116 MODEL AVIATION
Eric’s perspective of the 2006 Pattern Nats
[eric.henderson@comcast.net]
Radio Control Aerobatics Eric Henderson
Quique Somenzini after winning his second F3A Nats title in a row, with his electricpowered
Brio.
Sean McMurtry (L) shows his personalized YS 1.70 from Naruke, of
Japan, to Jason Shulman (R) and Ryan McLaughlin. It has a distinctive
anodized valve cover.
The winners from every class (L-R): Quique Somenzini, Ryan
McLaughlin, Ryan Archer (front), and Brett Wickizer.
AMA AND MA provide a daily Nats
report called NatsNews on the AMA Web
site, and it also serves as a daily
newsletter for the Muncie, Indiana, site
during the contest. The RC Aerobatics
(Pattern) reports are still there if you
would like to read them. Go to www.model
aircraft.org/events/natsnews.asp and see
the issues from Sunday, July 16 to Friday,
July 21.
the Masters and FAI F3A finals. Two full
rounds of each class were flown by the end
of the day Monday.
The end of Monday at the Nats feels
good because once you have two rounds
“in the bag,” a winner for each class can be
determined if you get rained out for the rest
of the week. Fortunately it was possible to
fly a full set of rounds for every class, so
the early positions did change.
Tabulating scores for the four classes—
Intermediate, Advanced, Masters, and
F3A—was divided into two teams. Site 4
was covered by a one-woman team called
Melissa Hester. She tabulated the two sixround
Intermediate and Advanced contests.
Site 1 and Site 3 were dedicated to the
larger classes of Masters and F3A, with a
tabulating team of Don Fredrick, Linda
Jesky, and Heather Kaluf. Their task was
more complex, in that F3A had four
preliminary rounds, two semifinals rounds,
and four finals rounds. The Masters class
had a preliminary six rounds using a fourgroup
matrix system that led to a fourround
final.
There were some initial delays in
getting the Masters and FAI scores out
because of technical and policy issues
surrounding keeping or dropping the high
and low scores of a five-judge panel in
F3A. (It may be worth considering having a
separate tabulating team for the two largest
classes so that issues from one class do not
back up into the other class.)
Even though the flying was as
competitive as ever, the Advanced class
was dominated by last year’s Intermediate
Champion Brett Wickizer, who won all the
rounds. There was a great battle for second
For those of you who do not have access
to a computer or just like to read from the
magazine, the following is a report of this
year’s Pattern Nats—or at least as much as
I could cram into this month’s column.
The 2006 Pattern Nats was held July 17-
20. The weather was wonderful for Pattern
flying the first three days. It was much
harder to deal with on the fourth day during
11sig4.QXD 9/26/06 9:03 AM Page 116place in Advanced between Mike Hester, Mark Hunt, Keith Black,
and Steven Rosenblatt.
The Intermediate class took on an interesting flavor as two
Ryans battled it out. Ryan Archer maintained a daily lead over
Ryan Smith without ever winning a round. Consistency certainly
paid off. Ryan Archer was so diminutive that he could hardly lift
the heavy wooden trophies.
Chip Hyde has been coaching and helping the delightful young
Ryan Archer. Not only was this great to see in the practice
sessions, but it did conjure up a question of whether or not we
could see Ryan beating Chip one day. The Intermediate contest
was exciting to follow, and placings were undecided until the last
two rounds were finished Wednesday.
Wednesday was a big day for the large Masters group. The
competition for the top eight spots was strong and visible. The top
four positions were basically decided, but Robert (Godfather)
Satalino, Craig Buckles, Dale Arnold, and Donald Ramsey had a
shot.
Worth mentioning was Jerry Budd, who began well by winning
a round. However, his model appeared to
have electrical problems that kept him out
of the top eight this year. When the dust
settled, the Masters finals qualifying order
was Glen Watson, Rusty Fried, A.C. Glenn,
Ryan McLaughlin, Archie Stafford, John
Fuqua, Jeff Carter, and Cameron Smith.
FAI had a four-round preliminary
contest held the first two mornings of the
contest. All pilots flew in front of the same
judges, so they all had equal judge
exposure. There was one flightline on two
separate sites. This meant the FAI pilots
had the luxury of flying with only one
airplane in the air at a time.
When half the FAI pilots had been
judged on both sites, the judge panels
swapped sites. This was considered easier
than having the pilots move from one site to
another with their airplanes and associated
support equipment.
After four rounds of the Preliminary
schedule (P-07), the best total of three
rounds was used to select the 20
semifinalists for Wednesday. The 20 pilots’
totals were also normalized, and then that
November 2006 117
Advanced winners (L-R): Mark Hunt, Mike Hester, Brett
Wickizer, Keith Black, and Scott Smith.
Intermediate winners (L-R): Ryan Smith, Ryan Archer (front),
Chuck Hochhalter, Gary Courtney, and Jim Sheffield.
Masters winners (back L-R): Rusty Fried, Glenn Watson, Archie Stafford, (front L-R)
John Fuqua, Jeff Carter, A.C. Glenn, Ryan McLaughlin, Cameron Smith.
score was used as a carryover to make the two-round Finals
schedule (F-07) semifinals a best of two-out-of-three-rounds
scoring event.
(I had campaigned for an FAI semifinals round last year.
The FAI pilots voted to support the change, so this year it
finally came to pass. It was a privilege and pleasurable to be in
the chair for these semifinals.)
There were more F3A entrants in 2006 than in the last few
years. This put fears to rest that the new format would “scare”
pilots away. Some fliers were stretched a bit flying F-07, but
they all said they had a blast and expect to come better prepared
next year.
One less obvious effect of an F-07 semifinal is that all the
pilots who make it into the eight-person finals are clearly
capable of flying that schedule in rounds one and three of the
finals.
The familiar “big guns” such as Jason Shulman, Sean
McMurtry, Quique Somenzini, Chip Hyde, and Don Szczur
swapped leading positions all the way through the event. All of
them are world-class pilots and have been team members for
their country in one capacity or another.
The site workers are the real heroes at every Nats. They
stand out in the sun, wind, and rain all day and every day.
11sig4.QXD 9/26/06 8:48 AM Page 117Bobby Stout and Bill Cutlip kept everything
moving on Site 4. They had their pilots
finished long before Masters or F3A every
day!
