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Prologue It's my intent to relate my experience of this year's FAC Nats, a journal of sorts. Time and energy limits touching on every event, not that you would want a full blown account either, so here are a few of the moments that stood out for me. Each of the 150+ flyers has a story, and this is mine. I've included links to short Quicktime movies at the end of the article. These will require a high speed modem or DSL connection, so avoid them if you are on a dial-up phone line. Tom Hallman |
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| Travel
Day Blame it on the Jayhawks, and give praise to Nora Jones and the toad. I've always tied music to flying, and this year was no different. During the 4.5 hours of driving from SE Pennsylvania, I tuned into local radio, NPR, tapes of Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion, performance/dialog artist Joe Frank, and for the final stretch after Corning, NY, the roots rock sound of the Jayhawks. They gave just the right amount of energy, inspiration and reflection as I cruised those last few miles to the field we've all come to love. Alot was different this time around. Namely the weather and the
field conditions upon arrival. Usually we can expect an afternoon
of trim flying while the models are being judged at the Days Inn,
but this time it was overcast and windy. |
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I also thought I was more prepared than I had found after I started to set up my canopy for the weekend. A somewhat lighter than normal bag of poles and tarp led to the realization that someone at home had raided the big blue bag. Seems my daughter now has a fancy canopy over her bed...guess where she got the hardware?....a creative gal, so I should smile. Yeah well, I wasn't going to fly anyways, so my good pal Dan Kranis took me on a tour of the local hardware stores, only to regrettably head northward 30 minutes toward Rochester where the Target store came in handy, selling a fine canopy for only $29.99. (grab them, they're perfect for our needs). It's all part of the experience, giving us a good chance to catch up on each others' lives. Arriving at the scale judging venue later than normal, I found myself full of focus, gathering the boxes and documentation for my 7 models to be judged that evening. The hall was already crowded with nearly 100 flyers, all looking to do the same. Model boxes, vendors, and on-lookers were milling about....not exactly the time to stop and chat as I passed many of my pals, most of whom I hadn't seen since last year at this time. So, for the 3-4 times that I passed a few of the guys, I wasn't looking at them directly, passing only with a polite 'hey' or 'good to see you' etc. I just wanted to get these models in place on the overly crowded tables, attach my contestant number tag and documentation, and take that huge breath of fresh air...along with a beer perhaps.
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Frank Rowsome was the king pin for this gesture, so I have him to blame, er praise. I had mentioned it to a few guys along the way, the coincidence of the dates, but never thought there'd be much mention of it. I was hoping to lay low. At one point later, after I was long into the waiting period for my scale ships, Frank got ahold of the microphone and announced to the crowd that it was 'my day' and the song shall be sung. In chorus they sang out, I was properly embarrassed, but managed a smile and a few words after someone yelled 'SPEECH'. All I could come up with is "...it's all a lie, I'm only 40..." Scale night offered a fine new crop of birds, ranging from autogiros to flying wings to triplanes. It's great to see how the troops are increasingly inspired to test the bounds of free-flight scale, especially on an FAC Nats year. |
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