CONTROL LINE AEROBATICS
CL PRECISION AEROBATICS NATS 2022
By Joe Daly | stunt38060@gmail.com
MANY PEOPLE MAKE THEIR way every summer to Muncie, Indiana, to crown the national champion in Control Line (CL) Precision Aerobatics. The week holds multiple events that are both official and unofficial. All events are run by volunteers from the Precision Aerobatics Model Pilots Association (PAMPA).
This year’s event director was John Paris and he did an outstanding job. He had a cast of people who all volunteered to judge, tabulate, run, be pit bosses, and be contest directors (CDs) for the unofficial events. Without all of them, none of this would have been possible. Their efforts are much appreciated by all! A big thank-you to all of them from each of the competitors.
Every year, there is a theme for the Nats. This year’s theme was weather, especially on the Top 5 and Walker Cup Fly-Off day. Most of the week was decent. It was slightly windy on some days, but not as bad as last year’s wind. Sunday’s weather saw record rainfall, but despite that, we were able to get in Beginner and Intermediate events. The rest of the day was a washout. The remainder of the week was sunny and hot until Saturday, which brought thunder and lightning. More about that later.
Sunday kicked off the week with unofficial Beginner and Intermediate events. Mike Stinson and Dennis Adamisin were the respective CDs for the events. Tom Creasey won Beginner, and Dave Rigotti won Intermediate and the Pilots’ Choice award.
Monday was appearance judging for Open and Advanced, which was held this year on the L-pad at Site 1 of the International Aeromodeling Center. The weather cooperated and we could display all of the airplanes. The appearance judges had a hard time making sure they got it right.
After a couple of hours, Mark Weiss and Mike Eber had all of the aircraft lined up in their rows! It was a really nice job by those two. The Concours d’Elegance winner this year was Robert “Sparky” Storick with his beautiful Minado.
On Tuesday, three unofficial events were held: Old-Time Stunt (OTS), Nostalgia 30 (N-30), and Classic. Mike Schmitt was the CD for those events, and they took place without a hitch. Nice job, Mike! Vince Bodde won OTS, Len Bourel won N-30, and John Simpson won Classic.
Wednesday and Thursday started qualifying for Open and Advanced. There were two flights each day and the scores on the best flight from each day were added together to determine the semifinal lineup for the Open and Advanced finals that were held on Friday.
Wednesday was windy, and many fliers passed on the second flights. Thursday was Stunt heaven all day, and at the end of the rounds, we had the Top 20 set in Open and the Top 9 in the Advanced finals.
Friday was Top 20 day for Open and
conditions were nearly perfect. This was one of the toughest days at the Nats, with two flights back-to-back—there were no do-overs to see if you could make the Top 5! This year had its ups for some and its downs for others. Two airplanes lost outboard wings, one pancaked, one had an electric problem, and an airplane with one wing landed without even nicking the propeller! What a show!
The Rookie of the Year went to Mike Schmitt, and when all of the dust settled, the Top 5 were Orestes Hernandez, Dave Fitzgerald, Howard Rush, Brett Buck, and Matt Colan. This was Matt’s first time in the Top 5. Congratulations!
The Advanced finals took place on circles one and two. Tom Luciano is our Advanced national champion! Darrel Harvin came in second, and Steven Daly placed third.
The Top 5 for Open and the Junior and Senior finals were held on Saturday. This was where the weather created havoc. We completed one round in Open and two rounds in Junior and Senior then lightning struck!
After many hours of delays and waiting for safe flying conditions, we ran out of time, which is unfortunate for the competitors who wanted to get in all of the rounds and the Walker Cup flyoff in order to choose our national champion.
In the end, it was decided to make it a one-round contest for Open and to not hold the Walker Cup flyoff. This year’s places in Open were Matt Colan, fifth place; Brett Buck, fourth place; Orestes Hernandez, third place; Howard Rush, second place; and Dave Fitzgerald, first place. This was Dave’s 13th Open national championship.
Gabe Alimov is the Junior national champion and Luca Alimov is the Senior national champion. It was nice to see the brothers win again!
Another year is in the books for CL Precision Aerobatics, and this one had a unique ending for sure! A big thanks to all of the volunteers who made this happen! I can’t wait until next year’s Nats.
SOURCES:
PAMPA
www.pampacl.org
AMA Nats
https://nats.modelaircraft.org
