Radio Control: Sport and Aerobatics
THE NATS will be over when you read this, and I'll be busily preparing the Nats RC Pattern report for publication. I hope that everyone who went to the Nats had a great time and carried away many pleasant memories. However, if you flew in the Expert class of RC Pattern, I hope you finished behind me! It was reported in the "Competition Newsletter" of the August issue, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to mention that the RC Aerobatics Contest Board Final Vote resulted in the failure of the rule proposal to combine Expert and Master into a single class called Open. Many people had been saying that the Open class would be a reality for 1988-89, based on the Initial Vote. Not so. However, I believe that a new proposal for the 1990-91 rule book featuring an Open class and a beginner's-level Turnaround class will be offered and will pass, permitting a dual route for competitors in the Advanced class to decide whether to fly the AMA pattern or the Turnaround pattern.
Radio Control: Sport and Aerobatics
I DIDN'T INTEND to submit my regular column this month. One reason I've written it is to tell you to look for my report on the Radio Control F3A team selection finals (otherwise known as the Masters' Tournament) back in the "Competition Newsletter" section of the magazine. Two years ago I did only the Masters' Tournament coverage, and people told me that they missed my regular column and never noticed the Masters' Tournament coverage! So, here's my regular column-but be sure to check out the back of the magazine, too. I almost had too much to do this month. Besides driving 950 miles to Chesapeake, VA for the Masters' Tournament, conducting external store separation flight tests on the new F-15E, and trying to get in some practice for the Nats, I also had to drive 750 miles to Middletown, OH for daughter Kathy's wedding. Next week I will drive 1,250 miles to the Nats in Lincoln, NE. I won't mind that at all.
AMA Nats: RC Aerobatics
WAS IT WINDY in Lincoln at the Nats? Does a bear sleep in the woods? I'd been warned about wind in Lincoln, but nothing prepared me for what we experienced. I don't know what the winds were like in 1979 and 1982, the other two times the Nats were held in Lincoln, but this time was unbelievable. More about it later. RC Pattern was flown at what is called Lincoln Air Park. It is an active field for both commercial and military flying. The military flying is largely by an Air Force Reserve unit which uses F4 fighters. If you haven't heard an F4 take off, I don't recommend that your first time be during a Nats RC Pattern flight, but that's what many experienced.
Radio Control: Sport and Aerobatics
HOT EPOXY. The epoxy microwaving controversy heats up (pun intended). A couple of times in past columns I mentioned that I had softened Part A of Dave Brown's epoxy in my microwave oven when the epoxy became stiff. The editorial staff on Model Aviation took exception to this procedure, claiming that toxic fumes could be produced. When I ran into David Falkenhagen from Sig Manufacturing Company at the Nats, we talked for quite a while about heating Part A of epoxy in a microwave oven to soften it. After the Nats, I got a letter from Dave. His somewhat edited letter follows:
Radio Control: Sport and Aerobatics
VICTIMIZED? Apparently the United States team which competed in the FAI RC Aerobatics (F3A) World Championships was the victim of bad "intelligence." Frank Broach was the sole U.S. judge at the World Championships, and he reported his experiences in Points (newsletter of the United Scale and Pattern Judging Association). Here's a part of his report. "When the flying began, it was obvious that the U.S.A. team was at the wrong contest. Two members of the U.S.A. team had journeyed to Europe last year for the express purpose of seeing firsthand how the Europeans were flying. Last year it was `out' and `fast.'
