Author: Lee Estingoy
Edition: Model Aviation - 2009/03
Page Numbers: 115,116
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Radio Control Soaring — 2009/03

Standing in a field, fishing for thermals

Lee Estingoy [[email protected]]

A few years ago, our little family attended a birthday party at a neighbor’s home. My son, who was 2½ at the time, found a remote-control unit for one of the other kids’ toys. It wasn’t long before he was standing by himself in the middle of the room, holding the remote and looking up intently at the ceiling.

My wife and I made eye contact and smiled; we knew what he was doing. The rest of the adults weren’t so sure about our kid, and I’m sure that many of you aren’t so sure about those of us who prefer to fly without propellers.

I’d like to use this column in the coming months to shine some light on why the Soaring pilots love this style of flying so much. Stick with me for a few minutes.

Soaring is admittedly not much of a spectator sport. It’s quiet, and most of the action is incredibly subtle. Much of the allure is the pilot’s interaction with environmental conditions, which play a huge role in the flight. Much the same can be said about the average golf game, fly-fishing trip, or club sailing event.

Soaring is truly a dance with natural elements: air and gravity. The pilot can rely only on his or her skills with the airplane. That person is required to be able to “read” the currents to understand where to “look” for thermals, just as the fly fisherman knows where to cast in the stream to catch the fish or the golfer knows where to place the shot on the green.

None of those activities is a spectator sport, either; a few groupies watch the Sunday duffers or the teens in the Sunfish classes in the bay. Heaven forbid a crowd tries to follow a fly fisherman out to the stream.

RC Soaring is a “deep” pastime; the beginner can quickly achieve success and hook a thermal, but few ever reach perfection. There are techniques to learn. A great winch launch is as beautiful as a great golf swing. There are strategies involved that require the pilot to combine all of his or her skills and more to win a contest, much like a competitor in a one-design sailing event. It’s only hard to understand why people are hooked on Soaring until the first time you manage to guide your unpowered sailplane into a thermal that is 100 feet off the ground and then take it up to more than 1,500 feet using only vertical air currents. Then it’s suddenly clear; this is cool—like magic in a bottle. You can’t wait to do it again.

But that’s the trick. No two thermals or days are alike. Thermals are ephemeral, like fish in the stream. What worked well once may not work exactly the same way the next time. The environment changes, the sun moves across the sky, and invisible thermals come and go. A Soaring pilot needs to “tune” in to the environment around him or her. Sometimes it’s as easy as flying toward a raptor circling in the sky. Subtle shifts in the breeze can also signal the location of a thermal. As a pilot develops skills, he or she learns to watch the model’s attitude to determine the presence of lift. That’s not an easy thing to do when your airplane is several hundred yards away.

Man will make a contest out of anything, and Soaring is no exception. Many of the Soaring pilots are avid competitors. They use incredibly sophisticated (read “expensive”) airframes, time their flights to the second, and measure their landing spots to the fraction of an inch. I used to be one of those guys. I still play along every now and then, but it’s hard to include my little boy in that sort of event. Neither of us can really pay attention for the duration of the timed tasks—some of which can be up to 12 minutes in length, with several such rounds taking place during the span of two or three days.

Don’t get me wrong. We often fun-fly our sailplanes from one thermal to another; flights are limited only by your neck muscles. Flights of 45 minutes or longer are common where we fly. Do you feel like joining in this quiet, meditative fun? I suggest that you start with one of the electric-powered foam sailplanes such as the EasyStar from Multiplex or the Radian from ParkZone; both are extremely capable aircraft.

They certainly cost less than most guided fly-fishing outings, and they'll provide many great days of Soaring fun. Best of all, the electric assist makes it a cinch to launch or motor home when you are caught out low. Think of them as sailplanes with training wheels.

The EasyStar and Radian are easy to fly; both have proven to be great trainers for my son, Daniel, who is now 5 years old. They also perform well enough to keep the old salts at the field amused and, frankly, make them wonder about their sizable investments in high-performance machines.

As much as Soaring is a solitary event, I strongly suggest that you find the local Soaring club and check it out. Make some friends.

There's nothing like having a personal guide on a fly-fishing trip, and the pilots at the local club will be more than happy to share their love of Soaring with you; maybe they'll even help you with some pointers on finding that first thermal.

A great place to start is your local hobby shop. The personnel should be able to point you to a great foam sailplane and a friendly Soaring club.

Sources

Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.