My impressions from the Nat's:
Great contest managment. I hardly noticed them, and that is why it was so great. That's a good thing! Bob and Curt did well to take care of things and not have any "emergencies". Thanks guys.
Muncie weather was her usual. A mixed bag. When I arrived it was in the 70's, with thick dense air. Next to no wind that day. Did I mention that the humidity was relatively low? The next day it was very nice conditions, and light wind. Monday had the storm pass through, and that cleared the field early, but we had to go polish our planes anyway for the appearance judging and pilots meeting. Tuesday had "some" wind, but not enough to stop flying. Wednesday and Thursday were very nice days, all but a little cooler than normal. Friday had some wind. It wasn't real strong though. On circle 4 it was quite flyable, and you could put up a score on it. Circle 3 received the "benefit" of the wind blowing through the pavilion, and making it rough. The weather on Saturday was near perfect, and warmed up to the 90's.....Which my plane REALLY liked.
The quality of planes is really amazing. I can remember when I started flying at the Nat's (77) that there were a "few" planes that stood out, and many that were "good". Now, there are many that stand out for their quality. Very nice to see!
The flying was great! I was really impressed by Chris Rudd. Wow, can he fly! Watch out you old timer top 5 guys! It used to be that I was the youngest pilot in the top 5, now I am the oldest. How time flies. This year, you had to have an AARP card to be in the top 5.....Right Brett? I was also impressed by Matt Colan and his desire and drive to do well. Keep practicing and you will be near the top soon. Another I enjoyed watching was Eric Taylor. He just missed making the top 20, and you could see the fire in his eyes. Howard Rush is trying hard, and has shown he can make the top 5. You just need another plane or two to support mishaps that can happen....Right? I also enjoy watching Doug Moon fly. He too has a fire in his eye, and JUST missed the finals this year.
It appears there are quality pilots waiting to take over for the old floks who will not be competitive soon. That's great to see.
Myself, I thoroughly enjoyed this Nat's. I had a plan, stuck to it, and it panned out. I live and fly at 2000' altitude, and when it gets 90 degrees and above, the density ratio can get to 0.85 and the density altitude can approach 5000'. Thus when I got there and it was 0.95 DR and a DA of 1600', I had some adjusting to do. In looking at the weather forecast, it was to be hotter and more humid by the end of the week, so I opted to not change too much and "live with" the trim being a bit off in the early days, as I knew it was going to "come to me" by the end of the week. That plan worked out perfectly, and as the temperatures went up on Saturday, so did my scores. It was once again, a lot of work to get to this point. I have said repeatedly, this is the last year I will put in so much practice prior to another Nat's. I will still attend in the future, but I will be depending more on my skill and cunning than ever before. However, I have 3 pretty good flying Predators at the moment, which should need minimal work, other than just getting the cob webs out.
It was great seeing everyone once again, and I trust the next time I am there, it will be more fun for me. Well, I probably won't have Dan Banjok levels of fun, but I'll try!
Topic: 2015 NATS Coverage (Read 88723 times)
