42 MODEL AVIATION
S c a l e A e r o b a t i c s
Ed Alt, 7 Parkview Rd., Randolph NJ 07869
Pit area for Jeremy McKenna (Advanced class), Kenny Lauter (Unlimited class).
Steve Pritchard with his new 42% Aerotech Models Velox Revolution.
THE SCALE AEROBATICS National
Championships was held at the AMA
National Flying Site from June 30 through
July 3. This was the fourth consecutive year
that this event has been held in Muncie,
which tends to please some and leaves
others unhappy. It’s a terrific site, and I
have no complaints about the location since
I can make the trip in one 10- to 11-hour
effort from northern New Jersey.
It’s a wonderful location for reasons
other than the world-class flying facilities.
The museum is a priceless showcase of
model aviation history and is a must-see.
The AMA staff is helpful and does
everything it can to help things run well and
make members welcome.
In spite of all of those positives, it may
be time to look at bringing the show to other
venues on some form of rotating basis.
Although fliers have attended from deep
into Texas, Florida, Georgia, and as far west
as Oregon, California, Colorado, and
Arizona, it’s an extreme undertaking for
many.
It is also evident that the ability to
support the event from the established
International Miniature Aerobatic Club
(IMAC) base is being stretched a bit. It’s a
big commitment for all involved, whether
they are running it or competing in it. I’ve
competed in the IMAC Nationals at Toledo,
Ohio, in 1998 and in Muncie in 2000, 2002,
and 2003, and I have seen things peak and
fall off in terms of this commitment.
IMAC is trying to do many things right,
especially in the last two to three years. As I
wrote in my coverage of the 2002 IMAC
Nationals, it has tackled the noise issue with
some initial success and has, with most
competitors’ cooperation, been able to
reduce the impact of our brand of aerobatics
flying at the Muncie location.
This year there has been a major new
initiative to improve the quality of judging
on a national level, with the introduction of
the National Judging School. This is much
needed on a regional and national level. As
with any new initiative, it takes time for
things to get into full swing, and this year’s
IMAC Nationals helped bring that into sharp
focus.
I mentioned the commitment it takes to
run a successful Nationals and to compete in
it. I haven’t done the former, but as one who
does the latter I come with a set of minimum
expectations; one is that there is a sufficient
number of Special Interest Group (IMAC),
or SIG, members to help the contest director
make an event successful.
There was no support for IMAC
President Tom Wheeler and IMAC
Treasurer Steve Evans this year until the
third day, when Bobby Stout was able to
help with scoring duties. This is not a
complaint about Bobby not making it the
first day; we were lucky to have him at all.
He has given much of his time selflessly in
the past and put in the best possible effort
he could.
Nevertheless, how can two people be
expected to properly run two separate
flying sites simultaneously? That is what
Tom and Steve had to try to do this year.
Fortunately, since most in attendance knew
the drill, the flightlines kept moving
reasonably well.
However, there are many other logistical
tasks that required Tom and Steve to press
competitors and their pit crews, girlfriends,
spouses, and kids into service. That’s fine
to the extent that there is a group of
noncompetitor workers there to provide
RADIO CONTROL
December 2003 43
Mark Leseberg (L) a few hours after driving from Florida. For him, two
hours of sleep must have been enough.
Right: Mark Leseberg’s primary 37% Godfrey Extra
300L has engine work done. Above: Extra ready
on the flightline.
Kurt Koelling starts his 40% Carden Extra 330S’s DA-150
engine before the first round of Unlimited competition.
core support, but it’s no way to run the
entire contest.
Tom and Steve also got as much help as
possible from the AMA contest staff to keep
the scoring tasks moving, but it is primarily
the SIG’s responsibility to make a smoothrunning
event.
Nearly every IMAC contest I’ve been to
has required a mix of dedicated judges and
contestant judges. It’s a reality that we
accept, but a balance is required to make it a
reasonable situation for competitors.
I have been to many regional contests at
which I’ve sat in the judge’s chair for most
of the contest and had to scramble like mad
to get my airplane together and get my
rounds in, not to mention to try to get a new
Unknown sequence into my head a few
minutes before trying to fly it. I never have
minded helping, but there is a limit.
Because of a complete absence of
dedicated judges at this year’s IMAC
Nationals, the judging duties were unfairly
placed on a small number of pilots. There
were two flying sites in simultaneous use all
four days of the competition—one for
Sportsman and Intermediate and another for
Advanced and Unlimited. Owing to the
separation of the sites, the competitor-only
judging-logistics problems worsened.
For the most part, the five Advanced
pilots were required to almost always judge
Unlimited rounds since two flightlines were
active at sites all four days. Of those five
pilots, at least one was emphatic about not
wanting to judge because he felt unqualified
to do so. Nevertheless, he was pressed into
service.
To their credit, Tom and Steve worked
out a rotation to bring some Intermediate
and Sportsman pilots over to our site to help
judge Unlimited; some Unlimited pilots
judged some Sportsman and Intermediate
rounds.
However, in several cases these
completely unqualified judges were
confused by the complexities of the
Unlimited sequence and knew virtually
nothing about the proper judging criteria to
apply. Judges were observed asking the
scribes for scores.
There were several other issues and
controversies, some of which might be
expected and some of which would have
been handled with greater consistency by
those officiating if they had not been spread
so thin.
A protest that one Unlimited pilot lodged
against another seemed to have had
technical merit, depending on how the rules
are interpreted. It basically consisted of an
aerobatic figure (a roll) being done between
the time the round for this flier was
completed and the time he landed. The
round can be zeroed by a strict interpretation
of the rules.
However, there needs to be consistency
in applying this rule. A previous, similar
infraction resulted only in a warning,
RADIO CONTROL
44 MODEL AVIATION
A phony can of nitrous oxide adds a humorous touch to the competition.
Competition is about to start on Advanced flightline. Golf carts AMA provided were
indispensable for moving helpers between the two flying sites in use.
David Moser with his mom and dad, who was his caller. David
finished first in Advanced with his 40% 3W Extra 330.
Jim Gatewood explains how it’s done before starting his first
Advanced round. He flew a Troy Built 40% Extra 260.
whereas this occurrence resulted in a zeroed
round and a probable change in the outcome.
Sometimes score sheets were not
available until the next day, which made it
difficult to question results if necessary.
Though somewhat understandable because
of the lack of help, it nevertheless added to
the overall feeling that the outcome might
not be as true as you would hope.
I finished 11th of 14 in Unlimited, and I
don’t think that any of this affected my
standings in any meaningful way, up or
down. There was some good competition,
and I didn’t fly as well as I would have
liked, so this is truly not sour grapes for me.
However, I spoke to several pilots who
genuinely felt shortchanged and will not be
back—some who have made a trip of 2,000
miles once or twice before. They were
committed and had reasonable expectations
for a quality event that were not met.
When I agreed to write this coverage for
the second time I did not anticipate that it
would focus on the negative, but for the sake
of the future of national- and regional-level
competition in IMAC, the problem has to be
clearly understood. Two guys can’t run a
national event with two separate flying sites
by themselves.
Given a better commitment from
competitors within IMAC, all of these
problems can be overcome. Sometimes you
have to go out and help run the event and
leave your transmitter at home.
Even when you are a competitor at the
event, anticipate that there can’t always be
enough dedicated judges to go around and
you may have to judge a few rounds. It is
incumbent on those who want to benefit
from a well-run event to also do the prep
work to help make it happen—at least once
in awhile.
What put the icing on the cake was what
I experienced a couple of weeks after the
2003 IMAC Nationals. Northeast IMAC
Regional Director Rob Sarlan worked with
me to try to capitalize on the IMAC National
Judges School initiative to improve the
quality of judging on a regional and national
level.
IMAC incurred the expense to bring one
RADIO CONTROL
December 2003 45
The author’s 40% Carden Extra 330S uses a DA-150, KS canisters, and a JR radio.
Wayne Matthews’ 40% Aeroworks Extra 330. He finished seventh in Unlimited.
Bryan Welton (R) of OATS (Oregon Aerobatic Team) relaxes in the pits.
of the best in the business in to teach the
flock how to judge better. Ray Rose gave
up a weekend of his time to come to our
location in Eastern Pennsylvania, and we
got only six participants for this event.
The main loss we experienced by such
low attendance goes well beyond the
money that IMAC spent; it’s the expected
and necessary benefits that were
minimized through limited participation.
Ray did a terrific job.
Many people I have seen in the judges’
chairs, who run contests, and who
absolutely needed to be there, or at least be
represented by proxy for their events, were
absent. It was their loss, but it was also a
loss for every other competitor who has a
reasonable expectation of better
competency in judging. Obviously not
everyone can attend these types of training
events all at once, but we should have and
could have done better. Hopefully we’ll
fare better in the future.
So why the recommendation that IMAC
Nationals sites be rotated occasionally?
Maybe it’s time to give far-off competitors
a better chance to compete and time to get
a few fresh replacements to run it for a
while.
I won’t attend again until I see some
indication of commitment to support those
who try to make the event successful.
If you’ve been patient enough to stick with
me so far, thank you. I’m off of the
soapbox. As I mentioned, there were
contestants from as far away as several farwestern
states, Texas, Florida, and
Jamaica. There were 14 Unlimited pilots,
five Advanced, eight Intermediate, and 10
Sportsman.
A much larger turnout was expected,
hence the plan for two flying sites being
run at once. The World Aerobatic
Championships (WAC) in Florida ending
on the Sunday preceding the IMAC
Nationals may have contributed to the low
turnout, and possibly the lack of officiating
help.
John Schroder and Mark Leseberg
made the all-night trek from the WAC and
started the competition with just a few
hours of sleep. You could not tell from the
results, though; Mark jumped out to a solid
lock on first place in Unlimited and never
lost it, and he put in a spectacular Freestyle
on Thursday to win that competition.
Mark’s scores were the highest
combined overall, earning him the firsttime
honor of taking home the Bill Bennett
Cup for the year. The cup will be inscribed
with each winner’s name and passed to a
new recipient at the Nationals each year.
There was tight competition for the next
three places in Unlimited, and the decision
regarding the previously mentioned protest
may have resulted in Kenny Lauter
dropping to fourth place overall.