Site 1 and Site 3 were in the capable hands
of Jerry Plyler, Jeff Hill (former Nats event
director), Robert Gainey, and John Ferrell.
Stephanie Doud and Kimry Frederick were
the “runners” who drove the golf carts all over
the Muncie site with the scoresheets and result
tearsheets for the pilots.
With the Intermediate- and Advancedclass
results decided by the end of the day
Wednesday, what remained was to see who
the victors would be in Masters and F3A on
Thursday. F3A pilots went to bed Wednesday
night trying to memorize and visualize two
additional and, until that night, unknown
schedules.
The finals of the F3A and Masters events
were run in parallel. F3A was held on Site 1
and Masters was on Site 2.
Thursday morning began with a heavy,
damp sky that led to variable wind and rain
throughout the day. Of course it cleared up
immediately after the flying was completed.
Any pilot who won a Nats championship
in these trying conditions could say that he
was a champion not only over other
competitors but also over the weather. The
winners deserved it. The results were as
follows.
Intermediate
1. Ryan Archer
2. Ryan Smith
3. Chuck Hochhalter
4. Gary Courtney
5. Jim Sheffield
6. Jon Lowe
Advanced
1. Brett Wickizer
2. Mike Hester
3. Mark Hunt
4. Keith Black
5. Scott Smith
6. Steven Rosenblatt
Masters
1. Ryan McLaughlin
2. Cameron Smith
3. Glen Watson
4. A.C. Glenn
5. Rusty Fried
6. John Fuqua
F3A
1. Quique Somenzini
2. Chip Hyde
3. Jason Shulman
4. Don Szczur
5. Sean McMurtry
6. Andrew Jesky
Masters finalists did not have warm-up
flights. They seemed determined to get the
contest finished as soon as possible. They
launched themselves into a series of rapidly
run rounds that only really stopped when
the rain was absolutely too hard to see
through.
Pilots flew with glasses and never said a
word; “excuse” seemed not to be in their
dictionaries. It was impressive. As much as
I would dearly love to have been a finalist, I
am most sincere when I say “Rather them
than me in those conditions!”
The Masters finalists finished all four
rounds before 4 p.m. Archie Stafford was
on a tear and looking to win the class.
Unfortunately a loud/loose tuned-pipe
connection and a last-round pipe drop do
not earn extra points in Pattern!
Archie was the early two-round leader,
but he could not get one more completed
round out of the last two, any one of which
could have earned him the 2006 Masters
Championship. Such is Pattern, I guess!
He’ll be back!
After the customary early-morning
warm-up flights, the FAI event was
underway. In contrast to the Masters pilots,
the F3A fliers had frequent breaks and did
not finish until approximately 5 p.m.
To win the F3A finals, you usually need
to win one round of F-07 and one round of
the Unknown schedules. Despite the
adverse weather conditions, the day was a
glorious shoot-out between Chip, Jason, and
Quique.
The first round was the F-07 schedule.
Quique earned 1,000 points, with Chip
second showing a close 989. (That’s 11/1000
off, or 1.1% if you like numbers.) Then
Chip took the second round (which was the
first Unknown schedule) and Quique scored
a 998. (That’s only 2/1000 off, or 0.2%.) Itwas going to be a tight finish.
Quique won Round 3 (another F-07),
which tactically prevented Chip from
winning the contest with that round. Chip
earned a 910, with the ever present Sean
McMurtry quietly taking a 990.
If Chip had managed to get a 1,000
from the second F-07 (Round Three), he
would have almost locked up the contest
unless Quique won the last round. The
second 1,000 points for Quique, however,
did not lock up the contest because only
one of his 1,000 F-07 scores counted
toward a win.
Don’t worry if you have a headache by
now; this is why we have computers to do
the scoring. With everything to fly for in
the last round, enter Jason Shulman, “boxleft,”
who won it. This locked up third
place for Jason and left a mathematical
door open for Chip.
Quique rose to the occasion and took
second place in the last round. This closed
the door for Chip, and we had a repeat
winner. That’s two consecutive years in a
row in which Quique has been the AMA
FAI F3A National Champion.
Quique handles the pressure extremely
well, with a cool countenance and a most
disarming smile. You would not know from
looking at him that his wife was due to give
birth to their second son any day during the
Nats.
Sebastian Somenzini was born only a
few days later, at, and I quote, “Well under
the FAI limit at 73/4 pounds.” Quique
works and lives with his growing family in
the US and is a fine example for all who
want to compete in RC flying.
As it unfolded for the top five pilots, the
FAI competition was an ever changing
dance until the music stopped. Following is
how it played out.
End of P-07
1. Jason Shulman
2. Sean McMurtry
3. Quique Somenzini
4. Chip Hyde
5. Don Szczur
End of Semifinals F-07
1. Sean McMurtry
2. Quique Somenzini
3. Jason Shulman
4. Don Szczur
5. Chip Hyde
Finals Results
1. Quique Somenzini
2. Chip Hyde
3. Jason Shulman
4. Don Szczur
5. Sean McMurtry
The trophies were awarded for the four
classes at the end of flying during a free
“supper” in the main tent behind the Nats
Headquarters Farm House. Of course the
weather turned bright and warm as we all
said goodbye for another year.
In FAI there were six electric-powered
and two glow-powered airplanes. In
Masters there were six glow engines and
two motors. In Advanced and Intermediate
mainly glow power was used.
The choice between electric and glow
seems to be leveling out and has become a
matter of where you decide to spend your
money. There was a great deal of talk about
going back to glow power after the windyweather
finals.
Many pilots came a long way to get to
Muncie. Jim Woodward traveled all the
way from the southern tip of Florida. Rusty
Fried and Troy Newman traveled the
roughly 2,000 miles from Phoenix,
Arizona.
Derek Koopowitz of Benicia,
California, attended, and Gordon Anderson
traveled all the way from Washington state.
Derek and Gordon had some pesky engine
problems but managed to smile through it
all and make it a great Nats.
This year there was a most welcome
FAI contingent from Canada. The team was
made up of Adam Glatt, Xavier Mouraux,
Chad Northeast, and Dezso Vaghy.
We have a large number of world-class
fliers in the US who are well worth the trip
to watch. I would go so far as to say that
we are so deep in talent we could easily
send two FAI teams to the World
Championships. Now there’s a cliff-hanger
for you!
