Radio Control Soaring - 2011/05

112 MODEL AVIATION
[[email protected]]
Radio Control Soaring Lee Estingoy
Spotlight on Gordy Stahl
Above: Gordy Stahl uses Soaring—and
his alter ego “GordySoar”—to relieve
him from the tedium of his work as a
traveling salesman.
Left: Gordy works with Lee Atchison on
Lee’s LSF Level V tasks. He is now a
multiclass Junior Soaring Nats champ
and is on the US F5J Junior team. “I
first met him when his mom brought
him to our field to fly one of those toy
electric RC airplanes,” said Gordy. “He
kept crashing near the winch lines so I
got it trimmed, got it up, and taught
him how to keep it up; it was l ike
feeding a stray cat.”
HI. MY NAME is Lee and I’m a Soaring addict. Welcome to
the support group.
Today we have a special guest participating in our group.
He’s long been a part of, or perhaps the cause of, many joining
such Soaring support groups. Let’s welcome Gordy Stahl to
our—wait a minute. Sit back down. This will be interesting, I
promise.
Gordy seems to pop up everywhere. With his posts on the
RC Soaring Exchange (RCSE) and his column in RC Soaring
Digest, he has done a great job of chronicling the evolution of
the hobby while trying to keep the focus on the people
involved.
Many didn’t get that from the posts and columns at the time,
and there is certainly a segment out there that would like to
shoot him for some of the things he’s said. They wouldn’t be
the first to take a shot at him. Perhaps learning a bit more of the
back story will help us “get” him.
LE: You’ve been an advocate for Soaring for as long as I can
remember. How long have you been participating in RC
Soaring? What got you started? Where?
GS: I started RC in Milwaukee, but my dad got me started in
model airplanes (U-control and later RC) when I was about 10
years old. I didn’t really get started into sailplanes till I moved
from Milwaukee to Louisville.
The power guys were getting too touchy about noise and
“safety”; there were less and less builders and more and more
ARF fliers, so I had less and less in common with the new
breed of RC power pilots.
It was the Louisville Area Soaring Society and specifically
their President-for-Life, Ed Wilson, who got me hooked
completely into sailplanes and Soaring. Their club was very
active and very focused on the hobby. Ed was the only LSF5
[League of Silent Flight Level V] in the state and very active
in LSF.
LE: You pop up at a number of events; you are the “Whac-AMole”
of the Soaring segment. How do you manage to break
free of the job, family, and pets?
GS: I’ve been married 40 years now, and lucky to have a wife
who took care of finances and family. Right from the start I sort
of developed a dual life, one being work and hobbies and the
other family.
I figured out that most guys spend 110% of their lives
devoted to work—definitely not my thing. I figured out that if I
could get my work done fast and well, I’d have plenty of time
for Soaring with friends.
My jobs always entailed a lot of time on the road, so I
created GordySoar as a way to meet up with other sailplane
pilots. It sure beat sitting in motel rooms in strange locations.
Everyone quickly learned that sooner or later GordySoar was
going to show up in their town with his sailplanes, so it made a
lonely life one of real adventure.
LE: Most fliers are competitive, but you are a special case. Are
you competitive in everything you do?
GS: Actually I am not very competitive! I’m often mistaken for
that trait, but in fact I’m more into participation than
competition.
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Don’t get me wrong, I love claiming the prizes as much as the
next, but seriously, it was always about me having something other
to do than sit in motels. Many who fly with me or have timed for
me will tell you that I compete with myself.
I love to fly a perfect round with a perfect landing, but other
than when I needed those three wins for my LSF5 tasks, I’m more
about helping the other guys do well. The social aspect, hanging
with the guys while I’m away from home, is why I have made so
many contests in the world.
LE: How many Soaring events do you attend a year? Which are
your favorites and why?
GS: At my peak I attended maybe 30 contests in one year around
the world! But as I began to focus on my LSF tasks, I slowed down
some. Last year I flew about 12.
My favorites are the MidSouth, Lexington Mid America
Champs, Texas TNT, Orlando Tangerine, Visalia, Southwest
Classic, and the Masters. But thinking about it, I have to include
many of the Eastern Soaring League events and of course anything
in Denver or California!
LE: I understand that you stop in to fly with pilots/clubs even
without a contest. What is the most impressive club you’ve
encountered and what makes it special? Can the magic be bottled?
GS: First the Soaring League of Northern Texas. From the time I
stumbled across their flying site on a business trip right through to
today, they have treated me like a clubmate/best friend.