All who finished in the top spots flew
excellently, with only 47.8 points
separating second-place Kurt Koelling
from third-place Bryan Welton. The rest of
RADIO CONTROL
the Unlimited pilots I watched put in some
solid flying; the key differentiators were
often the centering of center box figures, the
centering of roll elements on lines, and the
rolling circles (hesitations and rate changes
mostly) and bank-angle issues in snaps.
The Unknowns on Day Two, Day Three,
and Day Four were also telling; the top fliers
made it seem effortless, and the rest of us
showed a few rough edges.
The difficulty of the Unknown on Day
Four was less than on Day Three, and the
theory behind that was that those who made
it through the finals had already proven
something, so why mess with their heads too
much on the last round? I’m not sure I agree
with that approach, but it’s an interesting
twist I had not seen previously.
Since the turnout was not as large as
expected, Tom Wheeler allowed all
contestants in all classes to advance to the
final round on Day Four, which seemed
acceptable to everyone.
Young David Moser put in solid,
consistent flying to take first in Advanced,
and Jeremy McKenna locked onto second
place with some precise flying. One of the
things that is so important in competition
Aerobatics is good feedback on the fine
points. Jeremy made only the smallest misses
on a few critical items such as centering
center box figures and the occasional radius
change that seemed to make the difference
between the two fine fliers.
Once Jeremy became aware of these
minor misses, his ability to correct many of
them on the spot was impressive, but it was
not quite enough to catch David at the end.
The top two spots in Intermediate were
closely contested, with Adam Bry edging
out Robert Kelly by 60.14 points. Mark
Garza achieved a solid third-place finish.
The Sportsman results were reasonably
close near the top places. Bill Ritchey bested
Keith Sessions by approximately 315 points,
and only roughly 71 points separated Keith
from third-place finisher John Wood. Bill
packed his 33% Edge 540T into his fullscale
Beechcraft Bonanza for the flight to
Muncie from Delano, California. That’s
traveling in style!
Freestyle was held Thursday at the
conclusion of the sequence flying. The allgrass
site that had been used for Advanced
and Unlimited was used for the combined
classes competing in this event.
At least two excellent pilots who were
scheduled to participate in Freestyle dropped
out because of their dissatisfaction with the
officiating up to that point, but the five
pilots who stayed in did some exceptional
flying.
Wayne Matthews led off with a
heartstopping Snap Roll on takeoff,
followed by some energetic maneuvering to
stay with the Rastafarian music he selected.
He pushed the envelope right off the blocks
and cranked his 40% 3W Extra 330 into a
low-altitude-entry, tight-radius Knife-Edge
Loop.
Wayne stuck through until the last
possible moment, when it became apparent
that he would have to compromise the true
90° bank angle he had been holding to pull
through the bottom. A Snap Roll ensued,
and his model ended up going in as a
result.
Wayne is a great competitor and an
excellent flier; he just pushed a little far
that day, which has probably happened to
us all at one time or another. We’ll never
know whether or not the rest of his routine
would have placed him higher than fifth,
but he had our attention from the moment
the wheels broke ground.
Kurt Koelling had a nicely
choreographed and well-timed routine. His
ability to complement the tempo, volume,
and mood of the music with his flying
showed a great deal of thought in planning
and good skill in execution. He displayed a
wide range of his 40% Carden Edge 540’s
performance envelope and good use of the
aerobatic box, earning him fourth place
with 220 points.
Bryan Welton also had a wellchoreographed
and -executed routine,
combining the added elements of surprise,
closer proximity to the ground at times
(wows some of the judges some of the
time), higher-energy flying, and an even
wider display of his Aeroworks Edge’s
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48 MODEL AVIATION
performance range to put him in second
place with 310 points.
John Schroder added streamers to his
FiberClassics G-202’s wingtips and used
them to good effect in his routine. He
showed a good performance range for the
model, used the aerobatic box fully, and
held everyone’s attention with his flying
to grab third place with 255 points.
Mark Leseberg put on a truly
impressive Freestyle—certainly
Tournament of Champions quality. He set
up his 37% Godfrey Extra with almost the
fastest roll rates I’ve seen on one of these
large gas aerobats and was completely on
top of it at all times.
The music was mostly high energy and
fast paced, with many opportunities to
synchronize pitch, yaw, and especially
rapid rolling movements to it. Mark was
able to do this with rolling turns, rolling
loops, and everything in between.
He transitioned into low-level 3-D with
the fastest, slowest, lowest, and most onthe-
line 3-D rolling sequence I’ve ever
seen, which then brought him into some
more standard low-level Torque Roll
activity. Mark’s performance put him on
top with 320 points.
Some fine flying was done throughout the
event. Although the first-place finishes in
Unlimited and Advanced were probably
right on the money from all that I
witnessed, there is room for doubt about
the proper outcome for a few of the other
top Unlimited fliers.
The rough ordering of the top, middle,
and bottom thirds probably would not
have changed much, if at all, with proper
judging practices. Yet there is much doubt
in my mind about the fairness to several of
the pilots.
I didn’t witness much flying at the
Sportsman and Intermediate site, so I can’t
be as sure that the outcome was as
noticeably affected, but I assume that they
were similarly challenged by the same
problems we faced at our site.
These observations are in stark contrast
to the quality of judging at last year’s
IMAC Nationals. Hopefully we’ll see
improvements in the future to bring it
back to at least that level and get the
dedicated people who took the time to try
to put on a good event the help they need
to pull it off next time. Judging is an
imperfect craft to learn, but those in
attendance at a Nationals deserve better
than we were able to provide them. MA
RADIO CONTROL
Edition: Model Aviation - 2003/12
Page Numbers: 42,43,44,45,48
Edition: Model Aviation - 2003/12
Page Numbers: 42,43,44,45,48
42 MODEL AVIATION
S c a l e A e r o b a t i c s
Ed Alt, 7 Parkview Rd., Randolph NJ 07869
Pit area for Jeremy McKenna (Advanced class), Kenny Lauter (Unlimited class).
Steve Pritchard with his new 42% Aerotech Models Velox Revolution.
THE SCALE AEROBATICS National
Championships was held at the AMA
National Flying Site from June 30 through
July 3. This was the fourth consecutive year
that this event has been held in Muncie,
which tends to please some and leaves
others unhappy. It’s a terrific site, and I
have no complaints about the location since
I can make the trip in one 10- to 11-hour
effort from northern New Jersey.
It’s a wonderful location for reasons
other than the world-class flying facilities.
The museum is a priceless showcase of
model aviation history and is a must-see.
The AMA staff is helpful and does
everything it can to help things run well and
make members welcome.
In spite of all of those positives, it may
be time to look at bringing the show to other
venues on some form of rotating basis.
Although fliers have attended from deep
into Texas, Florida, Georgia, and as far west
as Oregon, California, Colorado, and
Arizona, it’s an extreme undertaking for
many.
It is also evident that the ability to
support the event from the established
International Miniature Aerobatic Club
(IMAC) base is being stretched a bit. It’s a
big commitment for all involved, whether
they are running it or competing in it. I’ve
competed in the IMAC Nationals at Toledo,
Ohio, in 1998 and in Muncie in 2000, 2002,
and 2003, and I have seen things peak and
fall off in terms of this commitment.
IMAC is trying to do many things right,
especially in the last two to three years. As I
wrote in my coverage of the 2002 IMAC
Nationals, it has tackled the noise issue with
some initial success and has, with most
competitors’ cooperation, been able to
reduce the impact of our brand of aerobatics
flying at the Muncie location.
This year there has been a major new
initiative to improve the quality of judging
on a national level, with the introduction of
the National Judging School. This is much
needed on a regional and national level. As
with any new initiative, it takes time for
things to get into full swing, and this year’s
IMAC Nationals helped bring that into sharp
focus.
I mentioned the commitment it takes to
run a successful Nationals and to compete in
it. I haven’t done the former, but as one who
does the latter I come with a set of minimum
expectations; one is that there is a sufficient
number of Special Interest Group (IMAC),
or SIG, members to help the contest director
make an event successful.
There was no support for IMAC
President Tom Wheeler and IMAC
Treasurer Steve Evans this year until the
third day, when Bobby Stout was able to
help with scoring duties. This is not a
complaint about Bobby not making it the
first day; we were lucky to have him at all.
He has given much of his time selflessly in
the past and put in the best possible effort
he could.
Nevertheless, how can two people be
expected to properly run two separate
flying sites simultaneously? That is what
Tom and Steve had to try to do this year.
Fortunately, since most in attendance knew
the drill, the flightlines kept moving
reasonably well.
However, there are many other logistical
tasks that required Tom and Steve to press
competitors and their pit crews, girlfriends,
spouses, and kids into service. That’s fine
to the extent that there is a group of
noncompetitor workers there to provide
RADIO CONTROL
December 2003 43
Mark Leseberg (L) a few hours after driving from Florida. For him, two
hours of sleep must have been enough.
Right: Mark Leseberg’s primary 37% Godfrey Extra
300L has engine work done. Above: Extra ready
on the flightline.
Kurt Koelling starts his 40% Carden Extra 330S’s DA-150
engine before the first round of Unlimited competition.
core support, but it’s no way to run the
entire contest.
Tom and Steve also got as much help as
possible from the AMA contest staff to keep
the scoring tasks moving, but it is primarily
the SIG’s responsibility to make a smoothrunning
event.
Nearly every IMAC contest I’ve been to
has required a mix of dedicated judges and
contestant judges. It’s a reality that we
accept, but a balance is required to make it a
reasonable situation for competitors.
I have been to many regional contests at
which I’ve sat in the judge’s chair for most
of the contest and had to scramble like mad
to get my airplane together and get my
rounds in, not to mention to try to get a new
Unknown sequence into my head a few
minutes before trying to fly it. I never have
minded helping, but there is a limit.
Because of a complete absence of
dedicated judges at this year’s IMAC
Nationals, the judging duties were unfairly
placed on a small number of pilots. There
were two flying sites in simultaneous use all
four days of the competition—one for
Sportsman and Intermediate and another for
Advanced and Unlimited. Owing to the
separation of the sites, the competitor-only
judging-logistics problems worsened.
