DAY ..
3.September 2008 - Kobra DS
Someone had found that I had posted a few videos
from my last DS session and questioned the
calculations on a video for speed. As all
calculations it depends on what you have to work
with so I figured I would go to the DS slope and
have a session to compare my radar with video
calculations. My radar is not the best but I got
some speeds and video to go with it. It seemed
accurate enough for me ;) I also recorded a
237mph run and that was nice since the
conditions was not the best. Every time a
thermal went thru the conditions were pretty
good.
DAY ..
31.August
2008 - F3J
Last National Cup this year and only National
Championship F3J left in this class. 23 pilots
had entered and 22 showed up. 5 teams, 4
preliminary rounds and 2 finals was today's
task. Some drops of rain at lunch time could
have ruined it but I think pilots had fun in
thermally conditions. All launches were either
downwind or sidewind and the 2-4m/s winds almost
gave us slope conditions on a nearby hill. But
if one did not catch the thermals a 5min flights
would put you halfway down the list. Our team
was a bit laid back in the start I guess so I
got 20sec shaved of the start, Tor had a 1cm rx
antenna (fortunately glassfiber canopy on his
Perfect!!!), Aril was rusty after a long time
working instead of flying and Alf Erik did so
see that landing spot I guess. But we shaped up
and did some great scores the rest of the day
mostly. The rest of the Norwegians are becoming
very good pilots so there were plenty pilots not
happy about getting down the list. That's how it
is when we have few rounds and there are all
good pilots on the field. Rules were F3J but
with 300m line on winches and with the new
landing rules (very nice).
I got myself to the finals in second place and
flew pretty well in the finals. Had to "steel" a
few thermals though ;) The Swedes were a bit
disappointed this time I guess as we Norwegians
were so good? Lennart Arvidsson SWE flew very
well all day and I was impressed. But in the
finals I got him. There was one mid-air that
sadly took down Phuong Dao's Supra. She needs a
couple of new tips and a nose cone...
I won the finals. Results and some pictures HERE
- Some words on Egil's
Grossegler diary HERE
DAY .. 30.August
2008 - Perfect
Hot, sunny and probably the last we see of that
this summer? 14 pilots on the site and this was
only practice day for the last National Cup F3J.
4 Swedes and Aril Røsvik from Tromsø was the
long travellers and we did 3 (or was it 4?)
simple F3J competitions with a cup system. 4 on
4 and the best one got to the final and number
two had to fight for the last place. Very cool
and simple. We did 10min flights and launched
the American style where you launch one by one
(as soon as one model is clear the next
launches). This because we had 4 winches all
side by side. But we did same working time so
number one up might have to fly 30sec more. Cool
concept for a small competition. Maybe a good
club format?
Evening we ordered pizza again (Fredrik's in
Spydeberg is really good). 10 of us spent a long
evening and night. Flew my Nemo with night
lights in the night.
DAY .. 29.August
2008 - Perfect
F3J this weekend but me and Stig Magne Olsen
figured we would get there early and practice.
Had some nice evening flights head to head
before we got some pizza and finished of the day
with Lift Ticket on the DVD ;)
DAY .. 24.August
2008 - LSF
Another day at Lillehammer MFk site for LSF21. 5
people + one that fixed the gate and we had a
great day in very cool and difficult conditions.
fairly high winds made me brake some line in the
first and broke the knot in the second start. In
the third I changed the line and went from
Perfect to pumping up the Supra instead. Won the
event and spotted nr.2 Stein Marius down from
second to maybe third... But this kid might be a
strong contender in the junior class as they are
thinking of the WC in France. Finally a
Norwegian junior and a good one too!! Look out
for Stein Marius Pedersen and his Aspire! After
the event me and Stig took some man on man best
of 5 rounds. I flew my Skymax4 and Stig his
Perfect. I won 2 and Stig 1. In the 4th we both
blew the landing a bit and called it the last of
the day. Great to have someone to fight against
and willing too!
Results
from the LSF21
DAY .. 23.August
2008 -
Aurdalcamp
Got a photo mission today as a local camping
place wanted new photos for their website.
Full-size helicopter (R44) was there for the day
and I got 2 nice flights. Sadly they were not
checked out for photo mission so we had to fly
with the doors on (even though they knew this
was also a photo mission!!). In the end I flew a
couple of extra flights with my Joker2 to get
some close-ups. Nice day anyhow.