Leaving the box ... MA
Edition: Model Aviation - 2006/11
Page Numbers: 116,117,118,119
Edition: Model Aviation - 2006/11
Page Numbers: 116,117,118,119
116 MODEL AVIATION
Eric’s perspective of the 2006 Pattern Nats
[eric.henderson@comcast.net]
Radio Control Aerobatics Eric Henderson
Quique Somenzini after winning his second F3A Nats title in a row, with his electricpowered
Brio.
Sean McMurtry (L) shows his personalized YS 1.70 from Naruke, of
Japan, to Jason Shulman (R) and Ryan McLaughlin. It has a distinctive
anodized valve cover.
The winners from every class (L-R): Quique Somenzini, Ryan
McLaughlin, Ryan Archer (front), and Brett Wickizer.
AMA AND MA provide a daily Nats
report called NatsNews on the AMA Web
site, and it also serves as a daily
newsletter for the Muncie, Indiana, site
during the contest. The RC Aerobatics
(Pattern) reports are still there if you
would like to read them. Go to www.model
aircraft.org/events/natsnews.asp and see
the issues from Sunday, July 16 to Friday,
July 21.
the Masters and FAI F3A finals. Two full
rounds of each class were flown by the end
of the day Monday.
The end of Monday at the Nats feels
good because once you have two rounds
“in the bag,” a winner for each class can be
determined if you get rained out for the rest
of the week. Fortunately it was possible to
fly a full set of rounds for every class, so
the early positions did change.
Tabulating scores for the four classes—
Intermediate, Advanced, Masters, and
F3A—was divided into two teams. Site 4
was covered by a one-woman team called
Melissa Hester. She tabulated the two sixround
Intermediate and Advanced contests.
Site 1 and Site 3 were dedicated to the
larger classes of Masters and F3A, with a
tabulating team of Don Fredrick, Linda
Jesky, and Heather Kaluf. Their task was
more complex, in that F3A had four
preliminary rounds, two semifinals rounds,
and four finals rounds. The Masters class
had a preliminary six rounds using a fourgroup
matrix system that led to a fourround
final.
There were some initial delays in
getting the Masters and FAI scores out
because of technical and policy issues
surrounding keeping or dropping the high
and low scores of a five-judge panel in
F3A. (It may be worth considering having a
separate tabulating team for the two largest
classes so that issues from one class do not
back up into the other class.)
Even though the flying was as
competitive as ever, the Advanced class
was dominated by last year’s Intermediate
Champion Brett Wickizer, who won all the
rounds. There was a great battle for second
For those of you who do not have access
to a computer or just like to read from the
magazine, the following is a report of this
year’s Pattern Nats—or at least as much as
I could cram into this month’s column.
The 2006 Pattern Nats was held July 17-
20. The weather was wonderful for Pattern
flying the first three days. It was much
harder to deal with on the fourth day during
11sig4.QXD 9/26/06 9:03 AM Page 116place in Advanced between Mike Hester, Mark Hunt, Keith Black,
and Steven Rosenblatt.
The Intermediate class took on an interesting flavor as two
Ryans battled it out. Ryan Archer maintained a daily lead over
Ryan Smith without ever winning a round. Consistency certainly
paid off. Ryan Archer was so diminutive that he could hardly lift
the heavy wooden trophies.
Chip Hyde has been coaching and helping the delightful young
Ryan Archer. Not only was this great to see in the practice
sessions, but it did conjure up a question of whether or not we
could see Ryan beating Chip one day. The Intermediate contest
was exciting to follow, and placings were undecided until the last
two rounds were finished Wednesday.
Wednesday was a big day for the large Masters group. The
competition for the top eight spots was strong and visible. The top
four positions were basically decided, but Robert (Godfather)
Satalino, Craig Buckles, Dale Arnold, and Donald Ramsey had a
shot.
Worth mentioning was Jerry Budd, who began well by winning
a round. However, his model appeared to
have electrical problems that kept him out
of the top eight this year. When the dust
settled, the Masters finals qualifying order
was Glen Watson, Rusty Fried, A.C. Glenn,
Ryan McLaughlin, Archie Stafford, John
Fuqua, Jeff Carter, and Cameron Smith.
FAI had a four-round preliminary
contest held the first two mornings of the
contest. All pilots flew in front of the same
judges, so they all had equal judge
exposure. There was one flightline on two
separate sites. This meant the FAI pilots
had the luxury of flying with only one
airplane in the air at a time.
When half the FAI pilots had been
judged on both sites, the judge panels
swapped sites. This was considered easier
than having the pilots move from one site to
another with their airplanes and associated
support equipment.
After four rounds of the Preliminary
schedule (P-07), the best total of three
rounds was used to select the 20
semifinalists for Wednesday. The 20 pilots’
totals were also normalized, and then that
November 2006 117
Advanced winners (L-R): Mark Hunt, Mike Hester, Brett
Wickizer, Keith Black, and Scott Smith.
Intermediate winners (L-R): Ryan Smith, Ryan Archer (front),
Chuck Hochhalter, Gary Courtney, and Jim Sheffield.
Masters winners (back L-R): Rusty Fried, Glenn Watson, Archie Stafford, (front L-R)
John Fuqua, Jeff Carter, A.C. Glenn, Ryan McLaughlin, Cameron Smith.
score was used as a carryover to make the two-round Finals
schedule (F-07) semifinals a best of two-out-of-three-rounds
scoring event.
(I had campaigned for an FAI semifinals round last year.
The FAI pilots voted to support the change, so this year it
finally came to pass. It was a privilege and pleasurable to be in
the chair for these semifinals.)
There were more F3A entrants in 2006 than in the last few
years. This put fears to rest that the new format would “scare”
pilots away. Some fliers were stretched a bit flying F-07, but
they all said they had a blast and expect to come better prepared
next year.
One less obvious effect of an F-07 semifinal is that all the
pilots who make it into the eight-person finals are clearly
capable of flying that schedule in rounds one and three of the
finals.
The familiar “big guns” such as Jason Shulman, Sean
McMurtry, Quique Somenzini, Chip Hyde, and Don Szczur
swapped leading positions all the way through the event. All of
them are world-class pilots and have been team members for
their country in one capacity or another.
The site workers are the real heroes at every Nats. They
stand out in the sun, wind, and rain all day and every day.
11sig4.QXD 9/26/06 8:48 AM Page 117Bobby Stout and Bill Cutlip kept everything
moving on Site 4. They had their pilots
finished long before Masters or F3A every
day!
