Blustery Beeding Hill

Met up with Graham and Bob this morning at Beeding Hill.  When I arrived there was a good SW blow which veered more wsw as the morning went on.

I brought along the Sky Cruise, Fusion and Diamond.   Bob had his Ninja and Scooter (think that was what it was called) which he flew really well.  Graham had the Stork and Proxma 2.  Graham impressed with his flying.  I was pleased to have flown the sky cruise several times with safe(ish) landings.  The Diamond took a bit of a hard landing and broke in the weak spot again but repairable.   The fusion still has problems with the ailerons so didn't fly that.

I'll let the videos and photos tell the rest of the story.  An enjoyable morning flying.

On the sky cruise footage a few interesting moments:  I managed to capture a close flyby with Bob (1:36). There is some footage near the end of Bobs Ninja kamikaze 13:30! At 9 minutes I caught a thermal and was up pretty high. At 11:00 minutes you'll see a loop the loop which can make you feel a bit sick.   The footage is not that smooth as it was pretty turbulent nevertheless some great views.  ps the motor wasn't needed it's just spinning in the wind which I need to find a way of breaking.  BTW Clare thinks its really funny (and sad) that I have the view of the pilot!

Graham flying the stork

Turbulant times up on Mount Caburn today.

Scott, Jim, Ian and I met up top of Mount Caburn this morning. The forecast East wind around 10 -15mph changed its mind and gave us a ENE wind of around 20 - 25mph initially. The wind slowly eased and moved around to the East.
Ian flew both of his mouldies. The big heavy beast and then the Nan Shadow (first flight since its major surgery to repair a broken fus and tail). As usual Mr Ashdown gave us an impressive flying display in the very rough and turbulent conditions.

Scott maidened his new Dream-Flight Weasel in what was challenging conditions. Unfortunately for Jim a faulty RX meant Jim couldn't fly but I think he enjoyed the walk.
I floated about for a bit listening to the vario beeping and squawking at me. Managed some flying with my Weasel which was nice but the air was not at all smooth so as I had flown all mine and managed to not crash anything, It was decided to retire to the pub for a nice pint of Harveys Best - Cheers !!!

Weasel Pro 'FOR SALE'

For sale

Richter Weasel Pro

Wing built, needs finishing.

Includes 2 new Dymond D250 metal gear servos and Nicad battery.

£100.00

Contact Tim at t.hampshire@tiscali.co.uk

New 'Shout Box'

After our last 'Shout Box' was shut down by the company supplying the software I have hopefully found an alternative one, as I hope you can see where the old shout box used to be.
You can't post as a guest and you will need to register to use this new shout box.
Simply click on the little 'Options' cog and go down to find a Sign Up button. Fill in your details and then go to the bottom of that page and find the Register button. Click on that and hopefully you will be a newly registered user of the Shout Box. Please use your first name and the first letter of your surname i.e. 'Peter S' rather than a nickname or something rude.
There is a maximum of 300 characters per shout which I think should be ok for most peoples needs. When you want to post your shout you just need to click on the 'Shout' button rather than pressing the return / enter key like the old shout box which is much better I think.
Rob and myself are admin users on the new Shout Box so we have the ability to delete inappropriate shouts or even remove users if found to be using or abusing the Shout Box facility.
I will over time be trying to improve and change the shout box as it has many features and editing facilities but for now I hope it meets everyone's needs?
Any problems or questions then feel free to email me - paulhampshire2013@gmail.com
Paul

Flying site research

If you're looking for potential new slope soaring sites Google Maps can help. Switch to Earth view, hold down the Ctrl key and drag the mouse around to view the South Downs in glorious 3D like this:

Shout Box Issues

Hello all
As you may have noticed the 'Shout Box' has disappeared !! This has been caused by the provider ending their services. See note below:

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Announcement

We were experiencing severe server issues today that resulted in disruption of our services. We eventually overcome those issues and restored most of our data and accounts from daily backups. We are sorry for inconvenience.

We would like to announce that we are going to end our service within next few weeks. We will no longer accept new accounts or new account extensions and will try to provide support for existing accounts for some time while we ask you to search for alternative solution.

