By Steve Neu
The weather cooperated for our May gathering of fast gliders and pylon racers. We had 11 pilots including fliers from as far away as Sacramento and Colorado!
Steve Dente
Eric Wierman
Lenny Keer
Jeff Keesman
Mark Ferreira
Gabriel Matar
Elias Matar
Juan Leoncio
Bruce Brown
John Forester
Steve Neu
We started out with lunch provided by NeuMotors at 11:30. Flying started a little after noon with Lenny showing everyone how it’s done. Gabriel had a aileron flutter and come off his plane–some skilled help from Eric helped bring the plane in for a safe landing. With technical problems keeping Gabriel on the ground early on I loaned him a B10 with contest grade power system. His first flight with it he turned in a respectable 35 laps and on his second flight 41—if he keeps improving at that rate he will be in contention for a place on the next F5B team as a junior in 2014.
Steve Dente and John Forester flew introductory flights with my “rental” B01 Avionik –powered with mild 1000 watt setup. Steve Dente vowed to give return next month and give the 6000 watt rental a go on the course. John had a good time and did a respectable 21 laps for his first time out.
Mark Ferreira brought his Enigmia and flew a very constant 35-36 laps. Juan showed constant improvement as the day went on with his last flight up to 38 laps.
Bruce Brown took the opportunity to do some test flying of a new F5D racer. For those that haven’t seen one–they are about 1 meter wing span planes with 1000 watt power systems that fly around a course at up to 200 mph!
Eirc,Lenny,Jeff and Steve battled it out with laps ranging from a low of 43 to a high of 49. Most of the lap scores from the “experts” were in the 45-46 range. Around 3pm thermals started getting quite strong and some scores reflected this–yours truly got a 49 lap run when the lift gods smiled. Lenny was turning in some good runs also–he got a easy 47 on one set.
Steve and Michelle Mangenelli kept things going by doing the the button pushing for both base A and B–many thanks! By 5pm people had drained all the charging batteries and had had enough of flying and the sun. The next practice is set for June 23rd. Given the success of the last one we will arrange for some food to appear before the flying starts!
For those with hot liners and similar planes come on out next time and give it a try! If more than a couple Radians or similar come out we will run them on the course—might lead to a new fun class:) There is a nice foam glider that Hobby King sells :http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__21946__Durafly_Dynamic_S_Performance_V_Tail_Glider_1560mm_EPO_PNF_.html <http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__21946__Durafly_Dynamic_S_Performance_V_Tail_Glider_1560mm_EPO_PNF_.html> It is a foam hot liner and in the UK they are flying these as a “one design” class for F5B entry level. It comes with motor,controller and servos for under $120.
Steve Neu
