Brendan Miller
So my time at the 2025 AMA Nats is coming to a close. I participated in two events the year one being ALES and F5J, now I have flown in several ALES contests here in the club but never a F5J contest because with my work schedule its hard to get an idea of when I will have a weekend off to go to one of these contests but as soon as the schedule for the Nats was available I signed up for F5J. I would like to take this time to give my first impression of F5J and how my thoughts and my idea of what F5J actually is.
But before I get to that lets talk about ALES at the nats. This was a pretty laid back event we gathered for the pilots meeting and Norm Poti went through the rules of the contest one of which was a 150M cap on launch which made it interesting given the weather for that day was a little over cast with storms in the future. We all got ready for round one which launched around 8:30a on Saturday morning. Most people struggled with time with myself getting a 6:28 with no landing but my second round improved as I adjusted my flying for the weather conditions and managed a 9:55 with a 40 landing, not bad! but then came rounds 3 and 4 and for the lack of better terms I sucked these two rounds as I struggled to find anything and I was chasing ghost thermals that looked like they were there but actually weren’t so on both of these rounds I landed outside the 75 meter limit which was measured from the head of the pin to where your planes landed, round 5 was better with finding lift and managed a 10:10 but missed the landing tape again…DARN! At this point on day one of ALES everyone was watching the radar very closely at the impending storms and darkening skies to the west with a rumble of thunder and a bolt of lightning Norm Poti called the contest for the day and we all hurried to put planes and canopies away, If anyone is a regular at the nats apparently this par for the course here my dad and I got back to the camper just in time for a pretty decent storm to make its way though, when the storm pasted we went to dinner and I checked RCgroups and read about the damaged done at the field all that was lost were a couple of canopies.
ALES day 2! Day two started off with no pilots meeting and us starting to fly around 8:30a much like day 1 storms were in the picture, and they were saying they would get here around 11-12 in the afternoon. We managed to get two rounds in. Round one Mike Bergerson gave me a tip, and it worked! I managed a 10:03 with a 40 landing. Round 2 you could hear thunder in the distance, and they made the call to fly round 7 which I didn’t really agree with as I didn’t want to be flying a lightning rod around in the sky, but I decided too anyways. I found lift up wind. Wait did I say up wind? I took it out and managed a 9:58 and a 45 landing…Not bad. Now there was one casualty from this week, and it was my poor phoenix, I’m pretty sure you guys have seen the email about the flap control horn coming loose and having the repair it, well I noticed Friday after a few test flights that the other flap was coming loose. My dad helped me try and hold the control horn down with some rubberized CA to hopefully hold it until I got back home to fix it. Well on the last flight I pulled flap while coming into land heard a loud crack and when I landed my dad asked me about my flaps being at different heights and then I knew what the crack was, it was the control horn coming loose on the already repaired flap. The other thing I noticed was a crack just in front of the molded leading edge on the fuse, I did come in kind of high and struggled the get the nose down and dorked the plane pretty hard which you really can’t do with these new F5J plane unless it’s a strong layup. After mulling it over I decided the Pheonix was done for the week, and I would fly the Volo Lite for the rest of the time…I forgot to mention on day one the winds came up and I did switch to the Volo with ballast. We got everything packed up and made it back to the camper to wait out the storm which wasn’t as bad as the storm from Saturday. we did two rounds, and they concluded ALES and managed to hand out awards before the storms came through, I managed 37th for ALES, those two land outs didn’t help at all.
Now let’s talk about F5J. Going into this I thought its all about low launches getting your time and for the most part that’s true, but the biggest part is how high do you need to go to get 10 minutes and a landing first round I had those jitters you get before launching in a big contest, remember this was my first F5J contest and it just happened to be at the nats. Round one I launch high I mean so high my dad said I think that’s high enough and when I landed I launched to 270 meter which is pretty high for F5J, I managed only a 7:25 surfing wave lift with a 45 landing next few rounds my heights 107-201 meters and for the most part I got my times with landings except for a 2:29 with a 0 landing but hey it happens. Now I got real familiar with the Volo on wheat it likes and what I can get away with I made some pretty low level saves while going down wind and I mean WAAAAAAYYYYY down wind to where my dad couldn’t see the plane which aged him a few years but I would make my times but missed to many landings day one wrapped up with little drama I think there was midair but I can’t remember.