Thank you for being with us for so long. We really appreciate that.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Unfortunately, they have closed our 'FREE' account and I can not get the code we need to make the 'Shout Box' work.

I will over the next few days look for a suitable alternative but we might need to pay for such a service in the future.

ANO (2009) To Change

Hi All,

Please note the following change to the Air Navigation Order which governs our model flying in the UK, this is an extract from the BMFA website -

The current Air Navigation Order (ANO 2009) which provides the legal framework within which model aircraft are flown, will be replaced with a new version (ANO 2016) with effect from the 25th August.
Further details can be found here:
http://publicapps.caa.co.uk/modalapplication.aspx?catid=1&pagetype=65&appid=11&mode=detail&id=7503

The main change for model flyers is the numbering of the relevant articles rather than their content/meaning

Effectively there is no significant change to the content...

Rob

Itford Hill Skycruise (Warning could make you sick!)

Hi All

Here is a small clip from the on board camera footage from the Skcruise.  Need to learn to fly smoother but it was my first proper attempt.  Nice little flyby with Paul's Aresti (I think)

Sunday 21 Aug at Itford Hill

Hi All,
Today we met at Itford Hill to take advantage of the strong Westerly.

Paul, Bob and I met at the parking place at 9:30 and found Scott's car already there !
Paul called Scott to find that he was already up the hill with his Wildthing. Paul had brought along his Valenta Dragon which Scott has bought, so being unable to carry them all up the hill, Scott had to come all the way down to collect it (that's some walk !).
We then all proceeded to walk to the flying place where Scott had left his Wildthing and backpack.
Paul had his Aresti and Willow , I had my new Mini Vec, Bob had his Wildthing and new Ninja .

I set up my Mini Vec while Paul was assembling his Willow.
Bob and Scott were already in the air with their Wildthings.
I asked Paul to help me check the Mini Vec to find that there was no response to any of the controls, most odd !! I had checked it just 1 minute before.
Anyway I launched Paul's Willow and just sat there wondering what to do.
I remembered that I had brought my trusty Ninja but it was way down the hill in the car.
Andrew then arrived with his Sky Cruise which I launched and it flew really well and was able to take about 5 minutes of video before a heavy landing ended it's flying for the day.
I told Andrew that I had my Ninja and his Diamond in my car, so we both walked all the way down to get them (and of course all the way back up to fly them).
Paul had moved to the Aresti when we got back and Scott decided to go back (for the 3rd time) to his car to get his SAS Blob.
Bob and I were flying our Ninjas, Andrew was in orbit with his tiny Diamond, Paul was scaring the sheep with his Aresti and Scott was out of breath sitting at the top of the hill after his 3rd trip to the car.

Scott finally flew both his Dragon (with Paul's help) and the Blob.
The conditions today were pretty good, variable amounts of lift  but always enough to keep the models nicely in the air. We all had a brilliant 2.5 hours.
Thanks to all who came...

Our World Wide Audience

Our little old blog has been going now since October 2013 and I thought I would share some stats with you........

Page views to date: 160,041

Posts: 654

Page views yesterday: 223

Page views last month: 12,788

Viewed in order of popularity:

1. UK
2. USA
3. Ireland
4. Germany
5. France
6. Netherlands
7. Australia
8. Canada
9. Japan

Thanks to Rob and to all our bloggers who have contributed to the input and update of this site and a huge thank you to all our many viewers from the UK and all over the world.

Please remember that this blog is for all you guys out there who share the same interest as myself for the joys of RC flying. If you would like to share you're experiences / pictures / video with our ever growing audience but don't know how to or want me to load it up on the blog then please feel free to get in contact with me - paulhampshire2013@gmail.com

This blog only survives with regular updates and features from its readers  -thank you all !

My video channel on YouTube continues to grow with 197 flying video's loaded up there and it currently has had 62, 534 views with 72 subscribers. If you are sitting at your computer and bored and need some visual stimulation (no! not that kind of stimulation) then have a trawl through the huge amount of flying video's. If you like the video please click the 'Like' button as it helps the ranking on YouTube.

