Ditchling Beacon Sunday 28th Oct

Hi All,
This morning, we met up at Ditchling Beacon car park at 08:30 - there was actually a bike race going on up the roadway, a time-trial event, but they didn't get in the way. The car park was reasonably full, but the 4 of us managed to park OK. I was joined by Jim H, Mark J and new prospect Nick G (Paul E had texted to say he couldn't come unfortunately)….
Having had a disastrous test flight last time with the club trainer and Paul E, I went to the Dyke Saturday morning and spent 30 minutes getting the  C of G right in preparation for today.

We crossed the road and the wind at the top of the Beacon was very strong and gusty - probably 20 - 30 mph, but I threw the Spectre anyway and after trimming a little down elevator it was going well.

I passed control to Nick G on the buddy box and he got straight into the swing again after a few years off and was flying horizontal 8s into the wind easily. I told him he could have a go at loops, rolls etc if he wanted and away he went ! No problems at all. I landed the Spectre in the rough conditions and after a short warm-up rest, we tried again, with Nick taking control from take-off this time. After a few minutes he lost all control and I was able to step in with the master tx and land it. We investigated the problem, but nothing was obvious, so away we went again only to have the same 'dead stick' situation. When I landed I range tested the model with both txs and all was OK , then we realised that Nick's tx glove had a metal reinforcement and that had cut the signal dead !
Nick then flew on his own with the master tx and attempted 4 landings - 3 of which he aborted and the last one was good. A great re-introduction to gliding for Nick and everything was intact at the end.
Meanwhile, Mark was helping Jim with his 60" Wildthing but it was looking like there were issues with the trim and possible C of G, but anyway a control horn snapped so Jim never got airborne (sorry Jim)…
Mark then flew his Blade which was brave in the conditions , but it went fine until his landing caught a wingtip and broke the tail-end.

Altogether, I think Nick and I had the better day of it, but I am most grateful to Mark for coming along to help Jim set up his model...
Many thanks to all who came...

Rob Stanley