Day two of F5J I went in knowing what I had to do and with more confidence. I would start off pretty high round one with a 245-meter launch managed a 9:56but I was late so I missed my landing points but that would be the last time I missed my landing points for the rest of the contest. Now let’s talk about round two…this one even aged me. I was in a group of pretty good fliers with Gill Perez and Oleg, the clock sounded for launch and I played the waiting game I had an idea I was just seeing if anyone else would and I was right Gill and Oleg went down wind and I chased them all the while going between high and low speed on the motor trying to keep my height down. We all three found lift but I stayed in the weaker stuff because I didn’t want to upset Gill and Oleg since they were up in the top spots and a midair was the last thing I wanted this weekend, so that left me in a tough spot as I was again WAAAAAYYYYYYYYY downwind I believe I was behind the power lines and I was only 35-40 meter off the ground looking for something all the while saying to my dad that I’m so dumb for this I had my finger on the trigger to relight but I managed to find something at the last second get enough altitude to make it back up wind with a 9:54 50 landing and only launching to 95 meters which got people talking and I started to notice some of the big guys taking notice and asking me how the air was which is just awesome. I also would like to add a quick thing here…I beat Oleg that round and for someone who has never flown F5J that’s quite cool. Honestly the next few rounds where pretty good one round I was low, and I kept telling my dad that is something here I know it and I finally found it and made time and a landing. Last round was interesting I was in a huge gaggle of planes all circling in various strengths of lift and I was the monkey in the middle but with some great help from my dad I found some good stuff and took it up and just chilled, unfortunately when coming in for the landing the plane seemed sluggish and upon further inspection I found I was in thermal three as I was playing with coming in in speed mode rather than cruise so I got my switches mixed up but hey that is OK. When the dust settled MVSA had a great showing with Wayne in 9th me in 15th and rich in 18th I would like to mention here rich did and amazing job also as this too was his first F5J contest with him getting the set up on his plane better and better he will be a top contender for our own contests.
With all that said above F5J was not as difficult as I originally thought. This wasn’t worlds and I’m no Joe Wurts and honestly the pilots that launched low they would have to have the read or get lucky. Consistency was key here launch make you times and landings and you can do well. At some point I would like maybe having the club be a stop for the tour but I have no idea how to do that but we can talk about that in a different email.
I will end with this . I encourage our members to attend the nats next year even if you dont fly, it’s a sight to see and just the experience is worth it. If you do fly you will understand your plane better as I did with the volo, Muncie is a different animal than our fields here and you will learn so much and meet so many new people who if they are free will drop everything and help you the comradery is amazing and like I said you need to experience it. And as robert would say you definitely should have been there and I will be going next year.
Brendan
Mark Miller
I flew ALES. It was an ok showing. In the end my goal was accomplished. That being supporting Brendan in the 2 electric events.
Yesterday and today I am flying F3L. 2 meter mostly wood with some carbon here and there. They fly off a spec hi-start. They are light, nimble and fun. I built a Prime lll for it but any wood 2 meter would do. Rich is flying his Sagitta for example. It is a team event and flown similar to F3J. The goal is to get the best flight up to 6 minutes within a 9 minute window. You can take as many launches to get your best flight. Early morning a 2:30 flight would be reasonable. I had model issues for the first 3 rounds but I sorted them out and did well the last 3 rounds. Today will be hot.
I encourage everyone to go to the NATS. Yes, the field is wonderful and the flying is great but for me the real reward are the people you meet. I hadn’t been to the NATS for maybe 10 years but the friends I made long ago were still there and we started up again just as if time hadn’t passed. We made many new friends who we will know and appreciate for the rest of our days. It was so gratifying to see many top pilots come up to Brendan and have long conversations after a few of his flights. His scarey flight he came in second in his group beating many of the big dogs including Oleg who won F5J overall.
Don’t think about it. Do it.
Mark