RADIO CONTROL HELICOPTERS
By
Craig Bradley, 12400 Burlingame Dr., DeWitt, MI 48820
Overview
The following overview and impressions of the Helicopter Nats were provided by Helicopter Event Director Craig Bradley.
Competition
Competition was good and very tight, even in FAI. For instance, Curtis Youngblood normally doesn't have to fly the last round, but he did this year. Nothing against Curtis—he's the pilot's pilot—but he has set the bar very high, and fliers are getting closer to him. There wasn't a "gimme" in any class; the overall quality of flying was up.
The Nats were interesting because it was the first time we had contestant judging. Naomi Griffin handled transmitter impound again this year. Fifteen-year-old Daniel Carter (Apopka, FL) was on his way to victory over six other competitors in Class II.
Across the board, the response to contestant judging was mixed. It would be nice to have a full staff of paid judges, but it's not practical; we didn't have the number of competitors we would have liked.
Scale entry was disappointing — eight entries, seven flew. We may need to promote the class; it's tough to become disciplined enough to fly the maneuvers, which should be flown mainly as hovering maneuvers.
We tried running two flight lines this year as an experiment. We'll go back to three lines next year. The Class I line, Classes II and III, and FAI each need their own line. Problems exist because people flying now have been flying for years; the upper classes are top-heavy. There were 13 entries in Class III and 21 in F3C.
Heading-hold gyros are a problem now — almost everyone has them — yet we still have people able to fly well. The competition was great; everyone helped out, which made the job easy. In many cases people were very understanding; I really couldn't ask for a finer group of competitors. The AMA staff also bent over backwards for us. If we needed anything, it was usually just a matter of a walkie-talkie call to get it done.
Next year I would advise competitors to brush up on judging skills. Considering the cost of traveling and competing at the Nats, I think the trend will be toward contestant judging, with the possible exception of the FAI class.
Photographs and captions
- Jimmie Chaney, East Point, GA — winner, Class I, 5,995 points.
- Wayne Mann, Randleman, NC — hooks up F3C flight; he finished a close second.
- Curtis Youngblood — lone Scale entrant.
- Paul Strobel, Battle Creek, MI — Sioux H-13; OS 615X engine; JR radio; CSM gyro.
- David Harkey, Birmingham, AL — checks Class III model carefully; preflight hover placed third.
No additional primary article text on this page beyond photographs and captions.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
