F2D Team Trials and the Nats
by Mark Rudner
rudner@mit.edu
This month, I’m writing to you from a hotel room in Békéscsaba, Hungary, where I’m staying during the Control Line (CL) European Championships. The contest is still going on, so you’ll have to wait for a full rundown at a future time. Nonetheless, I think it’s safe to say that we have many of the world’s top pilots here, and they have all brought their A games with them. Many are flying well, and it will be interesting to see who comes out on top.
It’s the peak of the season as I write this. The US F2D Team Trials and AMA Nats have just concluded, and now the European Championships are on. After five big contests in slightly more than one month’s time, I’m looking forward to some quiet time to take stock of equipment and do some relaxed training before the final push this fall at the end of the season. Speaking of the fall closeout, I hope that this column will reach you before the season finale Phoenix Red Flag contest, which will be held November 10-12 at Esteban Park in Phoenix. As I understand, the event will kick off with F2D Fast (Fast Combat using F2D-type equipment), followed by full F2D Combat during the weekend. Join us for some great weather and exciting CL
Combat before winter hits and puts a damper on things.
A midseason pause is a great time to evaluate your flying and your equipment, and to consider what improvements could be made for the last part of the season (and into the future). Has any aspect of your equipment let you down so far this year? Has your mechanic complained to you about any part of your setup, or have you noticed any operations taking longer than they should?
It is tempting to take an attitude of “this is the way I like to do it,” and to stick with a setup (bladders, fuel pinchers, shutoffs, needle valves, etc.) that is convenient for you. However, when it counts (such as during a match), you will not be the one operating your equipment—it will be your mechanic. It is therefore important to seriously listen to any feedback that they give you, and to adapt your setup to a form that all of you will be comfortable with.
As a mechanic, it is also a great service if you can give suggestions about any potential problems that you see in a pilot’s setup. To give an example, I recently pitted for a friend throughout a contest. During the course of several matches, I noticed that on nearly all of his hard landings, his fuel line popped off of the engine.
It never cost us a match, and if I didn’t tell him, he would probably never have known about it. However, it was clearly a potential problem, so I suggested that he take a look at his plumbing and try to find a more secure way of routing and attaching his fuel line. I hope he’ll find a solution and never needlessly lose a match because of such a trivial problem.
But, back to the Nats and Team Trials ... We had an excellent turnout this year. It was one of the biggest (if not the biggest) Team Trials on record, and even more encouraging was that we had several Junior competitors enter. It’s always great to see some young blood competing.
This year, Rylan Ritch was the top-placing Junior. He will represent us at the CL World Championships in 2018 in France. He’s been training with Mike Willcox and the Texas crowd, and it shows in his flying.
It should not go unmentioned that Austin Minor has improved by leaps and bounds in the last year. I would advise everyone to watch out for him in the coming seasons. He will surely be a force to reckon with.
On a general level, I want to thank Dave Edwards for once again putting in a huge effort to organize the Team Trials and Nats. He’s been running it for a few years now, and constantly strives to put on a fair and high-level competition. Each year it gets better, and I sincerely hope that Dave will continue putting in the time and effort to keep it running.
One sign of a good contest was that—at least to my knowledge—there were no protests filed at this year’s Team Trials. That’s remarkable, and I think it reflects the fact that the competitors generally trust the contest management.
I also want to recognize Arlene Pyles
for handling the administrative duties during the contest. Arlene kept things moving and well organized.
In terms of flying, we have a large number of strong pilots in the US right now. Until the dust settled on Sunday afternoon, it was far from clear who would emerge as America’s next top F2D pilots.
As it came down to the wire, Josh Ellison, Lester Haury, Andy and Cary Minor, Chuck and Mark Rudner, and Mike Willcox were all in the mix. Any combination of three out of that bunch would make a great team.
In the end, the top three were Lester, Andy, and Mark, with Mike winning a flyoff against Josh for the spot of first alternate. I hope the team will have your support as it heads to Landres, France, next July for the CL World Championships.
The morning after the Team Trials, the Nats began with double-elimination F2D. In contrast to the Team Trials,
where only eligible US pilots are allowed to fly, the Nats is an open competition. In addition to the large group of pilots who flew in the Team Trials and stayed for the Nats, we also gained a handful of pilots who fly using foreign licenses.
After two days of intense action, Alex Prokofiev came out on top as the 2017 US National F2D Champion, followed by Cary Minor and David Owen.
Unfortunately, I had to leave right after the conclusion of F2D on Tuesday to get back to work, and couldn’t stay until the end of the Nats. Congratulations go out to all of the Nats winners this year. Hope to see you in the circle soon!
SOURCES:
Miniature Aircraft Combat Association (MACA)
www.macasite.org
AMA Nats
nats.modelaircraft.org
