DAY .. 28. October - 2002
Cant help it. There is only a few things that really gets my mind go wild. Life, girls, winning a competition AND flying DS (dynamic soaring). Today there was absolute silence and no wind where I live. Still I wanted to check if it was still possible to access my favorite DS-slope. It has been snowing "a lot" lately and it is all to early for the season to stop. 50km later I arrived at Beitostølen and it was blowing! The temperature outside was -2 degrees so I dressed up in my winter clothing. This means looking like a teddy bear but hey -
a warm pilot is a good pilot - or what ? There is only 400m to the slope but because of 50cm of snow on the way there - I used 1/2hour included all the brakes... BUT it was worth the effort I can tell you. First a few minutes with the GT wing but the speed controller on the 400-motor did not like some snow.... Then the Opus was ready for action. The wind was blowing 15m/s and the lead was left in the car so I expected a plane that was "a bit to light" but was way wrong. The Opus (sold by ET-AIR.com ) was screaming fast and I just could not stop flying. I was really cold sometimes so I shifted left and right hands to fly while the fingers was put down the pockets. After over an hour of flying I landed at the top and started the way back to the car. Damn I guess this was the last DS-session for this year but it was way cool.
BTW Someone mentioned why I do such a bad job on my own pages while other pages is much more cool. Well - this page is only a diary. A diary should only be pure txt and maybe some pictures (and I love pictures..). A diary also needs to be quick to update. If you want design there will be less updates :-( Hope you all enjoy it :-)

 

  DAY .. 27. October - 2002
Nice weather here in Norway while England is supposed to have some serious trouble coming. My son was eager to get some time outside and I am not so difficult to get out (as long as there is possible to do some flying). My sons plane was charged on "daddy's" charger and rise to the air for a new record (above the tree line). The GT-wing was also used a bit and some loooow passes made the propeller a "bit short". My son was there to pick the model up off course. He also took some nice pictures and really takes his time to before he pushes the button. Nice to see he is growing up!

  DAY .. 20. October - 2002
Yet another day with the GT-wing and have now shifted the CG a bit. It now flies well with CG at 19cm. Most people will like it at 18,5cm but it snap-rolls cool on 19 ... :-) It is enough power in almost 8 minutes of flying (Sanyo 8x1400AE) and the speed is the best I have tested with a EPP-wing and speed 400 (with Graupner 5x5).

  DAY ..
19. October - 2002
Went to a model show near Oslo. Mainly model railway but also some models and indoor flying. The show was ok and it was cool to see how enthusiastic other models groups are. The model railway guys is just as crazy as us - maybe worse... There were also some model shops around, mini-z, electric helicopters, and a "model-club" (not nationally organized through NLF/FAI but seemed well organized within the club). Here are some pictures from the day. 

 

  DAY .. 18. October - 2002
Ever been to a golf-course ? Well normally you will get thrown away but not when there is none there. First snow means no "golfers" around and some nice big countryside for yourself. To cold for me to take out the winch but that is what I would really liked to do today. Next time!

  DAY ..
17. October - 2002
My uncle said it was a long time since I had flown! He was right. I have been lying with back pain and with something that made me go plenty of times to the toilette.... Finally I was out for some winter flying because now the first snow is here. The GT-wing was the main weapon today.

 

  DAY .. 12. October - 2002
IGG Norway (interessengemeinschaft Norway) had a "small" happening at Starmoen airport. I was there though I do not have a plane to fly on these occasions. I brought a GT wing that I won at the Nationals (delivered by Flying Wings). It was equipped with speed 400 and 8 cells and flew nice. The CG was way to long back but still no problem other then that I had to be careful with the elevator. 
The IGG event was ok but I don't like rain and I am not happy to be in the line of fire when these huge machines get out of control. To fly a 4-6m sailplane and a 25kg motor plane one needs to take it easy and know what you do. You also have to get the spectators way of the line. At Starmoen they were together with big planes also and I am not so sure that was a good solution. On several occasions the big planes came a bit too close to the smaller ones and their pilots. 
When that is said it was a spectacular day with great flying and some splendid workmanship on BIG lovely scale models. All the guys is as usual always smiling and the Swedes were also there with their big models and even bigger smiles. When I went they were going for dinner and still one more day of flying.
A huge collection of pictures can be found HERE. It opens two windows. One of them with 43 pictures.

