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Post by sean on Aug 22, 2007 20:26:49 GMT 10
I just read this on RCGroups, posted by Michael (Swoopdown). Ezza recorded 171.5mph with his Opus at an "undisclosed" location in QLD!
Good on you Ezza, that's absolutely awesome. To go from a previous PB of 115 to 171 in one go is just mind blowing. Looking forward to hearing the whole story.
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Post by jase on Aug 22, 2007 20:40:54 GMT 10
congrats Erik. great to hear the Opus finally got flown  . |
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Post by laanguy on Aug 22, 2007 20:46:19 GMT 10
Well he has been practicing for long enough, Right plane, right place and time, right pilot......amazing jump in PB is an understatement, no one manages a jump like that....my best increase is only 21mph.
Well done Eric, glad to see you finally gave the Opus a good run, I think you will keep the record for a while. No other Opus around yet and not many other +200mph planes around yet. Just try to keep the record within reach of everyone else for at least a few months.....we have to have some hope.
Andrew
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Post by thevon on Aug 22, 2007 21:04:44 GMT 10
wow, Ezza - that's amazing! You're really right up there now! Good on you mate, well done. You've really been putting in the hard yards and your persistent pragmatic dogged determination has paid off all of sudden. This is the link to the RCGroups post: www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=731623#post8037534 |
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Post by ding on Aug 22, 2007 22:17:22 GMT 10
Well done!  |
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Post by windsock on Aug 23, 2007 9:15:30 GMT 10
Great work Ezza, have you posted the video online yet. Would be great to see it.
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Post by ezza on Aug 23, 2007 21:59:22 GMT 10
Hey guys, Finally got the video on. www.youtube.com/watch?v=QL7_8IEdqUkQuality dropped alot but not too bad. Probably better to do a shorter vid but I just wanted to get something on there. I had an hour of ds'ing the Opus on video so just had to pick a few moments. Crank up the sound! |
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Post by thevon on Aug 23, 2007 22:10:35 GMT 10
absolutely unreal Eric! That sound is really exciting! Who needs a jet turbine when you can get that speed and noise! I still find the whole concept enthralling.
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Post by sean on Aug 24, 2007 12:43:06 GMT 10
Hey Ezza the vid's awesome. Love the sound. I like your comment on the Opus at the end, you sound like you're still a bit in shock at how well the flight went.  |
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Post by ezza on Aug 24, 2007 18:36:02 GMT 10
Hey Ezza the vid's awesome. Love the sound. I like your comment on the Opus at the end, you sound like you're still a bit in shock at how well the flight went. You hit the nail on the head Sean. Total shock and love of Opii! |
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Post by thevon on Sept 5, 2007 21:50:12 GMT 10
Ezza returned to his record-breaking DS spot today in the huge southeasterlies - I phoned him earlier on his long drive home. He reported that there was a lot more turbulence making it harder today, possibly due to the wind being more southerly and/or more flukey than last time. He cranked plenty of laps in the 120's - 130's and his best was a tad over 160 but he got rocked by a big whack of turbulence during that one, and bailed out rather than keeping it going for a faster lap. He reckons it gave him a bit of a fright but he was glad to be heading for home with the Opus intact. So he'll be looking for more big SE to E days to go back and try to break his own record!
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Post by sean on Sept 6, 2007 12:11:57 GMT 10
Only 160 eh . Must be hair raising stuff flying that thing when the conditions are rough like that. |
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Post by ezza on Sept 6, 2007 23:32:56 GMT 10
Only 160 eh . Must be hair raising stuff flying that thing when the conditions are rough like that. I think we almost needed a new shorts after that incident. The plane bounced violently in the turbulence on the bottom turn and headed straight for the ground. I recovered it, but then it was coming straight for us at 162mph. It kinda felt like a 3kg cannonball was being shot straight at us!! Lucky the elevator response is quick at those speeds, and punched out vertical. This all happened in about 1 second. Felt more nervous yesterday than the other week mainly due to the turbulence. A few times I asked to hand the controls over to dad as I was a total shaking, pumped with adrenaline, mess. I feel really worn out today. After doing soo many laps you start to visualise the turbulent spots on the backside and there is one spot that gets real bumpy but also produces the best speeds. Last time we were there this zone would cause fair to moderate turbulence, on about 5-10% of the laps. Yesterday it was more like moderate to severe turbulence on 25% of the laps. It is a bit of a lottery ticket and yesteday highlighted the dangers to us. Also had to fly much lower, as the shear was not as high as usual. At one stage we walked down the backside of the hill and flew from down there. Quite earie as there is no wind down there and it is quite silent, except for this wailing plane and the thunder crack sound of it breaking through the shear layer on the way down and on the way back up again. ;D |
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Post by sean on Sept 7, 2007 10:38:09 GMT 10
That sounds awesome Ezza. It seems like every time you get the Opus in the air it becomes a memorable day. If a slick heavy machine like that was being knocked around by the turbulence I can only imagine what it would have been like with something slower and lighter  . That's a great quote! I read about your dad's first DS laps on RCGroups, congrats! |
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Post by ezza on Sept 7, 2007 11:34:34 GMT 10
That sounds awesome Ezza. It seems like every time you get the Opus in the air it becomes a memorable day. If a slick heavy machine like that was being knocked around by the turbulence I can only imagine what it would have been like with something slower and lighter . I read about your dad's first DS laps on RCGroups, congrats! I just hope I can keep it in one piece for a while, as the landing zone is very small and tricky, especially as I was flying it fully ballasted this time. Probably a mistake as it didn't seem to accelerate as quickly as last time and was more like flying a Mack truck. Yeah, Dad did really well. He was flying unballasted and on his first laps he dove in and did the normal thing of trying to keep hieght to get back out to the front. Ofcourse the plane is above the shear and starts getting blown backwards, tumbling like a leaf in the wind. The thing was soo far behind the slope it was looking like an ugly walk to retrieve. Then once below the shear the plane started slowly bumping back towards us. It looked like it was flying so slow....closer.....closer, then swoosh right past us back out into the lift!!!! Dad managed to pull this off a few times. I have never seen a plane spend so much time in the air, on the downwind side of the hill. It was like a vacuum sucking the air from the back to the frontside. He also tried some backside landings where he would dive down the back and fly around for a while then come up the backside for an uphill landing. Sometimes it would still come back up the hill with too much speed.  Truly bizzare conditions. |
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Truly bizzare conditions.