Site 1 and Site 3 were in the capable hands
of Jerry Plyler, Jeff Hill (former Nats event
director), Robert Gainey, and John Ferrell.
Stephanie Doud and Kimry Frederick were
the “runners” who drove the golf carts all over
the Muncie site with the scoresheets and result
tearsheets for the pilots.
With the Intermediate- and Advancedclass
results decided by the end of the day
Wednesday, what remained was to see who
the victors would be in Masters and F3A on
Thursday. F3A pilots went to bed Wednesday
night trying to memorize and visualize two
additional and, until that night, unknown
schedules.
The finals of the F3A and Masters events
were run in parallel. F3A was held on Site 1
and Masters was on Site 2.
Thursday morning began with a heavy,
damp sky that led to variable wind and rain
throughout the day. Of course it cleared up
immediately after the flying was completed.
Any pilot who won a Nats championship
in these trying conditions could say that he
was a champion not only over other
competitors but also over the weather. The
winners deserved it. The results were as
follows.
Intermediate
1. Ryan Archer
2. Ryan Smith
3. Chuck Hochhalter
4. Gary Courtney
5. Jim Sheffield
6. Jon Lowe
Advanced
1. Brett Wickizer
2. Mike Hester
3. Mark Hunt
4. Keith Black
5. Scott Smith
6. Steven Rosenblatt
Masters
1. Ryan McLaughlin
2. Cameron Smith
3. Glen Watson
4. A.C. Glenn
5. Rusty Fried
6. John Fuqua
F3A
1. Quique Somenzini
2. Chip Hyde
3. Jason Shulman
4. Don Szczur
5. Sean McMurtry
6. Andrew Jesky
Masters finalists did not have warm-up
flights. They seemed determined to get the
contest finished as soon as possible. They
launched themselves into a series of rapidly
run rounds that only really stopped when
the rain was absolutely too hard to see
through.
Pilots flew with glasses and never said a
word; “excuse” seemed not to be in their
dictionaries. It was impressive. As much as
I would dearly love to have been a finalist, I
am most sincere when I say “Rather them
than me in those conditions!”
The Masters finalists finished all four
rounds before 4 p.m. Archie Stafford was
on a tear and looking to win the class.
Unfortunately a loud/loose tuned-pipe
connection and a last-round pipe drop do
not earn extra points in Pattern!
Archie was the early two-round leader,
but he could not get one more completed
round out of the last two, any one of which
could have earned him the 2006 Masters
Championship. Such is Pattern, I guess!
He’ll be back!
After the customary early-morning
warm-up flights, the FAI event was
underway. In contrast to the Masters pilots,
the F3A fliers had frequent breaks and did
not finish until approximately 5 p.m.
To win the F3A finals, you usually need
to win one round of F-07 and one round of
the Unknown schedules. Despite the
adverse weather conditions, the day was a
glorious shoot-out between Chip, Jason, and
Quique.
The first round was the F-07 schedule.
Quique earned 1,000 points, with Chip
second showing a close 989. (That’s 11/1000
off, or 1.1% if you like numbers.) Then
Chip took the second round (which was the
first Unknown schedule) and Quique scored
a 998. (That’s only 2/1000 off, or 0.2%.) Itwas going to be a tight finish.
Quique won Round 3 (another F-07),
which tactically prevented Chip from
winning the contest with that round. Chip
earned a 910, with the ever present Sean
McMurtry quietly taking a 990.
If Chip had managed to get a 1,000
from the second F-07 (Round Three), he
would have almost locked up the contest
unless Quique won the last round. The
second 1,000 points for Quique, however,
did not lock up the contest because only
one of his 1,000 F-07 scores counted
toward a win.
Don’t worry if you have a headache by
now; this is why we have computers to do
the scoring. With everything to fly for in
the last round, enter Jason Shulman, “boxleft,”
who won it. This locked up third
place for Jason and left a mathematical
door open for Chip.
Quique rose to the occasion and took
second place in the last round. This closed
the door for Chip, and we had a repeat
winner. That’s two consecutive years in a
row in which Quique has been the AMA
FAI F3A National Champion.
Quique handles the pressure extremely
well, with a cool countenance and a most
disarming smile. You would not know from
looking at him that his wife was due to give
birth to their second son any day during the
Nats.
Sebastian Somenzini was born only a
few days later, at, and I quote, “Well under
the FAI limit at 73/4 pounds.” Quique
works and lives with his growing family in
the US and is a fine example for all who
want to compete in RC flying.
As it unfolded for the top five pilots, the
FAI competition was an ever changing
dance until the music stopped. Following is
how it played out.
End of P-07
1. Jason Shulman
2. Sean McMurtry
3. Quique Somenzini
4. Chip Hyde
5. Don Szczur
End of Semifinals F-07
1. Sean McMurtry
2. Quique Somenzini
3. Jason Shulman
4. Don Szczur
5. Chip Hyde
Finals Results
1. Quique Somenzini
2. Chip Hyde
3. Jason Shulman
4. Don Szczur
5. Sean McMurtry
The trophies were awarded for the four
classes at the end of flying during a free
“supper” in the main tent behind the Nats
Headquarters Farm House. Of course the
weather turned bright and warm as we all
said goodbye for another year.
In FAI there were six electric-powered
and two glow-powered airplanes. In
Masters there were six glow engines and
two motors. In Advanced and Intermediate
mainly glow power was used.
The choice between electric and glow
seems to be leveling out and has become a
matter of where you decide to spend your
money. There was a great deal of talk about
going back to glow power after the windyweather
finals.
Many pilots came a long way to get to
Muncie. Jim Woodward traveled all the
way from the southern tip of Florida. Rusty
Fried and Troy Newman traveled the
roughly 2,000 miles from Phoenix,
Arizona.
Derek Koopowitz of Benicia,
California, attended, and Gordon Anderson
traveled all the way from Washington state.
Derek and Gordon had some pesky engine
problems but managed to smile through it
all and make it a great Nats.
This year there was a most welcome
FAI contingent from Canada. The team was
made up of Adam Glatt, Xavier Mouraux,
Chad Northeast, and Dezso Vaghy.
We have a large number of world-class
fliers in the US who are well worth the trip
to watch. I would go so far as to say that
we are so deep in talent we could easily
send two FAI teams to the World
Championships. Now there’s a cliff-hanger
for you!
