Here's a few pics I took.
This is John's JW looking strangely surreal over the main beach
John flew my grid for a while and I got this shot.
Here's one looking down on a low pass by Ralph
And Ralph carving up a nice turn
Monday, August 10, 2009
Sunday Mount at the Treeline
Spent a cold afternoon up at the treeline above the surfclub on the Mount yesterday with Ralph and John - all planked up. Ralph with his MH64 foil 68", me with the 64" JW and John with his 60" JW. Was light and bumpy most of the day - lighter than forecast - but at least we got a fly.
Here's a few pics I took.
This is John's JW looking strangely surreal over the main beach
John flew my grid for a while and I got this shot.
Here's one looking down on a low pass by Ralph
And Ralph carving up a nice turn
Here's a few pics I took.
This is John's JW looking strangely surreal over the main beach
John flew my grid for a while and I got this shot.
Here's one looking down on a low pass by Ralph
And Ralph carving up a nice turn
Flanker nearly ready
The new Su27 Flanker is all-but ready for its maiden. Was to have been yesterday, Sunday, but a last minute electrical glitch has postponed the action. Here's a photo of it with all the graphics completed - it won't look any better than this!!
In fact it will probably get tatty pretty fast 'cos I built it light to try knife edge. I still wonder how it will go on its side but might have to replace the fins with something more substanial fairly early in its life.
The maiden won't be today (Monday) due to a shortage of time and the wind is up to around 20kts E so a bit strong to be trying out something new.
In fact it will probably get tatty pretty fast 'cos I built it light to try knife edge. I still wonder how it will go on its side but might have to replace the fins with something more substanial fairly early in its life.
The maiden won't be today (Monday) due to a shortage of time and the wind is up to around 20kts E so a bit strong to be trying out something new.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Mangere Mountain
On Monday I made my first visit to Mangere Mountain in Auckland. A good 15kts W was forcast and it was certainly cold and windy at the top of the crater when I got there. I was trying to learn Dynamic Soaring with my JW plank. The idea is to fly in circles (blue on the pic) on the backside of the slope with speed increasing with each revolution. The world record is around 400mph - and we're talking gliders here - no motor!!
As you can see on the photo, a red line shows my last attempt at blasting into the dark side in a big dive which ended in a massive crash into the ground at full speed! The thing just wouldn't turn and pull up. These things happen in DS-ing due to rotors and turbulence and all kinds of pilot error - hey, it ain't called the dark side for nothing.
Quite a bit of damage with a broken aileron so had to call it a day. But at least there were nice views to be had over the Manukau Harbour and the rest of the city.
As you can see on the photo, a red line shows my last attempt at blasting into the dark side in a big dive which ended in a massive crash into the ground at full speed! The thing just wouldn't turn and pull up. These things happen in DS-ing due to rotors and turbulence and all kinds of pilot error - hey, it ain't called the dark side for nothing.
Quite a bit of damage with a broken aileron so had to call it a day. But at least there were nice views to be had over the Manukau Harbour and the rest of the city.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Balsa Banana bites the dust
Went for a fly at the top of the Mount today. It was a beautiful sunny day with a nice 5 - 10kts NW and nice smooth lift. Had a really nice fly with the Balsa Banana - a pod and boom style sailplane with my balsa wing.
Made two good landings and then on my third fly all these bloody paraponters turned up so I decided to let them have the slope to themselves. Unfortunately in my rush to land I got it all horribly wrong, and with an audience of maybe a dozen people I lost it over the back of the crest into the turbulent zone - rotor country - where no sloper should be on landing approach.
Of course I fought it tooth and nail - whipped off the brakes to attempt flying out but silly me still on high rates which I haven't applied any expo (exponential programming of the rate of aileron travel that softens the midpoint of the control stick) I found myself overcorrecting from one extreme to the other (or was it the vicious rotors!) until it ploughed into the hard rocky ground - with a wicked cartwheel for good measure :-(
As you can see from the pic, it snapped the tail boom clean off. Sigh. More repairs required.
On a brighter note, the Su27 Flanker jet is nearing completion and will soon be ready for a maiden. Tally ho for now.
Made two good landings and then on my third fly all these bloody paraponters turned up so I decided to let them have the slope to themselves. Unfortunately in my rush to land I got it all horribly wrong, and with an audience of maybe a dozen people I lost it over the back of the crest into the turbulent zone - rotor country - where no sloper should be on landing approach.
Of course I fought it tooth and nail - whipped off the brakes to attempt flying out but silly me still on high rates which I haven't applied any expo (exponential programming of the rate of aileron travel that softens the midpoint of the control stick) I found myself overcorrecting from one extreme to the other (or was it the vicious rotors!) until it ploughed into the hard rocky ground - with a wicked cartwheel for good measure :-(
As you can see from the pic, it snapped the tail boom clean off. Sigh. More repairs required.
On a brighter note, the Su27 Flanker jet is nearing completion and will soon be ready for a maiden. Tally ho for now.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Winter Blues
With winter having us firmly in its grip, there hasn't been any flying lately. But I have been pottering a bit and have managed to complete my fencepost sentry in the form of a Mitsubishi A6 Zero.
The Flanker project is coming along slowly too. I now have the wing wrapped with fibreglass tape and the servos installed and some progress has been made on the tail. This pic shows it sitting outside on the picnic table about a million miles away from summer :-(
And finally for now - some sad news - I have decided to abandon the idea of building a Messerschmidt Me262. After much practical consideration I have decided it would just be too draggy to have such huge engine cowls along with having to land on these engine pods as well. In order to make it look right, it would just compromise performance too much - I'm not into building a plane just for "looks" alone - it also needs to be enjoyable to fly. But I am considering other designs for the future... stay in trim!
The Flanker project is coming along slowly too. I now have the wing wrapped with fibreglass tape and the servos installed and some progress has been made on the tail. This pic shows it sitting outside on the picnic table about a million miles away from summer :-(
And finally for now - some sad news - I have decided to abandon the idea of building a Messerschmidt Me262. After much practical consideration I have decided it would just be too draggy to have such huge engine cowls along with having to land on these engine pods as well. In order to make it look right, it would just compromise performance too much - I'm not into building a plane just for "looks" alone - it also needs to be enjoyable to fly. But I am considering other designs for the future... stay in trim!
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