2004 AMA Nationals for Precision Aerobatics Written by Bill Bowen, Vice President of TCRCM

Again this year, my son Brett and I attended the Nats in Muncie. Our planning started in April 2004, although Brett, now 19, talked about it ever since last year when we both competed in Advanced. We were both planning on competing in Masters this year, but a shoulder injury prevented me from flying, which relegated me to being sponsor and chief bottle washer for my son. Living in Eastern Washington, the drive to Muncie is quite an outing, taking over three days each way. Flying pattern with my son the past ten years has really been great, but a drive of over three days each way certainly points out the difference in music appreciation. On the way to Muncie we stopped in Champaign Illinois, where we met Danny Landis, an up and coming FAI competitor, and his Dad Richard. Danny is supported by JR and obtained approval to practice at their field. This was very good for Brett, but we did feel somewhat out of place with our Futaba 9ZAP radios.

We arrived in Muncie on Saturday afternoon of July 17, 2004. I rode with Richard while the two boys went together along with their music. There was no practice allowed this year at the Nats sites, due to the IMAC competition being still in progress. The next morning we got up early, and along with the Landis’s, drove to a practice site about ½ hour away. The weather was very overcast, but the site was acceptable. The boys got in a few flights before it got really busy. Shortly after we left, Ray and Gary McClellan who are also from district 8, flew at the same site and Ray lost his plane due to another flyer accidentally turning on his radio. This can certainly be a problem with flyers from different areas flying at a site without well-understood frequency controls. After we returned to the Nats site that afternoon, we were able to watch the finals of the IMAC aerobatic competition, which included the unknown sequence being flown to music. This was an absolutely amazing event to watch, with those big 100- inch plus airplanes flying a few feet from the ground and then performing spectacular maneuvers almost out of sight. With the preliminary rounds starting the next morning, I tried to get my son to bed at an early hour to prepare him for the competition.

The next three days were very busy with the preliminaries being flown. The FAI classes were flown in the morning and the Masters in the afternoon on the paved sites, while Advanced and Intermediate were sequenced the same but at the grass site where IMAC was flown. The weather was not great all three days, with a quartering crosswind of 10-20 mph that really challenged the competitors. Due to the large number of competitors in both Masters and FAI, both of the paved sites were in use all of the time. Each class was scheduled somewhat different every day such that all competitors flew at all sites. We observed the FAI flights in the morning and then during the break at noon hurriedly prepared for Brett’s Masters flights in the afternoon. The quality of flying in both Masters and FAI were very high, with any of the top twenty in each class capable of being one of the eight contestants to qualify for the final round, which was scheduled for Thursday. Consistency and being able to accommodate the unstable weather conditions is what made the real difference. Brett actually flew well the first two days, but the pressure of trying to make the finals and not having a mental routine to prepare you each day resulted in him not flying to his potential on the third day. It was also apparent who burnt more fuel, and those that were selected for the finals in both classes certainly earned it.

Brett and I both were selected to judge FAI on Tuesday, and it proved to be quite an event. In district 8 we only have one contest where FAI is flown, but the western Canadian contests that we are able to attend due fly FAI, so both of us did have experience in judging this class. Also, to help us prepare, our good friend Nedim Bek from Alberta (who was flying FAI) had video taped Jason Shulman on Monday flying his electric airplane and he reviewed that with us. That was a great help, and made judging much more comfortable. Ron Van Putte did another excellent job in setting up the judging matrix, and also prepared each of the site coordinators. Last year he had us use a pad to just right down the raw scores, which the scribes (volunteer senior citizens from the Muncie area) then transferred to the score sheets. This system worked great and I would recommend all of you CDs out there consider this system for your contests.

On a sad note, during our judging round, we saw a mid air between Sean McMurtry and BW Ponder, which was spinner to spinner, that destroyed two gorgeous airplanes. Pieces rained down for many minutes and spread debris over at least an acre. Many volunteers, including some of the judges, helped pick up the pieces, and I believe all components were recovered. These two competitors pulled out their backup airplanes, dusted them off and finished their rounds. My hat is off to both of them for their sportsmanship and composure during that heartbreaking event. Sean actually continued on and made the finals. The only other mid-air during the Nats was on Monday morning during FAI when Danny Landis and another FAI competitor ran together. Danny’s Partner lost the outer half of one wing and it immediately went into a spin. Danny was able to stop the spin, get it into knife-edge flight, fly it back over the grass and land it. He also pulled out his back up, only to have the old DZ blow up. Chip Hyde then loaded him his backup 160 DZ that ran great. Danny came very close to making the finals, which was quite an accomplishment considering what happened to him.