For the most part, the five Advanced
pilots were required to almost always judge
Unlimited rounds since two flightlines were
active at sites all four days. Of those five
pilots, at least one was emphatic about not
wanting to judge because he felt unqualified
to do so. Nevertheless, he was pressed into
service.
To their credit, Tom and Steve worked
out a rotation to bring some Intermediate
and Sportsman pilots over to our site to help
judge Unlimited; some Unlimited pilots
judged some Sportsman and Intermediate
rounds.
However, in several cases these
completely unqualified judges were
confused by the complexities of the
Unlimited sequence and knew virtually
nothing about the proper judging criteria to
apply. Judges were observed asking the
scribes for scores.
There were several other issues and
controversies, some of which might be
expected and some of which would have
been handled with greater consistency by
those officiating if they had not been spread
so thin.
A protest that one Unlimited pilot lodged
against another seemed to have had
technical merit, depending on how the rules
are interpreted. It basically consisted of an
aerobatic figure (a roll) being done between
the time the round for this flier was
completed and the time he landed. The
round can be zeroed by a strict interpretation
of the rules.
However, there needs to be consistency
in applying this rule. A previous, similar
infraction resulted only in a warning,
RADIO CONTROL
44 MODEL AVIATION
A phony can of nitrous oxide adds a humorous touch to the competition.
Competition is about to start on Advanced flightline. Golf carts AMA provided were
indispensable for moving helpers between the two flying sites in use.
David Moser with his mom and dad, who was his caller. David
finished first in Advanced with his 40% 3W Extra 330.
Jim Gatewood explains how it’s done before starting his first
Advanced round. He flew a Troy Built 40% Extra 260.
whereas this occurrence resulted in a zeroed
round and a probable change in the outcome.
Sometimes score sheets were not
available until the next day, which made it
difficult to question results if necessary.
Though somewhat understandable because
of the lack of help, it nevertheless added to
the overall feeling that the outcome might
not be as true as you would hope.
I finished 11th of 14 in Unlimited, and I
don’t think that any of this affected my
standings in any meaningful way, up or
down. There was some good competition,
and I didn’t fly as well as I would have
liked, so this is truly not sour grapes for me.
However, I spoke to several pilots who
genuinely felt shortchanged and will not be
back—some who have made a trip of 2,000
miles once or twice before. They were
committed and had reasonable expectations
for a quality event that were not met.
When I agreed to write this coverage for
the second time I did not anticipate that it
would focus on the negative, but for the sake
of the future of national- and regional-level
competition in IMAC, the problem has to be
clearly understood. Two guys can’t run a
national event with two separate flying sites
by themselves.
Given a better commitment from
competitors within IMAC, all of these
problems can be overcome. Sometimes you
have to go out and help run the event and
leave your transmitter at home.
Even when you are a competitor at the
event, anticipate that there can’t always be
enough dedicated judges to go around and
you may have to judge a few rounds. It is
incumbent on those who want to benefit
from a well-run event to also do the prep
work to help make it happen—at least once
in awhile.
What put the icing on the cake was what
I experienced a couple of weeks after the
2003 IMAC Nationals. Northeast IMAC
Regional Director Rob Sarlan worked with
me to try to capitalize on the IMAC National
Judges School initiative to improve the
quality of judging on a regional and national
level.
IMAC incurred the expense to bring one
RADIO CONTROL
December 2003 45
The author’s 40% Carden Extra 330S uses a DA-150, KS canisters, and a JR radio.
Wayne Matthews’ 40% Aeroworks Extra 330. He finished seventh in Unlimited.
Bryan Welton (R) of OATS (Oregon Aerobatic Team) relaxes in the pits.
of the best in the business in to teach the
flock how to judge better. Ray Rose gave
up a weekend of his time to come to our
location in Eastern Pennsylvania, and we
got only six participants for this event.
The main loss we experienced by such
low attendance goes well beyond the
money that IMAC spent; it’s the expected
and necessary benefits that were
minimized through limited participation.
Ray did a terrific job.
Many people I have seen in the judges’
chairs, who run contests, and who
absolutely needed to be there, or at least be
represented by proxy for their events, were
absent. It was their loss, but it was also a
loss for every other competitor who has a
reasonable expectation of better
competency in judging. Obviously not
everyone can attend these types of training
events all at once, but we should have and
could have done better. Hopefully we’ll
fare better in the future.
So why the recommendation that IMAC
Nationals sites be rotated occasionally?
Maybe it’s time to give far-off competitors
a better chance to compete and time to get
a few fresh replacements to run it for a
while.
I won’t attend again until I see some
indication of commitment to support those
who try to make the event successful.
If you’ve been patient enough to stick with
me so far, thank you. I’m off of the
soapbox. As I mentioned, there were
contestants from as far away as several farwestern
states, Texas, Florida, and
Jamaica. There were 14 Unlimited pilots,
five Advanced, eight Intermediate, and 10
Sportsman.
A much larger turnout was expected,
hence the plan for two flying sites being
run at once. The World Aerobatic
Championships (WAC) in Florida ending
on the Sunday preceding the IMAC
Nationals may have contributed to the low
turnout, and possibly the lack of officiating
help.
John Schroder and Mark Leseberg
made the all-night trek from the WAC and
started the competition with just a few
hours of sleep. You could not tell from the
results, though; Mark jumped out to a solid
lock on first place in Unlimited and never
lost it, and he put in a spectacular Freestyle
on Thursday to win that competition.
Mark’s scores were the highest
combined overall, earning him the firsttime
honor of taking home the Bill Bennett
Cup for the year. The cup will be inscribed
with each winner’s name and passed to a
new recipient at the Nationals each year.
There was tight competition for the next
three places in Unlimited, and the decision
regarding the previously mentioned protest
may have resulted in Kenny Lauter
dropping to fourth place overall.
All who finished in the top spots flew
excellently, with only 47.8 points
separating second-place Kurt Koelling
from third-place Bryan Welton. The rest of
RADIO CONTROL
the Unlimited pilots I watched put in some
solid flying; the key differentiators were
often the centering of center box figures, the
centering of roll elements on lines, and the
rolling circles (hesitations and rate changes
mostly) and bank-angle issues in snaps.
The Unknowns on Day Two, Day Three,
and Day Four were also telling; the top fliers
made it seem effortless, and the rest of us
showed a few rough edges.
The difficulty of the Unknown on Day
Four was less than on Day Three, and the
theory behind that was that those who made
it through the finals had already proven
something, so why mess with their heads too
much on the last round? I’m not sure I agree
with that approach, but it’s an interesting
twist I had not seen previously.
Since the turnout was not as large as
expected, Tom Wheeler allowed all
contestants in all classes to advance to the
final round on Day Four, which seemed
acceptable to everyone.
Young David Moser put in solid,
consistent flying to take first in Advanced,
and Jeremy McKenna locked onto second
place with some precise flying. One of the
things that is so important in competition
Aerobatics is good feedback on the fine
points. Jeremy made only the smallest misses
on a few critical items such as centering
center box figures and the occasional radius
change that seemed to make the difference
between the two fine fliers.
Once Jeremy became aware of these
minor misses, his ability to correct many of
them on the spot was impressive, but it was
not quite enough to catch David at the end.
The top two spots in Intermediate were
closely contested, with Adam Bry edging
out Robert Kelly by 60.14 points. Mark
Garza achieved a solid third-place finish.
The Sportsman results were reasonably
close near the top places. Bill Ritchey bested
Keith Sessions by approximately 315 points,
and only roughly 71 points separated Keith
from third-place finisher John Wood. Bill
packed his 33% Edge 540T into his fullscale
Beechcraft Bonanza for the flight to
Muncie from Delano, California. That’s
traveling in style!
Freestyle was held Thursday at the
conclusion of the sequence flying. The allgrass
site that had been used for Advanced
and Unlimited was used for the combined
classes competing in this event.
At least two excellent pilots who were
scheduled to participate in Freestyle dropped
out because of their dissatisfaction with the
officiating up to that point, but the five
pilots who stayed in did some exceptional
flying.
Wayne Matthews led off with a
heartstopping Snap Roll on takeoff,
followed by some energetic maneuvering to
stay with the Rastafarian music he selected.
He pushed the envelope right off the blocks
and cranked his 40% 3W Extra 330 into a
low-altitude-entry, tight-radius Knife-Edge
Loop.
Wayne stuck through until the last
possible moment, when it became apparent
that he would have to compromise the true
90° bank angle he had been holding to pull
through the bottom. A Snap Roll ensued,
and his model ended up going in as a
result.
Wayne is a great competitor and an
excellent flier; he just pushed a little far
that day, which has probably happened to
us all at one time or another. We’ll never
know whether or not the rest of his routine
would have placed him higher than fifth,
but he had our attention from the moment
the wheels broke ground.
Kurt Koelling had a nicely
choreographed and well-timed routine. His
ability to complement the tempo, volume,
and mood of the music with his flying
showed a great deal of thought in planning
and good skill in execution. He displayed a
wide range of his 40% Carden Edge 540’s
performance envelope and good use of the
aerobatic box, earning him fourth place
with 220 points.
Bryan Welton also had a wellchoreographed
and -executed routine,
combining the added elements of surprise,
closer proximity to the ground at times
(wows some of the judges some of the
time), higher-energy flying, and an even
wider display of his Aeroworks Edge’s
IRRESISTIBLE CHARM
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and reliable performance at a reasonable price. If it happens to
look good, that’s a plus.
Irvine Engines deliver on all fronts. Each engine features
dual ball bearings, ABC piston/sleeve engineering, generous
head fin area, strut-reinforced crankcases, and an easy to tune
carburetor. All backed up by our two year limited warranty for
your peace of mind.
It’s no wonder Irvine engines are the choice of many top
modelers. Don’t be blue with your engine. Choose the one
that is drop red gorgeous: Irvine Engines.
Irvine Engines are distributed exclusively by SIG Manufacturing Company, Montezuma, Iowa
Irvine .25 ABC R/C
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RPM Range - 3,000 - 20,000
BRUTE FORCE
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Horsepower - 1.20 bhp
RPM Range - 2,800 - 17,000
Irvine .46 ABC R/C
Item #IRV4451
Horsepower - 1.40 bhp
RPM Range - 2,800 - 17,000
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RPM Range - 2,800 - 17,000
Visit our Web Site: www.sigmfg.com
P. O. Box 520 • Montezuma, Iowa 50171-0520 • 641-623-5154 RADIO CONTROL
48 MODEL AVIATION
performance range to put him in second
place with 310 points.
