Windy day at Itford Hill Sunday 12th Jan 2020

A few of us ventured up Itford Hill today to fly in a strong wind. Estimated 35mph.
Scotty flew his Comet which went really well in the windy conditions, it still amazes me the wide envelope of wind speeds that this model can cope with.
Mark did a grand job of flying his ST Blaze (I think) with a lovely landing only to have the wind pick it up and flip it over after. No damage and it flew again.
Tony flew his Wildthing which was a real challenge in these conditions, they just don't seem to penetrate like Scotties comet. Tony kindly tested the landing in the tree approach for all and I am glad to say it worked (not recommended though). Again, no damage and she was soon thrown back in the air for another sortie.
I (John) flew my Strega with full ballast having made some changes to the elevator linkage. I am pleased to say it went well. This thing can really eat up some sky and does bring your heart rate up if pushed.
Rob Powell flew his Erwin and it looked superb slicing through the strong wind. Nice landings and no dramas here. Robs son James flew the Wildthing but again, struggled to make headway in the strong wind.
We did fly from right at the top today, it was nice to be out of the wind.
We all agreed however, that we prefer to fly from our usual spot by the small depression in the ground further down the hill which has now been officially named as "Hampshire Hole".
Looking for ward to the next sortie, hopefully next weekend.

My first soaring session of 2020

I met with John and we trudged up to the top of Itford Hill. The wind wasn't the strongest but It gave us an opportunity to try out our Wisel gliders.

Mine still didn't fly right but it was flyable. PS..... don't try and catch a balsa built up wing model as it wont end well. I broke one of the ribs. This will mean cutting the film and repairing the broken bits then recovering the wing. John maidened his Wisel and after just a little trimming it flew very well.
Then we were joined by Robin so that made 3 of us on the hillside.
Robin flew his sleek mouldy glider with plenty of landings being practised. I said I wouldn't mention his dodgy landing the other side of the fence (opps!) sorry Robin...…...
I practised many landings with my trusted Phase 6.
After two hours I was having trouble feeling my fingers so myself and John decided to head down to the cars. On the way down we bumped into Rob P, James and I assume Mrs Powell.

Christmas slope safari to Wales

In the holiday period between Christmas and the New Year I drove up to Wales to meet my old mate Ian. Surprisingly the weather for Wales was dry but grey and gloomy for most of the time, which was much better than the usual rain.

The last few times I have been flying with Ian we have had light Southerly winds and for this trip the trend continued. We had planned to go flying on the 'back of the wrecker' but found out the day before there was a F3F competition planned there so our alternative slope options where very limited.

When I drive from my In-laws over to Ian's I generally drive up over the Western edge of the Brecons, over 'The Black Mountain' which shouldn't be mistaken for 'The Black Mountains'. 

The Black Mountain sits 502 metres (1646ft) high above sea level. The hill itself is mighty but beautiful when you can see the view from the top but unfortunately for our visit the summit was covered in thick cloud. 

I met Ian up at the top car park which had about 10 metres visibility but a few hundred feet below the visibility was much better with many smaller slopes below. So we headed down to find somewhere to fly. We parked up and walked off looking for a slope into wind. Watching the birds upwind they showed us the edge of a slope and it was producing lift.

Back to the car to collect a model with my choice being my new Wisel glider and Ian with his SAS Starjet.

Here is a little video from our first few flights from this lower slope above Brynamman.

The Wisel had its maiden flight with lots of trimming needed to get it to fly straight and level. After trimming it flew as you would expect but it does need some weight removing from the nose and soem work to get the thing flying level without loads of right trim. As John M mentioned it soon dissappears into the sky and I am really pleased that I covered it in bright film, especially in the poor visability conditions on this day.

We decided we needed bigger wings for the lighter conditions, so back off to the car to collect my Ascot and Ian's Shadow.

Even with the damp and dingy conditions we had a good laugh and some worthwhile flying. As I have always said if you make the effort it generally pays dividends.

One small issue was the bolder field we had to land on. It was a bit of a gamble or hit and miss shall we say you landed without hitting a rock on your ground run. It was a long way to drive but always a pleasure to go flying with Ian and a pleasure to be up in the Brecons once again.

A small group of us are planning a trip to South Wales toward the end of April if anyone else is interested coming along. The countryside is stunning and the flying sites are amazing so what have you got to loose?

Thanks Ian for the great company as usual !