|
Post by nick on Dec 6, 2009 18:11:19 GMT 10
Hi there Mikey 100, Sean and myself had a fly at the farm today, i was there and set up by 9:30 and the thermals were pumping already, great conditions until 9:31 when it was about 32 celsius, nah not to bad, we had still air, and air 10 knots from the East and to North.
Sean had his new green plane and made the save of the day, well the save of the century, he got down to 15 feet, yes that's right 15 feet and got back up, i was flying with him and saw it, i just couldn't get the core with him, we had a few close calls but no crashes. Mikey had some cranken thermals and close landings, he also brought along his little altimeter thingy, he just put it in my plane and is going to give me the info tonight, i reckon i will buy one, we are starting to get to know where the trigger points are on this site now, great fun and packed up at about 12:30, then home for a rum and coke
|
|
|
Post by mikey100 on Dec 6, 2009 19:59:04 GMT 10
The data has dropped... Nick.....launch=579ft, max ht=775ft, 16:36 Sean...launch=538ft, max ht=1029ft, 24:15 Me......launch=568ft, max ht=568ft As I can bungee to app 650-700ft average (best uver 750ft), I think I will concentrate on my bungeeing as it gives me a better chance of staying up. Best part for me was throwing, peddling and flying my own flights, something Skyboyken had encouraged me to do. Very impressed with Sean's and Nick's smooth flying. The Ram3 can be viewed at- home.epix.net/~rcbrust/
|
|
|
Post by sean on Dec 6, 2009 20:08:29 GMT 10
It was a really fun day alright. I'm still feeling a little excited about pulling off the save of my relatively limited thermalling experience . I caught a tiny bubble only a few metres off the ground that seemed smaller than the plane but just strong enough to maintain height, stayed in that for maybe a minute but it didn't develop. Then Nick yelled that he had a bubble close to where I was, so I went over to give that a go - again very small, only strong enough to hold height - but it very slowly developed, hit the treeline, my plane started climbing slowly and it eventually became booming lift. The best part was this was with the Tracer, an F3B plane on its first flat-field outing (the Orca stayed in the boot of my car ). This was the first time I've had the Tracer on the winch. First launch with no wind I had a little too much up elev trim and it was trying to drop a wing, had to hold in some down though it still went all the way up the line for an OK launch, straight into lift for a 20min+ flight. Second launch with a slight headwind and some down trim added was straight up the line pulling good tension, for a pretty good zoom. Third and fourth launches with no wind weren't quite so good with a slight wing drop or two but thankfully no pop-offs so still OK launches. An extra click or two of down trim should fix that for next time. I have a feeling with a good headwind it's gonna pull like a steam train. Thermalling the Tracer was a big surprise - I didn't buy it with thermalling in mind but it turned out to be very well behaved and could be circled tightly in small bubbles with confidence. I mostly kept the speed up which seemed to work but it would still allow me to slow it down for the smaller bubbles. As you'd expect it wasn't quite as solid as my Orca when circling tight and slow but surprisingly close. The green shows up really well when it's a long way away. The Tracer slows up quite well for landing but none of my landings today were particularly good. I think the Orca will be much easier for competition landings. It's good to see Nick gelling with his Xperience Pro! He mentioned a few times how much he likes it! Seems like a realy good fit for him - most of his flights were long ones. Mike's come a long way and was even self launching on the winch. The Ram3 altitude logger looks like a must have I reckon. Being self contained we were abe to move it between our models with ease.
|
|
|
Post by sean on Dec 6, 2009 20:13:06 GMT 10
Hey Mike, thanks for the data from today. It was good to see you at the farm. Your bungee does launch really well but it's worth mentioning we were launching in no wind, and the launch of mine that you logged was the Tracer's first ever launch with too much up elev trim. Are you still getting 650ft launches off the bungee in zero wind?
|
|
|
Post by mikey100 on Dec 9, 2009 19:47:50 GMT 10
Don't know Sean ...when I fly on a 'no wind' day I will post. How high are you getting 'no wind' off the winch with the Orca? You will have to share that data when you get it. (got a 817ft launch ht today in wind at BR tho'). I saw some of Jo Grinni's launch graphs and he , in no wind over snow, was getting around 700ft with a Supra. Suppose I should mention again that that was the first time I winched the Escape.. and peddled my self... and threw myself. Very proud of that! ;D I love the bungee as it is convenient, as I mostly fly by myself at BR, and have no ambition of contest thermaling, and as I previously stated- 'gives me the best chance of staying up.' Am sure you winch-heads will be getting gr8 hts when you have your planes set up and perfect headwind conditions. The Tracer and X-perience flew soooo well on Sunday. You should both be happy! ;D ;D
|
|
|
Post by sean on Dec 9, 2009 20:13:14 GMT 10
Mike, I have a Ram3 on the way and I'll post some numbers when I get them. It doesn't really interest me whether winch or bungee launches are higher, but what is clear is that you're getting good height off your bungee and you should be happy with that.