John Schroder added streamers to his
FiberClassics G-202’s wingtips and used
them to good effect in his routine. He
showed a good performance range for the
model, used the aerobatic box fully, and
held everyone’s attention with his flying
to grab third place with 255 points.
Mark Leseberg put on a truly
impressive Freestyle—certainly
Tournament of Champions quality. He set
up his 37% Godfrey Extra with almost the
fastest roll rates I’ve seen on one of these
large gas aerobats and was completely on
top of it at all times.
The music was mostly high energy and
fast paced, with many opportunities to
synchronize pitch, yaw, and especially
rapid rolling movements to it. Mark was
able to do this with rolling turns, rolling
loops, and everything in between.
He transitioned into low-level 3-D with
the fastest, slowest, lowest, and most onthe-
line 3-D rolling sequence I’ve ever
seen, which then brought him into some
more standard low-level Torque Roll
activity. Mark’s performance put him on
top with 320 points.
Some fine flying was done throughout the
event. Although the first-place finishes in
Unlimited and Advanced were probably
right on the money from all that I
witnessed, there is room for doubt about
the proper outcome for a few of the other
top Unlimited fliers.
The rough ordering of the top, middle,
and bottom thirds probably would not
have changed much, if at all, with proper
judging practices. Yet there is much doubt
in my mind about the fairness to several of
the pilots.
I didn’t witness much flying at the
Sportsman and Intermediate site, so I can’t
be as sure that the outcome was as
noticeably affected, but I assume that they
were similarly challenged by the same
problems we faced at our site.
These observations are in stark contrast
to the quality of judging at last year’s
IMAC Nationals. Hopefully we’ll see
improvements in the future to bring it
back to at least that level and get the
dedicated people who took the time to try
to put on a good event the help they need
to pull it off next time. Judging is an
imperfect craft to learn, but those in
attendance at a Nationals deserve better
than we were able to provide them. MA
RADIO CONTROL
Edition: Model Aviation - 2003/12
Page Numbers: 42,43,44,45,48
42 MODEL AVIATION
S c a l e A e r o b a t i c s
Ed Alt, 7 Parkview Rd., Randolph NJ 07869
Pit area for Jeremy McKenna (Advanced class), Kenny Lauter (Unlimited class).
Steve Pritchard with his new 42% Aerotech Models Velox Revolution.
THE SCALE AEROBATICS National
Championships was held at the AMA
National Flying Site from June 30 through
July 3. This was the fourth consecutive year
that this event has been held in Muncie,
which tends to please some and leaves
others unhappy. It’s a terrific site, and I
have no complaints about the location since
I can make the trip in one 10- to 11-hour
effort from northern New Jersey.
It’s a wonderful location for reasons
other than the world-class flying facilities.
The museum is a priceless showcase of
model aviation history and is a must-see.
The AMA staff is helpful and does
everything it can to help things run well and
make members welcome.
In spite of all of those positives, it may
be time to look at bringing the show to other
venues on some form of rotating basis.
Although fliers have attended from deep
into Texas, Florida, Georgia, and as far west
as Oregon, California, Colorado, and
Arizona, it’s an extreme undertaking for
many.
It is also evident that the ability to
support the event from the established
International Miniature Aerobatic Club
(IMAC) base is being stretched a bit. It’s a
big commitment for all involved, whether
they are running it or competing in it. I’ve
competed in the IMAC Nationals at Toledo,
Ohio, in 1998 and in Muncie in 2000, 2002,
and 2003, and I have seen things peak and
fall off in terms of this commitment.
IMAC is trying to do many things right,
especially in the last two to three years. As I
wrote in my coverage of the 2002 IMAC
Nationals, it has tackled the noise issue with
some initial success and has, with most
competitors’ cooperation, been able to
reduce the impact of our brand of aerobatics
flying at the Muncie location.
This year there has been a major new
initiative to improve the quality of judging
on a national level, with the introduction of
the National Judging School. This is much
needed on a regional and national level. As
with any new initiative, it takes time for
things to get into full swing, and this year’s
IMAC Nationals helped bring that into sharp
focus.
I mentioned the commitment it takes to
run a successful Nationals and to compete in
it. I haven’t done the former, but as one who
does the latter I come with a set of minimum
expectations; one is that there is a sufficient
number of Special Interest Group (IMAC),
or SIG, members to help the contest director
make an event successful.
There was no support for IMAC
President Tom Wheeler and IMAC
Treasurer Steve Evans this year until the
third day, when Bobby Stout was able to
help with scoring duties. This is not a
complaint about Bobby not making it the
first day; we were lucky to have him at all.
He has given much of his time selflessly in
the past and put in the best possible effort
he could.
Nevertheless, how can two people be
expected to properly run two separate
flying sites simultaneously? That is what
Tom and Steve had to try to do this year.
Fortunately, since most in attendance knew
the drill, the flightlines kept moving
reasonably well.
However, there are many other logistical
tasks that required Tom and Steve to press
competitors and their pit crews, girlfriends,
spouses, and kids into service. That’s fine
to the extent that there is a group of
noncompetitor workers there to provide
RADIO CONTROL
December 2003 43
Mark Leseberg (L) a few hours after driving from Florida. For him, two
hours of sleep must have been enough.
Right: Mark Leseberg’s primary 37% Godfrey Extra
300L has engine work done. Above: Extra ready
on the flightline.
Kurt Koelling starts his 40% Carden Extra 330S’s DA-150
engine before the first round of Unlimited competition.
core support, but it’s no way to run the
entire contest.
Tom and Steve also got as much help as
possible from the AMA contest staff to keep
the scoring tasks moving, but it is primarily
the SIG’s responsibility to make a smoothrunning
event.
Nearly every IMAC contest I’ve been to
has required a mix of dedicated judges and
contestant judges. It’s a reality that we
accept, but a balance is required to make it a
reasonable situation for competitors.
I have been to many regional contests at
which I’ve sat in the judge’s chair for most
of the contest and had to scramble like mad
to get my airplane together and get my
rounds in, not to mention to try to get a new
Unknown sequence into my head a few
minutes before trying to fly it. I never have
minded helping, but there is a limit.
Because of a complete absence of
dedicated judges at this year’s IMAC
Nationals, the judging duties were unfairly
placed on a small number of pilots. There
were two flying sites in simultaneous use all
four days of the competition—one for
Sportsman and Intermediate and another for
Advanced and Unlimited. Owing to the
separation of the sites, the competitor-only
judging-logistics problems worsened.
For the most part, the five Advanced
pilots were required to almost always judge
Unlimited rounds since two flightlines were
active at sites all four days. Of those five
pilots, at least one was emphatic about not
wanting to judge because he felt unqualified
to do so. Nevertheless, he was pressed into
service.
To their credit, Tom and Steve worked
out a rotation to bring some Intermediate
and Sportsman pilots over to our site to help
judge Unlimited; some Unlimited pilots
judged some Sportsman and Intermediate
rounds.
However, in several cases these
completely unqualified judges were
confused by the complexities of the
Unlimited sequence and knew virtually
nothing about the proper judging criteria to
apply. Judges were observed asking the
scribes for scores.
There were several other issues and
controversies, some of which might be
expected and some of which would have
been handled with greater consistency by
those officiating if they had not been spread
so thin.
A protest that one Unlimited pilot lodged
against another seemed to have had
technical merit, depending on how the rules
are interpreted. It basically consisted of an
aerobatic figure (a roll) being done between
the time the round for this flier was
completed and the time he landed. The
round can be zeroed by a strict interpretation
of the rules.
However, there needs to be consistency
in applying this rule. A previous, similar
infraction resulted only in a warning,
RADIO CONTROL
44 MODEL AVIATION
A phony can of nitrous oxide adds a humorous touch to the competition.
Competition is about to start on Advanced flightline. Golf carts AMA provided were
indispensable for moving helpers between the two flying sites in use.
David Moser with his mom and dad, who was his caller. David
finished first in Advanced with his 40% 3W Extra 330.
Jim Gatewood explains how it’s done before starting his first
Advanced round. He flew a Troy Built 40% Extra 260.
whereas this occurrence resulted in a zeroed
round and a probable change in the outcome.
Sometimes score sheets were not
available until the next day, which made it
difficult to question results if necessary.
Though somewhat understandable because
of the lack of help, it nevertheless added to
the overall feeling that the outcome might
not be as true as you would hope.
I finished 11th of 14 in Unlimited, and I
don’t think that any of this affected my
standings in any meaningful way, up or
down. There was some good competition,
and I didn’t fly as well as I would have
liked, so this is truly not sour grapes for me.
However, I spoke to several pilots who
genuinely felt shortchanged and will not be
back—some who have made a trip of 2,000
miles once or twice before. They were
committed and had reasonable expectations
for a quality event that were not met.
When I agreed to write this coverage for
the second time I did not anticipate that it
would focus on the negative, but for the sake
of the future of national- and regional-level
competition in IMAC, the problem has to be
clearly understood. Two guys can’t run a
national event with two separate flying sites
by themselves.
Given a better commitment from
competitors within IMAC, all of these
problems can be overcome. Sometimes you
have to go out and help run the event and
leave your transmitter at home.
Even when you are a competitor at the
event, anticipate that there can’t always be
enough dedicated judges to go around and
you may have to judge a few rounds. It is
incumbent on those who want to benefit
from a well-run event to also do the prep
work to help make it happen—at least once
in awhile.
What put the icing on the cake was what
I experienced a couple of weeks after the
2003 IMAC Nationals. Northeast IMAC
Regional Director Rob Sarlan worked with
me to try to capitalize on the IMAC National
Judges School initiative to improve the
quality of judging on a regional and national
level.
IMAC incurred the expense to bring one
RADIO CONTROL
December 2003 45
The author’s 40% Carden Extra 330S uses a DA-150, KS canisters, and a JR radio.
Wayne Matthews’ 40% Aeroworks Extra 330. He finished seventh in Unlimited.
