As all the weather Gods were on our side for once we decided to arrange a flat field event. A number of electric powered gliders were dusted off and prepared for action. First at the field was Rob S who showed us the entrance to the nominated field.
The weather was perfect with a very gentle breeze and a totally clear blue sky. Moreover, as the morning progressed nice fluffy white clouds developed.
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| Me enjoying the day |
As I have not yet assembled my newly purchased electric ASW 28 I was attending in a purely social capacity. Both Nick V and I decided that we would provide savory snacks and doughnuts while enjoying the morning's flying, other club members also contributed to the very nice picnic.
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| Picnic Table |
I was the second member to arrive closely followed by Ivan S and Nick V. Martin J then arrived followed by Nick W and Kevin B and lastly George K.
I noticed a burst of frenetic activity whilst members started to assemble their gliders.
Nick V presented with a Tiny Seagull and a Nebula 2000. He also announced that he had spent the previous evening preparing his gliders. However, this morning he experienced significant difficulties readying his sailplanes. Not only did he not have the correct screwdriver he had also forgotten to bring a chair to sit on. On a separate note Nick V was discussing the complexities and difficulties of programming his NX10 with regard to "Safe" and "AS3X" we suggested that he writes a 10,000 word paper on the subject and allows the other club members to benefit from his vast experience of the subject, we wait with interest.
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| Nick with his Nebula 2000 |
Ivan S started the day off with a very nice Libelle DLG that Rob S was launching for him. However, later in the morning unfortunately suffered a major malfunction and disintegrated in flight, nothing a very big tube of UHO POR will not fix. He also flew his Highlite glider.
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| Rob S in Action |
Martin J successfully flew his Sky Climber glider to good effect. However, Martin wanted to test fly his home made boomerangs. I would suggest he calls them "Sticks" as they never came back. I think they need further development and testing before being handed over to his grandkids for park use.
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| Martin J with his Boomerangs. |
Nick W came to the field with a Solius and an Easy Glide Pro. This was Nick's first time at the flat field with the Club and I am sure that he thoroughly enjoyed the morning.
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| Nick W's Gliders |
Kevin B arrived with his own designed and manufactured electric Pro Glide. I can confirm that this went up like a rocket and attained height in very short order.
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| Kevin B's Pro Glide |
I am pleased to say that George K turned up so that I could give him his long awaited polo shirt, it has taken almost a year for us to meet up. He brought along a rather nice vintage Olympic glider. It obviously has not been flown for some time, so between a number of members it was readied for flight. This glider required a bungee launch. Fortunately, another reason for today's gathering was for the Club Chair to handover to me the Club's flat field assets such as the winch and battery and also the bungee system. I am now the Club's custodian of those assets.
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| Ivan with his Libelle DLG |
So myself and Nick V started to set up the bungee launching system. After locating the anchor spigot and starting to unwind the cord, Nick V then noticed that the launch direction was directly towards the biggest tree in the field. Once noticed we changed the direction of the bungee by about 30 degrees. Fortunately, Kevin B was on had to provide us with some guidance of how to launch safely and with Nick V on the sticks we had a successful flight. The flight was not long as the glider required a significant amount of trimming before it's next launch. Kevin B suggested that it was taken to a slope on a gentle wind day to correctly trim the glider before the next bungee launch.
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| George with his Olympic. |
In summary, a really good flying day with only one glider casualty. I now need to assemble my ASW28 so I can join in the festivities next time, also the picnic went down well. Looking forward to our next flat field outing. I would like to thank all who attended this morning for the banter and general micky taking.
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| Martin with his Glider. |
