Windless on Firle

Hi everyone. 

Well I had a pleasant hour or so on Firle yesterday morning. The forecast light N'ly was not really in evidence - what wind there was came from the NE. 

I had planned to take the Algebra down - she'll fly in as little as 4 kts of breeze - but even the light weather performance of that plane would not have sufficed for sustained flight. Fortunately I took my trusty old Cularis with me as a backup.

The Cularis has been a real "curate's egg" - parts of it have been very good! The build was simple, but some of you may know the Cularis' weak point seems to be the automatic conenction of the wing servos using servo plugs mounted in the wing roots, with their other halves mounted in corresponding locations in the fuselage.

This arrangement worked great for the first dozen or so flights but I soon began to experience problems with getting a reliable connection.

This has eventually been solved by installing over-long extension leads in the wings (which required some drastic surgery) and just connecting things up in the usual fashion. It's a bit fiddly since the extra length of lead, once connected, needs to be pulled back through the wing as it's offered up and connected to the fuse. This necessitated the cutting-out of recesses in the bottom of the wings to accomodate the slack.

Anyway, back to the point. The Cularis is now reliable to fly and although the performance has doubtlessly been affected by the hacking about of the wings, she still goes well emough for my skill level - and looks nice and 'scaley' into the bargain.

There was no real slope lift yesterday, but I detected a little thermal activity further out from the slope. This was very weak and not present close to the slope (the north face of which was in shadow) but definitely there. 

So, an opportunity to practice my themalling again.

Perhaps a more skillful pilot could have stayed up - but at least I was able to reduce my rate of descent on occasion! 

It was a very quiet day - a few dog-walkers and horse-riders, one or two people out walking, but I met no other rc flyers. There were a few hopeful paragliders sitting around on the hill in the place the rc flyers usually use, but no-one took flight while I was there.

Anyway, a pleasant way to spend an hour on the bank holiday!

As some of you will know, I've moved to Pevensey Bay - which is a bit of a hike from our flat field in Hassocks, so sadly I'll be leaving Slope Soaring Sussex when my membership runs out at the end of the year. However, I'll be joining the East Sussex Soaring Association, who seem like a friendly bunch.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you all, especially Rob and Paul - but to all of you really -  for the companionship, help, advice and encouragement over the last 18 months. My first steps in slope soaring were made easier, more fun and more educational because of your input.

I have no doubt we'll meet up on the slopes regularly and I'll try to keep giving you news of slope soaring on 'the other side' - especially if Rob and Paul allow me to keep posting here! 

Cheers all - Happy New Year and may you have everything you wish yourself in 2017. 

Roger :-)