Radio Control Slope Soaring-2007/12

FOUR NEW YORK Slope Dogs journeyed to the Shenandoah
National Park in Virginia for a midsummer vacation of mountain
flying, and it makes for an impressive flying site. Built in the
1930s, the park is a mountain recreational retreat that is roughly
75 miles from Washington DC. It’s exceptionally aesthetically
pleasing, with a roadway that curves through the typical eastern
forest and features scenic overlooks facing the east and west
sides of the mountain range.
There are food, lodging, camping, and picnicking
facilities within the park and in nearby towns. The park
includes more than 500 miles of trails, including 101 miles of
the Appalachian Trail—a well-known 3,200-mile hiking trail
that runs from Maine to Georgia. The 105-mile Skyline
Drive road runs from end to end through the park and
features 75 overlooks.
Approximately half of the overlooks we visited would be
flyable with suitable Slope Soarers. Slope finder Terry
Dwyer urged us to make this trip for years, and in August we
[[email protected]]
Radio Control Slope Soaring Dave Garwood
An East Coast Slope Soaring trip to Shenandoah National Park
Also included in this column:
• 2007 Western Colorado Slope Challenge
Terry Dwyer’s EPP-foam Ka-6E turns and burns on the west side
of Skyline Drive. Landing it was not a trivial endeavor, but he
handled it with confidence and skill.
Joe Chovan flies an EPP-foam Arctic Fox from an overlook on
Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia.
Terry Dwyer flies a Windrider Bee from a peak on the Bearfence
Mountain hiking trail. The landing-area choices here were to hand
catch or put the model into rocks or a tree.
Competitors fly DS combat during the Western Colorado Slope
Challenge, with Grand Mesa shrouded in clouds and snowfall. Lisa
Doughty photo.
138 MODEL AVIATION
Joe Chovan prepares to launch his 60-inch, EPP-foam LEG
Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star. The New York Slope Dogs named
this model series a must-have in the summer.
Some sailplanes flown during the Virginia trip (bottom to top): Jim
Harrigan’s DAW 1-26, Northeast Extreme RC Sabre, Dave’s
DAW 1-26, Joe’s electric “lift explorer,” his P-80, and his Arctic
Fox. Joe, Jim, and Terry prepare the 120-inch Ka-6E at the table.
finally did. He sent us maps with 40 flyable sites marked and
video of lift that was so good it was sometimes difficult to get his
sailplane down for a landing.
We were not disappointed with the topography. The scenery
was breathtaking, the slopes were steep, and the range of
available accommodations was extensive, including camping,
cabins, lodges, and motels. You can obtain more information
from the park’s Web site and even more, including commercial
offerings, from a Google search for “Shenandoah National Park.”
The topography includes typical eastern forest cover, which
means that a slope pilot must find a place to launch where he or
she can see the sky and figure out a place to land. Luckily many
of the scenic overlooks fit that requirement to a small or large
degree.
Whether one-third or two-thirds of the overlook parking areas
are flyable for you will depend on your individual experience,
ingenuity, and piloting skills. This is not a slope-flying training
area; if you lose control of a glider, chances are that it will be
permanently lost in the tree-covered landscape below. No guts,
no glory.
You’ll have to plan your landings carefully; there’s nothing
casual about landing in forested mountains. You’ll have to hit
your landing-zone target, whether it’s a narrow strip of grass or a
spot of asphalt in the small parking area. Sometimes we handcaught
our airplanes on landing, and more than once we landed
on the rock wall along the side of the road.
However, experienced fliers with bounceable sailplanes can
do well here, and we did. Our travel schedule was based on
advance cabin rentals, and of our four days at the park in early
August, the winds were light for three days and moderate for one
day.
If flying is the primary focus of your trip to Shenandoah
National Park, you may want to schedule your trip on the
strength of a wind forecast. There are steady winds here; the
national long-distance full-scale glider records were attained
along the Appalachian Mountains range, while the altitude
records were gained out West.
Wind direction is not super-critical on the Skyline Drive since
flyable slopes face east, southeast, and southwest, as well as
west, southwest, and southwest. Since the available flying sites
face multiple directions, if the wind direction shifts slightly there
will still be locations where the wind is blowing straight in and
lift is strong. You’ll want to have wind velocity of 10 mph or
faster.
The gliders that worked for us on this trip were EPP-foam
airframes. They ranged in size from the 35-inch-span Weasel to
the 120-inch-span Ka-6E, and there were several in between.
Following is a brief summary of each.
• Michael Richter Weasel: This is a 35-inch-span aerobat from
Dream Flight. The Weasel is agile, fun to fly, durable, and
compact for easy packing. It comes in a high-quality, wellengineered
kit.
See the July 2007 Radio Controlled Soaring Digest online
magazine for two articles about the history of “Weaselfest” to
get an idea of the enthusiastic following this model has.
• Windrider EPP Bee: This tough, sweet-flying combat wing was
designed and injection-molded in Hong Kong. See the Web site
for links to US dealers or order directly from Hong Kong.
Of particular interest is Karl Decker’s strength and durability
modifications for Windrider kits, developed for the serious slope
combat pilot. You can see his work at Predator Wings.
• Jack Cooper 60-inch warbirds: Leading Edge Gliders (LEG)
makes these extraordinarily strong, good-looking warbird kits in
48-, 60-, and 72-inch wingspans.