Lots of pictures HERE from the camping area
(also some from 3.aug) and some
full-size heli photos HERE (nice girl
pilot!).
Also check out
this cool picture of my valley and the
mountains in the far (were my DS slope is)
DAY .. 22.August
2008 - Supra/Perfect
Stig sent me a message about practice flying and
I was off course ready for that! A great evening
on their new field.
DAY .. 21.August
2008 - Supra/Perfect
Another day in paradise or? Up in the mountains
I set up 400m line (shows we can have a couple
of F3X -weekends here next year ;) and flew
Fredrik's Supra and my SSL Perfect. Conditions
were sometimes booming and sometimes you were
down at 3min. Had a very cool experience when I
heard a long "wooosh" in the air and could see a
hawk coming in at top speed and levelled out of
the dive in only one meter height. Guess it was
hunting for mice. Very cool sound and fairly
high speed. The Perfect was the main weapon
today and it is a more calm and easier model to
fly at distance with. But the Supra can be
better at catching the small and weak ones as it
is agile and can be turned around very quickly
when that small blimp of a thermal comes by.
DAY .. 19.August
2008 - Supra
At Interglide I found that Sydney had some Supra
parts and I got an idea of completing a Supra
for my son since I had some parts left. From
Sydney I got a boom, rudder and some spare
elevators and now I have completed a glass Supra
for my son to play with. Took it out for setting
the radio today and had totally forgot how fun
it was to fly this plane. It came out very light
at 1730g and as all Supra's it very agile to fly
and launches well. I was kind to it as some of
the parts are really early ones and the boom is
repaired. Should be a nice tool for my son if I
can get him interested to fly the big ones!
Daddy hopes so and think he is good enough to
kick some...
Here is a
"mood video" from the field up in the mountains
18mb .wmv
DAY .. 17.August
2008 -
Lillehammer
The plan was to fly F3B but my son had his last
weekend before school start and I guess we were
tired of driving. But I managed to sneak out for
a flying session and a local competition on a
new airfield the
Lillehammer club has found. 9
pilots and a couple of others were there. 5 of
us flew the LSF21 competition (with F3J landing
rule). The LSF rules gives you 3 rounds to aim
for a 21min total time. One of the flights can
be up to 10min while the two others is 7min.
Before last round we calculate what is left to
fly. An old competition but works ok on club
level as one can fly when ready. Very exciting field as it is on 850m and
this means lots of sink around and small tight
thermals early in the day. We had the winches
many ways but the wind kept turning so first
flight was in downwind and the rest in various
ways ;) A great day out with good warm weather and
smiling faces.
DAY .. 12-14.August
2008 -
Hanstholm
On the way home from Hollandglide we stopped in
Hanstholm, Denmark and visited our good friends
Anne and Brynjar Pihl. They have a trailer here
and enjoy the nice beer and 50m to the slopes.
South something wind so we went to the
"Champagne slope". Brynjar had an "odd" thing
happening in his flight ending up having to go
down for the model (giving him a good workout
today..). I flew my Skymax4 and had a blast
every time the thermals came thru (6-7m/s). Anne
made us dinner and served us so well that we
stayed for a couple of days! Torstein Pedersen
and a work friend was also there to fly and
empty the local brewery ;) BTW after enough
drinks Brynjar got himself a new model...
Updated the Hollandglide days with
video here
-----------------------------------------
DAY .. 9-10.August
2008 -
hollandglide - updated
15.aug
Me and Fredrik on Holiday and dad gets to fly
Hollandglide on the trip ;) Arrived in the
campingsite on Friday 8th and we did dinner with
the Czech team as a thank you for helping the
Norwegian team at the WC. Afterwards we checked
out the camping site a bit and did some flights
with my Nemo. I was going to enter the "Midnight
Chuckie" on Saturday night but it rained so no
flying there for me (there were some guys that
did fly and earned their prices). Saturday
morning we woke up to nice weather and the whole
day was very nice with everything from booming
thermals to heavy sink. Everything needed to
make a nice thermal competition. I was in the
Czech team and was served well by them not
needing to run a single time. But I did take
most of the times and did some spotting when I
had something to say. The Czech team is always
working well and they all contribute to the team
100%. The team did also well and after 4 rounds
we were all in top places but Jane that had one
really difficult flight. Competition is running
very smoothly but you need to be on track as
there are only 3-4min between each slot. I was
very happy with the timing system this year as
they had gone to voice counting of the last 10
seconds. For me it is so much easier to thrust
the speaker voice and concentrate on just that
for the landing. Thanks!! Again I ordered the
breakfast, lunch and barbeque on site and it was
good. So nice to get fresh food for all meals.