What plane are you considering to replace the Escape?
|
|
|
Post by nick on Dec 9, 2009 20:19:53 GMT 10
I have a ram 3 coming too, after mike showed me his i had to have one
|
|
|
Post by mikey100 on Dec 9, 2009 21:43:21 GMT 10
Sean, I agree about the winch/bungee debate: it courses for horses. Both are giving great launch heights. You will both love the Ram3s, great for hard data on trying out new things. To replace the Escape am between a Pike Perfect, Supra and Tragi 801. The Tragi is in the lead at present!
|
|
|
Post by thevon on Dec 9, 2009 22:28:02 GMT 10
"it was suggested to me that flying a glider at BR wasn't true thermal flying and that I should be out somewhere bush like Harrisville for true thermal conditions."
Well ... it was me who suggested that Mike should venture further afield than BR. No offence intended. I think BR is great and if I was not so darn busy at the moment I'd like to be over there with him. I think that on northerly days like today when the wind's not coming straight off the sea, BR does provide true thermals.
What I said was that BR with its flukey challenging conditions is an extremely good place to practice thermal skills. Knowing that Mike was a bit disappointed after Sunday, I said that the thermals at BR weren't generally the really defined columns that you find further inland, where you have to really circle tightly in the core of the thermal. So he may get huge improvement by practising in those conditions too. (Having said that I'm not much good at it!).
Hope that clarifies things a little.
EDIT: Oh, and I forgot to say the most important thing ...WOWW!!! 30 minutes was amazing, but nearly 3 times that?? I find it hard to get my head around such a huge flight time!
But Mike I also have to question the statement that the area around BR is flat. The flying spot is actually in Fitzgibbon although we call it BR. The suburb of Bracken Ridge is actually a real ridge which runs east-west about 1.5km north of the flying site. It definitely has some height (trust me, my favourite bike training ride goes over it). Also the flying spot is a sort of plateau isn't it? With a slope all around it?
|
|
|
Post by mikey100 on Dec 10, 2009 9:14:38 GMT 10
Yea Andrew, BR isn't flat, but then again, neither is Nicks farm or Harrisville or anywhere in the Brisbane valley. The rim around Br on the n-e side is about 25ft high and verged by rough scrub for 100s of metres, and the ridge over Telegraph Rd way is of less than a 5% gradient, so I didn't envisage that a plane at 700ft+ in 5-10kts would experience any significent slope effect from either. I know that at 25ft you can slope the rim if there is a bit of wind and you are skilled on the sticks, especially over on the eastern side. In a northerly, the heat generated over the roofs of the houses can give big areas of hot, rising air, as would a plowed black-soil paddock, roof of a farm shed, or acres of black-plastic strawberry beds. I have driven from the ocean at Shorncliff to the flying site at BR with the Ram3 running, then downloaded the data to get an idea of the topography of the area and the ht above sea level at the flying site to make the Ram3's data more accurate. Not as high above sea level as I thought. Suppose it boils down to the fact that no two flying sites are the same and you just have to make the most of what you have where you are at. For me BR is close to home with a great landing area. See you and the Espada when you get some free time again! Cheers.
|
|
|
Post by skyboyken on Dec 11, 2009 0:04:55 GMT 10
Well guys,
seeing as I have a beautiful new (to me) Shooter to play with, who's up for winch launching at the farm on this Sunday around lunchtime?
I'll try to be good on Saturday night but there's no way I'm going to be good enough or early enough to get out to Harrisville on Sunday.
So far there's me and Greg.
Ken.
|
|
|
Post by mikey100 on Dec 11, 2009 7:13:44 GMT 10
I'm in Melbourne, so wont be there...have fun.
|
|
|
Post by mikey100 on Dec 11, 2009 7:17:37 GMT 10
Hey Nick, what happened to flying at the turf farm? Loved that place...much more away from trees and landing area was sooooo smooth and flat! (My planes seem to have an affinity for trees!)
|
|
|
Post by nick on Dec 11, 2009 7:35:15 GMT 10
i was in a powered club when i found that field, and i have done work at the bottom of the farm so we can winch there and no one can tell us if we can fly there or not, the powered club still fly there so i keep away with my winch
nick
|
|
|
Post by mikey100 on Dec 11, 2009 8:23:33 GMT 10
Makes sense.
|
|