The Hall Family Photoblog - AMA Free Flight Aeromodeling Nationals

AMA Free Flight Aeromodeling Nationals

2022 Muncie Indiana

(7-26-2022)

For decades, since I was a child, I've wanted to attend the Academy of Model Aeronautics Championships. For the past few decades they have been held at the AMA's beautiful 1000 acre site in Muncie Indiana. Each weekend of mid summer, different categories of model airplanes compete for a week. The 15 categories include: scale RC, gliders, pattern, control line, helicopter, etc. Free flight has always been one of my favorites because that's what I started with as a kid and it's all about building skill and not so much piloting. It's great to just let a plane go and hope it flies like you expect. In the early days, free flight was the only category. Some of these planes are gas powered, rubber powered, hand launched or electric. Most contests have a target time, such as 4 minutes. Once you make it past the 4 minute mark, you get full credit, so any extra time aloft only risks you losing your airplane. Many free flight airplanes have dethermalizers, which typically is a mechanical timed device that moves the horizontal stabilizer up at a steep angle which kills the angle of attack and lift in the wings and results in the aircraft descending flat but reasonably slow. Most free flight planes have folding propellers which streamlines the prop when the motor quits. Gas airplanes often have an engine run time as little as 4 seconds, but airplanes can climb a few hundred feet in that much time. Some of the planes pictured below are old-time balsa covered with Japanese tissue and dope. Newer designs have cutting edge construction such as carbon fiber and plastic coverings.

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