1994 Nats Sampler
1994 Nats Sampler Photographs
Society of Antique Modelers Championships 1993
For its 27th annual National Championships, the Society of Antique Modelers (SAM) management chose Condor Field at Taft, California as the venue - a site long ago dubbed "Mecca" by free flighters, because of its ample size and legendary thermal production. Nearby Taft offers amenities that increase the attraction of these events (restaurants, motels, shopping, auto parts and repair, a community recreation center large enough for awards banquets, etc.) but which are lacking at the only other major free flight site on the west coast (Lost Hills).
Free Flight World Championships
At the opening ceremonies, AMA President Don Lowe proclaimed this Free Flight World Championships "the biggest and grandest international meet in history." It certainly was big, as the parade of the 37 national teams demonstrated. And it was nothing less than grand, if one considers all the elements that combined to produce a most memorable event: Absolutely splendid weather allowed superb near-total performance by both man and machine, and can only add to the lore and legend of the Lost Hills site, which was primped and prettied up for the Big Show like your yearbook shots of the high school prom queen. And the organizers, often cast as the heavies in these circumstances, succeeded in earning themselves kudos as the amiable, efficient, warm fuzzies we all hoped they could be.
USFFC
Monumental volunteer efforts go to keep a smiling face on one of aeromodeling's "majors:" the august, AAAA-sanctioned United States Free Flight Championships (USFFC). It's perhaps Free Flight's nearest relative to the NFL Super Bowl in terms of hype and participation. The other FF biggie, of course, is the relatively recent NFFS/AMA-backed USOC/Muncie Free Flight Nats, which also carries a AAAA rating. Despite the continuing California business doldrums and Labor Day conflicts with school and football schedules, Contest Director Mike Myers - backed by meet Business Manager Roger Coleman and his wife, Sam; Event Directors Hector Diez, Steve Geraghty, Grant Carson, John Timlin; plus several corporate and individual sponsors - managed to attract 200-plus competitors, feverishly bent on reinventing the spirit and practice of Free Flight at Lost Hills - the only legitimate Category I site in the US.
'92 U.S. Free Flight Championships
HUGE! Not big, but huge! There are the big free flight contests, and then there are the huge free flight contests. To describe the 22nd running of the U.S. Free Flight Championships (USFFC), held September 5-7, 1992, at Lost Hills, California, only "huge" will do. For the first time, the traditional Memorial Day schedule was moved to Labor Day-a wise but not totally popular decision-to take advantage of the more favorable weather Lost Hills usually enjoys at that time of year. As hoped, the flying conditions were ideal: bright skies, less-than-torrid temperatures, zero-to-moderate drift, very low humidity-and columns of monster boomers marching through to provide generous lift for all.