Bryan Welton (R) of OATS (Oregon Aerobatic Team) relaxes in the pits.
of the best in the business in to teach the
flock how to judge better. Ray Rose gave
up a weekend of his time to come to our
location in Eastern Pennsylvania, and we
got only six participants for this event.
The main loss we experienced by such
low attendance goes well beyond the
money that IMAC spent; it’s the expected
and necessary benefits that were
minimized through limited participation.
Ray did a terrific job.
Many people I have seen in the judges’
chairs, who run contests, and who
absolutely needed to be there, or at least be
represented by proxy for their events, were
absent. It was their loss, but it was also a
loss for every other competitor who has a
reasonable expectation of better
competency in judging. Obviously not
everyone can attend these types of training
events all at once, but we should have and
could have done better. Hopefully we’ll
fare better in the future.
So why the recommendation that IMAC
Nationals sites be rotated occasionally?
Maybe it’s time to give far-off competitors
a better chance to compete and time to get
a few fresh replacements to run it for a
while.
I won’t attend again until I see some
indication of commitment to support those
who try to make the event successful.
If you’ve been patient enough to stick with
me so far, thank you. I’m off of the
soapbox. As I mentioned, there were
contestants from as far away as several farwestern
states, Texas, Florida, and
Jamaica. There were 14 Unlimited pilots,
five Advanced, eight Intermediate, and 10
Sportsman.
A much larger turnout was expected,
hence the plan for two flying sites being
run at once. The World Aerobatic
Championships (WAC) in Florida ending
on the Sunday preceding the IMAC
Nationals may have contributed to the low
turnout, and possibly the lack of officiating
help.
John Schroder and Mark Leseberg
made the all-night trek from the WAC and
started the competition with just a few
hours of sleep. You could not tell from the
results, though; Mark jumped out to a solid
lock on first place in Unlimited and never
lost it, and he put in a spectacular Freestyle
on Thursday to win that competition.
Mark’s scores were the highest
combined overall, earning him the firsttime
honor of taking home the Bill Bennett
Cup for the year. The cup will be inscribed
with each winner’s name and passed to a
new recipient at the Nationals each year.
There was tight competition for the next
three places in Unlimited, and the decision
regarding the previously mentioned protest
may have resulted in Kenny Lauter
dropping to fourth place overall.
All who finished in the top spots flew
excellently, with only 47.8 points
separating second-place Kurt Koelling
from third-place Bryan Welton. The rest of
RADIO CONTROL
the Unlimited pilots I watched put in some
solid flying; the key differentiators were
often the centering of center box figures, the
centering of roll elements on lines, and the
rolling circles (hesitations and rate changes
mostly) and bank-angle issues in snaps.
The Unknowns on Day Two, Day Three,
and Day Four were also telling; the top fliers
made it seem effortless, and the rest of us
showed a few rough edges.
The difficulty of the Unknown on Day
Four was less than on Day Three, and the
theory behind that was that those who made
it through the finals had already proven
something, so why mess with their heads too
much on the last round? I’m not sure I agree
with that approach, but it’s an interesting
twist I had not seen previously.
Since the turnout was not as large as
expected, Tom Wheeler allowed all
contestants in all classes to advance to the
final round on Day Four, which seemed
acceptable to everyone.
Young David Moser put in solid,
consistent flying to take first in Advanced,
and Jeremy McKenna locked onto second
place with some precise flying. One of the
things that is so important in competition
Aerobatics is good feedback on the fine
points. Jeremy made only the smallest misses
on a few critical items such as centering
center box figures and the occasional radius
change that seemed to make the difference
between the two fine fliers.
Once Jeremy became aware of these
minor misses, his ability to correct many of
them on the spot was impressive, but it was
not quite enough to catch David at the end.
The top two spots in Intermediate were
closely contested, with Adam Bry edging
out Robert Kelly by 60.14 points. Mark
Garza achieved a solid third-place finish.
The Sportsman results were reasonably
close near the top places. Bill Ritchey bested
Keith Sessions by approximately 315 points,
and only roughly 71 points separated Keith
from third-place finisher John Wood. Bill
packed his 33% Edge 540T into his fullscale
Beechcraft Bonanza for the flight to
Muncie from Delano, California. That’s
traveling in style!
Freestyle was held Thursday at the
conclusion of the sequence flying. The allgrass
site that had been used for Advanced
and Unlimited was used for the combined
classes competing in this event.
At least two excellent pilots who were
scheduled to participate in Freestyle dropped
out because of their dissatisfaction with the
officiating up to that point, but the five
pilots who stayed in did some exceptional
flying.
Wayne Matthews led off with a
heartstopping Snap Roll on takeoff,
followed by some energetic maneuvering to
stay with the Rastafarian music he selected.
He pushed the envelope right off the blocks
and cranked his 40% 3W Extra 330 into a
low-altitude-entry, tight-radius Knife-Edge
Loop.
Wayne stuck through until the last
possible moment, when it became apparent
that he would have to compromise the true
90° bank angle he had been holding to pull
through the bottom. A Snap Roll ensued,
and his model ended up going in as a
result.
Wayne is a great competitor and an
excellent flier; he just pushed a little far
that day, which has probably happened to
us all at one time or another. We’ll never
know whether or not the rest of his routine
would have placed him higher than fifth,
but he had our attention from the moment
the wheels broke ground.
Kurt Koelling had a nicely
choreographed and well-timed routine. His
ability to complement the tempo, volume,
and mood of the music with his flying
showed a great deal of thought in planning
and good skill in execution. He displayed a
wide range of his 40% Carden Edge 540’s
performance envelope and good use of the
aerobatic box, earning him fourth place
with 220 points.
Bryan Welton also had a wellchoreographed
and -executed routine,
combining the added elements of surprise,
closer proximity to the ground at times
(wows some of the judges some of the
time), higher-energy flying, and an even
wider display of his Aeroworks Edge’s
IRRESISTIBLE CHARM
One of the most important choices you make for that new
cloud buster goes on the front of the fuselage. You want power
and reliable performance at a reasonable price. If it happens to
look good, that’s a plus.
Irvine Engines deliver on all fronts. Each engine features
dual ball bearings, ABC piston/sleeve engineering, generous
head fin area, strut-reinforced crankcases, and an easy to tune
carburetor. All backed up by our two year limited warranty for
your peace of mind.
It’s no wonder Irvine engines are the choice of many top
modelers. Don’t be blue with your engine. Choose the one
that is drop red gorgeous: Irvine Engines.
Irvine Engines are distributed exclusively by SIG Manufacturing Company, Montezuma, Iowa
Irvine .25 ABC R/C
Item #IRV4251
Horsepower - 0.29 bhp
RPM Range - 3,000 - 20,000
BRUTE FORCE
Irvine .40 ABC R/C
Item #IRV4401
Horsepower - 1.20 bhp
RPM Range - 2,800 - 17,000
Irvine .46 ABC R/C
Item #IRV4451
Horsepower - 1.40 bhp
RPM Range - 2,800 - 17,000
Irvine .53 ABC R/C
Item #IRV4531
Horsepower - 1.70 bhp
RPM Range - 2,800 - 17,000
Visit our Web Site: www.sigmfg.com
P. O. Box 520 • Montezuma, Iowa 50171-0520 • 641-623-5154 RADIO CONTROL
48 MODEL AVIATION
performance range to put him in second
place with 310 points.
John Schroder added streamers to his
FiberClassics G-202’s wingtips and used
them to good effect in his routine. He
showed a good performance range for the
model, used the aerobatic box fully, and
held everyone’s attention with his flying
to grab third place with 255 points.
Mark Leseberg put on a truly
impressive Freestyle—certainly
Tournament of Champions quality. He set
up his 37% Godfrey Extra with almost the
fastest roll rates I’ve seen on one of these
large gas aerobats and was completely on
top of it at all times.
The music was mostly high energy and
fast paced, with many opportunities to
synchronize pitch, yaw, and especially
rapid rolling movements to it. Mark was
able to do this with rolling turns, rolling
loops, and everything in between.
He transitioned into low-level 3-D with
the fastest, slowest, lowest, and most onthe-
line 3-D rolling sequence I’ve ever
seen, which then brought him into some
more standard low-level Torque Roll
activity. Mark’s performance put him on
top with 320 points.
Some fine flying was done throughout the
event. Although the first-place finishes in
Unlimited and Advanced were probably
right on the money from all that I
witnessed, there is room for doubt about
the proper outcome for a few of the other
top Unlimited fliers.
The rough ordering of the top, middle,
and bottom thirds probably would not
have changed much, if at all, with proper
judging practices. Yet there is much doubt
in my mind about the fairness to several of
the pilots.
I didn’t witness much flying at the
Sportsman and Intermediate site, so I can’t
be as sure that the outcome was as
noticeably affected, but I assume that they
were similarly challenged by the same
problems we faced at our site.
These observations are in stark contrast
to the quality of judging at last year’s
IMAC Nationals. Hopefully we’ll see
improvements in the future to bring it
back to at least that level and get the
dedicated people who took the time to try
to put on a good event the help they need
to pull it off next time. Judging is an
imperfect craft to learn, but those in
attendance at a Nationals deserve better
than we were able to provide them. MA
RADIO CONTROL
Edition: Model Aviation - 2003/12
Page Numbers: 42,43,44,45,48
42 MODEL AVIATION
S c a l e A e r o b a t i c s
Ed Alt, 7 Parkview Rd., Randolph NJ 07869
Pit area for Jeremy McKenna (Advanced class), Kenny Lauter (Unlimited class).
Steve Pritchard with his new 42% Aerotech Models Velox Revolution.
THE SCALE AEROBATICS National
Championships was held at the AMA
National Flying Site from June 30 through
July 3. This was the fourth consecutive year
that this event has been held in Muncie,
which tends to please some and leaves
others unhappy. It’s a terrific site, and I
have no complaints about the location since
I can make the trip in one 10- to 11-hour
effort from northern New Jersey.
It’s a wonderful location for reasons
other than the world-class flying facilities.
The museum is a priceless showcase of
model aviation history and is a must-see.
The AMA staff is helpful and does
everything it can to help things run well and
make members welcome.
In spite of all of those positives, it may
be time to look at bringing the show to other
venues on some form of rotating basis.
