Radio Control: Slope Soaring
SR BATTERIES. Just how important are batteries? Very important, of course. Yet how often do you think about the age of your batteries or simply the overall quality of your battery packs? Probably not often enough. When it comes time to replace your old battery packs, you might as well get the best. In the opinion of most modelers, SR Batteries offers the best around. To give you some idea of the great reputation that SR battery packs have, SR makes packs for all of the major aerospace companies and has recently been chosen to make packs for the Space Shuttle program. Best of all, the packs they make for modelers go through the same construction and testing as those for the aerospace industry!
Radio Control: Slope Soaring
INTERNATIONAL RC Scale Soaring Fun-Fly coming up. I recently received an update from Wil Byers on this year's fun-fly. Here's what he had to say: "The weekend of Memorial Day, 1988 was the weekend of the first-ever National RC Scale Soaring Fun-Fly and Soaring Social. This event was marked by outstanding enthusiasm and tremendous support from the Soaring community. As a result, the event will probably go down in Soaring annuals as a genuine success. And therefore, we the Tri-City Soarers feel it is most worthy of repeating in 1989.
Radio Control: Slope Soaring
RICHLAND UPDATE. The 1989 AMA NATS will be held in Richland, WA July 15-24. They plan on having a Thermal site, an F3B site, and a Slope site. This could be just the boost that Slope Soaring needs. I do not know if there will be an official Slope competition, but I am sure that Wil Byers and the rest of the Tri-City Soarers will do their best to show off what Slope Soaring has to offer. Plan on attending and showing the rest of the modeling community our commitment and belief in the best segment of RC modeling. Also, plans for the next Scale Slope Soaring Fun-Fly are well under way. Last year's was probably the Soaring event of the year, and this year's looks to be even better. The fun-fly may be extended to four days and include a hobby expo. For more information on the upcoming happenings in Richland, contact Wil Byers at 632 Meadows Drive E., Richland, WA 99352.
Radio Control: Slope Soaring
NATIONAL SLOPE COMPETITION. With the AMA Nationals recently completed, it seems to me that there was something definitely missing from the competition. Of course I'm talking about Slope Soaring. Sloping continues to grow steadily and, as with most other disciplines in this sport, competition is extremely intense. There are a few events that bring together fliers from across the country, such as the National Scale Slope Fun Fly, the International Slope Race, and some others, but there is no true National competition. What I am proposing would be an event that would bring together fliers from many different aspects of Slope competition (Racing, Scale, PSS, Aerobatics, Combat, etc.) to a single site for a few days of the most exciting and competitive Slope flying yet seen.
Radio Control: Slope Soaring
SLOPE SITES wanted. That's right, I am looking for the best and most available Slope sites throughout the country. One of the most frequently asked questions I hear is, "Where can a Sailplane flier go to do some Slope Soaring?" Here in California most of the sites are well publicized and most people have little trouble finding a good place to fly. I know there must be many other undiscovered sites throughout the country that are probably just as good or better than the popular ones. What I would like to do is compile a list here in this column of sites from around the country and form a "source book" of Slope flying sites. I'm sure that other fliers would greatly appreciate the help in finding a quality site, as having a site is half the battle in Slope flying.