Leaving the box ... MA
Edition: Model Aviation - 2006/11
Page Numbers: 116,117,118,119
116 MODEL AVIATION
Eric’s perspective of the 2006 Pattern Nats
[eric.henderson@comcast.net]
Radio Control Aerobatics Eric Henderson
Quique Somenzini after winning his second F3A Nats title in a row, with his electricpowered
Brio.
Sean McMurtry (L) shows his personalized YS 1.70 from Naruke, of
Japan, to Jason Shulman (R) and Ryan McLaughlin. It has a distinctive
anodized valve cover.
The winners from every class (L-R): Quique Somenzini, Ryan
McLaughlin, Ryan Archer (front), and Brett Wickizer.
AMA AND MA provide a daily Nats
report called NatsNews on the AMA Web
site, and it also serves as a daily
newsletter for the Muncie, Indiana, site
during the contest. The RC Aerobatics
(Pattern) reports are still there if you
would like to read them. Go to www.model
aircraft.org/events/natsnews.asp and see
the issues from Sunday, July 16 to Friday,
July 21.
the Masters and FAI F3A finals. Two full
rounds of each class were flown by the end
of the day Monday.
The end of Monday at the Nats feels
good because once you have two rounds
“in the bag,” a winner for each class can be
determined if you get rained out for the rest
of the week. Fortunately it was possible to
fly a full set of rounds for every class, so
the early positions did change.
Tabulating scores for the four classes—
Intermediate, Advanced, Masters, and
F3A—was divided into two teams. Site 4
was covered by a one-woman team called
Melissa Hester. She tabulated the two sixround
Intermediate and Advanced contests.
Site 1 and Site 3 were dedicated to the
larger classes of Masters and F3A, with a
tabulating team of Don Fredrick, Linda
Jesky, and Heather Kaluf. Their task was
more complex, in that F3A had four
preliminary rounds, two semifinals rounds,
and four finals rounds. The Masters class
had a preliminary six rounds using a fourgroup
matrix system that led to a fourround
final.
There were some initial delays in
getting the Masters and FAI scores out
because of technical and policy issues
surrounding keeping or dropping the high
and low scores of a five-judge panel in
F3A. (It may be worth considering having a
separate tabulating team for the two largest
classes so that issues from one class do not
back up into the other class.)
Even though the flying was as
competitive as ever, the Advanced class
was dominated by last year’s Intermediate
Champion Brett Wickizer, who won all the
rounds. There was a great battle for second
For those of you who do not have access
to a computer or just like to read from the
magazine, the following is a report of this
year’s Pattern Nats—or at least as much as
I could cram into this month’s column.
The 2006 Pattern Nats was held July 17-
20. The weather was wonderful for Pattern
flying the first three days. It was much
harder to deal with on the fourth day during
11sig4.QXD 9/26/06 9:03 AM Page 116place in Advanced between Mike Hester, Mark Hunt, Keith Black,
and Steven Rosenblatt.
The Intermediate class took on an interesting flavor as two
Ryans battled it out. Ryan Archer maintained a daily lead over
Ryan Smith without ever winning a round. Consistency certainly
paid off. Ryan Archer was so diminutive that he could hardly lift
the heavy wooden trophies.
Chip Hyde has been coaching and helping the delightful young
Ryan Archer. Not only was this great to see in the practice
sessions, but it did conjure up a question of whether or not we
could see Ryan beating Chip one day. The Intermediate contest
was exciting to follow, and placings were undecided until the last
two rounds were finished Wednesday.
Wednesday was a big day for the large Masters group. The
competition for the top eight spots was strong and visible. The top
four positions were basically decided, but Robert (Godfather)
Satalino, Craig Buckles, Dale Arnold, and Donald Ramsey had a
shot.
Worth mentioning was Jerry Budd, who began well by winning
a round. However, his model appeared to
have electrical problems that kept him out
of the top eight this year. When the dust
settled, the Masters finals qualifying order
was Glen Watson, Rusty Fried, A.C. Glenn,
Ryan McLaughlin, Archie Stafford, John
Fuqua, Jeff Carter, and Cameron Smith.
FAI had a four-round preliminary
contest held the first two mornings of the
contest. All pilots flew in front of the same
judges, so they all had equal judge
exposure. There was one flightline on two
separate sites. This meant the FAI pilots
had the luxury of flying with only one
airplane in the air at a time.
When half the FAI pilots had been
judged on both sites, the judge panels
swapped sites. This was considered easier
than having the pilots move from one site to
another with their airplanes and associated
support equipment.
After four rounds of the Preliminary
schedule (P-07), the best total of three
rounds was used to select the 20
semifinalists for Wednesday. The 20 pilots’
totals were also normalized, and then that
November 2006 117
Advanced winners (L-R): Mark Hunt, Mike Hester, Brett
Wickizer, Keith Black, and Scott Smith.
Intermediate winners (L-R): Ryan Smith, Ryan Archer (front),
Chuck Hochhalter, Gary Courtney, and Jim Sheffield.
Masters winners (back L-R): Rusty Fried, Glenn Watson, Archie Stafford, (front L-R)
John Fuqua, Jeff Carter, A.C. Glenn, Ryan McLaughlin, Cameron Smith.
score was used as a carryover to make the two-round Finals
schedule (F-07) semifinals a best of two-out-of-three-rounds
scoring event.
(I had campaigned for an FAI semifinals round last year.
The FAI pilots voted to support the change, so this year it
finally came to pass. It was a privilege and pleasurable to be in
the chair for these semifinals.)
There were more F3A entrants in 2006 than in the last few
years. This put fears to rest that the new format would “scare”
pilots away. Some fliers were stretched a bit flying F-07, but
they all said they had a blast and expect to come better prepared
next year.
One less obvious effect of an F-07 semifinal is that all the
pilots who make it into the eight-person finals are clearly
capable of flying that schedule in rounds one and three of the
finals.
The familiar “big guns” such as Jason Shulman, Sean
McMurtry, Quique Somenzini, Chip Hyde, and Don Szczur
swapped leading positions all the way through the event. All of
them are world-class pilots and have been team members for
their country in one capacity or another.
The site workers are the real heroes at every Nats. They
stand out in the sun, wind, and rain all day and every day.
11sig4.QXD 9/26/06 8:48 AM Page 117Bobby Stout and Bill Cutlip kept everything
moving on Site 4. They had their pilots
finished long before Masters or F3A every
day!
