DAY .. 29. February - 2004
On the ice and today lots of people were there. I thought I would only go around being a club member and brought out my Majko for a few flights. My sonm had also built his first plane all by himself (he got a little help with the cyano). It flew well and we had a good time on the ice.
DAY ..
28.
February - 2004
- DS theory (my archive)
Just a theory from a "non engineer":
DS (Dynamic Soaring) what is that ? Lately I have been using some brains
on why and how this is happening. My latest "lightbulb" in my head came
after looking at a trick on the tv. Moving air has less pressure and will
actually be able to create a lift that can move pretty big objects and
offcourse air upwards. I have made a movie for you - too understand how and
why I think we can fly under the "shear layer" as we call it. There is also
a great computer study of a slope in France made by Julien Giraud
on the internet. look
here. Video of my experiment
is HERE (0.7mb
.wmv). Backup server
HERE
DAY ..
28.
February - 2004
Out practicing on the ice again. Again I brought out the Caracho and was
checking two things today. 1) I wanted some more video of my turnaround when
going out to the side and 2) I wanted to check again the thermal abillity on
the Caracho with a more aft position CG. The turnaround worked fine but I
will need to replace the ball bearings (I have checked and it feels good but
might need to be replaced). The Caracho might need a bigger V-tail tu
perform better when going 90 degrees on the turnaround. I also feel that
there should be more power on the rudder.
The new version of the turnaround video is
here
(sorry for the poor sound/picture as the quality is set to 160x120 pixels).
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DAY ..
27.
February - 2004
Now what on earth is this guy doing... Today I tried my newest
plane - a Caracho. Normally I love the Pike's but I got a good offer while
on the way to Denmark - after a "few" drinks on the ferry. So I had to stand
by my offer and here I am "stuck" with a 3,1m Caracho. I was curious just
how and why so many dont like this plane and had to test it myself. Most
pilots say it is hard to launch in calm conditions and not a plane for other
than the experts. After 6 flights I found some of it true but also some of
it fixed right away. The Caracho needs to get a quick "grip" in the air
before it can build tension. It is known for tip-dropping in the start but I
had changed the EWD slightly and after a few starts I had dialed in the hook
and flapping on a fairly good place. Now it was nice on the line and I could
do S-moves up the line. The zoom with this model is great. I also changed
the CG a few times and installed a Lolo altimeter logger. I had only 180m
line but were allready at 209m in 0-1m/s headwind and 1,25mm line.
The thermalling with this
model is good as long as you fly straight ahead but it looses a bit of the
energy when circling. I would think this is mainly to an almost straight
wing. Speed with the Caracho is just super. Put all in neutral - dial in the
elevator and no kick flap is needed at all.
It
is probably the best speed plane I have flown. So conclusion: Fast plane
that launches high if you get the grip of the air at once or early in the
start. Needs a good thermal pilot or better than average conditions to get
10min in the duration. Distance ? Well I would think the turns are great but
I did not feel the speed was better than others in the conditions today.
After 6 starts this is only what I see in these conditions. It might change
a lot with differrent air.
Today I also made a video of my new turnaround. So if you are extremely
technical and likes to see a very short video - you can download it
here (950kb windows media).
Cool bonus: My son got to test the Caracho. He is 6 years old and got both
aileron and elevator on his training Tx. I launched and had to step in and
correct 3 times + landing. Other than that he flew at least 3min alone! I
guess the Caracho cant be that difficult to fly... :-)
Lolo picture of start 4 ,
start 5 and
start 6
(the one my son flew)
DAY ..
26.
February - 2004
New day with more practice. My Hollenbeck turnaround broke in Arnberg so
I have now made a new one and much more simple = less things that can break.
I brought out my Pike Brio and did 5 starts. Took some video of the
turnaround while launching and it seemed to work just fine. BTW the wire is
5mm with plastic wrapping. I have also some 6mm but it looks like 5mm is
enough. And also: I have some parachutes in storage (As seen on the
picture). 12 EUR or 100Nkr a/piece + postage. They are FAI size.
DAY ..
24.
February - 2004
A little free comercial for Roman at
www.Lomcovak.cz
Atleast download the free fraction of the movie and see some cool
slowflyers.
Nearly
one hour of top european indoor flying during SlowFlyer 2004 in Prague. The
best indoor pilots from Czechia, Germany, Belgium and Poland. All
widescreen, digital quality on DVD media. Price 10EUR + 5EUR (shipping
worldwide) is not so shocking as flying style of some guys! You should see
it! ;-)
Roman Vojtech (20.2.2004)
...just fraction of whole movie
MPG 4,5MB
If
you are interested in CD version (MPEG1 or DivX) or VHS cassette, drop me an
email.
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DAY ..
24.
