Masters
finals on his first attempt. Second through
fourth places were separated by only seven
points out of 3,000.
Jeff Hill presented the trophies for F3A
and Masters classes at Site 3. In the interval
before the presentations, Don Szczur flew his
Focus with 3-D wings, then Chip followed
with a low-altitude rolling demonstration
with his Double Vision biplane. This made
US team manager Tony Stillman hold his
breath more than a few times.
Trophy winners in Masters (404) were,
in order, Donny Wright, Dave Villwock,
Glen Watson, Earl Vincent, James
Woodward, and Rusty Fried.
Trophy winners in F3A (406) were, in
order, Don Szczur, Chip Hyde, Troy
Newman, Trent Byrd, David Lockhart,
Todd Blose, and Andrew Jesky.
So what was the big news at this year’s
Nats? The biplanes are viable as long as
you have the patience to screw in all of
those fasteners! The YS 160 DZ is a big,
stump-pulling horse. Jerry Budd showed us
that the Webra 160 will launch anything
vertical.
The Mintor 3M 1.40s and 1.70s are here
as part of the two-stroke’s resurgence. YS
fights back well with the DZ. The O.S.
1.40s were back and running well. The O.S.
1.60s will also get the job done.
The biggest news is that a Focus and a
Zen 120 won the top classes, and both are
Almost Ready to Flys (ARFs). You can say
goodbye to the perceived price barrier!
See you at the Nats next year with your
ARF! MA
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NEW- PLATINUM POLYMER batteries !
2-Cell Lithium Polymer Packs – with JST-BEC conn’s.
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#2LP610 7.4v 1200mAh Li-POLY pk (48 gms / 1.7 oz) $26.95
#2LP611 7.4v 1600mAh Li-POLY pk (68 gms / 2.4 oz) $32.95
#2LP612 7.4v 2200mAh Li-POLY pk (88 gms / 3.0 oz) $39.95
QN-012BC 2-hour Smart Charger (AC) for Li-POLY pk $19.95
QN-012DC 2-hr Smart mobile chrgr (DC) for Li-POLY pk $19.95
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#P607 3.7v 145mAh Li-POLY cell (4 gms / 0.13 oz) $ 7.95 ea
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QN-012BC charger BP-Li8412 pack QN-012DC charger
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