Radio Control: Aerobatics
LAST MONTH I wrote about the rule change snafu involving the Sportsman maneuver schedule. As I write this, the situation has not yet been resolved. The chairman of the RC Aerobatics Contest Board has stonewalled efforts to resolve the situation, even though it appears that the rule change vote was improperly administered. Sportsman class fliers should be sure to read the Focus on Competition section for late-breaking developments on this subject: the lead time on it is half that for regular columns, and the contest season is upon us.
Radio Control: Aerobatics
BASED on the letters and telephone calls I've received and the articles I've read in K-Factor (NSRCA newsletter), there are a lot of unhappy Pattern fliers out there. The decision to hold the 1992 Nationals at Chicopee, MA has not made Pattern fliers happy. Part of the unrest is because it appears that the main reason for going to Chicopee is to get all Nationals events together on one site as a big publicity event, regardless of the effect it would have on competition.
Radio Control: Aerobatics
AS CONTEST DIRECTOR (CD) for the F3A Team Selection Finals, I am deep into making plans for the contest which will be held at Duke Field, Eglin AFB, Florida on June 25-30. Also participating in the planning in an informal capacity, because he will also be a competitor in the event, is John Fuqua. John is an active CD who has directed my club's annual contest for the past four years, with me as his assistant. Between us we have either directed or assisted in directing more than thirty Pattern contests. So we know what to do and when to do it for Pattern contests.
Radio Control: Aerobatics
NOW that the first few contests of the year are history, it has become apparent that some changes are necessary. That shouldn't really be surprising. We went from a set of maneuver schedules that were mostly nonturnaround format to a new set that are mostly turnaround format. There were bound to be some problems on the first try, and there are. The rules change procedures will take care of the changes eventually. Unfortunately, it will be almost two years until their effects will be felt.
The RC Pattern Fliers Put On Their First Pan-American International Contest: N-PAC
SUCCESS! The initial National Society of Radio Controlled Aerobatics (NSRCA) Pan-American Championships (N-PAC) is history. To put it in perspective, N-PAC was the largest RC Pattern contest held in the world last year. Five classes drew 138 contestants: Novice-5, Sportsman-17, Advanced-28, Master-33, and FAI-55. The event was held at the Mid-American Air Center near Lawrenceville, Illinois, which also hosted the 1990 and 1991 AMA Nationals.