February - 2004
- DS theory (my archive) Lately there have been some discussion on who was the first to fly DS or Dynamic Soaring that it has been called for some years now. These discussions have been ongoing in the forum of Gliderking.com . I does not matter to me who flew it first as I am only interrested in why and how. But I cant just sit on the side and not launch a theory for myself. So: Just a theory from a "non engineer": A few times I have been watching the snow coming over the slope and forming rotors on the back (vertical rotors like a small tornado). The "share layer" is also much higher than I normally fly DS so I draw the conclusion that I do not need to go above/below share layer to get DS effect. I have for a long time thought that the rotors on the back gives me speed or pulls air so that the plane gets sucked inwards. (sorry for the bad english). When I fly DS I can often feel the rotor moving and as long as I rotate around it my speed increases. The best speed seems to be when I rotate knife-edge around the rotors. I would assume that a thermal just increases the effect of the rotors on the back.  We have also been testing with soap bubbles. They will glide smoothly with
the air and then suddenly tumble upwards back where we normally fly DS. Try
it next time you are flying DS. It was cool too see. Also smoke or light
materials can be used (powder) but not so cool effect as the soap bubbles.So now I was the first to launch the theory of rotors! (Maybe RS - Rotary Soaring ;-) Am I a legend now ? I hope not because I can not back it up by anything but practical flying. BTW first time I witnessed the rotors is in my Diary on the 30.october 2001. First time I flew DS was 7.may 2001. |
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DAY ..
23.
February - 2004
- Arnborg winter F3J
Back home and the results and details are popping in at
www.f3j.dk
Thanks guys. It was well done and very fun to fly in both dead freezing air
with fog in the morning and 15m/s on Sunday. We got to fly in all the
conditions possible and there even thermals in almost all rounds. I havent
studied all the details yet but there were not many rounds that was not
flown out 10min. And to all you Germans: Hope we meet again next year ;-)
We came well home but the storm stopped our ferry and we had a rough time
over the North sea when it finally went...
Pictures from the event is now on Eurofoto (32 of them). More photos
also from Aril Røsvik will be there soon.
DAY ..
22.
February - 2004
- Arnborg winter F3J
New day and new possibillities. The last of us were in bed at 01:00 but
up and strong for breakfast at 08:00. Briefing were at 09:00 and we started
much quicker today. There was snow in the air but soon the sky was almost
blue and the conditions were cold but fine. We flew 3 rounds before lunch
and mostly we flew on waves of wind but I did find thermals in both round
two and three. After lunch the wind had picked up and on the ground there
were 5-6m/s steady. The direction had also changed and the good air had
moved to the opposite side of the field. Higher the wind was much more and after 4th round the
competition was ended because of this (they meassured 15m/s at the most).
There
went a few models and even the Danish guys thought it was enough wind. I
changed from my Pike Superior and over to the Pike Brio with 600g of lead
(total weight 2650g). We flew 10 pilots in each group and I went up against
Jesper Jensen that were in a good lead after first three rounds (atleast I
had seen him make full flights). He flew his Estrella with extremely good
starting height but not enough against me. I had the rounds longest flight
with 7:22 and won against Jesper's 4:37 (with Claus Peter Siebers at 7:13).
And the winner is: Jo Grini... with Claus Peter Siebers at second and Peter
Mikkelsen in third. BTW Most rounds in Arnborg were won by full time but
only by a few pilots. See the details when they arrive.
Erik Morgan Villadsen flew his X21 to a good 8th place and Aril Røsvik flew
his Tsunami and Big Sting to a 9th. We were a bit concerned when Aril's
Tsunami SL fluttered in the super starts but it hold up to it. Maybe the
most exciting thing that happened was Jan Hansen hooking his X21 in the
start. Jesper Jensen runned forward and catched the plane while still in the
air... As you can see of the pictures...
Complete results with details should be found at
www.f3j.dk
DAY ..
21.
February - 2004
- Arnborg winter F3J
Wow - It was great. Meet a lot of new F3J pilots in competition makes a
big difference compared to flying only in your own country. Me, Erik Morgan
Villadsen and Aril Røsvik went on the ferry from Oslo to Hirtshals and
showed us as Norwegian on a ferry (read long night with sparkling water).
The next day we arrived on the flying field in "good shape" and got many
flights in super conditions in February/Denmark. The night was spent with
Germans and Danish pilots nice smiling faces and strong pizza (I dont think
this was typical Danish pizza :-). We got a nice small cottage and went
early to bed.
Saturday morning and official Danish breakfast. Food and friendship is one
of the key factors here. The organizers have done a good job on this event
and when the German wife's prepared lunch and comes around serving coffee
the picture becomes complete. If you want to have a good time among smilling
faces you should go to Arnberg also next year.
Today's competition should have been 10 rounds but after a long day and late
start we ended up with 6 rounds flying 10 pilots in each round (30
competitors all in all). The winner and the only one flying full time / full
landing was Marc Wiegmann from Germany. he showed that he could fly 6 good
rounds without loosing "anything". Myself ? Well if it would have been one
throw out I would be all the way up top. I did a huge mistake coming in for
landing. The field we flew on were huge but our landing spot had some
treeline just 75m away. I flew along the line and became stuck in the rotor
of one of the trees. Sadly it was outside 75m and therefore 0 points in that
round. All the other rounds I had full flights with good landings. OK I can
conclude that I am happy with the flying and a very useful training before
this years season. So what abouyt the other Norwegians ? Well Erik had lots
of problems with glitches and his X21 and he also liked the tree-elephants
at one point. Aril had very good flying untill he lost one elevator on
launch. We continued to fly and he flew out the whole 10 min (see pictures)
to offcourse 0 points for lost parts in the air. Tomorrow there will be
another competition with separate winners so wish us good luck on:
jo@grini.no (we will receive as sms).
Complete results with details should be found at
http://www.f3j.dk and new event and possibillities tomorrow :-)
(sadly I had 0 in one round...)