 

 

 
  DAY .. 9. October - 2002
Beginning to feel the "urge to fly" again. By that I mean 3meter+ sailplanes. The Pike Plus SL went out from the car and into a thermal session with snow falling from the sky. Even with snow and only 5degrees outside there are always thermals. It became 3 long sessions turning the sky in over 20 minutes. Life is not a bitch :-)

  DAY .. 5-6. October - 2002
Went to Spydeberg for some 3x12 electro and some practice the day before. The hut at Spydeberg is again a ok place to stay but there was not much wood to get warm. It was only 2 degrees outside tonight but I kept warm until I had to get up in the morning :-O 
The competition went really well and in the last round I had the whole event fixed with only 6 sec motor run after 12 min flying. That was before I hit the brakes..... Sadly the servo lead to the wing was in some way attached to the flap servo and I suddenly had no control of my wing servos. Damn landed out with no damage but did not get first place. Did get into 3rd place when the scores were counted. I also handed over the Cirrus cup trophy that have been in my possession in one year (best in 6 events in the club Cirrus).
Really cool to see so many from Tønsberg this weekend. The competition then become a record event with 20 competitors on the startling. BTW 3x12 is an electro competition with 3 rounds 12min thermal and with special rules so that simple motors can be used. One can actually win it with a speed 400 and 6 cells but most use brushless with 10 cells.  

Read and see the results at this page

 

  DAY ..
3. October - 2002
Damn - still no wind. Checked the internet and the wind at Storefjell was picking up... Arrived and the wind was gone. Looks like the autumn winds is not here yet. My Organic had a go in the 1-2m/s wind but it is no fun on a slope when there is not a single thermal in sight. Hopefully it will be better tomorrow. I really want some rocking DS soon.

  DAY ..
1. October - 2002
A "long" time since I last flew a model. It has now gone over a week of not flying but it was good to have a break. Today I was ready with my Opus from ET-AIR but off course no wind. The Opus is my new slope model and will hopefully be just perfect for DS. 
Ended up flying the Organic in fog at Klanten airport. Hopefully there will be some strong winds one of the days soon. Sunday I will fly the 3x12min electro comp. at Spydeberg so it was nice to have checked the Organic. Totally 20sec of motor run to complete 12min. Cool to see that even in fog there can be thermals!! The second flight needed 35sec motor because the thermal had gone past a fogbank....

January 2002 - Det er kaldt, vinter, elektroflyging, men også plutselig varmegrader og årets første 12min termikktur. Fikk endelig slept i gang Mini-phønix'n og har testet en ny X-wing fra Flying wings i Stavanger.
Februar 2002 - Begynner å komme meg etter ryggoperasjonen og heldigvis..! kom den nå når det ikke er flysesong. Det viktigste som skjedde i Februar var opprettelsen av flere domenenavn: F3J.no (landslaget F3J) og VFKM.no (Valdres Flyklubb Modell). Klubben fikk seg også ny Skanner.
Mars 2002 - Dette ble en skikkelig modellflymåned!! Nye NM-regler på danskebåten, test av Diablotin for MI, Fagernes Flyshow, Årsmøte NAK, slepetreff Starmoen og Krystall Cup på Jevnaker (3'de plass). Endelig har også vinsjen kommet seg ut av dvalen igjen. Fremdeles ikke helt god i ryggen, så jeg må hjelp til de tyngste løftene med vinsjen.
April - Over to English writing and nobody has complained yet (and almost nobody has said anything at all about it). This month has finally brought slope flying and some DS again. I have also brought home a second place in 3x12min electro competition with the Organic electro.
May - Ah finally spring was in the air and both DS and two major competitions both in Sweden. In Yellow Eagle trophy I managed to get to the finals and in Ørebro my receiver went crazy but had a good time flying the Organic. Cool. Finally the Superior arrived and that were interesting.
June - A new wonderful month with lots of flying. F3B, F3J-cup, new JW-wing, extra Superior and more real DS - DYNAMIC SOARING or as Espen says: "No limits, just DS! It will change your life!"
July - JW-wing, Goldagan, training for WC F3J and Nordic Championship F3B was the main issues. At the end of the month I went for WC (world championship F3J thermal soaring in Finland)
August - Major World Championship F3J in Finland was on and I went to Stavanger for some F3B practice. 
September - At last I got to be Norwegian champion. Before I have a silver medal in sailing but now a gold medal from F3J is hanging on the wall. I even feel I have earned it :-)
October - Early winter this year but some electro competition, big glider meeting and some snowy DS (Dynamic Soaring).

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