Radio Control Soaring - 2009/03

Also included in this column:
• Sinking the hook
• Meditative fun
A FEW YEARS ago, our little family attended a birthday party at a
neighbor’s home. My son, who was 21/2 at the time, found a remotecontrol
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
new 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. MA
Sources:
League of Silent Flight
c/o AMA
Box 3028
Muncie IN 47302
www.silentflight.org
Multiplex
(858) 748-6948
www.multiplexusa.com
ParkZone
(800) 338-4639
www.parkzone.com