FREE FLIGHT
Jim Haught
WET! That's a one-word summary of the combined FF Nats and US Outdoor Championships, held June 26–30 at the National Flying Site.
Showers during nine consecutive days before and during the contest forced the nearly 200 entrants to become adept at setting up and tearing down their equipment quickly, and otherwise coping with the soggy conditions.
Despite the dampness, quite a bit of good flying was done (see results in "Focus on Competition"). A full array of AMA events was supplemented by various Nostalgia and unofficial events administered by the National Free Flight Society.
The bulk of the competition was conducted from the southern launch area, which kept the longest part of the field "in play" and generally avoided conflict with the adjoining properties and/or the RC launch areas. Some on-site wheat posed retrieval problems, but assurances were given that this would not be a problem for the 1996 Nats.
We will "let the photos do the talking" for the bulk of this report, as the hard news of the contest will be well known by the time this report is printed (some 120 days after the event).
Acknowledgments
- Contest Director Abram Van Dover
- Steve Kaluf and the Competitions Department personnel
- Nats General Manager Ron Morgan
- All those who volunteered to help run the contest
The next FF Nats will also be held at the National Flying Site July 21–26, 1996 as part of the return to a unified Nationals.
See "Focus on Competition"
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