Here's the link to my YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOI88Pb9F9sJAvKBbKzSKXw

My first bungee launch for thirty plus years!

I really must upload some more vids!! This one features the Shadow`s first flat field flight also Paul flying one of his DLGs.  and one of  Ian`s mouldies launch.

The latest project...

Here's a photo of my latest project. 

It's a 10ft span Minimoa built, I believe, from the RM plan.

 

Obtained from a friend about 5 years ago, after saying "if you ever get tired of it hanging from your ceiling....". He gave it to me on the proviso that I got it flying. 

It'd been covered with what looked like tent canvas, then painted with household emulsion using a large brush!

I've re-covered the wings and empennage, rubbed down the fuse, installed spoilers and radio gear and given it a nice new colour scheme. Just a little fettling to go and it'll be ready to fly! 

It's taken me 5 years, but it won't be long now - when I maiden it, I'll need a willing volunteer to film it so I can finally let my friend know it's done!

Itford - Sunday?

Hello all
Looking at the weekend weather forecast it looks like Saturday will be rubbish but Sunday looks like a good Westerly blow and dry. Everything we need to go and fly Itford Hill.
I know its a little early but are you guys up for some slope soaring on Sunday morning????

Kevin Beale - Cross Country Flight

Here is a report about Kevin Beale's cross country flight from Ditchling Beacon to Jack & Jill last Sunday.

''Went to Ditching Sunday morning at 8:00 to try a cross country, had to be home by 10:00. Launched on the west side of the car park and scratched around for 10 minutes or so before setting off west hoping for some better air. Got to the paragliders who were all sitting on the ground. But had to land as lift died. Couple of launches found nothing then spotted a bird just start to turn a long way out. With a strong launch I aimed straight for it, dropping bellow the top of the ridge before finding the thermal. Climbed a good 250m and set off past the paragliders.
 Got to the high point before the decent to the windmills but I got stuck in the bowl in week lift not able to get enough height to go any further west.
The wind dropped to nothing so headed out again to where the thermal should be and found it. A good climb and set off back east. The paragliders where now flying but not very high so with a shout to them sailed past several 100m above them. Reached the start point with good height and the slope lift was now very good so with a couple of circuits came in for a smothered approach so caught the experience pro by the nose. Now 10:00 so would be 1/2 hour late home but nice flight with a 2 mile walk and Sue was OK as we went to the Cranleigh classic car show to see some friends.''

Thanks Kevin, sounded like a very interesting flight.

Yesterday at the field

Met up with Ian and Bob yesterday morning at the field. Bob had damaged his prop on a test glide and unfortunately had nothing else to fly but joined us anyway for some moral support. Ian and I flew our DLG's in what should have been a very buoyant and thermic day but turned out to be just a struggle. A big thermal soarer would have managed to stay up if you could get up and stay high but we had fun and the thing about DLG flying is you just have to keep throwing it into the sky with the hope of getting away and most of the time you will.
Just as a reminder that Tim has a really nice DLG up for sale at a very cheap price. Would easily do as an entry level and above for most of us. If Interested just leave Tim a message in the 'Shout Box'.
As usual Ian proved the better pilot while getting a lot lower launches than my Blaster he hooked into more thermals than me. I'm watching and taking advice from him to help me improve.
Just a pity more club members couldn't get down to join us. I know Rob was a little under the weather and I hope he is feeling a little better today?
You will also pleased to know that I have posted all my video's from my Welsh trip but I am still planning to go to the Isle of Wight probably in September after the Kids go back to school and then later on in the year a trip back to Wales for another slice of soaring paradise.

Slope Soaring at Rhossili Down

This well edited video was shot and produced by Steve at A470 Soaring.

Dream Flight Weasel Trek Glider at Rhossili in light wind conditions

Dream-Flight Weasel Trek up on Pen-Y-Fan, Brecon Beacons

NCFM M60 Flying the sand dunes at Llangenith in South Wales

HD Video of me flying the Dream-Flight Weasel Trek off the dunes in South Wales



Dream-Flight Weasel Trek maiden on the small sand dunes at Broughton Bay, Gower Peninsula, South wales. The lift went out a fair way out over the sand.