Site 1 and Site 3 were in the capable hands
of Jerry Plyler, Jeff Hill (former Nats event
director), Robert Gainey, and John Ferrell.
Stephanie Doud and Kimry Frederick were
the “runners” who drove the golf carts all over
the Muncie site with the scoresheets and result
tearsheets for the pilots.
With the Intermediate- and Advancedclass
results decided by the end of the day
Wednesday, what remained was to see who
the victors would be in Masters and F3A on
Thursday. F3A pilots went to bed Wednesday
night trying to memorize and visualize two
additional and, until that night, unknown
schedules.
The finals of the F3A and Masters events
were run in parallel. F3A was held on Site 1
and Masters was on Site 2.
Thursday morning began with a heavy,
damp sky that led to variable wind and rain
throughout the day. Of course it cleared up
immediately after the flying was completed.
Any pilot who won a Nats championship
in these trying conditions could say that he
was a champion not only over other
competitors but also over the weather. The
winners deserved it. The results were as
follows.
Intermediate
1. Ryan Archer
2. Ryan Smith
3. Chuck Hochhalter
4. Gary Courtney
5. Jim Sheffield
6. Jon Lowe
Advanced
1. Brett Wickizer
2. Mike Hester
3. Mark Hunt
4. Keith Black
5. Scott Smith
6. Steven Rosenblatt
Masters
1. Ryan McLaughlin
2. Cameron Smith
3. Glen Watson
4. A.C. Glenn
5. Rusty Fried
6. John Fuqua
F3A
1. Quique Somenzini
2. Chip Hyde
3. Jason Shulman
4. Don Szczur
5. Sean McMurtry
6. Andrew Jesky
Masters finalists did not have warm-up
flights. They seemed determined to get the
contest finished as soon as possible. They
launched themselves into a series of rapidly
run rounds that only really stopped when
the rain was absolutely too hard to see
through.
Pilots flew with glasses and never said a
word; “excuse” seemed not to be in their
dictionaries. It was impressive. As much as
I would dearly love to have been a finalist, I
am most sincere when I say “Rather them
than me in those conditions!”
The Masters finalists finished all four
rounds before 4 p.m. Archie Stafford was
on a tear and looking to win the class.
Unfortunately a loud/loose tuned-pipe
connection and a last-round pipe drop do
not earn extra points in Pattern!
Archie was the early two-round leader,
but he could not get one more completed
round out of the last two, any one of which
could have earned him the 2006 Masters
Championship. Such is Pattern, I guess!
He’ll be back!
After the customary early-morning
warm-up flights, the FAI event was
underway. In contrast to the Masters pilots,
the F3A fliers had frequent breaks and did
not finish until approximately 5 p.m.
To win the F3A finals, you usually need
to win one round of F-07 and one round of
the Unknown schedules. Despite the
adverse weather conditions, the day was a
glorious shoot-out between Chip, Jason, and
Quique.
The first round was the F-07 schedule.
Quique earned 1,000 points, with Chip
second showing a close 989. (That’s 11/1000
off, or 1.1% if you like numbers.) Then
Chip took the second round (which was the
first Unknown schedule) and Quique scored
a 998. (That’s only 2/1000 off, or 0.2%.) Itwas going to be a tight finish.
Quique won Round 3 (another F-07),
which tactically prevented Chip from
winning the contest with that round. Chip
earned a 910, with the ever present Sean
McMurtry quietly taking a 990.
If Chip had managed to get a 1,000
from the second F-07 (Round Three), he
would have almost locked up the contest
unless Quique won the last round. The
second 1,000 points for Quique, however,
did not lock up the contest because only
one of his 1,000 F-07 scores counted
toward a win.
Don’t worry if you have a headache by
now; this is why we have computers to do
the scoring. With everything to fly for in
the last round, enter Jason Shulman, “boxleft,”
who won it. This locked up third
place for Jason and left a mathematical
door open for Chip.
Quique rose to the occasion and took
second place in the last round. This closed
the door for Chip, and we had a repeat
winner. That’s two consecutive years in a
row in which Quique has been the AMA
FAI F3A National Champion.
Quique handles the pressure extremely
well, with a cool countenance and a most
disarming smile. You would not know from
looking at him that his wife was due to give
birth to their second son any day during the
Nats.
Sebastian Somenzini was born only a
few days later, at, and I quote, “Well under
the FAI limit at 73/4 pounds.” Quique
works and lives with his growing family in
the US and is a fine example for all who
want to compete in RC flying.
As it unfolded for the top five pilots, the
FAI competition was an ever changing
dance until the music stopped. Following is
how it played out.
End of P-07
1. Jason Shulman
2. Sean McMurtry
3. Quique Somenzini
4. Chip Hyde
5. Don Szczur
End of Semifinals F-07
1. Sean McMurtry
2. Quique Somenzini
3. Jason Shulman
4. Don Szczur
5. Chip Hyde
Finals Results
1. Quique Somenzini
2. Chip Hyde
3. Jason Shulman
4. Don Szczur
5. Sean McMurtry
The trophies were awarded for the four
classes at the end of flying during a free
“supper” in the main tent behind the Nats
Headquarters Farm House. Of course the
weather turned bright and warm as we all
said goodbye for another year.
In FAI there were six electric-powered
and two glow-powered airplanes. In
Masters there were six glow engines and
two motors. In Advanced and Intermediate
mainly glow power was used.
The choice between electric and glow
seems to be leveling out and has become a
matter of where you decide to spend your
money. There was a great deal of talk about
going back to glow power after the windyweather
finals.
Many pilots came a long way to get to
Muncie. Jim Woodward traveled all the
way from the southern tip of Florida. Rusty
Fried and Troy Newman traveled the
roughly 2,000 miles from Phoenix,
Arizona.
Derek Koopowitz of Benicia,
California, attended, and Gordon Anderson
traveled all the way from Washington state.
Derek and Gordon had some pesky engine
problems but managed to smile through it
all and make it a great Nats.
This year there was a most welcome
FAI contingent from Canada. The team was
made up of Adam Glatt, Xavier Mouraux,
Chad Northeast, and Dezso Vaghy.
We have a large number of world-class
fliers in the US who are well worth the trip
to watch. I would go so far as to say that
we are so deep in talent we could easily
send two FAI teams to the World
Championships. Now there’s a cliff-hanger
for you!