It does cost a bit but I really need to think
about flying not preparing food.. 125 pilots
showed up for this event from 9 different
nations. 13-14 pilots in each group and 12 in
the finals. There was very little carnage on
launch but some landings in the woods or far
away as pilots tends to take big chances in
these big competitions. The weather forecast
held up for Saturday with nice weather and a
front coming in the evening with rain. The CD
announced no flying before 11AM on Sunday and
that is a hard decision to make! But he was
right as we could not fly at all before after 12
on Sunday when we finished round 5 and got on
with 2 finals. Conditions were windy with only
small thermals in the morning but it developed a
bit in the middle of the round as the weather
improved. I had the second slot of the day but
managed to get away on the first thermal (just
sat in front waiting for it to pass and was
maybe lucky (there were some low clouds to look
at). The sun came upon us for the finals though
also heavy winds. I was 3rd after the
preliminaries and loaded up my Pike Perfect with
a total weight of 2900g. One could not drop more
than 33 points for a flyoff place. And I did
need the ballast as the field did not produce
the largest thermals but the woods behind us
released it making us fly >1km downwind before
coming back and catch a new one. In the finals I
got help from my Swedish friends as runners,
Adrian Lee as spotter and thanks to Stefan Eder
that launched me nicely so my back could relax.
I did direct tow but not sure I needed it as I
zoomed of fairly early both finals. In the first
final 3 pilots landed far out and some poor
landings narrowed it down a bit on the winner
circle. Second final was really tough and nobody
got really away. All pilots headed home before
10min had past. Philip Kolb got a small thermal
in the parking lot and I got parts of it under
him but needed also to scratch the tiny treeline
the last minute together with Karl Hinch that
was already there. Philip nailed the last
landing as a 100 (we were using the new 20cm
landing rule) while I ended with a typical "95"
though with a better time. Karl Hinsch had
better landings than me but worse times. I like
the new rules as nailing the mark is much more
important. Anyhow Philip deserved the win as he
was the only one in the second final with a
small extra altitude before the landing. A nice
competition and not much to say other than
positive things. I was in the jury (as last year
also) but we did not need to be called a single
time. Fair Play is mostly good in F3J Eurotour
competitions but in the heat of a competition we
are only humans off course. Thanks to all the
smiling faces and friends I do have in this
community. I had a wonderful couple of days with
you all.
Some asked: Atleast the first 5 models in the
finals were Pike Perfect..
60
pictures from me HERE -
Sure there are results soon on
www.hollandglide.nl
NEW Jaap Kooy
luckily provided some videos of the finals.
Always nice to see how it was looking back thru
some video. He had lots more and even video from
a plane but it needs heavy deleting of scenes
since this this is a military base.
HERE (22mb .wmv).
DAY .. 3.August
2008 -
Aurdal Fjordcamp
Did a photosession today on a local camping
since the evening sun was up after a rainy day.
The strange part was that when I looked at their
webpage they already had some pictures from a
big helicopter.. Well maybe mine is better. I
need to talk to them more to get details but
todays pictures were taken as fast as possible
since the weather was there. Need to take some
more action pictures down low later I guess.
My pictures are HERE
DAY .. 3.August
2008 - Nemo night
Came home late after a little work on the pub so
what better to do than to do some night flying
with my Nemo? Going to Hollandglide next week
and the Midnight Chucky is back. Arranged so I
got a tail light on my Nemo so it should be
ready for some "chucking" ;)
How does it look at 02:00AM?
See video HERE
(7mb .wmv)
DAY .. 1.August
2008 - Slettefjell with Skymax4
Still wonderful weather here and one has to use
it for other than drinking coffee I guess. Went
up to Slettefjell and tossed out my Skymax4. Not
much slopelift but if one just wait up one can
toss into a thermal. And anyhow 800m of height
gives you a large area to search so one will
always find something in this weather. Another
thing here is that one can land halfway down in
soft ground. Really nice place so I even did a
small siesta in the sun ;) On the way down (on
this slope you can drive all up to the slopeedge)
I did some sightseeing on a river. Almost pulled
out my Nemo. Could have been wet ;)
A
tiny video of "into" thermal launching HERE
(16mb .wmv) Watch the wind... A few more
seconds fiddling with the settings and I would
have launched in sink ;)
