Sunday  May 29, 2005

    The wind was out of the Southeast today and that usually means - West Bluff.  We had a total of four pilots show up along with couple of spectators.  Warren and I flew scale ships ASW 27/28 - 2.7m and 3m respectively.  In addition, other planes flew, such as, Nemesis, Risk, Adriana and a trainer glider.  The wind conditions progressively improved throughout the day.  I clocked about hour to hour and a half of stick time.

Saturday  May 28, 2005

    Let me start by saying that today was an exceptional day.  The thermals were so strong after lunch that an empty garbage bag happen to get sucked up into some big lift.  While few of us were flying and looking for lift, Warren noticed the flying "object" and yelled out - follow the bag!  Within a minute or so the garbage bag was out of sight...The only wind movement at the field was thermal in nature.  I counted six pilots at the field.  Matt could not make it this week...don't worry Matt I few twice as much this weekend just to make up for your absence ;-).

I've read few items that dealt with dolly launching electric assisted gliders on the web.  Well, today I gave it a try with the 5.9 kg electric assisted PG Gerasis ASW 27 4m scale glider.  The first launch was a bit "interesting", however, mostly my fault - I was not effectively controlling the rudder.  The dolly tumbled just after I took off - I'm quite sure that the dolly went over a rut about the time the plane lifted off.  The second launch went extremely smooth (no dolly tumbling) and I do have to say that with practice it will become more of an routine thing at the thermal field - looking forward to it.  Dave strung up his NYX on the winch and with more fine tuning I'm sure he'll enjoy his new pride and joy.  Warren had a very scary situation with his brand new Icon F3J sailplane when his elevator servo (Multiplex Digi Micro Speed) failed about 1000 feet above ground after only few hours of run time - this servo was practically brand new out of the box.  What I'm hearing is STAY AWAY from MULTIPLEX Digi Micro Speed servos if you value your airframe!

Sunday  May 22, 2005

    Today actually turned out much better than most of us thought.  About five club members took a chance and showed up at the field.  It was quite windy north end of the city (from our thermal field), however, the wind did not show up until about 1:30 pm.  Thus, we managed to get few hours of great weather - very little wind.  Thermals were absolutely huge and came in packets out of the west.  Dave J. has a new toy - NYX.  Brian and Bob showed up as spectators.  Brian managed to get some great shots - I'm hoping to post the images or provide a link to the photos at a later date.  Below are some shots of the day's activity...

Saturday May 21, 2005

    Unfortunately, today did not turn out to be a great day.  We had some good 25 to 30 km/h gusts from West North-West.  Five people showed up at the field (4 flew - short flights).  However, it was still nice to get out of the house and smell the great outdoors.  Below are some action shots from today...

Sunday May 15, 2005

    Looks like we managed to get exactly what we asked for - a great day!  Today the thermals we bigger than yesterday and there definitely was more of them.  We reached a high of 22 degree Celsius, mostly sunny, with winds shifting 180 degrees from North-West to South-East and back.  Dave Fowlow showed up with his new Pike Superior and maiden voyaged without a glitch.  Dave asked me to mention that the conditions were so good that he was catching lift flying upside down.  We had a total of 9 pilots at the field.  Today definitely felt like a nice summer day - reminded me of July/August weather.

Below are some photos that Ryan e-mailed from yesterday...

Saturday May 14, 2005

    I counted 9 pilots at the field.  Excellent day all around.  We hit a high of 23 degree Celsius.  There was some  wind movement out of the South/East, however, non threatening with respect to thermal activity.  If anything, today's thermals were huge.  Andrew has finally made the switch to fully molded sailplanes (WARNING! - once you go molded it's tough to go back) after several years of flying (top right photo) - White top/purple bottom Hera.  Some of the club members are thinking of getting out again tomorrow - hoping to get some of the same weather treatment as today.