The entire USA F5J team recently attended "F5J in the Desert" event near Phoenix, AZ. The event took place at a sod farm. The field was totally open with no trees or other structures within reach, other than a power line far from the field. The weather changed from nice and nearly calm air on Saturday to very windy and turbulent on Sunday.

All of the USA team pilots did well in the preliminary rounds, some better than others, and all made the fly-offs. The windy conditions made Sunday flying very difficult, in fly-offs especially, resulting in at least one low score for every pilot. The event was a great practice for the team.

At the event Charlie Morris announced to the team that due to job related issues he will not be able to attend
the F5J World Championship in August, 2019. Charlie therefore has stepped down and Toby Herrera has officially joined the USA team. The new alternate pilot now is Skyler Raver.