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Post by nick on Mar 7, 2009 21:35:57 GMT 10
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Post by chamm37 on Mar 7, 2009 22:32:39 GMT 10
I wish i could have been there to help out
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Post by sean on Mar 9, 2009 10:51:19 GMT 10
Thanks for the pics Nick, great to see you there. Love the body language on Ezza in the pic where he's landing his Stratos . If you learn from your mistakes then I think I must be learning really fast... On the first day of the comp my winch broke two brand new lines, munching the line in the process. Saturday morning I wound a brand new line onto the winch having damaged the previous line on the weekend before. On the first launch of the day the turnaround got pulled out of the really soft ground on the first launch. This happened to a few others turnarounds in that first heat as well. A couple of launches later the line broke and we put it down to the line being damaged from this incident (lesson - be more careful pegging down the turnaround). I put a new line on and it lasted the rest of the day but then at the end of the day I did a practice launch and the new line broke! We scratched our heads over that one, but found the line to be abraded pretty badly along a 20M section so we started looking at the turnaround to see if it was damaging the line. After more head scratching we noticed it wasn't pegged in perfectly in line with the winch at the other end. It looks like this was causing the line to chafe against the pulley housing and eventually fail. To figure out what caused the failure was big relief. We cut out the abraded section of line, tied a knot and the next day with a well-aligned turnaround the line survived a dozen or more launches with big tension in strong wind. The wind on Sunday was quite strong and we were all getting great launches. Ezza's throw while launching is insane! When he first launched my Pike I couldn't believe it, he built up so much tension, held onto it at least three times longer than I'm used to until the winch motor was really bogging down. This worked incredibly well - my Pike shot up the line like it'd been fired out of a cannon! Just awesome. The first day wasn't kind to me, I was struggling in the patchy bubbles of lift with my lardy Pike, ended up doing quite badly. Second day was better suited to my Pike and I decided if I found lift, even if it wasn't the best I'd stick with it. This worked well, first flight, thanks largely to Eric's guidance I stayed in some weak lift that later turned into strong lift while most of ther guys sank out, managing to stay in the air longer than all but one other. That was a good feeling. Next flight I did the same thing - found a weakish thermal down low but downwind. Ezza was calling for me again and we just stayed with it and it became strong lift, again we ended up outclimbing most of the other guys and it looked possible that I'd win the heat. In the process the Pike got dragged a long way downwind, as far away as I'd ever seen a model flown. When it came time to head home I could barely see it, infact most of the time I couldn't see it. It took three of us to track it, Jeff, Ezza and myself. Unfortunately it just didn't seem to be penetrating, and when we lost sight of it I'd move the sticks to get a glimpse and then when we caught sight it'd be flying off to the side. I'd stick the nose right down to penetrate into the headwind and it didn't seem to make any any difference, it just wasn't coming home. It went on like this for quite some time and it soon dawned on us that it wasn't going to make it back. My first concern was I'd get a zero on the flight from landing out. Then that became less of a concern, it was so far away the thought of losing the model altogether started to sink in. Then the model disappeared while low so I hit the flaps and hoped for the best. We got a really good fix on where we last saw it - it went down near the crest of a hill on the horizon and after picking out a few landmarks I was able to go straight there. I searched those paddocks for maybe an hour to an hour and a half, knocking on doors etc. Don from the TARMAC club was a big help, seaching as well, talking to the local farmers etc. He climbed up a hill near the crest and looked down on the paddocks and still couldn't see it. The biggest problem was the grass in the paddocks was about knee high, just long enough to conceal the Pike if it was sitting level. After getting fried by the sun and a little dehydrated we went back to the field, it looked like the Pike was lost. I left my contact details with the lady who lived closest to where it went down. When the comp was over we went back to look again. The Windsock guys all joned in - Eric, his sign Michael, Ken, Jeff and Greg. We combed the paddocks standing line abreast and about 10-15M apart, searching the area in front of the crest. We got to the top of the crest and still no sign. This was a long way from the field, it seemed too far, I didn't think it could possibly be this far away. We kept going though, down behind the crest and about 50M later Jeff stumbled onto the Pike, with only relatively minor damage and a broken wing joiner. When Jeff found it I was next to him in the seach line, only 5-10M away from where it was sitting and I couldn't see it, so without everyone's help it would have been extremely unlikely that i would have found it. So huge thanks to Don from TARMAC, Ken, Jeff, Greg, Ezza and Michael. It's great to have got the Pike back but the thought of repairing it yet again is not a pleasant one! I think I'll leave it or a bit. It was hard to believe it was so far away, I measured the distance on Google Earth at 1.5km. This was after it had been flying towards us for a bit, though not penetrating well. I later found my transmitter was set in launch mode - I could have knocked it after the flight but it would certainly explain why it didn't penetrate in the strong headwind. I'm surprised I would have made such a fundamental mistake but it fits perfectly with the way the Pike just refused to come home. Once we were all packed up Ezza and I drove down to Withcott and got a little bit of DSing in. We were both a bit tired and had a long drive ahead so didn't stick at it long. Great to experience Withcott in a reasonably strong wind. Sean.
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Post by skyboyken on Mar 9, 2009 12:57:21 GMT 10
Great report Sean! FWIW I think the reason your plane wasn't coming home the way you're used to is that the wind was MUCH stronger at altitude than at ground level. I experienced the same thing in my flights and couldn't work it out at the time either. It was only on the long drive home that it dawned on me how strong the wind was when we were standing at the top of the hill looking for your plane, so strong someone commented on it at the time. A lot of experienced guys landed out because they couldn't get back to the field when they thought they would. You were the most extreme example. Congratulations!! . Ken.
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Post by thevon on Mar 9, 2009 16:42:24 GMT 10
That's a great report, thanks Sean. I was wishing I could go but perhaps it's better that I didn't! If great flyers like you can end up in trouble I wouldn't like my chances!! I'm really sorry to hear that the Pike is damaged again. Damn, that stings! For ages you had repairs that you didn't bother painting, then the other day you did a beaut paint job on it all, and now this! And that lovely joiner that you made is broken too! At least you have the specially designed mold box to make up another one! But I'm sorry - keep your chin up. If it's any consolation, your story makes wannabes like me feel better, knowing that guys like you have bad days too!
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Post by nick on Mar 9, 2009 20:23:44 GMT 10
howdy yes ezza looks like he is trying to shove the glider down on the spot with his radio, what direction was your plane from the strip when you out landed? man you must have been a speck because that highway to the west is 800 meters away, when i left i drove to that spot and watched as gliders climbed out above me, very impressive from that angle, im glad you found your glider, but it's a shame you need to repair your baby, won't be hard for you! you better hurry up and fix it for next sunday, lets hope next sunday is good for winching at woodford, if anyone wants to come out just pm me and i'll tell you how to get there, the more the merrier.
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Post by sean on Mar 10, 2009 12:19:48 GMT 10
Hey Nick, It was west of the field on the other side of the highway, north-west of the big pointy hill. She won't be fixed by Sunday I'm afraid.
After the weekend I'm very seriously considering building a Supra - big job but I'd like something that can exploit small bubbles of lift, I think it would be a good way to learn the finer aspects of thermalling.
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