Post by thevon on Dec 12, 2009 22:41:27 GMT 10
This arvo freed up so despite being (groan) soooo-o tired I was really keen to try out the new F3F timing gear. A SE change was due and Sean was keen. I phoned around a few guys with not much luck, which was a shame as we needed at least 3 of us there for the system to work!
I got into the shed to solder the plugs on the cables, sticking rigidly to my motto: “I might be rough, but I’m slow!” It took hours not minutes and as usual I had to re-do half of it due to stuffups. The final product was … well, huge and heavy! When I bought the rolls of speaker wire I thought “better get tough stuff if we’re gonna drag it around the slopes” so I got the 4mm wire. It did feel solid on the roll, but I didn’t realize how huge and heavy it was for carrying to the slope! (It wasn’t their thickest speaker wire either!!)
It was stinkin’ hot and humid, the sky a steely dull hazy grey, and the forecast rather vague. We had some SE wind at Redcliffe but there was nothing showing at the Sunny Coast. Hmm. It wasn’t inspiring. I checked Seabreeze and BOM about 22 times before deciding hang it, lets go. I pretended to be nice to my son Nick for a while and thus managed to trick him into coming along too, which was good. I’d put the hard word on Pete from Wowings too, and he was keen.
By Beerwah it was actually raining, sky looked oppressive, and not a breath of breeze. When we got to the foot of the hill Pete was looking decidedly uncertain about hiking it up to the top. There was NO wind! Sean was still having trouble convincing himself to leave home, but we phoned him with a sob story about not coping without him, and he promised to come. Meanwhile the lightest sniff of breeze stirred, giving us encouragement. We packed up gear and walked. My big backpack must have been 25kg with the battery and leads!
On top, there was a very light SE breeze and Pete’s 1x Carbon Bird looked really sweet howling back and forth. Sean’s car snaked along the road below as I tried some lame DS with the Fazo. Things were looking up! There was enough lift to have a suck-it-and-see with the F3F thing, so we measured out 100m, unrolled the cables and plugged it all together just as Sean got to the top with the Tracer and his "Ubagee" DLG.
Here’s a quick explanation of what’s involved in F3F. There’s a little computer/ timer box to display a flyer’s total time, fastest and slowest lap times. It goes near where the flyer will launch from. Cables run from it to a loud beeper and also to 2 press-buttons which you put at the BASES. A person has to sit at each base (base A on the left end and B on the right end of the 100m stretch) to press their button as the competing plane’s nose passes their base.
Normally you set up a good “sighting line” with strings so you can line the strings up and hit the button as the plane’s nose goes over the line. But today’s low key try-out, we just stuck a coloured peg in the ground and sighted 90 degrees to the slope.
The concept of flying F3F is pretty simple once you’re in the circuit. The only confusing bit is what you do with the 30 seconds before your lap timing starts!
When the flyer launches, the guy on the timer flips the Start switch and the screen starts a 30 sec countdown. The flyer wants to get as much height as possible to get better speed in the circuit, but during the 30 seconds he has to fly past the A base heading left (“going out of circuit”, and the A person beeps as the plane goes out) and then has to dive across the A base heading right (into circuit) before the timer gets to 30 seconds. The timer gives 2 beeps at 20 sec, 1 at 10 and beeps every second for last five seconds. If you don’t make it by 30 seconds you still keep going, but you are “late” and the extra time gets added to your lap times.
Then it’s just a matter of racing back and forth, making sure you go past each base on each leg. You hear the beeper as the button is pressed.
Then on the last turn at B, the beeper beeps twice not once to let you know you’re on the last lap and you dive to get more speed and your time is recorded as you pass A. But you have to be back above the horizon by 5 seconds from passing A. That’s it.
I had a couple of goes with the Fazo, getting 82 and 78 seconds. Then Sean tried the Tracer just as the lift died and he really struggled to get any height, but finally he got 2 good runs of 65 and 59 seconds and fastest lap 4.79 seconds. The wind was really light! Then Pete had some goes with the C Bird and got about 108 seconds both times!
Despite the tame conditions it was good flying, and challenging because you had to be super smooth to keep energy. We’d each had a go so we discussed tactics, agreeing that turning before the base and just making it was the biggest time-saver. You need to make the turns smooth but not climbing in the turn. And you have to really stay in the lift band.
So we started again and Pete was redeemed when I got about 110 seconds with a very slow effort by the Fazo. The lift died, and just after I finished it I said “I can’t even feel any wind”. To cut a long story short, the Fazo sank gradually to the valley below and I was forced to do an out-landing … with trees and rocks and fences and powerlines studding the landscape … but miraculously it landed perfectly! (see video).
Sean pulled out the DLG and amazed us with the throw height, and man, is that thing nimble! He even tried to DS it but there was no wind!
Today was one of those rare days when it was probably a dumb idea to go flying, but it turned out great. We all felt chuffed that we’ve now had a crack at the F3F thing, and it’s made us hungry to have a go on a windy day!