But what makes them magic is that they were bred and born as RC
modelers—guys who built and flew sailplanes—a lot! Plus it’s a club
whose members have consistently contributed to the hobby and set a
standard of excellence in modeling but also kept a great attitude.
My second club-away-from-home club is the Orlando Buzzards,
for virtually the same reasons. Guys like Rick Eckles and Gordon
Buckland keep the spirit alive—but also because both have
members that work hard at ensuring their club continues to hold
contests and maintain excellent newsletters.
Yes, the magic can be bottled. If there are two things that seem to
make Soaring clubs exceptional, it’s contests and communication.
Those clubs around the country that hold monthly contests are
the healthiest clubs in the country. They not only gain new
members but tend to attract visitors—like myself. I guess in order to
create gravity you have to have motion!
LE: Many conversations at events start out with something along the
lines of, “Did you see what Gordy posted the other day?” You often
choose to be a bit polarizing in your missives.
Most of us know you aren’t always doing it to be a jerk. What’s
your motivation to buck the trends and “in crowd” online?
GS: There is often the misunderstanding that GordySoar is going to
show up at a flying field, but it’s always only me! GordySoar’s goal is
to keep RC Soaring alive and well so that I
can have guys to fly with, contests to
participate in, and someone with like interests
to share a beer and Soaring conversations
with on rainy days.
I made it my goal to only post positive,
informative, and interesting things. The
reason was that the evening I found the RCSE
I’d been driving a lot of miles and had a
particularly terrible day. Tuning into the
RCSE brightened my motel room!
My contacts with so many skilled,
experienced leaders and innovators of our
hobby gave me a bigger view of the hobby, of
where it was headed, and maybe even the
ability to help keep it on a good track.
The fact that I was often tired, got to the
motel late, and had to be up early forced my
writing style to be very direct, which often
led some readers to interpret my posts
without paying attention to all the smiley
faces in the text!
Jim Deck holds a Cecil Haga-designed Legionaire Shuttle, which is Gordy’s “Rosebud”
sailplane. This strange-looking design is sometimes referred to as the “flying shovel.”
I was careful to never reply to flames, etc., because it was never
aimed at “me” and the RCSE was too valuable to waste its space on
anything other than building and flying RC sailplanes with friends.
LE: What’s your Rosebud airplane? Why?
GS: The Legionaire Shuttle was clearly one of the ugliest designs ever
created, designed by famed Texas designer and competitor Cecil Haga.
I’d purchased all three of his versions at a swap meet in Appleton,
Wisconsin.
Sometimes referred to as the “flying shovel,” the fuselage was
about 2 inches wide at the front (picture a horizontal line as the nose),
the fuselage tapering upwards to the rudder to a depth of about 4
inches high and 1/4 inch wide! Very strange looking for sure. Seventyeight,
112, and 134 inches, I think, were their spans.
It became my Rosebud because I hooked my first thermal with that
big one. It was a speck, but I’d not charged it beforehand, and being a
power guy I’d never kept a sailplane in the air long enough for the
battery to die! It ultimately came down but was smashed on asphalt.
I have both enjoyed and regretted that day for the rest of my
soaring days. As you know, we all got hooked into the hobby for life
because of that first thermal.
LE: What’s your favorite airplane to fly for fun (whether at a contest
or elsewhere) these days? Why?
GS: Tough one for sure, and a tie between two models! My first love
is the HKM High End. No other sailplane gets my anticipation going
like that one. I doubt there is another airplane that is as beautiful or
challenges and rewards me as much.
A very close tie is the Kennedy Composites Supra. The Supra is
the definition of elegant in its simplicity.
Literally three aircraft in one, designed to be flown in three specific
and separate modes, it led us all into the clarity of learning to use
Speed, Cruise, and Thermal settings as preset settings versus sliders.
Just when you think you have it figured out, it teaches you that there’s
more to learn.
LE: If you were king for a day, what would you do for the Soaring
community to help it prosper?
GS:Well, a king can’t grant youth to us all, and that would be the
most helpful thing, but I’d provide incentives to clubs who’d host club
contests! Thermal Duration, Discus-Launch Glider, and Slope events
every month.
I’ve seen the effect that incentives have on our hobby via Horizon
Hobby’s sponsorship of the Ohio Valley Soaring Series and the
Masters. It really helps. MA
Sources:
League of Silent Flight
www.silentflight.org
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