A cold blustery morning on Wolstonbury Hill

Three of us myself, John and Robin decided to meet up at 10.00 on the top of the bowl. As Robin had intended to park at the bottom of the hill and walk to the top, I thought that I would do the same. Apparently, there are a number of routes to take and I selected the steep one, never again. By the time I reached the top John was already there assembling his newly acquired Phase 6. I had, as usual my trusty Wildthing. It was very blustery with a steady 20 mph wind when John launched his Phase 6 for its first check flight. It flew very well and was very responsive in the challenging conditions. John admitted that a small amount of adjustment would be required. His landing approach was great but unfortunately just before touch down the right hand tailplane struck one of the many lumps in the landing area and the impact caused the wing to pop off, shearing the wing attachment bolt and causing some minor damage to the tailplane assembly. Robin joined us with his home designed and built glider which is based on the Sherpa model, which performed well in the conditions. John left us at this point while Robin and I continued to fly. I tried a number of landing approaches with some success and my best controlled landing was only some 10 paces away. Robin’s aircraft flew really well but he needed to make some adjustments. Some time later whilst practicing landings he found his glider some way behind us, unable to tease the glider over the fence he made a good landing behind the wire. A few times this morning the sun did shine through and we had some blue sky above and also the Skylarks were singing. After about 2 hours Robin and I strolled back down using the easy route this time back to our cars.  A good session for some but not all.

Ashdown Forest Thermal Session

Ian made the long trip back from his new home in Wales to collect the rest of his models from my work and to go out and fly with his friends.
We made our way up to Bushy Willows car park up on the Ashdown Forest. Here we met up with Mark who had his powered glider rigged and ready to go when we arrived. I started with my DLG that on its second throw hooked its first thermal of the day and we were off.

Mark stayed on the flat but was soon away and soaring at height. Ian rigged his Shadow and walked to the edge of the very shallow slope which gentle drifted down probably dropping only about 100 ft overall. With a good chuck Ian pushed out into the valley and getting lower (well below the horizon and below our feet) he saw some birds thermalling above him. From a minus height above us he showed us how to climb away from just feet above the ground.
I had a great time with my DLG. One moment I hooked a really strong thermal and which I shared with 3 buzzards. They weren't bothered with my model and just got on with racing upwards with such elegance.
After a while I went and rigged my Maxa 4 (4 metre span electric thermal glider F5J) We were joined by Nick who took the controls and flew the Maxa around with much confidence.
Later we were joined by Kevin who had brought along his own design and built F5J which looked a real beauty.
Ian continued to show how it should be done and on one landing he brushed the heather and seemed to lurched back into the air with little speed and feet above the ground. Amazingly he headed out into the valley and found what turned into a very strong thermal / twister. I was videoing his flying and the wind got up so much that it blew mine and Nicks hats off our head and brought loads of dust and twigs with it.

Anyway it was a very pleasing time up on the Forest. Great to see Ian again and I look forward to meeting up with him again in just 3 weeks up in Wales.

Phase 6 with flaps - Its Finally Finished

Well it was a struggle at times and I would not have been able to get it up and running without the help of Tim, who kitted out all the servo's, control rods, closed loop etc and for that I am very grateful Tim.
Here she is, finally covered and Solartrim added - My first Phase 6 build.....

She is balanced and ready to go now. Just need the weather!

Cracking morning up on Itford Hill

A good turn out with 7 members again (like last week) joining me up on Itford Hill.
A lovely sunny day with a brisk Westerly wind but so much better than last Sunday.
We met at 10:00 - there was me, Jim, Rob S, Rob P, Tony, Mark, Russell, and Robin.

There was lots going on today up on the hill apart from our 8 fliers, we were joined by 2 from Newhaven (who decided to fly at the top of the hill) and 2 from Eastbourne - both father and son fliers.

I started with Tim's Bluto which always flies very well and then moved to my Merlow with a camera on (see video)…

Robin started with his little home-design flying wing, then got to maiden his Mefisto glider. I helped him with the launch and the model proved to be very stable in the breezy conditions. Nice and stable flying and great landing flaps to make it an easy landing. It does need some brighter colours on the tips to help against the sky. Did lose it a few times when flying way out from the hill.
Tony was flying his Phase 6 very well and started with his trusty Wildthing. Rob had his Ninja but spent most of the time helping Jim with his 2 models to trim and set them up, continued problems were tracked eventually to the transmitter having a malfunction ! Russell was there enjoying himself, but arrived a fair bit later, so as we left he was only just setting up his models. Mark had his gorilla glued Blaster which always does well. Rob P was flying well with his mouldies (the Erwin and a larger white mouldie). I saw him do a superbly controlled landing right next to himself. We left Mark, Russell and Rob P up on the hill and made our way back home.

Robin with his Mefisto

                                                               Rob P flying his mouldie

                                                             Mark and Tony

                                                                    Paul with Russell

Bright enough for you?

Here's the Phase 6 nearly complete. Just some stripes on the tips and the Phase 6 decal and then it's off to Tim for the fuselage servo installation and the final set up. What would I do without Tim?

Chris Foss Phase 6 with landing flaps

Phase 6 Build Getting There Slowly

As you may already be aware I am trying to build a Chris Foss Phase 6 with Flaps with Tims valuable help.

I have had a load of problems (most of them of my own doing) but today I have started to cover the model. Blue fuselage with bright coloured wings.

 

If you are interested to see my slow but steady progress then take a look at the Phase 6 Build Blog Post.

Been going through my 200+ videos on Youtube

Hi all
I seem to have accumulated a huge number of flying video's over the last 5 years.
If you have some spare time and have nothing better to do then why not take a look at my YouTube channel - 'Slope Soaring Sussex' 

Saturday 8th March - Itford Hill

Hi Everyone,
Today we decided to fly on Saturday as the forecast for Sunday was very strong W winds, Saturday was a little less windy (so they said !). We met at 10:00 at the bottom of Itford Hill and there was a great turnout again - Rob, Paul, Ian D, Scotty, Robin, John M, Tony and Rob P - that's a very pleasing number as sometimes in the past we've been down to 2 or 3.
On waking up the hill two things became obvious  - 1. the wind was more SW than W and 2. It was far stronger than forecast...…. nevertheless we carried on and decided to try foamies.
As far as I can remember there was a collection of Wildthings, 2 Ninjas, an M60 and Scotts Komet foamie. Rob P had brought just the Erwin and it was decided that the weather didn't suit such an expensive and potentially easily damaged model (carbon fibre), so Rob didn't get to fly in the end.
Everybody had something in the air at some time and I remember being in amongst 6 other models at one time - it was very gusty and everyone was trying to just make headway and keep the models from hitting - although there was one coming together between John M and another model, both survived.
Ian D had an unfortunate incident where he ended up watching the wrong model, so his Wildthing went rogue and Ian had a long search to find it (which he did at the bottom of the hill somewhere).
While I was talking to Scotty, some shouted that my Phase 6 had got broken - I couldn't see how as it was in the bag with just the tail sticking out. John M had been forced to land and in doing so his Wildthing hit the rudder of my Phase 6 and snapped it off - oh well, I wasn't going to fly it anyway !
Later Paul announced that he had a heavy landing with the M60 and on inspection it turned out the wing had come loose and he lost the use of 1 elevon, hence a hard landing, the fuselage was also broken in the impact.
That was the time we all decided to call it a day.
I'm sure other things happened, but that's all I remember plus there were hundreds of walkers, bikes and some tethered hang gliders sharing the hill with us.
Thanks to all who came - I enjoyed it a lot.....

Rob