On Tuesday evening after the flying was done Tony Stillman and Maureen Dunphy of NSRCA hosted a banquet that was held at a local country club. The proceedings included an auction and yours truly ended up with one of Chip Hyde’s Double Vision bi-plane ARFs. I was coached considerably in the bidding by young son, but after reviewing Chips web site, that includes this plane, I am looking forward to receiving it some time in early fall. The proceeds of the auction go to support NSRCA and help all of us in keeping our membership costs as low as practical. District 8 only had four members here, but we increased it to six when we include Dorothy and Roy Speights, who are from District 8 originally but now live in northern California. All of us think the world of these two, who have contributed greatly to our sport for many years. My son is really attached to Dorothy, who has counseled him for many years about what is important in life. After the flying on Wednesday the top eight in both Masters and FAI were announced and were the competitors to fly in the final rounds on Thursday. Unfortunately, both Brett and Danny came very close, but did not make it. To recover from this emotional set back some very attractive young ladies that worked at the front desk of the motel took them both out for the evening. Both of them were smiling the next morning so it must have worked. Brett was asked by Jerry Budd to call and help pit for him during the finals of Masters. So he was up early on Thursday and off he went, only to leave guess who to load up the Yukon with all of our stuff.

I was able to watch the last two flights in Masters and FAI. Masters moved along quite a bit faster which permitted us to watch the last of the FAI flights. It was apparent in Masters who the top three were after the first flight, and our friend Jerry Budd with his electric came very close placing second in Masters, behind winner David Snow, and followed closely by Vern Koester. The top three in Masters flew very well, and it really came down to how you scored smoothness and gracefulness to determine the difference.

There was a wide range of different airplanes flown in this class, which included some older retract designs that were quite fast and also the newer fixed gear designs. There was almost an even distribution of two strokes and four strokes with the four strokes having a slight edge. There were also two electrics, with Jerry Budd’s being very competitive.

In FAI all of the flyers in the finals were very close going into the last flight, with the last flight being the unknown sequence. The differences in scores were really driven by some maneuvers being partially out of the box or insufficient straight lines between maneuvers. With the results of this also selecting the team to represent the USA in next year’s international competition, it was very close in the final scores. I am sure that Tony and Eric will provide significant details at a later date. Jason Shulman with the electric was first, followed by QuiQue Somenzini, Chip Hyde, Sean McMurtry, and Don Szczur as the top five. The power plant of choice in FAI appeared to by the YS140DZ (not counting Jason’s electric), with a few two strokes used during the preliminaries. All of the airplanes in the finals were of the newer wide body designs that present at almost a constant speed. I was very impressed with the performance of the Panacea, Partner, Smaragd, Mantis and Don’s Focus Two. All of these share the wide body design and have a great balance between lift, speed, and parasitic drag which results in a pleasing presentation. I was also impressed with Jason and Jerry Budd’s electric birds. I think they are very comparable to our piston engines, but could use a little more power when dealing with the strong cross winds.

A barbeque was held after the completion of the final rounds and really helped as a fill in while the scores were tallied. Both Chip and QuiQue flew their IMAC ARF designs, which are sized like a pattern plane. QuiQue flew his YAK with a YS140 and chip flew his Vision with a gas DA 50. Both flew extremely well and for the price would be a great winter practice airplane. My son was also impressed with Chip’s big black Excursion with the big speakers that could be heard all over the Nats site.

After the barbeque Dave Guerin and Chip presented awards for each class. I would like to also mention that Ray McClellan of District 8, whom I have known for over 30 years now, was given a special achievement award for his long time contribution to pattern. This was well deserved and all of us from both district 8 and 6 (Ray and his son Gary frequent California contests) were very pleased to see Ray receive this. Roy Speights also received the highest placing senior award in Masters, as Roy is now just a bit over 65. I would like to mention just a few observations in closing of this article. This was a very well managed event and my hat is off to Maureen, Tony, Dave, Chip, Ron and all of the other volunteers it took to put this event on. I would recommend that all of you try to attend at least one Nats, no matter how you place, as it is an experience you will never forget. I got a chance to see a lot of old friends that I had not seen since I lived back in the east coast in the early 1970s, and also friends that Brett and I made at last years Nats. The people of pattern are fantastic, and you always come away with positive feelings. After watching the two midairs, I would also recommends that consideration be given to moving the two flight lines as far away from each other as possible. Both of the paved sights had room to move them farther apart, and this would decrease the probability of a mid air greatly. I also know of a few fliers who moved down a class when they came to the Nats. Based on this I would recommend that our rules committee consider passing a rule that requires a competitor to pick a class and stay there, unless moving up, for the entire season no matter where the contest is being held (including the Nats). While I know that Masters and FAI are considered equal, there is no question that FAI requires much greater skill to be competitive than does Masters.

That completes this report, and hope to see many of you next pattern season.

This page last updated 01/07/05 23:18