1985 NATS: FF Outdoor Glider
Abram Van Dover
WITH WEATHER going from clear skies and little wind to wind and more wind, the glider fliers faced a real challenge throughout the week. For the most part, the A-1 and A-2 modelers had good runways and a clear field to tow on. It always puzzles me, though, that with acres of open field, some guys have to tow into the pits and even into the parking areas — must be lift there. Attendance was down a bit from the 1983 visit to Westover, but the fliers more than made up for it with their enthusiasm and drive. The lack of Juniors and Seniors was evident in the glider events, with Outdoor Hand Launch showing the most improvement of all.
A-1 Glider
With beautiful blue skies, acres of grass, and a long, wide runway to tow on, the A-1 glider fliers got the event off to a terrific start. Before the event even began, Bob Hatschek was heard to announce that he would win A-1, and the other modelers could sort out the rest of the places. Alas, poor Bob crashed his No. 1 model on the unforgiving concrete and had to struggle to gain a 6th place. Almost all the A-1 flights were put in before 1:00 p.m., when the big move was made to the northeast corner of the field. The good weather still held, so the show was on.
Mike McKeever, San Diego, CA, had an easy win with 746 sec., but the real fight was for second place, with only 60 seconds separating 2nd place from the 6th spot. The second-place winner was Fred Blom from Timonium, MD.
Juniors Aaron Markos and Rod Loerger had only each other to fly against. They put up some good flights, Markos nudging Rod by 32 sec., 449 sec. to 417. The big winners in 1983, Al Jacobson and Larry Pelatowski, could not pick the good air, but they and the rest of the field gave it a good try.
A-1 ended with good weather and thermals popping up everywhere, but it was not to be the same for HLG and A-2. The winds moved in on Thursday and Friday.
Thursday was Outdoor Hand Launch Glider day, and it brought out 60 fliers to brave the 20-mph winds and menacing downdrafts. For this event, the Juniors and Seniors made their presence known and filled the air with their gliders.
With the older HLG troops, Jean Pallet proved to be the man of the day, beating out everyone else with 263 sec. Second place was only five seconds back, Vic Nippert filling the spot. Vic drove a wrecker down from Lake Katrine, NY and was ready for any contingency. Dan Domina, who, by the way, cleaned up in indoor events, came outdoors to win a 7th-place trophy. Way down in 23rd place was Gerald Plassman; he was very happy that he didn't have to fly against his two young junior-age sons.
Junior Walt Eggert, Huntington Valley, PA, was clearly the winner with 226 sec., over Joel Plassman, Newport News, VA, who had 163 sec. Incidentally, Joel's brother Jeff finished 7th, to keep him on his toes.
Senior Jan Langelius, White Plains, NY, was the high man within his age group, and he would have beaten open fliers as well with his 288 sec. Jan, 17, was flying a Blue Ridge Super Chuck and has been modeling over six years. After high school, Jan would like to go to West Point for an engineering degree. Way to go, Jan! A distant second-place finish went to John Bartlett, Galesburg, NY, with 166 sec.
A-2 Glider
A-2 Glider, the Rolls Royce of the gliders, had a nice, clear, windy day to come out and strut its stuff. With the Juniors and Seniors lumped in with the Opens, it is easy to see why the Junior or Senior elected to fly. Junior Marty Pelatowski made the effort and placed respectably in 7th.
In the top spot was K. Fags, Riverdale, NJ, whose old, wily, cunning flying can pick the air best and always place near the top. Fags' time was 783 sec. Second place went to Vic Nippert again. Canadian Jerry McGlashan took 3rd, making the trip back north worthwhile.
Some good fliers finished with low scores, indicative of how the wind made thermal spotting very tricky, to say the least.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
