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Post by ezza on Jan 2, 2008 20:05:15 GMT 10
Hey Andrew, Nice work finding JimD's plane!! I'll bet the lift was ballistic up there. ;D Good to see you making the most of the conditions. I know all about that red mud. It is sooo slippery. We have it everywhere down here. Sounds like Grandpa is still doing OK. You probably gave him a birthday present he will never forget.
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Post by thevon on Jan 20, 2008 20:56:09 GMT 10
Guys, today we had a family birthday get together at the inlaws at Mt Mee. So later when there was a break after lunch I grabbed my daughter's Impreza and headed down to see how bad the road was to the flying spot in Pedwell Rd.
Basically it was totally dry and raising dust! There were a couple of small mudspots to splash thru but it was otherwise totally dry to drive on. It doesn't seem to need much dry weather to dry out.
So I recommend going there again, if there's not been rain. Again I was so impressed with the lift ... I didn't have a plane, but it was virtually calm everywhere else, but a nice fresh breeze coming up the slope at the site. But if you're there and a downpour comes over, get out fast!
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Post by atmosteve on Jan 20, 2008 23:39:02 GMT 10
I really should come down to Mt Mee in the first half of this year, it sounds impressive frontside. If i can stuff two gliders in the travel bag it would be great to come down for a bit of a meet with you guys and learn the site.. i.e getting help to find my plane lol.
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Post by thevon on Feb 15, 2008 23:17:31 GMT 10
Sean and I absconded again today and met up at Bald Knob around lunch, but the fantastic SSE’s we drooled at yesterday didn’t repeat. Too E and too light. Couldn’t even get height off the hump. We mucked around flying off the point, Sean being extremely keen to get more flying on the Carbon Bird (he LOVES that plane!) (And with good reason, it’s awesome. Super rigid, super fast, superb flyer and FLAPS!!!). I put the Ricochet up and got a bit scared as it, and the Bird, got madly tossed around when a cumulus cloud came over – weird wild rotors. I felt lucky to land OK. Then we had our first go at Bungee launching, using the elastic shock cord reel that Andrew Barnes of Falcon Gliders very generously GAVE me when I was enquiring about how to do it! He’s using winches now and no need for this. We wound out 15 metres of it, tied it to a lone fence post, and stuck my home made hook onto the Ozprey and “3, 2, 1, GO!!” WHOOMPFF!!! Up she went! It was most impressive but the hook ripped off on the 3rd launch, and we lost it. Man, it really gets some height fast, and it’s easy to do. We were encouraged! Treeline DS, here we come!! We thought for a bit that the wind might turn E enough to DS at the gate, but not so. Bald Knob can be a pain of a place, sometimes! SE is a really common wind direction, but it just doesn’t work well up there. We debated whether to try Ngun-Ngun again, but the wind wasn’t strong enough. So we headed for Pedwell Rd Mt Mee. But we stopped on the way to check out another potential DS hill which Ezza spotted on Google Earth! Been waiting for a chance, and we drove right past it, and it looked impressive! Found the nearest house and discovered that I knew the owner, and had a great chat. But before we can go up top, we have to clear it with his neighbor too. Looks like it could be great but more on that when we know more. So we drove up Mt Mee to Pedwell Rd. All I can say is Sean drives like he flies. My Subie was cooking by the time we got to the top of that twisty steep climb, but I wasn't going to let that young whipper-snapper shake me off! When we got to the dirt it was still mushy so we left Seans 2WD car and piled everything into my Outback. At the saddle the wind and the lift at was fantastic! But the weeds have got so high on that slope you can hardly see anything! We had a great time just diving the planes directly at the radar gun. There was so much lift you could get huge height – it was just a question of how much you wanted. Initially Sean’s Reaper clocked 100mph but I could only get 95 or so with mine, but when I got it dialed in, later I got 101. Meanwhile Sean’s bird hit 121 on the first big dive! Then later it got 129!!! That’s fast! And the Bat got 98, which is pretty amazing. Scary stuff having a missile heading right for you at 129mph, esp when you’re holding the gun and not in control of the missile!. Lots of fun. Sean was ecstatic that he could do flick rolls (or something like that) with the Bird. To top it off, we played around with DSing in the tiny pocket behind the road. Sean got radical with the Skua and was brushing branches occasionally! If you didn't get within a metre of the grass it didn't work! Then I had a go with the beaten up composite Minij, and it was so controllable! Very tight spot to dive into, high risk, but it just sticks to the track and can change line instantly, without problems. I think Sean was a bit freaked out that I was going to total it into the trees but honestly, I felt more relaxed DSing it over that tiny bowl amongst the trees, than with any foamie I’ve tried it with. That Minij is an amazing plane. Underside of Skua being DS'ed by Sean in the “Pedwell Rd Pea-sized Poxy Pocket” A great day. Stuff dreams are made of. At one stage we were watching amazing cloud patterns, with different levels moving opposite ways, with stippled streaks where the 2 layers met. At the end we had that experience like eating a sumptuous buffet meal - we’d definitely had enough but still felt we wanted to stay for “just a bit more”. Sad to go at as the wind was getting heaps stronger!
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Post by ezza on Feb 16, 2008 10:17:06 GMT 10
Great story. Makes me want to go flying!!
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Post by ding on Feb 16, 2008 10:28:17 GMT 10
Yep these are great stories guys. I'm afraid I generally don't have the energy to type that much but I do enjoy reading it!
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Post by thevon on Feb 16, 2008 10:46:03 GMT 10
Yep when I write those stories I feel pretty guilty writing about it, knowing that while we've been out flying you're hard at work Steve, but here I am at the desk making up for it today ...
Must admit when Sean and I had grins from ear to ear, trying to DS in the pocket, I had a clear vision that we are no different to 2 little boys playing with their toys!
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Post by sean on Feb 16, 2008 12:58:17 GMT 10
Good report Andrew, it certainly was a fun day, Mount Mee is an amazing spot for funneling the wind! You've got to admit, as far as toys go ours are pretty good . When I was DSing the Skua yesterday I knew it was only a matter of time before it crashed, only question was how long (crashed 3 or 4 times in the end). I felt the same when you were DSing the Minij! But you kept it off the ground, very impressive bit of flying!
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Post by thevon on Sept 20, 2008 22:51:07 GMT 10
Today we visited family at Mt Mee,so after lunch I went for a drive to explore for Northerly sites. No wind and no good sites, and when I got home a storm front seemed to have passed over and the air seemed to be coming from the E, so I thought I'd duck down to the flying site on Pedwell Rd.
When I got there, sure enough there was a really light wind coming up the valley. Also the site looks excellent as all the grass has been completely slashed, including on the other side of the road, right back to the trees. Plus they've slashed a big square area right where we normally stand to fly inside the fence.
Threw out the Ozprey, but hardly enough lift to keep it up. So I threw out the Nemesis and no problems she soared away and with a bit of camber climbed nicely. Had a good fly and even spent half an hour or so really light-air DSing both ways in the pocket! It would get half a dozen circles in and gradually slow down. I'm really so impressed with the Nemesis - it's a really high performing little moldie. Flies beautifully. At times I couldn't even feel the breeze, but it would climb away nicely.
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