DAY .. 31.Oktober
2008 - Kobra DS
Great weather and a friend near my main DS slope
said it was wind but not sure about the
direction. He was right but I did get a nice
trip into the mountains. 10-12m/s but from the
wrong direction. It was -4C but humidity was
very low and the sun warmed well in the calm DS
zone so I spent some time up there. Could have
checked out some other slopes but that might
have been a long walk for nothing in some places
high snow. As you seen I have attached some
extra aluminium tape on top/bottom and also on
the rudder hinge line since I anyhow use tape
here (rudder is not working if I fly hard DS).
This because my new (used) Stalker gun had
arrived and was ready for some fun. It stayed in
the bag today... Anyone have a good solution to
test the limits of the gun? I could go to the
local airport but there is only planes coming in
twice a day and I doubt they fly so fast in
takeoff and landing. I need to check speeds
between 200 and 300mph (320-482km/h).
DAY .. 26.Oktober
2008 - Volbu
Took a day "off" from sailplanes and flew motor
planes with the club guys on our field. Nice day
out though I did crash one of the clubplanes
when teaching a young guy to crash. I just did
not get the control fast enough when he suddenly
wanted to do a roll in low altitude. Cheap plane
so a new one will be ready soon. Amazing how
fast these youngsters is learning. Maybe too
fast... ;) I also flew my old "Diablo" a bit.
DAY .. 24.Oktober 2008 -
Luna wing
Today's task was to have real fun and stay
inside the video frame with my wing on the DS
slope. Conditions were 3-4m/s winds a bit from
the side so I could not safely fly my bigger
planes. But a wing can be given to the DS angels
(the ones that don't like us figuring out this
flying thing ;) Had tons of fun so I had to put
out a video
HERE (sorry 55mb .wmv)
DAY .. 22.Oktober 2008 -
Luna wing
1148m today and -2C with 6-7m/s winds. Sadly not
into the slope I went to but I did get some
flying done and trying to get some DS. With a
bit more south it would have been good here and
possibilities for DS I think. I have flown DS
here many years ago and I think I will try again
since there is a road all the way to the top.
Might be too late this year though. Flew both my
wing and the Kobra DS. Afterwards I went down to
Klanten airfield and checked out when they flew
the 2 seater upandgo Grob. Did not know they had
one of these.
DAY .. 21.Oktober 2008 -
Luna wing
A calm day between the storms so what is better
than to finish an "old" flying wing I had laying
around. I have not finished a flying wing for
many years but read something about using some
special plastic. I figured the laminating
plastic we get in the bookstores might be the
right stuff and I was right. You can apply it by
ironing it on though I think a bit 3M77 spray
first might be even better. The wing became VERY
stiff in torsion and that was what I was after
since I want to use it for fun DS. On top I just
did commercial tape since I have my own cutter.
Covering film might be better in the cold I
experienced today as it becomes a little brittle
(I landed hard in the DSzone). The laminating
plastic worked well though and wing is unharmed
after hard impacts. Conditions were not really
good but I did get to check the CG and testfly
the DS zone in two slopes. It was also cool to
sit in the DS zone when it was snowing. The snow
worked the DS and I was amazed for 10-15min just
looking.
DAY ..
18.Oktober 2008 - Kobra DS
My back was hurting so what is better than
walking a bit in the mountains (400m and a bit
up is just perfect ;). Took my Kobra DS out for
a spin again and the conditions were great but
very turbulent. Forgot to take out the gyro I
have been testing with so lost a bit of speed
there I think. This because I have it only on
one aileron (left). See
picture here of how the model yaw's. What I
got on video showed
237
and
248mph but I am sure I was faster. Will be
great to get a new radar gun. A fairly good one
is in the mail I hope (can trace that it has
left US..). I actually stopped a bit early today
to save the model until I get the gun.. On my
way home I took some photos with my helicopter
to show the
pub customers we are ready for
Rakfisk-festivalen
DAY ..
17.Oktober 2008 - Volbu
Club day and some fixing up on the field before
winter. I flew my Pike Perfect and the club
plane a bit but screwed up when I forgot to take
out my antenna (my Perfect electro is still on
35mhz...). A crack in the fuse but easy
repairable.
A video HERE
(16mb .wmv mostly fun for club members to watch
I guess)
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DAY ..