Leaving the box ... MA
Edition: Model Aviation - 2006/11
Page Numbers: 116,117,118,119
116 MODEL AVIATION
Eric’s perspective of the 2006 Pattern Nats
[eric.henderson@comcast.net]
Radio Control Aerobatics Eric Henderson
Quique Somenzini after winning his second F3A Nats title in a row, with his electricpowered
Brio.
Sean McMurtry (L) shows his personalized YS 1.70 from Naruke, of
Japan, to Jason Shulman (R) and Ryan McLaughlin. It has a distinctive
anodized valve cover.
The winners from every class (L-R): Quique Somenzini, Ryan
McLaughlin, Ryan Archer (front), and Brett Wickizer.
AMA AND MA provide a daily Nats
report called NatsNews on the AMA Web
site, and it also serves as a daily
newsletter for the Muncie, Indiana, site
during the contest. The RC Aerobatics
(Pattern) reports are still there if you
would like to read them. Go to www.model
aircraft.org/events/natsnews.asp and see
the issues from Sunday, July 16 to Friday,
July 21.
the Masters and FAI F3A finals. Two full
rounds of each class were flown by the end
of the day Monday.
The end of Monday at the Nats feels
good because once you have two rounds
“in the bag,” a winner for each class can be
determined if you get rained out for the rest
of the week. Fortunately it was possible to
fly a full set of rounds for every class, so
the early positions did change.
Tabulating scores for the four classes—
Intermediate, Advanced, Masters, and
F3A—was divided into two teams. Site 4
was covered by a one-woman team called
Melissa Hester. She tabulated the two sixround
Intermediate and Advanced contests.
Site 1 and Site 3 were dedicated to the
larger classes of Masters and F3A, with a
tabulating team of Don Fredrick, Linda
Jesky, and Heather Kaluf. Their task was
more complex, in that F3A had four
preliminary rounds, two semifinals rounds,
and four finals rounds. The Masters class
had a preliminary six rounds using a fourgroup
matrix system that led to a fourround
final.
There were some initial delays in
getting the Masters and FAI scores out
because of technical and policy issues
surrounding keeping or dropping the high
and low scores of a five-judge panel in
F3A. (It may be worth considering having a
separate tabulating team for the two largest
classes so that issues from one class do not
back up into the other class.)
Even though the flying was as
competitive as ever, the Advanced class
was dominated by last year’s Intermediate
Champion Brett Wickizer, who won all the
rounds. There was a great battle for second
For those of you who do not have access
to a computer or just like to read from the
magazine, the following is a report of this
year’s Pattern Nats—or at least as much as
I could cram into this month’s column.
The 2006 Pattern Nats was held July 17-
20. The weather was wonderful for Pattern
flying the first three days. It was much
harder to deal with on the fourth day during
11sig4.QXD 9/26/06 9:03 AM Page 116place in Advanced between Mike Hester, Mark Hunt, Keith Black,
and Steven Rosenblatt.
The Intermediate class took on an interesting flavor as two
Ryans battled it out. Ryan Archer maintained a daily lead over
Ryan Smith without ever winning a round. Consistency certainly
paid off. Ryan Archer was so diminutive that he could hardly lift
the heavy wooden trophies.
Chip Hyde has been coaching and helping the delightful young
Ryan Archer. Not only was this great to see in the practice
sessions, but it did conjure up a question of whether or not we
could see Ryan beating Chip one day. The Intermediate contest
was exciting to follow, and placings were undecided until the last
two rounds were finished Wednesday.
Wednesday was a big day for the large Masters group. The
competition for the top eight spots was strong and visible. The top
four positions were basically decided, but Robert (Godfather)
Satalino, Craig Buckles, Dale Arnold, and Donald Ramsey had a
shot.
Worth mentioning was Jerry Budd, who began well by winning
a round. However, his model appeared to
have electrical problems that kept him out
of the top eight this year. When the dust
settled, the Masters finals qualifying order
was Glen Watson, Rusty Fried, A.C. Glenn,
Ryan McLaughlin, Archie Stafford, John
Fuqua, Jeff Carter, and Cameron Smith.
FAI had a four-round preliminary
contest held the first two mornings of the
contest. All pilots flew in front of the same
judges, so they all had equal judge
exposure. There was one flightline on two
separate sites. This meant the FAI pilots
had the luxury of flying with only one
airplane in the air at a time.
When half the FAI pilots had been
judged on both sites, the judge panels
swapped sites. This was considered easier
than having the pilots move from one site to
another with their airplanes and associated
support equipment.
After four rounds of the Preliminary
schedule (P-07), the best total of three
rounds was used to select the 20
semifinalists for Wednesday. The 20 pilots’
totals were also normalized, and then that
November 2006 117
Advanced winners (L-R): Mark Hunt, Mike Hester, Brett
Wickizer, Keith Black, and Scott Smith.
Intermediate winners (L-R): Ryan Smith, Ryan Archer (front),
Chuck Hochhalter, Gary Courtney, and Jim Sheffield.
Masters winners (back L-R): Rusty Fried, Glenn Watson, Archie Stafford, (front L-R)
John Fuqua, Jeff Carter, A.C. Glenn, Ryan McLaughlin, Cameron Smith.
score was used as a carryover to make the two-round Finals
schedule (F-07) semifinals a best of two-out-of-three-rounds
scoring event.
(I had campaigned for an FAI semifinals round last year.
The FAI pilots voted to support the change, so this year it
finally came to pass. It was a privilege and pleasurable to be in
the chair for these semifinals.)
There were more F3A entrants in 2006 than in the last few
years. This put fears to rest that the new format would “scare”
pilots away. Some fliers were stretched a bit flying F-07, but
they all said they had a blast and expect to come better prepared
next year.
One less obvious effect of an F-07 semifinal is that all the
pilots who make it into the eight-person finals are clearly
capable of flying that schedule in rounds one and three of the
finals.
The familiar “big guns” such as Jason Shulman, Sean
McMurtry, Quique Somenzini, Chip Hyde, and Don Szczur
swapped leading positions all the way through the event. All of
them are world-class pilots and have been team members for
their country in one capacity or another.
The site workers are the real heroes at every Nats. They
stand out in the sun, wind, and rain all day and every day.
11sig4.QXD 9/26/06 8:48 AM Page 117Bobby Stout and Bill Cutlip kept everything
moving on Site 4. They had their pilots
finished long before Masters or F3A every
day!