Many more HD videos to be loaded up shortly - enjoy!

Beeding Hill 12/8/16

Day off work today as was going to Eastbourne Airshow so thought I'd sneak in an early morning flying session as the weather looked good.  Rob joined me and we headed for Beeding Hill.  The weather forecast showed an 8-9 mph westerly so should have been enough to get some lift.  We got there an not a puff a of wind! Anyway after half hour it soon picked up a bit and we managed to get the Skycruise up in the air for some video footage.  Rob landed it both times and very well so we decided to end it there with model intact!  I also flew the diamond a few times and practiced landings.  Time was getting on and Graham turned up with his model a shadow and can't remember what the other one was called. (Optima 2 - Rob).  Graham flew his model beautifully in the light winds.  I had to leave so left Graham and Rob to it.  A lovely morning out on the slope with great views.

Also some pictures from the Airshow.  We found a good place to park at Warren Hill on beachy head and sat on the back of the land rover and ate our lunch and enjoyed the views.

Sunday 7 Aug - I Blow Away The Cobwebs and Get Shown a New Bowl to Fly

Hi All,
Finally I have recovered enough from my surgery to make it to Mill Hill, plus I was given a clean bill of health by my surgeon last Wednesday (yippee).
This morning I met new member Bob Pattenden at Mill Hill where it was blowing SW at least 20 - 25 mph and the cloud base was very low (maybe 100 ft). However, I threw the Moth into the wind and it was lifting all the way to the clouds, likewise for Bob's new Wildthing which was so well built it flew straight and level on its maiden flight today without trimming.
I was doing landing practice after 3 months of not flying and all but 1 went well - the 1 which didn't go well saw the Moth about 2 inches from the road behind.
Bob too was getting his hand in again after a long time off, but he flew extremely well and with confidence (some of his landings weren't text-book, but it got down !!)
After about an hour Bob told me about another bowl further up the road so I followed him in our cars to the next bowl on Beeding Hill ...........

I never knew this bowl existed and it worked brilliantly in the SW wind but looks like it would work in a variety of wind directions. It was certainly a lovely smooth bowl to fly and the landings were so easy too. We were the only two fliers there, so maybe when we get another SW'ly we can go here instead of Mill Hill ?


Till the next time...
Rob

Burnt Feet

No flying today but I have got sunburnt feet!
We all headed to Oxwich Bay where the tide was in initially but as the day went on the huge expance of sand was exposed. Had to keep on the wetsuits on when going swimming as the sea was a taste cool. later we walked all the way along to Penmaen where I first went here over 25 years ago with my darling wife.

Pen-Y-Fan Mountain 886m

We spent over 6 hours up on the mountain today. Walking just over 9 miles. Dragged my Dream-Flight Weasel up in the ruck sack and with a light wind I managed to get some good flying from the top till the cloud came down to engulf the whole mountain top.

Beach soaring at Llangennith beach

Just got back from Llangennith beach and some amazing soaring from the beach and up onto the small sand dunes. This was with a fully loaded M60.

This beach in my opinion is the best beach in the UK. A bold statement but this place is just amazing.

Pauls Rhossili Trip

Hi guys

I met up with Paul on Sunday morning at the top of the slope on Rhossili Down on the Gower peninsula to do some flying. What else eh.

Anyway, the full story and video can be seen at A470soaring.blogspot.co.uk  . Hopefully the rain has stopped for Paul and his family now and he can get some more flying in.

I know it's a long way for you guys but if you ever get a chance to fly at Rhossili, jump at the chance.

Happy flying

Steve

Flapped model for sale.

For Sale

FVK Impulse II glider. One test flight only.

Wingspan 2.5m with flaps

Airframe £200.00 or £220.00 with spectrum 7 channel rx.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWQElyQTnOg

Contact Tim t.hampshire@tiscali.co.uk

Rain, rain and more blooming rain!!

No flying over the last few days as it just not stopped raining but it hasn't stopped us getting out and about.

Here we are today out walking in the Brecon Beacons. We found an amazing waterfall that was swollen with all the fallen rain. 52mm in the last 24 hours.