U.S. Nats/World Champs etc.

WHAT'S all this about gales, monsoons, storms, etc. at U.S. Nats? Is this regular? I've been pencilling in about three weeks of Stunt Nirvana for 2004 at Muncie. Will I be wasting my time? Ian R.

No, this is not normal. We will be anxious to see you.

Like so many places, Muncie can be hot, humid, or very compfortable. The winds will vary from stunt heaven to windy, just like any place else. The best thing though is there are no obstructions anywhere near, (disregarding a small pavilion) so the wind direction is very honest.

This past week was a once in a lifetime week. (We hope)

Ian,

Maybe we'd be better off packing stunt lites rather than models, they'll be easier to take in the international flight.

>Ian,
>
>Maybe we'd be better off packing stunt lites rather than
>models, they'll be easier to take in the international
>flight.

If you do, you'd better start training like a sumo wrestler! If you think PA61 planes pull a lot, try flying a stunt kite in a 35 mph wind. Gonna take some pretty substantial mass to keep from getting dragged into the soybean field.

Funny you should say that Brett, a friend turned up at the field one day with a stunt kits. It was pretty windy and we had packed the models up. I started flying the pattern with it and was half way through when a gust litterally picked me up and towed me 20 feet across the field, I'm only 75kg's but it still managed to lift my feet off the ground by about 2 feet. The owner himself sometime later broke his wrist when the kite towed him into a retaining wall.

>WHAT'S all this about gales, monsoons, storms, etc. at U.S.
>Nats? Is this regular? I've been pencilling in about three
>weeks of Stunt Nirvana for 2004 at Muncie. Will I be wasting
>my time? Ian R.

To answer your question, the wind on Friday was definitely not normal. We got stuck in a bad weather pattern where the first ten days of the month resulted on more than twice the normal rainfall for the entire month. And with that weather pattern came some winds. Up 'till Friday they were good to tolerable. Wednesday was beautiful. Thursday was beautiful with a mild bit of wind (still very flyable) in the afternoon. Saturday was beautiful. Friday was intolerable. I have seen Muncie windy before, but never like that. Normal winds are usually 0 to maybe 15 mph at the worst. Average day time temperatures at that time of the year are 85 degrees Fahrenheit. Expect good weather and go for it.

Ian, I have read a number of accounts of British contests over the years. My impression from what has been posted here is that conditions at the nats compare rather favorably with the usual British contest day. George Aldrich talked about having trouble standing up in the wind during stunt at one of the British Nationals. He was impressed that people went on flying as if it were normal. I think he said the wind was up to 55 MPH.

Hello Jim, Tom, Bri, and Len. O.K. guys you've restored my faith in 'im upstairs. It's still pencilled in. Mind you, hasn't it happened before? As Jim says, these conditions would favour the Brits., and I recall our Paul Winter gained several places at U.S. Nats a couple of years ago by flying in conditions that most people passed! (And got thrown into the swimming pool for his audacity!). All the best, Ian R.

Okay, us furriners will accept that this sort of wind isn't the norm for Muncie, but that's only because we know that the weather was just practicing for the World Champs. Can anyone tell us the last time the World Champs were flown in good conditions? Seems every report is filled with the words turbulence, squall, rain. And of course, you blokes have made the grave mistake of choosing a site that's actually big enough to hold the competition which means that you are going to have to bung on even worse conditions than usual to compensate.

In other words, if your recent Nats were just practice, what's the weather going to be like come rounds four and five for the big event?

>Okay, us furriners will accept that this sort of wind isn't
>the norm for Muncie, but that's only because we know that
>the weather was just practicing for the World Champs. Can
>anyone tell us the last time the World Champs were flown in
>good conditions? Seems every report is filled with the words
>turbulence, squall, rain. And of course, you blokes have
>made the grave mistake of choosing a site that's actually
>big enough to hold the competition which means that you are
>going to have to bung on even worse conditions than usual to
>compensate.
>
>In other words, if your recent Nats were just practice,
>what's the weather going to be like come rounds four and
>five for the big event?
>
>Cheers
>Richard

Probably dead calm and the contestants will have to back up to keep from flying through their own turbulence.

There will be no weather. All the weather men have been fired. Actually that is the only profession where you can be wrong every single time and get a pay raise. Just be good looking, not even intelligent. I remember when the USSR was intact and everyone blamed them for the bad weather, as some sort of "commie plot". Now who do we blame?