The New York Slope Dogs have awarded this design “musthave”
status, partly from our Shenandoah experience, but mostly
because of one epic day Joe Chovan and I had at Lake Ontario,
during which nothing else in the quiver was as much fun to fly.
Now we make sure to have one on every flying trip.
“It’s not a crime to fly a model airplane that looks like an
airplane,” as Dave Sanders taught us.
I have my third LEG 60-inch warbird under construction
now, and Joe Chovan just completed his fourth.
If you’re new to building EPP-foam airframes or would like
to learn some of the tips and tricks of the pros, check out Greg
Smith’s instructional video. The EPP Building Clinic four-disc
DVD set from LEG, featuring Jack Cooper building an LEG
warbird, is available at slopeflyer.com.
• Dave Sanders’ Schweizer 1-26 (2-meter
version): SkyKing RC Products currently
makes this Dave’s Aircraft Works (DAW)
kit. This super-versatile sailplane excels in
light lift performance, holds its own in
medium lift, and looks pretty darn good
doing it.
The 2-meter 1-26 has been a New York
Slope Dogs must-have traveling sailplane
for six years. With the split-wing
modification and the removable tail
modification, it will fit back into its
original kit box for storage and
transportation. See the Web site for these
alterations.
• Dave Sanders’ Schleicher Ka-6E 3-meter:
Also from SkyKing RC Products, this
DAW design is impressive in the sky.
Designed as an aerotow trainer, it works
well on the slope, even in light lift, because
“There’s no substitute for span.”
(Apologies to Stroker McGurk.)
You must definitely be on top of your
game to land this sailplane in an overlook
turnout or on a rock wall, but launching it
out over the Appalachians is a memorable
experience.
Please use all possible caution in the
area of safety for people and property when
flying at a public location such as
Shenandoah National Park. One
“memorable” event could result in the US
government’s placing restrictions on our
flying, which we do not have now. I cannot
emphasize enough that we need to think
safety and practice conservative flying
strategies.
Know your landing spot before you
launch. Keep your airplanes out and away
from people and vehicles in case of a loss
of radio link or battery power. When
setting up a landing approach, have a
spotter courteously ask bystanders to stand
clear and be aware during the approach and
landing. Do not fly without a current AMA
insurance card.
We did have a visit and an observation
of flight operations by a park service
ranger, who remarked “I don’t see a
problem with this activity.” Please, my
fellow slope pilots, let us keep this going
and fly on public land as safely as we
possibly can, and keep our relationship
with the National Park Service good. Think
for a minute what our chances of flying on
the land would be if it were privately held.
I have a feeling I’ll be back to Virginia
to fly the Skyline Drive of the Shenandoah
National Park.
Western Colorado Slope Challenge: May
2007 saw the third annual running of this
event. Jim Ferguson, vice president of the
sponsoring flying club, wrote the following
summary.
“On May 5-6 2007 the Montrose Model
Aircraft Association (MMAA) hosted the
third annual Western Colorado Slope
Challenge (WCSC). This slope soaring
event, organized primarily for combat, is
held on Bureau of Land Management lands
just a few miles outside the city limits of
Montrose, Colorado. Flat Top, a small 400
foot high mesa, formed out of the local
‘adobe’ soils, is the traditional location.
“The 35 slots available filled early,
mostly by fliers from throughout Colorado.
In the end, 31 fliers showed up for the fun,
including some New Mexico and Arizona
slope maniacs.
“The competition between the fliers
from the Eastern Slope and Western Slope
of Colorado leads to good natured ribbing
and semi-serious competition. Although
the Eastern Slope fliers again dominated
the contest, the Western Slope boys are
honing their skills, and increasing in
number.
“Weather this year, with snow, rain,
sun, and cold kept things interesting, but
still allowed for groups of 30 Bees in
combat at one time. The weather forced a
move to an alternate location for day two,
which was cloudy, but the rain held off
until after the event was over.
“The pilots located a good ridge for DS
flying (now named as Spinal Tap Ridge),
and soon up to 25 Bees were in combat
clashes while flying in the DS groove. It is
a serious adrenalin rush. Karl Decker had
the high score.
“Tonya O’Donnell (our president’s
spouse) volunteered to plan and oversee
lunches and an excellent Saturday evening
barbeque. Tonya, her mother Lisa, and a
few other volunteers made certain that no
one went hungry. The barbeque and raffle
were held at the home of MMAA member
Michael Thompson.
“MMAA and the contestants thank the
sponsors: Predator Wings, Edge RC,
Leading Edge Gliders, Eaton Air,
Windrider Aviation, Canuck Engineering,
Soaring USA, Dream-Flight, Tuff Planes,
Hitec RCD, Predator Wings, Ultra Hobbies
(a Montrose CO hobby shop), Lavawing,
and Montrose Comfort Inn. For more
information on this event, previous events,
and announcement of the 2008 event, visit
the MMAA website at www.mmaamodelairplanes.
org.” MA
Sources:
Dream Flight
(805) 687-6735
www.dream-flight.com
Jim Ferguson
(970) 249-1770
[email protected]
Leading Edge Gliders
(785) 525-6263
www.leadingedgegliders.com
Predator Wings
www.predatorwings.com
Radio Controlled Soaring Digest
www.rcsoaringdigest.com
Shenandoah National Park
(540) 999-3500
www.nps.gov/shen
SkyKing RC Products
(612) 605-1128
www.skykingrcproducts.com
slopeflyer.com
www.slopeflyer.com
Windrider
(852) 27968723
www.windrider.com.hk