Although fliers have attended from deep
into Texas, Florida, Georgia, and as far west
as Oregon, California, Colorado, and
Arizona, it’s an extreme undertaking for
many.
It is also evident that the ability to
support the event from the established
International Miniature Aerobatic Club
(IMAC) base is being stretched a bit. It’s a
big commitment for all involved, whether
they are running it or competing in it. I’ve
competed in the IMAC Nationals at Toledo,
Ohio, in 1998 and in Muncie in 2000, 2002,
and 2003, and I have seen things peak and
fall off in terms of this commitment.
IMAC is trying to do many things right,
especially in the last two to three years. As I
wrote in my coverage of the 2002 IMAC
Nationals, it has tackled the noise issue with
some initial success and has, with most
competitors’ cooperation, been able to
reduce the impact of our brand of aerobatics
flying at the Muncie location.
This year there has been a major new
initiative to improve the quality of judging
on a national level, with the introduction of
the National Judging School. This is much
needed on a regional and national level. As
with any new initiative, it takes time for
things to get into full swing, and this year’s
IMAC Nationals helped bring that into sharp
focus.
I mentioned the commitment it takes to
run a successful Nationals and to compete in
it. I haven’t done the former, but as one who
does the latter I come with a set of minimum
expectations; one is that there is a sufficient
number of Special Interest Group (IMAC),
or SIG, members to help the contest director
make an event successful.
There was no support for IMAC
President Tom Wheeler and IMAC
Treasurer Steve Evans this year until the
third day, when Bobby Stout was able to
help with scoring duties. This is not a
complaint about Bobby not making it the
first day; we were lucky to have him at all.
He has given much of his time selflessly in
the past and put in the best possible effort
he could.
Nevertheless, how can two people be
expected to properly run two separate
flying sites simultaneously? That is what
Tom and Steve had to try to do this year.
Fortunately, since most in attendance knew
the drill, the flightlines kept moving
reasonably well.
However, there are many other logistical
tasks that required Tom and Steve to press
competitors and their pit crews, girlfriends,
spouses, and kids into service. That’s fine
to the extent that there is a group of
noncompetitor workers there to provide
RADIO CONTROL
December 2003 43
Mark Leseberg (L) a few hours after driving from Florida. For him, two
hours of sleep must have been enough.
Right: Mark Leseberg’s primary 37% Godfrey Extra
300L has engine work done. Above: Extra ready
on the flightline.
Kurt Koelling starts his 40% Carden Extra 330S’s DA-150
engine before the first round of Unlimited competition.
core support, but it’s no way to run the
entire contest.
Tom and Steve also got as much help as
possible from the AMA contest staff to keep
the scoring tasks moving, but it is primarily
the SIG’s responsibility to make a smoothrunning
event.
Nearly every IMAC contest I’ve been to
has required a mix of dedicated judges and
contestant judges. It’s a reality that we
accept, but a balance is required to make it a
reasonable situation for competitors.
I have been to many regional contests at
which I’ve sat in the judge’s chair for most
of the contest and had to scramble like mad
to get my airplane together and get my
rounds in, not to mention to try to get a new
Unknown sequence into my head a few
minutes before trying to fly it. I never have
minded helping, but there is a limit.
Because of a complete absence of
dedicated judges at this year’s IMAC
Nationals, the judging duties were unfairly
placed on a small number of pilots. There
were two flying sites in simultaneous use all
four days of the competition—one for
Sportsman and Intermediate and another for
Advanced and Unlimited. Owing to the
separation of the sites, the competitor-only
judging-logistics problems worsened.
For the most part, the five Advanced
pilots were required to almost always judge
Unlimited rounds since two flightlines were
active at sites all four days. Of those five
pilots, at least one was emphatic about not
wanting to judge because he felt unqualified
to do so. Nevertheless, he was pressed into
service.
To their credit, Tom and Steve worked
out a rotation to bring some Intermediate
and Sportsman pilots over to our site to help
judge Unlimited; some Unlimited pilots
judged some Sportsman and Intermediate
rounds.
However, in several cases these
completely unqualified judges were
confused by the complexities of the
Unlimited sequence and knew virtually
nothing about the proper judging criteria to
apply. Judges were observed asking the
scribes for scores.
There were several other issues and
controversies, some of which might be
expected and some of which would have
been handled with greater consistency by
those officiating if they had not been spread
so thin.
A protest that one Unlimited pilot lodged
against another seemed to have had
technical merit, depending on how the rules
are interpreted. It basically consisted of an
aerobatic figure (a roll) being done between
the time the round for this flier was
completed and the time he landed. The
round can be zeroed by a strict interpretation
of the rules.
However, there needs to be consistency
in applying this rule. A previous, similar
infraction resulted only in a warning,
RADIO CONTROL
44 MODEL AVIATION
A phony can of nitrous oxide adds a humorous touch to the competition.
Competition is about to start on Advanced flightline. Golf carts AMA provided were
indispensable for moving helpers between the two flying sites in use.
David Moser with his mom and dad, who was his caller. David
finished first in Advanced with his 40% 3W Extra 330.
Jim Gatewood explains how it’s done before starting his first
Advanced round. He flew a Troy Built 40% Extra 260.
whereas this occurrence resulted in a zeroed
round and a probable change in the outcome.
Sometimes score sheets were not
available until the next day, which made it
difficult to question results if necessary.
Though somewhat understandable because
of the lack of help, it nevertheless added to
the overall feeling that the outcome might
not be as true as you would hope.
I finished 11th of 14 in Unlimited, and I
don’t think that any of this affected my
standings in any meaningful way, up or
down. There was some good competition,
and I didn’t fly as well as I would have
liked, so this is truly not sour grapes for me.
However, I spoke to several pilots who
genuinely felt shortchanged and will not be
back—some who have made a trip of 2,000
miles once or twice before. They were
committed and had reasonable expectations
for a quality event that were not met.
When I agreed to write this coverage for
the second time I did not anticipate that it
would focus on the negative, but for the sake
of the future of national- and regional-level
competition in IMAC, the problem has to be
clearly understood. Two guys can’t run a
national event with two separate flying sites
by themselves.
Given a better commitment from
competitors within IMAC, all of these
problems can be overcome. Sometimes you
have to go out and help run the event and
leave your transmitter at home.
Even when you are a competitor at the
event, anticipate that there can’t always be
enough dedicated judges to go around and
you may have to judge a few rounds. It is
incumbent on those who want to benefit
from a well-run event to also do the prep
work to help make it happen—at least once
in awhile.
What put the icing on the cake was what
I experienced a couple of weeks after the
2003 IMAC Nationals. Northeast IMAC
Regional Director Rob Sarlan worked with
me to try to capitalize on the IMAC National
Judges School initiative to improve the
quality of judging on a regional and national
level.
IMAC incurred the expense to bring one
RADIO CONTROL
December 2003 45
The author’s 40% Carden Extra 330S uses a DA-150, KS canisters, and a JR radio.
Wayne Matthews’ 40% Aeroworks Extra 330. He finished seventh in Unlimited.
Bryan Welton (R) of OATS (Oregon Aerobatic Team) relaxes in the pits.
of the best in the business in to teach the
flock how to judge better. Ray Rose gave
up a weekend of his time to come to our
location in Eastern Pennsylvania, and we
got only six participants for this event.
The main loss we experienced by such
low attendance goes well beyond the
money that IMAC spent; it’s the expected
and necessary benefits that were
minimized through limited participation.
Ray did a terrific job.
Many people I have seen in the judges’
chairs, who run contests, and who
absolutely needed to be there, or at least be
represented by proxy for their events, were
absent. It was their loss, but it was also a
loss for every other competitor who has a
reasonable expectation of better
competency in judging. Obviously not
everyone can attend these types of training
events all at once, but we should have and
could have done better. Hopefully we’ll
fare better in the future.
So why the recommendation that IMAC
Nationals sites be rotated occasionally?
Maybe it’s time to give far-off competitors
a better chance to compete and time to get
a few fresh replacements to run it for a
while.
I won’t attend again until I see some
indication of commitment to support those
who try to make the event successful.
If you’ve been patient enough to stick with
me so far, thank you. I’m off of the
soapbox. As I mentioned, there were
contestants from as far away as several farwestern
states, Texas, Florida, and
Jamaica. There were 14 Unlimited pilots,
five Advanced, eight Intermediate, and 10
Sportsman.
A much larger turnout was expected,
hence the plan for two flying sites being
run at once. The World Aerobatic
Championships (WAC) in Florida ending
on the Sunday preceding the IMAC
Nationals may have contributed to the low
turnout, and possibly the lack of officiating
help.
John Schroder and Mark Leseberg
made the all-night trek from the WAC and
started the competition with just a few
hours of sleep. You could not tell from the
results, though; Mark jumped out to a solid
lock on first place in Unlimited and never
lost it, and he put in a spectacular Freestyle
on Thursday to win that competition.
Mark’s scores were the highest
combined overall, earning him the firsttime
honor of taking home the Bill Bennett
Cup for the year. The cup will be inscribed
with each winner’s name and passed to a
new recipient at the Nationals each year.
There was tight competition for the next
three places in Unlimited, and the decision
regarding the previously mentioned protest
may have resulted in Kenny Lauter
dropping to fourth place overall.
All who finished in the top spots flew
excellently, with only 47.8 points
separating second-place Kurt Koelling
from third-place Bryan Welton. The rest of
RADIO CONTROL
the Unlimited pilots I watched put in some
solid flying; the key differentiators were
often the centering of center box figures, the
centering of roll elements on lines, and the
rolling circles (hesitations and rate changes
mostly) and bank-angle issues in snaps.
The Unknowns on Day Two, Day Three,
and Day Four were also telling; the top fliers
made it seem effortless, and the rest of us
showed a few rough edges.
The difficulty of the Unknown on Day
Four was less than on Day Three, and the
theory behind that was that those who made
it through the finals had already proven
something, so why mess with their heads too
much on the last round? I’m not sure I agree
with that approach, but it’s an interesting
twist I had not seen previously.
Since the turnout was not as large as
expected, Tom Wheeler allowed all
contestants in all classes to advance to the
final round on Day Four, which seemed
acceptable to everyone.
