Sunday AM - Ian and myself met up Ian's secret DLG field very close to home. The wind was way more than I would usually attempt to fly my DLG but we gave it a go. The wind was about 10mph Westerly at first and as you would expect got stronger at height.
It took us a few attempts to get away as it was very turbulent and the thermals where rattling through. Eventually we managed the thermal 'WAY' downwind to climb enough to try and fly back into wind. There was a sweet spot upwind and in front of some large tree's. Got away downwind then pushed forward into wind and in front of these large Oaks. Boom! Ian and me both got away big time. Talk about 'Pauly Height' this was that and a bit more. So much so my DLG didn't want to come down even with full landing flap down. Opps What to do. Flaps away and pull the stick hard back and over. It took a spin with many, many rotations to get it back to a sensible height - Phew!!!
More throwing and getting away ensued for about an hour but the wind strength was now about 15mph on the ground and I would imagine 20mph in the air. The conditions got very rough and with the fear something was going to get broken or possibly land in a tree it was time to call it a day.
I learnt a lot today about trying to thermal in a strong wind with a light DLG. It disappears downwind very quickly and doesn't make fantastic headway into wind, so try and push upwind first and find some lift quickly before you again vanish down wind.
Cheers Ian. Great company as usual.
Slope Soaring Sussex is a friendly group of RC glider flying enthusiasts based in Sussex, UK. We slope soar at various locations on the South Downs and have a field for thermal soaring. ‘Slope Soaring Sussex’ is a BMFA affiliated RC Glider-only flying club. We fly many types of RC gliders from conventional slope soarers to Scale, DLG, F3B, F3J, F5J, PSS and more. Our aim is to encourage and promote safe, responsible and enjoyable radio controlled model flying. New and experienced flyers welcome.
Great write up Paul, so that DLG finally got off the ground !!
ReplyDeleteIt did Rob and it flew very well in the challenging conditions. Can't wait to see your new Loola DLG.
ReplyDeleteHi Paul, Me too, I haven't heard when the Loola will be here, but it's about 3 weeks to build it.......
ReplyDeleteHi Paul. I haven't tried this myself but I did read a piece about bringing light thermal soarers down from height by turning the model inverted until you reach a much lower altitude.
ReplyDeleteHi Steve (how you doing?) As you probably know the big problem when a DLG gets really high is orientation of the model. Its only obvious when the model starts hurtling across the sky its going too fast or keeps stalling as its too slow. The spinning method seemed to work well and brings the model down almost vertical but hopefully at a consistent speed. Thankfully I didn't rip the wings off.
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