We had a pretty fun Electroglide last Saturday. The weather was on the cool side with overcast skies. A temperature of 66 degrees and winds from the west at 6 mph.
At the first launch, five pilots took their aircrafts to the skies, three Radians with one Phoenix 2 and a Twin Star piloted by Bob Anson flying in the open class.
Flight times were on the short side with Scott Vance scoring the longest flight at 3:10 minutes with a 10-point bonus landing. Alex Sutton came in at 2:56 and scored a 20-point landing.
For the second launch, most pilots found the lift and it was a fun flight. All the gliders were working a broad column of lifting air. We had to frequently dive our aircraft to stay within the 200 foot altitude limit. Stephen Trager lost the rudder from his Phoenix but managed to land safely. Scott and I had a brief mid-air collision, no damage or pieces falling off, so we kept flying. Bob’s Twin Star came back first, earning the Lucky Dog award of double the flight time score. Scott had the long flight again at 9:23 plus a 20-point landing. Alex came back at 7:20 and added a 30-point landing. I had a long flight but couldn’t make a runway landing, so I lost any time points.
On the third launch the lift proved hard to find. Alex found it and flew well with a time aloft of 5:24 and added a 20-point landing. Scott had the next longest time at 3:30 and added a 30-point landing. I was third at 2:40 with a 20-point landing.
For the fourth and final launch, we again found some lift. I managed the long flight with a time of 9:05 with a 20-point landing. Scott had a flight at 8:40 and Alex was close behind at 8:38 plus another 30-point landing.
I’ll point out that the winds not only made finding useable lift hard, it also created strong turbulence at ground level. This made field landings difficult and landing in the target circles particularly hard. Alex Sutton’s two 30-point and two 20-point landings on that day show good flying skills.
It was a fun day for all, thanks to Bob Anson for the competitive spirt in flying his Twin Star and to Frank Sutton for the event pictures.
The next Electroglide is scheduled for June 19th, 10:00 first launch.
See you there,
Jeff