Young David Moser put in solid,
consistent flying to take first in Advanced,
and Jeremy McKenna locked onto second
place with some precise flying. One of the
things that is so important in competition
Aerobatics is good feedback on the fine
points. Jeremy made only the smallest misses
on a few critical items such as centering
center box figures and the occasional radius
change that seemed to make the difference
between the two fine fliers.
Once Jeremy became aware of these
minor misses, his ability to correct many of
them on the spot was impressive, but it was
not quite enough to catch David at the end.
The top two spots in Intermediate were
closely contested, with Adam Bry edging
out Robert Kelly by 60.14 points. Mark
Garza achieved a solid third-place finish.
The Sportsman results were reasonably
close near the top places. Bill Ritchey bested
Keith Sessions by approximately 315 points,
and only roughly 71 points separated Keith
from third-place finisher John Wood. Bill
packed his 33% Edge 540T into his fullscale
Beechcraft Bonanza for the flight to
Muncie from Delano, California. That’s
traveling in style!
Freestyle was held Thursday at the
conclusion of the sequence flying. The allgrass
site that had been used for Advanced
and Unlimited was used for the combined
classes competing in this event.
At least two excellent pilots who were
scheduled to participate in Freestyle dropped
out because of their dissatisfaction with the
officiating up to that point, but the five
pilots who stayed in did some exceptional
flying.
Wayne Matthews led off with a
heartstopping Snap Roll on takeoff,
followed by some energetic maneuvering to
stay with the Rastafarian music he selected.
He pushed the envelope right off the blocks
and cranked his 40% 3W Extra 330 into a
low-altitude-entry, tight-radius Knife-Edge
Loop.
Wayne stuck through until the last
possible moment, when it became apparent
that he would have to compromise the true
90° bank angle he had been holding to pull
through the bottom. A Snap Roll ensued,
and his model ended up going in as a
result.
Wayne is a great competitor and an
excellent flier; he just pushed a little far
that day, which has probably happened to
us all at one time or another. We’ll never
know whether or not the rest of his routine
would have placed him higher than fifth,
but he had our attention from the moment
the wheels broke ground.
Kurt Koelling had a nicely
choreographed and well-timed routine. His
ability to complement the tempo, volume,
and mood of the music with his flying
showed a great deal of thought in planning
and good skill in execution. He displayed a
wide range of his 40% Carden Edge 540’s
performance envelope and good use of the
aerobatic box, earning him fourth place
with 220 points.
Bryan Welton also had a wellchoreographed
and -executed routine,
combining the added elements of surprise,
closer proximity to the ground at times
(wows some of the judges some of the
time), higher-energy flying, and an even
wider display of his Aeroworks Edge’s
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48 MODEL AVIATION
performance range to put him in second
place with 310 points.
John Schroder added streamers to his
FiberClassics G-202’s wingtips and used
them to good effect in his routine. He
showed a good performance range for the
model, used the aerobatic box fully, and
held everyone’s attention with his flying
to grab third place with 255 points.
Mark Leseberg put on a truly
impressive Freestyle—certainly
Tournament of Champions quality. He set
up his 37% Godfrey Extra with almost the
fastest roll rates I’ve seen on one of these
large gas aerobats and was completely on
top of it at all times.
The music was mostly high energy and
fast paced, with many opportunities to
synchronize pitch, yaw, and especially
rapid rolling movements to it. Mark was
able to do this with rolling turns, rolling
loops, and everything in between.
He transitioned into low-level 3-D with
the fastest, slowest, lowest, and most onthe-
line 3-D rolling sequence I’ve ever
seen, which then brought him into some
more standard low-level Torque Roll
activity. Mark’s performance put him on
top with 320 points.
Some fine flying was done throughout the
event. Although the first-place finishes in
Unlimited and Advanced were probably
right on the money from all that I
witnessed, there is room for doubt about
the proper outcome for a few of the other
top Unlimited fliers.
The rough ordering of the top, middle,
and bottom thirds probably would not
have changed much, if at all, with proper
judging practices. Yet there is much doubt
in my mind about the fairness to several of
the pilots.
I didn’t witness much flying at the
Sportsman and Intermediate site, so I can’t
be as sure that the outcome was as
noticeably affected, but I assume that they
were similarly challenged by the same
problems we faced at our site.
These observations are in stark contrast
to the quality of judging at last year’s
IMAC Nationals. Hopefully we’ll see
improvements in the future to bring it
back to at least that level and get the
dedicated people who took the time to try
to put on a good event the help they need
to pull it off next time. Judging is an
imperfect craft to learn, but those in
attendance at a Nationals deserve better
than we were able to provide them. MA
RADIO CONTROL
Edition: Model Aviation - 2003/12
Page Numbers: 42,43,44,45,48
42 MODEL AVIATION
S c a l e A e r o b a t i c s
Ed Alt, 7 Parkview Rd., Randolph NJ 07869
Pit area for Jeremy McKenna (Advanced class), Kenny Lauter (Unlimited class).
Steve Pritchard with his new 42% Aerotech Models Velox Revolution.
THE SCALE AEROBATICS National
Championships was held at the AMA
National Flying Site from June 30 through
July 3. This was the fourth consecutive year
that this event has been held in Muncie,
which tends to please some and leaves
others unhappy. It’s a terrific site, and I
have no complaints about the location since
I can make the trip in one 10- to 11-hour
effort from northern New Jersey.
It’s a wonderful location for reasons
other than the world-class flying facilities.
The museum is a priceless showcase of
model aviation history and is a must-see.
The AMA staff is helpful and does
everything it can to help things run well and
make members welcome.
In spite of all of those positives, it may
be time to look at bringing the show to other
venues on some form of rotating basis.
Although fliers have attended from deep
into Texas, Florida, Georgia, and as far west
as Oregon, California, Colorado, and
Arizona, it’s an extreme undertaking for
many.
It is also evident that the ability to
support the event from the established
International Miniature Aerobatic Club
(IMAC) base is being stretched a bit. It’s a
big commitment for all involved, whether
they are running it or competing in it. I’ve
competed in the IMAC Nationals at Toledo,
Ohio, in 1998 and in Muncie in 2000, 2002,
and 2003, and I have seen things peak and
fall off in terms of this commitment.
IMAC is trying to do many things right,
especially in the last two to three years. As I
wrote in my coverage of the 2002 IMAC
Nationals, it has tackled the noise issue with
some initial success and has, with most
competitors’ cooperation, been able to
reduce the impact of our brand of aerobatics
flying at the Muncie location.
This year there has been a major new
initiative to improve the quality of judging
on a national level, with the introduction of
the National Judging School. This is much
needed on a regional and national level. As
with any new initiative, it takes time for
things to get into full swing, and this year’s
IMAC Nationals helped bring that into sharp
focus.
I mentioned the commitment it takes to
run a successful Nationals and to compete in
it. I haven’t done the former, but as one who
does the latter I come with a set of minimum
expectations; one is that there is a sufficient
number of Special Interest Group (IMAC),
or SIG, members to help the contest director
make an event successful.
There was no support for IMAC
President Tom Wheeler and IMAC
Treasurer Steve Evans this year until the
third day, when Bobby Stout was able to
help with scoring duties. This is not a
complaint about Bobby not making it the
first day; we were lucky to have him at all.
He has given much of his time selflessly in
the past and put in the best possible effort
he could.
Nevertheless, how can two people be
expected to properly run two separate
flying sites simultaneously? That is what
Tom and Steve had to try to do this year.
Fortunately, since most in attendance knew
the drill, the flightlines kept moving
reasonably well.
However, there are many other logistical
tasks that required Tom and Steve to press
competitors and their pit crews, girlfriends,
spouses, and kids into service. That’s fine
to the extent that there is a group of
noncompetitor workers there to provide
RADIO CONTROL
December 2003 43
Mark Leseberg (L) a few hours after driving from Florida. For him, two
hours of sleep must have been enough.
Right: Mark Leseberg’s primary 37% Godfrey Extra
300L has engine work done. Above: Extra ready
on the flightline.
Kurt Koelling starts his 40% Carden Extra 330S’s DA-150
engine before the first round of Unlimited competition.
core support, but it’s no way to run the
entire contest.
Tom and Steve also got as much help as
possible from the AMA contest staff to keep
the scoring tasks moving, but it is primarily
the SIG’s responsibility to make a smoothrunning
event.
Nearly every IMAC contest I’ve been to
has required a mix of dedicated judges and
contestant judges. It’s a reality that we
accept, but a balance is required to make it a
reasonable situation for competitors.
I have been to many regional contests at
which I’ve sat in the judge’s chair for most
of the contest and had to scramble like mad
to get my airplane together and get my
rounds in, not to mention to try to get a new
Unknown sequence into my head a few
minutes before trying to fly it. I never have
minded helping, but there is a limit.
Because of a complete absence of
dedicated judges at this year’s IMAC
Nationals, the judging duties were unfairly
placed on a small number of pilots. There
were two flying sites in simultaneous use all
four days of the competition—one for
Sportsman and Intermediate and another for
Advanced and Unlimited. Owing to the
separation of the sites, the competitor-only
judging-logistics problems worsened.
For the most part, the five Advanced
pilots were required to almost always judge
Unlimited rounds since two flightlines were
active at sites all four days. Of those five
pilots, at least one was emphatic about not
wanting to judge because he felt unqualified
to do so. Nevertheless, he was pressed into
service.
To their credit, Tom and Steve worked
out a rotation to bring some Intermediate
and Sportsman pilots over to our site to help
judge Unlimited; some Unlimited pilots
judged some Sportsman and Intermediate
rounds.
However, in several cases these
completely unqualified judges were
confused by the complexities of the
Unlimited sequence and knew virtually
nothing about the proper judging criteria to
apply. Judges were observed asking the
scribes for scores.
There were several other issues and
controversies, some of which might be
expected and some of which would have
been handled with greater consistency by
those officiating if they had not been spread
so thin.
A protest that one Unlimited pilot lodged
against another seemed to have had
technical merit, depending on how the rules
are interpreted. It basically consisted of an
aerobatic figure (a roll) being done between
the time the round for this flier was
completed and the time he landed. The
round can be zeroed by a strict interpretation
of the rules.
