MICRO-FLYING
2025 FAC
NON-NATS
By Joe Malinchak | joemal@echoes.net
THE 2025 FLYING Aces Club (FAC) non-Nats was held at the National Warplane Museum in Geneseo, New York. This wonderful event featured all types and sizes of some of the world’s most beautifully built Free Flight (FF) model aircraft. You could see all of the time and dedication that each modeler put into their creations.
This was my third year to attend, and I had big plans to build several models with which to compete. However, I guess life got in the way, and I only ended up building one new model.
The first day of the event started with the static judging of the many different Scale events and compliance checks of models that were to compete in the non-Scale events. This took place in the National Warplane Museum’s main hangar. This is my favorite day of the event because you can look at all of the beautiful models that are displayed and enjoy seeing all of the full-scale aircraft as well.
After the static judging and compliance checks were complete, most people started flying and testing out their models for day two of the competition. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate with us—it was really windy and rainy. I did, however, actually see a few brave modelers attempt to fly their airplanes!
The weather was a good thing for me because I went back to my hotel and did some work on my airplane. I built a Peanut Scale B-25 for this year’s contest and finished it the day before the event. I had a quick chance to test-fly the model at home, but I really needed the beautiful, large flying field at Geneseo to test it out.
I have many years of experience in building and flying all types of models, but I am still relatively new to FF. I built some FF models when I was a boy, but I was only able to achieve short flights. After seeing models fly at Geneseo for 2 minutes or more on rubber power, this renewed my interest in it. Getting a FF model to perform well is a challenging and rewarding experience.
The last two days of the event had fairly good weather, so everyone could fly. This included several mass-launch events that were held each day. They are some of the most enjoyable events to watch. To see all of the FF models take flight at the same time is a beautiful sight. With each model heading in a different direction, midairs do take place. The last model to land wins the event. I have witnessed models flying out of sight, with amazing flight times.
There were so many impressive models flying that it was hard to pick a favorite. I did like Oliver Sand’s No-Cal Profile de
Havilland Dash-8 (DH-8) and his 1937 Moskalyেভ Strelа delta-wing model, but I am a little biased toward the DH-8 because I flew the full-scale aircraft for Piedmont Airlines for many years.
Fellow Model Aviation “FF Scale” columnist Tom Hallman flew his beautiful, new Beechcraft Model 20M Staggerwing twin biplane. Tom is one of the most talented FF modelers whom I have met. He shares his building techniques and experience not only through what he writes for this magazine but also on his YouTube channel so that people can learn more about this great hobby. I have learned several new building techniques from him and find myself visiting his YouTube channel often. The link to it is listed in “Sources.”
If you enjoy friendly competition, watching beautiful FF models fly, and seeing a wonderful collection of full-scale aircraft in a museum, this FAC event is a great one for you to attend. I am already working on some new models for next year!
SOURCES:
Tom Hallman’s maxfliart YouTube Channel
www.youtube.com/@maxfliart
National Warplane Museum
(585) 243-2100
www.nationalwarplanemuseum.com
