110 MODEL AVIATION
A rundown of the 2005 RCCA NPS totals
[[email protected]]
Radio Control Combat Greg Rose
Lee Liddle gets his model ready. In the RCCA NPS he is prepared to take first place in
SSC, first place in 2548 Scale, and third place in Open B Combat.
With his father watching, Brian Gilkey—who is first in 2610
Scale and second in 2548 Scale—flies another round of Combat.
Kirk Adams flies another round as Eric Wenger looks on. Kirk is
first in Open B, second in 2610 Scale, and third in SSC.
ONE OF THE things I like about RC
Combat, in addition to the fun you can
have by flying in the event, is the Radio
Control Combat Association (RCCA)
National Points System (NPS). It allows
National Champions to be selected in all
RC Combat events.
The NPS not only gives us our National
Champions, but it also gives us a good
measurement of what events are being
flown, by whom, where, and how the
numbers look in comparison to the last
five years, when the RCCA first started
keeping statistics for the NPS.
Since we are close to the end of the
year as this is being written (I believe that
one more event remains to be reported on
before the end of 2005), I am going to
promise that if anyone I mention manages
to swap his or her ranking in a last-minute
upset, I will report on that in a future
column. However, I believe everyone’s
ranking is pretty much “in the bag” at this
point.
So who are the “Top Guns” of 2005?
In the Open classes only two official
events were flown during 2005. (The
popular Slow Survivable Combat [SSC]
event and the new Limited B classes are
still provisional at this time and do not
count toward the NPS totals for official
Open-class events.)
As in the past, Open B remains the
most popular official event by far. A total
of 97 pilots flew in Open B Combat in this
past year. These pilots made more than
1,500 individual flights during the year.
Kirk Adams leads the pack with a
respectable 9,700 qualifying points, or an
average of 485 points per qualifying
round. A “qualifying” round is the top 20
rounds that pilot has flown during the
year. Kirk actually flew in 45 rounds of
Open class B during 2005, but only the top
20 of those are used to determine NPS
rankings.
It looks as though veteran Mike
Fredricks will take the second-place
honors, barring a phenomenal last-event
performance from the current third-place
challenger. The problem is that the pilot in
that spot—Lee Liddle—has demonstrated
his ability to make phenomenal runs, and
being a Texan he gets a late-season
advantage. Mike’s Wisconsin weather
3,000 individual flights during the year.
On top of this huge heap is a familiar
name: Lee Liddle. He leads the pack with
12,248 points.
Despite his large number of flights
and his high average of 612 points for his
20 top qualifying rounds, Lee has a
serious challenge to overcome to
maintain his first-place position for 2005;
rival Eric Wenger tails him by only 72
total points. These two great Combat
fliers continue their battle into the closing
days of the year.
Filling the third position is another
familiar name, as Kirk Adams takes
another top-three ranking in SSC.
In Scale RC Combat the official AMA
event is 2610. This was a slim year for
Scale, with only 18 pilots flying in 2610
events during the year.
Brian Gilkey has a firm grasp of first
place with 6,480 qualifying points. In
second place, and taking his third topthree
ranking of the year, is Kirk Adams.
These two stand out so far in their
positions that there is no hope of
unseating them. However, there is a tight
race for third place, led by Bret
Anderson. Don Veres II is only 80 points
behind him!
Only 30 pilots flew in the provisional
2548 Scale event during the year. That
number is a bit deceiving, though; 11 of
those 30 are 2610 pilots who
“grandfathered” their airplanes and flew
in 2548 only at the 2005 Nats in Muncie.
First place in 2548, by a country mile,
is held once again by Lee Liddle. With
7,832 points, he has a 3,236-point lead on
second-place pilot Brian Gilkey. (But
Brian got only 12 rounds of 2548 in for
2005, meaning he is in second place
despite having eight goose eggs added
into his average!) Dane McGee is set to
take third-place honors.
Although I discussed the issue of the
number of Scale fliers in the last column,
it is interesting that the total number of
Scale fliers who competed in 2610 and
2548 was less than half of the Scale fliers
who did so in 2004!
Congratulations to all the RC Combat
NPS Champions for 2005! It was a wellfought
season full of fun. As we head into
the 2006 season, remember that many
fliers out there are gunning for yourforces him into the building season.
However, with the power of numbers
behind Mike’s performances for the year,
Lee has little chance of making up the 532
qualifying points that separate them.
Open C was the other official Open
event flown during 2005, and the small
number of pilots did make for some
unusual results. In first place is Ricky
Miller, and second place belongs to Brian
Marsh. There’s nothing unusual there;
they posted the top two qualifying points
amounts. What is unusual is that third
place goes to … well, no one!
Ricky and Brian are avid Open B
pilots. Ricky’s overall Open Combatplaces him in a respectable 12th
place out of 97 fliers. But with only 12
flights officially scored in Open C this
year, those two come out on top of the
small heap.
If fliers aren’t flocking to Open class
C, they are flocking to SSC. It remains the
most popular event ever in RC Combat,
despite the fact that it remained a
provisional event for 2005. Exactly how
popular SSC has become can be judged by
the fact that more than twice as many
flights were flown in it as in Open class
B—the most popular official AMA event.
