Post by petedaws on Feb 7, 2009 22:11:17 GMT 10
Hi folks,
I'm new to the forums and slope soaring as well. I come from a glow/gas background and was trained got my bronze wings at Tingalpa (www.tmac.asn.au/) in Brisbane 5 years ago.
I got interested in slope soaring one day 2 years ago through watching some guys fly at Alex Heads while I was holidaying there. At the time I had an Ele-bee that I was using as a park flyer.
Slope soaring seemed like so much fun so I went ahead and bought a Wowings Skua (www.wowings.com/australia/). Sadly, the first two revisions of my Skua were a disaster (me trying to fly in the wrong conditions) and the Skua lay in a half/demolished state until about a month ago.
I went back to Alex Heads in Jan 2009 and again saw at least 5 guys slope soaring there. I decided that I had to resurrect the Skua and give it a decent go.
Rebuilding the Skua wasn't too hard however budget forced me replace my nice BB metal geared servos with standard size Hitec's. This time I took extra care to get the balance exactly right. I'm not all that happy with the covering job, but it seemed to suffice.
I spent the next week or so putting in a few hours on the simulator (RealFlight-G3) slopes.
So this time, with everything ready to go, I WAITED, waited until the forecast was for fresh E/SE's. I had my RDO from work on Friday (6 Feb) so I went with my wife for a day at Mooloolaba (of course she was well aware that I was intending to maiden the Skua). We spent the morning at the beach while I eagerly awaited the afternoon winds that were forecast. Come 2:30pm we drove around to pt Cartwright for the maiden!
There was a fresh SE blowing right onto the slope.
The cheer squad. I brought the Ele-bee up with me in case there was no wind. I still wanted to fly that day.
I'm all ready for the maiden flight!
Off she goes,
And up! Overall, I was very happy with the performance. I had done a few test throws in my local park to verify the trim,rates and balance. I barely had to touch the trim tabs at all and the Skua was just floating in the lift, completely hands free.
Paragliders joined in.
There were a couple of incidents like this one. But everything came out in one piece.
The eagles, not to be outdone, this one showing off its meal.
We took a break and came back around dusk. The lift was absolutely pumping at this time.
A few other guys joined in.
All in all it was a very satisfying maiden flight for the Skua and an absolutely exhilarating first time sloping for me. I can certainly vouch for learning on a simulator. The only difference is the nerves.
I asked the other guys who were sloping whether they had heard of Windsock and they hadn't, so I pointed them in this direction. I look forward to flying with some of you someday. Can't say that I'll be able to get to the slopes all that much but I sure will try.
cheers
Peter Dawson (36.310Mhz)
I'm new to the forums and slope soaring as well. I come from a glow/gas background and was trained got my bronze wings at Tingalpa (www.tmac.asn.au/) in Brisbane 5 years ago.
I got interested in slope soaring one day 2 years ago through watching some guys fly at Alex Heads while I was holidaying there. At the time I had an Ele-bee that I was using as a park flyer.
Slope soaring seemed like so much fun so I went ahead and bought a Wowings Skua (www.wowings.com/australia/). Sadly, the first two revisions of my Skua were a disaster (me trying to fly in the wrong conditions) and the Skua lay in a half/demolished state until about a month ago.
I went back to Alex Heads in Jan 2009 and again saw at least 5 guys slope soaring there. I decided that I had to resurrect the Skua and give it a decent go.
Rebuilding the Skua wasn't too hard however budget forced me replace my nice BB metal geared servos with standard size Hitec's. This time I took extra care to get the balance exactly right. I'm not all that happy with the covering job, but it seemed to suffice.
I spent the next week or so putting in a few hours on the simulator (RealFlight-G3) slopes.
So this time, with everything ready to go, I WAITED, waited until the forecast was for fresh E/SE's. I had my RDO from work on Friday (6 Feb) so I went with my wife for a day at Mooloolaba (of course she was well aware that I was intending to maiden the Skua). We spent the morning at the beach while I eagerly awaited the afternoon winds that were forecast. Come 2:30pm we drove around to pt Cartwright for the maiden!
There was a fresh SE blowing right onto the slope.
The cheer squad. I brought the Ele-bee up with me in case there was no wind. I still wanted to fly that day.
I'm all ready for the maiden flight!
Off she goes,
And up! Overall, I was very happy with the performance. I had done a few test throws in my local park to verify the trim,rates and balance. I barely had to touch the trim tabs at all and the Skua was just floating in the lift, completely hands free.
Paragliders joined in.
There were a couple of incidents like this one. But everything came out in one piece.
The eagles, not to be outdone, this one showing off its meal.
We took a break and came back around dusk. The lift was absolutely pumping at this time.
A few other guys joined in.
All in all it was a very satisfying maiden flight for the Skua and an absolutely exhilarating first time sloping for me. I can certainly vouch for learning on a simulator. The only difference is the nerves.
I asked the other guys who were sloping whether they had heard of Windsock and they hadn't, so I pointed them in this direction. I look forward to flying with some of you someday. Can't say that I'll be able to get to the slopes all that much but I sure will try.
cheers
Peter Dawson (36.310Mhz)
, great report and photos. It's always the way e.g. waiting for the weather.