17.Oktober 2008 - Perfect Nice weather so I went up in the mountains and winch launched my Pike Perfect. Cold and late in the day but managed to find some great thermals that was incredibly wide. Kind of like a lift cycle of 5-10min and then 5-10min sink. So if you pushed far enough forward one would find the next one. |
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DAY ..
16.Oktober 2008 - Youth teams
I was invited to say a few words on a youth
National team meeting and went early. Flew a
couple of hours on a nearby football field and
met a couple of nice guys. Fun to meet pilots
that dont have their own flying site. They just
go out into this large area and fly with others
(this is in Oslo). But they fly all directions
so kind of strange to me.. ;) I flew the Diablo
and my Perfect electro.
DAY ..
12.Oktober 2008 -
F3J
F3J open club championship in the
Lillehammer
club so me and my son Fredrik took the trip
(about an hour driving) to finish of the season
with these guys. It is so great to meet pilots
that are eager to start competition flying. Very
nice and relaxed competition. We had 3 winches
and divided into two teams and flew 2 to 3
pilots in each round. My team was me, my son
Fredrik, Stein Marius (another junior) and
Marius (a very eager learner). We had a blast
though it was very difficult in high winds
conditions. I even broke a brand new 1,55 line
that I was sure would hold up anything... We
used 150m to the turnaround and with this wind
direction one needed all the altitude one could
get to get past a tree line that made it pretty
turbulent below 30-40m. Some thermals past thru
all the time and with careful selection on them
one could actually follow them a bit. I never
pushed my son over the tree line but instead
urged him downwind far away from the turbulence.
There he amazed me again with his turning
abilities and picked up several thermals in some
of the groups to get some thousands against very
good pilots. I am so happy as a father. May it
continue!! The other junior Stein Marius is also
a very good stick and really wants to do it all.
That left us a little bit hot in the landings
loosing some landing points. But if these two
juniors can keep their head cool and keep
practicing we might have a fairly good team for
international championships. Anders is also
junior (17) but has not flown any F3J this year.
He flew a completely unsuitable model for the
conditions but are also a good stick and will
progress incredibly with a Ellipse4 he has
bought.
In the end the podium was filled with our team
with me on top, Fredrik in second and Stein
Marius in third. We flew 4 rounds but no
finals as this was to be relaxed. I think I need
to join this club as it is so nice to fly with
other pilots that wants to develop and go
further in the sport.
Also very cool to hear about is that the local
store
IMPX.no will stock full range of NAN models
(ordered more than 50 models) and that I think
will be a good boost to the community. Might be
a competitor to my Pike sales but who cares as
long as it is available and more people flies
the good stuff. Heard his prices will be
reasonable too!!
Results and a link you can use HERE
DAY .. 11.Oktober 2008 -
Practice
Went up to the field the Lillehammer club has
for some practice with my son. F3J open club
championship next morning. A nice day out but
very windy and turbulent. Fredrik flew one
flight with his Supra but with no ballast we
grounded that plane. I flew a lot with my
Perfect extreme. Stig M. Olsen is one of the
real pushing forces in the Lillehammer club and
he had finished a Perfect from unflyable to a
fairly good model with potential. He wanted to
let 3 guys borrow this model but they needed a
few flights on it. It went fairly well until a
thermal came thru and gave one of the guys a
launch he will not forget in a while. A dip down
and the mode accelerated so fast the pilot did
not understand what happened before it fluttered
violently. Pitty but part of a learning curve.
Next time we will do more talking about how a
zoom is done. This was a good pilot that flies
fast jets. Still a hard core F3J launch can be
very special. We all laughed quite a bit of it
so that's good ;)
DAY ..
9.Oktober 2008 -
Kobra DS
New storm coming in and I was ready for some
hard core DS. The conditions never took off but
was very even all day. Flew for more than one
hour and was pretty tired after that. DS is hard
work but the smile was all over me as usual. Top
speed today was probably below 200mph no matter
how I flew. New radar gun is on its way ;)
Video HERE
(30mb .wmv)
Summer is over...
DAY .. 4.Oktober 2008 -
Club day
Had a great club day at the local field learning
youngsters to fly and I will admit it. I did fly
the trainer a lot.... ;)
DAY ..
2.Oktober 2008 -
update september
DS
Should have been out flying with my son and Stig
but the weather made us stay home. But I have
updated the
september DS with the Kobra DS.
Look HERE