Site 1 and Site 3 were in the capable hands
of Jerry Plyler, Jeff Hill (former Nats event
director), Robert Gainey, and John Ferrell.
Stephanie Doud and Kimry Frederick were
the “runners” who drove the golf carts all over
the Muncie site with the scoresheets and result
tearsheets for the pilots.
With the Intermediate- and Advancedclass
results decided by the end of the day
Wednesday, what remained was to see who
the victors would be in Masters and F3A on
Thursday. F3A pilots went to bed Wednesday
night trying to memorize and visualize two
additional and, until that night, unknown
schedules.
The finals of the F3A and Masters events
were run in parallel. F3A was held on Site 1
and Masters was on Site 2.
Thursday morning began with a heavy,
damp sky that led to variable wind and rain
throughout the day. Of course it cleared up
immediately after the flying was completed.
Any pilot who won a Nats championship
in these trying conditions could say that he
was a champion not only over other
competitors but also over the weather. The
winners deserved it. The results were as
follows.
Intermediate
1. Ryan Archer
2. Ryan Smith
3. Chuck Hochhalter
4. Gary Courtney
5. Jim Sheffield
6. Jon Lowe
Advanced
1. Brett Wickizer
2. Mike Hester
3. Mark Hunt
4. Keith Black
5. Scott Smith
6. Steven Rosenblatt
Masters
1. Ryan McLaughlin
2. Cameron Smith
3. Glen Watson
4. A.C. Glenn
5. Rusty Fried
6. John Fuqua
F3A
1. Quique Somenzini
2. Chip Hyde
3. Jason Shulman
4. Don Szczur
5. Sean McMurtry
6. Andrew Jesky
Masters finalists did not have warm-up
flights. They seemed determined to get the
contest finished as soon as possible. They
launched themselves into a series of rapidly
run rounds that only really stopped when
the rain was absolutely too hard to see
through.
Pilots flew with glasses and never said a
word; “excuse” seemed not to be in their
dictionaries. It was impressive. As much as
I would dearly love to have been a finalist, I
am most sincere when I say “Rather them
than me in those conditions!”
The Masters finalists finished all four
rounds before 4 p.m. Archie Stafford was
on a tear and looking to win the class.
Unfortunately a loud/loose tuned-pipe
connection and a last-round pipe drop do
not earn extra points in Pattern!
Archie was the early two-round leader,
but he could not get one more completed
round out of the last two, any one of which
could have earned him the 2006 Masters
Championship. Such is Pattern, I guess!
He’ll be back!
After the customary early-morning
warm-up flights, the FAI event was
underway. In contrast to the Masters pilots,
the F3A fliers had frequent breaks and did
not finish until approximately 5 p.m.
To win the F3A finals, you usually need
to win one round of F-07 and one round of
the Unknown schedules. Despite the
adverse weather conditions, the day was a
glorious shoot-out between Chip, Jason, and
Quique.
The first round was the F-07 schedule.
Quique earned 1,000 points, with Chip
second showing a close 989. (That’s 11/1000
off, or 1.1% if you like numbers.) Then
Chip took the second round (which was the
first Unknown schedule) and Quique scored
a 998. (That’s only 2/1000 off, or 0.2%.) Itwas going to be a tight finish.
Quique won Round 3 (another F-07),
which tactically prevented Chip from
winning the contest with that round. Chip
earned a 910, with the ever present Sean
McMurtry quietly taking a 990.
If Chip had managed to get a 1,000
from the second F-07 (Round Three), he
would have almost locked up the contest
unless Quique won the last round. The
second 1,000 points for Quique, however,
did not lock up the contest because only
one of his 1,000 F-07 scores counted
toward a win.
Don’t worry if you have a headache by
now; this is why we have computers to do
the scoring. With everything to fly for in
the last round, enter Jason Shulman, “boxleft,”
who won it. This locked up third
place for Jason and left a mathematical
door open for Chip.
Quique rose to the occasion and took
second place in the last round. This closed
the door for Chip, and we had a repeat
winner. That’s two consecutive years in a
row in which Quique has been the AMA
FAI F3A National Champion.
Quique handles the pressure extremely
well, with a cool countenance and a most
disarming smile. You would not know from
looking at him that his wife was due to give
birth to their second son any day during the
Nats.
Sebastian Somenzini was born only a
few days later, at, and I quote, “Well under
the FAI limit at 73/4 pounds.” Quique
works and lives with his growing family in
the US and is a fine example for all who
want to compete in RC flying.
As it unfolded for the top five pilots, the
FAI competition was an ever changing
dance until the music stopped. Following is
how it played out.
End of P-07
1. Jason Shulman
2. Sean McMurtry
3. Quique Somenzini
4. Chip Hyde
5. Don Szczur
End of Semifinals F-07
1. Sean McMurtry
2. Quique Somenzini
3. Jason Shulman
4. Don Szczur
5. Chip Hyde
Finals Results
1. Quique Somenzini
2. Chip Hyde
3. Jason Shulman
4. Don Szczur
5. Sean McMurtry
The trophies were awarded for the four
classes at the end of flying during a free
“supper” in the main tent behind the Nats
Headquarters Farm House. Of course the
weather turned bright and warm as we all
said goodbye for another year.
In FAI there were six electric-powered
and two glow-powered airplanes. In
Masters there were six glow engines and
two motors. In Advanced and Intermediate
mainly glow power was used.
The choice between electric and glow
seems to be leveling out and has become a
matter of where you decide to spend your
money. There was a great deal of talk about
going back to glow power after the windyweather
finals.
Many pilots came a long way to get to
Muncie. Jim Woodward traveled all the
way from the southern tip of Florida. Rusty
Fried and Troy Newman traveled the
roughly 2,000 miles from Phoenix,
Arizona.
Derek Koopowitz of Benicia,
California, attended, and Gordon Anderson
traveled all the way from Washington state.
Derek and Gordon had some pesky engine
problems but managed to smile through it
all and make it a great Nats.
This year there was a most welcome
FAI contingent from Canada. The team was
made up of Adam Glatt, Xavier Mouraux,
Chad Northeast, and Dezso Vaghy.
We have a large number of world-class
fliers in the US who are well worth the trip
to watch. I would go so far as to say that
we are so deep in talent we could easily
send two FAI teams to the World
Championships. Now there’s a cliff-hanger
for you!
Leaving the box ... MA