However, there needs to be consistency
in applying this rule. A previous, similar
infraction resulted only in a warning,
RADIO CONTROL
44 MODEL AVIATION
A phony can of nitrous oxide adds a humorous touch to the competition.
Competition is about to start on Advanced flightline. Golf carts AMA provided were
indispensable for moving helpers between the two flying sites in use.
David Moser with his mom and dad, who was his caller. David
finished first in Advanced with his 40% 3W Extra 330.
Jim Gatewood explains how it’s done before starting his first
Advanced round. He flew a Troy Built 40% Extra 260.
whereas this occurrence resulted in a zeroed
round and a probable change in the outcome.
Sometimes score sheets were not
available until the next day, which made it
difficult to question results if necessary.
Though somewhat understandable because
of the lack of help, it nevertheless added to
the overall feeling that the outcome might
not be as true as you would hope.
I finished 11th of 14 in Unlimited, and I
don’t think that any of this affected my
standings in any meaningful way, up or
down. There was some good competition,
and I didn’t fly as well as I would have
liked, so this is truly not sour grapes for me.
However, I spoke to several pilots who
genuinely felt shortchanged and will not be
back—some who have made a trip of 2,000
miles once or twice before. They were
committed and had reasonable expectations
for a quality event that were not met.
When I agreed to write this coverage for
the second time I did not anticipate that it
would focus on the negative, but for the sake
of the future of national- and regional-level
competition in IMAC, the problem has to be
clearly understood. Two guys can’t run a
national event with two separate flying sites
by themselves.
Given a better commitment from
competitors within IMAC, all of these
problems can be overcome. Sometimes you
have to go out and help run the event and
leave your transmitter at home.
Even when you are a competitor at the
event, anticipate that there can’t always be
enough dedicated judges to go around and
you may have to judge a few rounds. It is
incumbent on those who want to benefit
from a well-run event to also do the prep
work to help make it happen—at least once
in awhile.
What put the icing on the cake was what
I experienced a couple of weeks after the
2003 IMAC Nationals. Northeast IMAC
Regional Director Rob Sarlan worked with
me to try to capitalize on the IMAC National
Judges School initiative to improve the
quality of judging on a regional and national
level.
IMAC incurred the expense to bring one
RADIO CONTROL
December 2003 45
The author’s 40% Carden Extra 330S uses a DA-150, KS canisters, and a JR radio.
Wayne Matthews’ 40% Aeroworks Extra 330. He finished seventh in Unlimited.
Bryan Welton (R) of OATS (Oregon Aerobatic Team) relaxes in the pits.
of the best in the business in to teach the
flock how to judge better. Ray Rose gave
up a weekend of his time to come to our
location in Eastern Pennsylvania, and we
got only six participants for this event.
The main loss we experienced by such
low attendance goes well beyond the
money that IMAC spent; it’s the expected
and necessary benefits that were
minimized through limited participation.
Ray did a terrific job.
Many people I have seen in the judges’
chairs, who run contests, and who
absolutely needed to be there, or at least be
represented by proxy for their events, were
absent. It was their loss, but it was also a
loss for every other competitor who has a
reasonable expectation of better
competency in judging. Obviously not
everyone can attend these types of training
events all at once, but we should have and
could have done better. Hopefully we’ll
fare better in the future.
So why the recommendation that IMAC
Nationals sites be rotated occasionally?
Maybe it’s time to give far-off competitors
a better chance to compete and time to get
a few fresh replacements to run it for a
while.
I won’t attend again until I see some
indication of commitment to support those
who try to make the event successful.
If you’ve been patient enough to stick with
me so far, thank you. I’m off of the
soapbox. As I mentioned, there were
contestants from as far away as several farwestern
states, Texas, Florida, and
Jamaica. There were 14 Unlimited pilots,
five Advanced, eight Intermediate, and 10
Sportsman.
A much larger turnout was expected,
hence the plan for two flying sites being
run at once. The World Aerobatic
Championships (WAC) in Florida ending
on the Sunday preceding the IMAC
Nationals may have contributed to the low
turnout, and possibly the lack of officiating
help.
John Schroder and Mark Leseberg
made the all-night trek from the WAC and
started the competition with just a few
hours of sleep. You could not tell from the
results, though; Mark jumped out to a solid
lock on first place in Unlimited and never
lost it, and he put in a spectacular Freestyle
on Thursday to win that competition.
Mark’s scores were the highest
combined overall, earning him the firsttime
honor of taking home the Bill Bennett
Cup for the year. The cup will be inscribed
with each winner’s name and passed to a
new recipient at the Nationals each year.
There was tight competition for the next
three places in Unlimited, and the decision
regarding the previously mentioned protest
may have resulted in Kenny Lauter
dropping to fourth place overall.
All who finished in the top spots flew
excellently, with only 47.8 points
separating second-place Kurt Koelling
from third-place Bryan Welton. The rest of
RADIO CONTROL
the Unlimited pilots I watched put in some
solid flying; the key differentiators were
often the centering of center box figures, the
centering of roll elements on lines, and the
rolling circles (hesitations and rate changes
mostly) and bank-angle issues in snaps.
The Unknowns on Day Two, Day Three,
and Day Four were also telling; the top fliers
made it seem effortless, and the rest of us
showed a few rough edges.
The difficulty of the Unknown on Day
Four was less than on Day Three, and the
theory behind that was that those who made
it through the finals had already proven
something, so why mess with their heads too
much on the last round? I’m not sure I agree
with that approach, but it’s an interesting
twist I had not seen previously.
Since the turnout was not as large as
expected, Tom Wheeler allowed all
contestants in all classes to advance to the
final round on Day Four, which seemed
acceptable to everyone.
Young David Moser put in solid,
consistent flying to take first in Advanced,
and Jeremy McKenna locked onto second
place with some precise flying. One of the
things that is so important in competition
Aerobatics is good feedback on the fine
points. Jeremy made only the smallest misses
on a few critical items such as centering
center box figures and the occasional radius
change that seemed to make the difference
between the two fine fliers.
Once Jeremy became aware of these
minor misses, his ability to correct many of
them on the spot was impressive, but it was
not quite enough to catch David at the end.
The top two spots in Intermediate were
closely contested, with Adam Bry edging
out Robert Kelly by 60.14 points. Mark
Garza achieved a solid third-place finish.
The Sportsman results were reasonably
close near the top places. Bill Ritchey bested
Keith Sessions by approximately 315 points,
and only roughly 71 points separated Keith
from third-place finisher John Wood. Bill
packed his 33% Edge 540T into his fullscale
Beechcraft Bonanza for the flight to
Muncie from Delano, California. That’s
traveling in style!
Freestyle was held Thursday at the
conclusion of the sequence flying. The allgrass
site that had been used for Advanced
and Unlimited was used for the combined
classes competing in this event.
At least two excellent pilots who were
scheduled to participate in Freestyle dropped
out because of their dissatisfaction with the
officiating up to that point, but the five
pilots who stayed in did some exceptional
flying.
Wayne Matthews led off with a
heartstopping Snap Roll on takeoff,
followed by some energetic maneuvering to
stay with the Rastafarian music he selected.
He pushed the envelope right off the blocks
and cranked his 40% 3W Extra 330 into a
low-altitude-entry, tight-radius Knife-Edge
Loop.
Wayne stuck through until the last
possible moment, when it became apparent
that he would have to compromise the true
90° bank angle he had been holding to pull
through the bottom. A Snap Roll ensued,
and his model ended up going in as a
result.
Wayne is a great competitor and an
excellent flier; he just pushed a little far
that day, which has probably happened to
us all at one time or another. We’ll never
know whether or not the rest of his routine
would have placed him higher than fifth,
but he had our attention from the moment
the wheels broke ground.
Kurt Koelling had a nicely
choreographed and well-timed routine. His
ability to complement the tempo, volume,
and mood of the music with his flying
showed a great deal of thought in planning
and good skill in execution. He displayed a
wide range of his 40% Carden Edge 540’s
performance envelope and good use of the
aerobatic box, earning him fourth place
with 220 points.
Bryan Welton also had a wellchoreographed
and -executed routine,
combining the added elements of surprise,
closer proximity to the ground at times
(wows some of the judges some of the
time), higher-energy flying, and an even
wider display of his Aeroworks Edge’s
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48 MODEL AVIATION
performance range to put him in second
place with 310 points.
John Schroder added streamers to his
FiberClassics G-202’s wingtips and used
them to good effect in his routine. He
showed a good performance range for the
model, used the aerobatic box fully, and
held everyone’s attention with his flying
to grab third place with 255 points.
Mark Leseberg put on a truly
impressive Freestyle—certainly
Tournament of Champions quality. He set
up his 37% Godfrey Extra with almost the
fastest roll rates I’ve seen on one of these
large gas aerobats and was completely on
top of it at all times.
The music was mostly high energy and
fast paced, with many opportunities to
synchronize pitch, yaw, and especially
rapid rolling movements to it. Mark was
able to do this with rolling turns, rolling
loops, and everything in between.
He transitioned into low-level 3-D with
the fastest, slowest, lowest, and most onthe-
line 3-D rolling sequence I’ve ever
seen, which then brought him into some
more standard low-level Torque Roll
activity. Mark’s performance put him on
top with 320 points.
Some fine flying was done throughout the
event. Although the first-place finishes in
Unlimited and Advanced were probably
right on the money from all that I
witnessed, there is room for doubt about
the proper outcome for a few of the other
top Unlimited fliers.
The rough ordering of the top, middle,
and bottom thirds probably would not
have changed much, if at all, with proper
judging practices. Yet there is much doubt
in my mind about the fairness to several of
the pilots.
I didn’t witness much flying at the
Sportsman and Intermediate site, so I can’t
be as sure that the outcome was as
noticeably affected, but I assume that they
were similarly challenged by the same
problems we faced at our site.
These observations are in stark contrast
to the quality of judging at last year’s
IMAC Nationals. Hopefully we’ll see
improvements in the future to bring it
back to at least that level and get the
dedicated people who took the time to try
to put on a good event the help they need
to pull it off next time. Judging is an
imperfect craft to learn, but those in
attendance at a Nationals deserve better
than we were able to provide them. MA
RADIO CONTROL
