The Electroglide for July ended up being pretty fun. We had good lift at times and some long flights. At the start time, Lindbergh field was reporting North West winds of 8 mph and 70-degree temperatures under partly cloudy skies.
A few of us had our gliders up before the 10:00 o-clock start time. We found solid lift in the North West section of our flight area, in line with our runway and the Sea World tower.
The Electroglide is now allowing a 15 second motor run time to limit our maximum altitude to 400 feet. This appears to be working as both Scott Vance and I have altimeters in our Radians; we were noticing altitudes of 420 feet at motor cut off.
On the first launch seven pilots sent their gliders aloft and we soon found that 15 seconds of motor power is good for altitude but maybe not for ideal position. Finding the lift needed a bit more searching time. The longest flight was 2:39 minutes, recorded by Scott with a 10-point bonus landing. Arthur Markiewicz had a flight of 2:33 with a 20-point landing. Dennis LaBerge came back at 2:20, also with a 20-point landing.
Hmm, this is going to take some strategy to get a longer flight time.
Second launch got under way 2 minutes after the first. Scott was able to get the long flight again, coming back at 9:00 minutes with a 30-point landing. I had the second longest at 8:50 and Jon Graber came in third at 6:39 with a 20-point landing. This was much better.
Third launch saw Dennis get the long flight at 9:20 with a 20-point landing tacked on. Scott had a flight of 6:38 and Stephen Treger had a flight of 5:11.
Forth and final launch Saw Arthur with the long flight at 9:45 plus getting a 30-point landing. Scott had a flight of 9:11 minutes with a 20-point landing and Jon came in third at 5:10 minutes.
The winner for the day was Scott Vance with total points of 226. Second place goes to Arthur Markiewicz at 208 points and third place was won by Dennis LaBerge with 186 points. Nice flying gentlemen.
So, what is the winning strategy with this shortened motor run time? For most of us it’s having a nicely trimmed aircraft. A half ounce weight in the tail of a Radian helps, and a having a high discharge battery is good too.
Paying close attention to your aircraft and staying off the controls as much as possible will also reward with a long flight. Add up the small things and they start to make a difference.
Thanks to Frank Sutton for taking the event pictures.
Next Electroglide is scheduled for August 17th, 10:00 a.m. first launch.
See you there,
Jeff
