you will note that Doug Moon has a low score. He was sucked into the pavement following an inverted turn. Model is repairable.
The Air was completely dead, barely a drift from anywhere. The big planes, like mine, were leaving monstrous holes in the sky necessitating lots of footwork. Some were successful with just a step or two.
the format flies two circles at the same time. That's why Doug's score appears to have occured in the first round.
There were some missing persons from the usual crew, however, do not presume the competition to have been eased as a result. There was a great deal of amazing flying, the nats is never an easy contest.
It was overcast with maybe 1-2 mph of wind when I started the flight (ideal conditions) but during the inside squares the sun broke and what tiny amount of air there was died off completely. In retrospect once I felt the air starting to turn off I should have looked around and waited an extra lap or two to let it finish dying off. Then I would have been able to better place the maneuver and adjust for it as I flew it out. But I did not. I proceeded with the outside squares and the first one was light and soft. When I turned it down for the 2nd one the plane showed me the wing and I knew it could be real bad. I stepped back and tried to finish the maneuver. As I turned the corner the tail started to come around but there was just no lift. It was like flying into a vacuum. It made the corner and it flew into the ground flat. You could see where the rudder dragged first and then the nose hit. It was trying to fly out and I was pulling but it just couldn't climb out of it. It tore up the irreplaceable prop as well. But the canopy is still intact.
Me and my brother both flew it Friday night at the L-pad and it flys just the same as it did before. 8pm flights at the L-pad are truly heaven on earth.
Cosmetic repairs it is back in the game.
What I have learned from this is to pay closer attention during the changing conditions from little winds to dead calm. I rarely fly in dead calm. Put in a little extra fuel and use the time we are given and throw in extra laps to get the best placement during the flight. Probably only need to use that trick twice in a flight maybe three times if it is really moving around. But I dont be glued to the two laps if I should need more time to get it correct. So many times I go into robot mode and just start working through it. In the future I will have to ease up on it a bit and make a better choice of placement.
All in all I had a great time, minus the crashing part and not flying today, but it is good to be back home with the wife and kids.
Many congratulations to all the finalists and winners this week.
A MONSTER HUGE THANK YOU to all the tireless helpers who put this on so we can compete.
It was great to meet Joe Parisi, PJ and his Dad, and Monty. I am sure there are many others it is all still a fog as I walked in just an hour and half ago.
It was great to see so many of the faces I have seen so many times before. I hope to see you all again next time.
Topic: top 20 scores (Read 6648 times)