Got there at around 0730 and up to the top for about 0800.
Not a breath of wind - even the Algebra wouldn't fly in this! However, after some thought, I remembered a little passage fro 'Slope Soaring' by Dave Hughes, something about if you have a 'mighty heave' you can still do a quick circuit.
I assembled the Algebra and thought on.
I decided to give it a try - gave the Algiebra an almighty chuck and gained about 30ft altitude. A quick circuit and I landed not 10 metres from myself. "That was fun", I thought, and had another go.
I spent a happy half-hour doing these mini-flights, if you've never done it, I recommend it - very good practice for accurate landings and conserving height.
After a while the wind popped up at about 3 kts from the WSW, amazingly, a little lift was to be had here and there and I managed to keep Algy up for a couple of minutes on occasion.
The wind gradually went further South and so no slope lift was available, but small weak thermals popped off occasionally and I managed to stretch a couple of flights. I got up to nearly 50ft on one occasion!
The thermal were very weak and small, keeping the Algy up was not really possible - hampered in part by the weakness of the thermals, but mainly I think by my lack of skill in exploiting the lift.
All in all a pleasant morning. I learnt a bit more about the Algy and had a beatiful walk into the bargain!
Hi Roger, Great write up and great story. Thanks for entertaining me ! I'm glad it went reasonably well for you...
ReplyDeleteThe Algy looks very smart Roger in its blue and white livery.
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ReplyDeleteThanks for the compliments gentlemen! I must admit to a certain pleasure in the Algy's looks. Very pleased with the way it came out. Flies very nicely too, and I am gradually learning to fly rudder-only. Learning to wait for the secondary effect of roll to happen. Tendency to over-control at first, because I'm so used to instant response from ailerons. Also learning I need to keep a little rudder on in the turns, otherwise she drops her tail into the turn and slips all the way round, losing lots of height into the bargain. There's a fine balance between enough rudder to keep her balanced in the turn and too much, which will begin to tighten the turn into a spiral dive if not corrected soon enough, of course there is some up-elevator needed too and finding the balance between the correct amount of rudder and elevator is fascinating stuff! When I first flew her, rudder response was minimal as I had the c of g to far forward. I took some weight out of the nose and it made a huge difference, response being much better now. Might actually add some back in. She's a gratifying 2oz underweight at the mo, so that gives some leeway for future repairs...
ReplyDeleteSorry for deleted comment, too many typos and I couldn't figure out how to edit it! Writing with my kindle and it makes some fairly sweeping assumptions at times...
ReplyDeletePerhaps a final word of caution - if you're not used to launching, launching, launching, launching and launching your model you'll end up with 'javelin thrower's arm' the next morning. I must've chucked it a hundred times yesterday. Am now faced with learning to handle a G&T with my left hand this evening...
ReplyDeleteHi Roger 'A hundred times ?' I've told you a million times not to exaggerate !!!!
ReplyDeleteOk then, 95 times.
ReplyDeleteI've not flown an Algebra myself, but my general experience with big rudder/elevator models is that they have very forgiving flight characteristics. Rudder response can be slow depending on speed but the model will soon flatten out when the rudder is neutralised. I wonder if your Algy is inclined to tip-stall i.e. suffer a sudden loss of lift under the inner wing during a slow turn? At this stage I guess it's too late to build in a few millimetres of washout under each wing tip, so I'd just check the wings are evenly balanced, add a little nose weight and keep your speed up in the turns.
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