In all, 110 competitors flew in SSC events
in 2005. These pilots made more than
Edition: Model Aviation - 2006/03
Page Numbers: 110,112
Edition: Model Aviation - 2006/03
Page Numbers: 110,112
110 MODEL AVIATION
A rundown of the 2005 RCCA NPS totals
[[email protected]]
Radio Control Combat Greg Rose
Lee Liddle gets his model ready. In the RCCA NPS he is prepared to take first place in
SSC, first place in 2548 Scale, and third place in Open B Combat.
With his father watching, Brian Gilkey—who is first in 2610
Scale and second in 2548 Scale—flies another round of Combat.
Kirk Adams flies another round as Eric Wenger looks on. Kirk is
first in Open B, second in 2610 Scale, and third in SSC.
ONE OF THE things I like about RC
Combat, in addition to the fun you can
have by flying in the event, is the Radio
Control Combat Association (RCCA)
National Points System (NPS). It allows
National Champions to be selected in all
RC Combat events.
The NPS not only gives us our National
Champions, but it also gives us a good
measurement of what events are being
flown, by whom, where, and how the
numbers look in comparison to the last
five years, when the RCCA first started
keeping statistics for the NPS.
Since we are close to the end of the
year as this is being written (I believe that
one more event remains to be reported on
before the end of 2005), I am going to
promise that if anyone I mention manages
to swap his or her ranking in a last-minute
upset, I will report on that in a future
column. However, I believe everyone’s
ranking is pretty much “in the bag” at this
point.
So who are the “Top Guns” of 2005?
In the Open classes only two official
events were flown during 2005. (The
popular Slow Survivable Combat [SSC]
event and the new Limited B classes are
still provisional at this time and do not
count toward the NPS totals for official
Open-class events.)
As in the past, Open B remains the
most popular official event by far. A total
of 97 pilots flew in Open B Combat in this
past year. These pilots made more than
1,500 individual flights during the year.
Kirk Adams leads the pack with a
respectable 9,700 qualifying points, or an
average of 485 points per qualifying
round. A “qualifying” round is the top 20
rounds that pilot has flown during the
year. Kirk actually flew in 45 rounds of
Open class B during 2005, but only the top
20 of those are used to determine NPS
rankings.
It looks as though veteran Mike
Fredricks will take the second-place
honors, barring a phenomenal last-event
performance from the current third-place
challenger. The problem is that the pilot in
that spot—Lee Liddle—has demonstrated
his ability to make phenomenal runs, and
being a Texan he gets a late-season
advantage. Mike’s Wisconsin weather
3,000 individual flights during the year.
On top of this huge heap is a familiar
name: Lee Liddle. He leads the pack with
12,248 points.
Despite his large number of flights
and his high average of 612 points for his
20 top qualifying rounds, Lee has a
serious challenge to overcome to
maintain his first-place position for 2005;
rival Eric Wenger tails him by only 72
total points. These two great Combat
fliers continue their battle into the closing
days of the year.
Filling the third position is another
familiar name, as Kirk Adams takes
another top-three ranking in SSC.
In Scale RC Combat the official AMA
event is 2610. This was a slim year for
Scale, with only 18 pilots flying in 2610
events during the year.
Brian Gilkey has a firm grasp of first
place with 6,480 qualifying points. In
second place, and taking his third topthree
ranking of the year, is Kirk Adams.
These two stand out so far in their
positions that there is no hope of
unseating them. However, there is a tight
race for third place, led by Bret
Anderson. Don Veres II is only 80 points
behind him!
Only 30 pilots flew in the provisional
2548 Scale event during the year. That
number is a bit deceiving, though; 11 of
those 30 are 2610 pilots who
“grandfathered” their airplanes and flew
in 2548 only at the 2005 Nats in Muncie.
First place in 2548, by a country mile,
is held once again by Lee Liddle. With
7,832 points, he has a 3,236-point lead on
second-place pilot Brian Gilkey. (But
Brian got only 12 rounds of 2548 in for
2005, meaning he is in second place
despite having eight goose eggs added
into his average!) Dane McGee is set to
take third-place honors.
Although I discussed the issue of the
number of Scale fliers in the last column,
it is interesting that the total number of
Scale fliers who competed in 2610 and
2548 was less than half of the Scale fliers
who did so in 2004!
Congratulations to all the RC Combat
NPS Champions for 2005! It was a wellfought
season full of fun. As we head into
the 2006 season, remember that many
fliers out there are gunning for yourforces him into the building season.
However, with the power of numbers
behind Mike’s performances for the year,
Lee has little chance of making up the 532
qualifying points that separate them.
Open C was the other official Open
event flown during 2005, and the small
number of pilots did make for some
unusual results. In first place is Ricky
Miller, and second place belongs to Brian
Marsh. There’s nothing unusual there;
they posted the top two qualifying points
amounts. What is unusual is that third
place goes to … well, no one!
Ricky and Brian are avid Open B
pilots. Ricky’s overall Open Combatplaces him in a respectable 12th
place out of 97 fliers. But with only 12
flights officially scored in Open C this
year, those two come out on top of the
small heap.
If fliers aren’t flocking to Open class
C, they are flocking to SSC. It remains the
most popular event ever in RC Combat,
despite the fact that it remained a
provisional event for 2005. Exactly how
popular SSC has become can be judged by
the fact that more than twice as many
flights were flown in it as in Open class
B—the most popular official AMA event.
In all, 110 competitors flew in SSC events
in 2005. These pilots made more than