Indoor Nats
The 1999 Indoor Nationals was held June 2–6 at the Johnson City (TN) Mini‑Dome. The site is nearly ideal for the Nats, since it is centrally located and a very fine place to fly indoor. The quality and scope of this event draw a large number of Nats veterans, and this year there were also a fair number of new fliers, as well as a few much‑needed Juniors and Seniors. Altogether there were 102 registered fliers in 21 events.
Notable winners and performances
- Mike Thomas — repeated his Indoor Category Championship win, with firsts in Helicopter and Pioneer Scale, plus places in many other events.
- Larry Coslick — firsts in Ornithopter, Rubber Speed, HL Stick, and Bostonian. Larry posted the first-ever six‑minute Bostonian official (6:18) and backed it up with a 5:56 to take first place.
- John Kagan — won F1D with flights of 44:41 and 48:48. New rules coming in 2001 are expected to change F1D competition and likely limit such long times.
- Bernard Hunt — won F1M with a 19:39, about three-and-a-half minutes ahead of his nearest competitor.
- Bernie Boehm — won Hand‑Launched Glider (two‑flight total 138.8 seconds), 4 seconds ahead of Jim Buxton; also won Unlimited Catapult with 159.4 seconds.
- Ralph Schlarb — second in Unlimited Catapult (2.3 seconds behind Bernie) and winner of Standard Catapult with 158.3 seconds.
Events and highlights
- Hand‑Launched and Catapult: Hand‑Launched Gliders used to be more common, but as arms get older the Catapult events now have more entries. Although only five competed in Hand Launch, the competition was demanding.
- Limited Pennyplane: The most popular event at the Indoor Nats was Limited Pennyplane, with 54 entries. The author won this event and set a site record of 16:34. With everyone putting up four flights and many times around the 15‑minute mark, the event produced roughly 60 hours of Pennyplane flights in a four‑hour time slot. This event features many mid‑air collisions that can instantly take a record flight away from a flier.
- Bostonian: This event is a pleasant mix of scale and duration characteristics and emphasizes beauty as well as flight time (models receive a "charisma" score as well as a flight score). Bostonians are nearly perfect in size and weight for achieving that elusive scale flight speed; they rise off the floor, cruise like a private plane, then power‑glide down to neat landings and sometimes even taxi before pickup.
- Pure Scale: Fewer entries but very high construction quality and flight performance. Many scale models have less‑than‑perfect proportions for stability, so scale fliers must have exceptional trimming skills. Watching David Aronstein's huge AN‑24 Coconut Scale model float for more than four minutes to win the Coconut Mass Launch event was a highlight. Scale models often stop people in their tracks.
- Mass Launch events: All fliers in a class launch simultaneously and the last model down wins. Seeing a cloud of MiniSticks or WWII Scale models take off is delightful; a couple dozen Bostonians or several three‑foot Coconuts fill the building. This year there was a mid‑air in the Coconut class when Michelle Boyd's Aristocrat had its fin dislodged partway through a flight, though the model continued to fly reasonably well. Mass Launches are often close until the final seconds and are among the lighthearted moments in national‑level competition.
Juniors, Seniors, and FAC Corner
Tim Lavender and his group of Junior and Senior fliers returned to the Nats with a huge assortment of models. Roughly 100 stick‑and‑tissue sport and scale models, plus a number of duration models, were displayed down at the "FAC Corner" where Tim's group congregates. The juniors and seniors even brought materials and built models while waiting to fly. All Junior and Senior events and entry fees were sponsored by a special fund set up by Indoor Nats News and Views and the Y2K film sales.
International EZB Contest
Separate from the Nats, the International EZB Contest featured both AMA‑style EZBs (no minimum weight) and FAI‑style EZBs (1.2‑gram minimum weight). The AMA models averaged less than half the weight of the FAI models, but they did not compete head‑to‑head. Bernard Hunt won FAI EZB with a two‑flight total of 40:56, and Larry Cailliau won AMA EZB with a two‑flight total of 61:23.
Organization and thanks
The running of this year's Nats was smooth as silk, thanks to experienced organizers Dave Thomson, Abram Van Doren, and Natalie Meyer. These volunteers gave extraordinary time and effort and deserve thanks for another well‑run Nats.
Steve Gardner 1130 Pembroke Dr. St. Louis, MO 63119
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
