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Adam's SV report, Tuesday afternoon March 21
Posted by Adam on Apr 3, 2006, 12:42
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SV report, Tuesday afternoon March 21
10-15 mph NNE winds at SV. And lots of sun! Larry was there in the AM and reported a bit too much east in it. He had a tough time on the front but was able to bungee in and DS his Miniblade for 15 minutes at a time. He reported a few saves on the frozen lake. I wonder if Larry had anything to do with the cryptic text we found in the snow on the lake the said, "CARPE DS"?!
Paul and I got there at 1 pm. He set up on the east side, I on the west. Granted it was not very social but allowed both of us to fly at the same time.
First I flew my Miniblade to get warmed up. I did a few passes on the front and then it was off to the back. It was very good today - lots of speed near 100 mph, I guess. The shear was pretty far back and moving around. You could go high or low, both worked at different times. Paul had his 2 meter Blade really moving in the opposite direction as mine. Quite a spectacle to see and hear two hollow-molded planes ripping around simulataneously at near 100 mph. As a pilot it is soo tempting but don't even think about looking at the other guy's plane! Once again for me it was very hard to see the planes down low. Perhaps it is my grey auto-tint glasses and the sun in my face which make for a poor contrast. Many times I just held on to find my plane happily in the groove.
After a while the wind filled-in a bit more so I decided it was time to maiden my new 2.5 meter Miraj F3F from Aeromod. It more or less flew out of my hand - I barely threw it. No trim corrections were needed whatsoever. The full-span trailing edge camber worked wonders and it climbed great in the so-so conditions. It was possible to slow it way down and climb without any hint of tip stalling. I played around with the snap flaps with good effect. And I almost forgot to use the rudder (what's that)! I couldn't really get a feel for the effect of reflex on this small slope but in my mind it felt faster. And the sound is more of a soft whoosh instead of the jet-lke scream of the wiper-less Miniblade.
So the next logical thing to do was DS it. It flew very smoothly on the back, much better than a 1.5 meter plane and certainly more relaxing. I babied it but still it seemed to accelerate steadily. I did a couple sets of laps and then retreated. It's an ugly plane up close but looks great in the air.
Landing went well, the first time - this is my first crow-braked plane and it hovered into a little snow cornice on top of the dam. The second landing found me going too slowly with the crow on and the nose up. I slammed the flaps shut and dropped the nose but too late! I stalled from five feet or so and dorked it into the dirt nose-first. Doh! It torqued a bit as it hit the ground but there was no damage at all. Nice.
In all I am very impressed - there were no bad vices, just smooth flying. It was almost as maneuvreable as a 1.5 meter plane. Next I'll play with the CoG and start stunting it.
Paul then broke out the Thorn (wooden 60" and 60 oz). I gave it a good heave and off he went to the back. It DS'ed smooth and fast - we saw 86 mph on the radar. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that it was a $100 wooden plane, but Paul seemed to be flying very low. After 20 minutes the plane flipped in the shear and met mother earth with a dull thud. Paul reports there are a few splinters that now need gluing!
The DS got bumpy from that point on and my TX battery was done, so we were gone by 3:30 pm. In all, a fine two hour's flying on a beautiful afternoon.
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