Radio Control: Slope Soaring
WOW! WHAT A GIG! I'm flattered to follow some true Soaring giants in this slot, and hope I can live up to your expectations. I've been an aeromodeler for about 20 years and have played with just about every kind of flying machine imaginable, with the exception of RC helicopters. I'm glad to have been exposed to so many facets of model aviation. If you can't see a clear path to a solution for a particular problem, your answer can often be readily gained by talking to those who fly other disciplines and learning from their experiences. My Slope Soaring activities have been primarily concentrated in the last five or six years, and are definitely my current passion and avocation. That said, I'll go right ahead and move into the meat-and-potatoes of our little corner of the sport.
Radio Control: Slope Soaring
"TAKEOFFS ARE OPTIONAL; LANDINGS are compulsory," is perhaps one of the oldest and most poignant aviation truisms. You're not risking your life in your models, but that isn't much solace when you're gluing or glassing back together an airplane that looks like a Gerhard Marcks sculpture! (I like his works, except that they don't fly.) There are basically three ways in which Slope airplanes are damaged: ( Midair collisions - they happen. ( Stupidity. You knew that there wasn't enough altitude left for that last big loop right on the ridge! ( Landings. You can gain almost total control here, especially on your home slope. Let's take a look at the most delicate Slope task: landings. I think of three forms of landing approaches: the backfield, the ridgeline, and the slope-face.
Los Banos Scale Slope Soar-In
In its fourth year, the South Bay Soaring Society's (SBSS) annual Los Banos Slope Soar-In is shaping up to be one of the major events on the US Scale Soaring calendar. Unique in setting and scope, the contest provides a great opportunity for a wide range of Scale Soaring enthusiasts to show their skills in a number of flying and construction formats. This was my second year I have attended, and it has become a much anticipated weekend for myself and many others. The Soar-In was the weekend of May 16-18, at the scenic Los Banos Reservoir State Park. The site's awesome 300-foot slopes offered outstanding smooth, clean lift-even with very little wind. This year's conditions were not quite as good as last year's, but they still provided plenty of flyable lift for the majority of the more than 60 pilots registered, bringing with them more than 100 models.
Radio Control: Slope Soaring
Happy New Year! Since this is the holiday season and many folks are or will be vacationing, I thought this might be an appropriate time to talk about traveling with your airplanes. I've had many opportunities in recent months to travel to events, so I have confronted the problems of transporting models by airline and by auto. It's a shame to go on a long trip where you know you'll be able to get some flying time, only to be stuck without a model - especially if you're traveling from a "real" winter to a more pleasant climate. Paradoxically, the best airplanes to take on these trips for serendipitous slope exploration are often the most delicate and least portable in your fleet (such as a nice, lightweight hand-launch model); but you can take them in complete safety if you plan ahead, and you can do it very inexpensively!
Radio Control: Slope Soaring
Slope flying has peculiarities that lend themselves well to certain types of models, and I'd like to highlight one of those - Scale sailplanes. I'm a recent devotee to the Scale scene, and after a taste of it at a few events, I find it a hard compulsion to put aside. As with our powered Scale aircraft counterparts, finding the desired model, its documentation, and the myriad little details and doodads to make the finished product "just right" can be an all-consuming passion. This desire for scale appearance and flight performance fidelity is what makes Scale a joyful experience in many ways, as you meet new people and gain the knowledge to fully understand your subjects. I'll look at a few of the choices involved in a Scale project and see what they mean to you.