(I have some video to accompany this report - will post it when it uploads).
I got into the shed to solder the plugs on the cables, sticking rigidly to my motto: “I might be rough, but I’m slow!” It took hours not minutes and as usual I had to re-do half of it due to stuffups. The final product was … well, huge and heavy! When I bought the rolls of speaker wire I thought “better get tough stuff if we’re gonna drag it around the slopes” so I got the 4mm wire. It did feel solid on the roll, but I didn’t realize how huge and heavy it was for carrying to the slope! (It wasn’t their thickest speaker wire either!!)
It was stinkin’ hot and humid, the sky a steely dull hazy grey, and the forecast rather vague. We had some SE wind at Redcliffe but there was nothing showing at the Sunny Coast. Hmm. It wasn’t inspiring. I checked Seabreeze and BOM about 22 times before deciding hang it, lets go. I pretended to be nice to my son Nick for a while and thus managed to trick him into coming along too, which was good. I’d put the hard word on Pete from Wowings too, and he was keen.
By Beerwah it was actually raining, sky looked oppressive, and not a breath of breeze. When we got to the foot of the hill Pete was looking decidedly uncertain about hiking it up to the top. There was NO wind! Sean was still having trouble convincing himself to leave home, but we phoned him with a sob story about not coping without him, and he promised to come. Meanwhile the lightest sniff of breeze stirred, giving us encouragement. We packed up gear and walked. My big backpack must have been 25kg with the battery and leads!
On top, there was a very light SE breeze and Pete’s 1x Carbon Bird looked really sweet howling back and forth. Sean’s car snaked along the road below as I tried some lame DS with the Fazo. Things were looking up! There was enough lift to have a suck-it-and-see with the F3F thing, so we measured out 100m, unrolled the cables and plugged it all together just as Sean got to the top with the Tracer and his "Ubagee" DLG.
Here’s a quick explanation of what’s involved in F3F. There’s a little computer/ timer box to display a flyer’s total time, fastest and slowest lap times. It goes near where the flyer will launch from. Cables run from it to a loud beeper and also to 2 press-buttons which you put at the BASES. A person has to sit at each base (base A on the left end and B on the right end of the 100m stretch) to press their button as the competing plane’s nose passes their base.
Normally you set up a good “sighting line” with strings so you can line the strings up and hit the button as the plane’s nose goes over the line. But today’s low key try-out, we just stuck a coloured peg in the ground and sighted 90 degrees to the slope.
The concept of flying F3F is pretty simple once you’re in the circuit. The only confusing bit is what you do with the 30 seconds before your lap timing starts!
When the flyer launches, the guy on the timer flips the Start switch and the screen starts a 30 sec countdown. The flyer wants to get as much height as possible to get better speed in the circuit, but during the 30 seconds he has to fly past the A base heading left (“going out of circuit”, and the A person beeps as the plane goes out) and then has to dive across the A base heading right (into circuit) before the timer gets to 30 seconds. The timer gives 2 beeps at 20 sec, 1 at 10 and beeps every second for last five seconds. If you don’t make it by 30 seconds you still keep going, but you are “late” and the extra time gets added to your lap times.
Then it’s just a matter of racing back and forth, making sure you go past each base on each leg. You hear the beeper as the button is pressed.
Then on the last turn at B, the beeper beeps twice not once to let you know you’re on the last lap and you dive to get more speed and your time is recorded as you pass A. But you have to be back above the horizon by 5 seconds from passing A. That’s it.
I had a couple of goes with the Fazo, getting 82 and 78 seconds. Then Sean tried the Tracer just as the lift died and he really struggled to get any height, but finally he got 2 good runs of 65 and 59 seconds and fastest lap 4.79 seconds. The wind was really light! Then Pete had some goes with the C Bird and got about 108 seconds both times!
Despite the tame conditions it was good flying, and challenging because you had to be super smooth to keep energy. We’d each had a go so we discussed tactics, agreeing that turning before the base and just making it was the biggest time-saver. You need to make the turns smooth but not climbing in the turn. And you have to really stay in the lift band.
So we started again and Pete was redeemed when I got about 110 seconds with a very slow effort by the Fazo. The lift died, and just after I finished it I said “I can’t even feel any wind”. To cut a long story short, the Fazo sank gradually to the valley below and I was forced to do an out-landing … with trees and rocks and fences and powerlines studding the landscape … but miraculously it landed perfectly! (see video).
Sean pulled out the DLG and amazed us with the throw height, and man, is that thing nimble! He even tried to DS it but there was no wind!
Today was one of those rare days when it was probably a dumb idea to go flying, but it turned out great. We all felt chuffed that we’ve now had a crack at the F3F thing, and it’s made us hungry to have a go on a windy day!
(I have some video to accompany this report - will post it when it uploads).
Looked like a really fun day despite the lack of wind. Andrew you did so well with that outlanding. There is a lot of unfriendly stuff to hit down there.