Shrike Flight Review from Soar Utah 2004
Posted by Emil Weiler on Oct 4, 2004, 23:40
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I had the opportunity of traveling with a brand new 60” Shrike pitcheron glider on my trip to this year's Soar Utah 2004. Before my comments,you need to understand a few items regarding this latest Soaring Safari. Please do not consider this a technical review, but more like mini-travelog with my Shrike impressions.
I had the pleasure of traveling with Greg Smith of slopeflyer.com and Mirko Bodul from Milwaukee, WI. This can only be described as a strange fraternity road trip to the Republican National Convention by way of Soar Utah. Lots of fun and a few new great slope sites discovered along the way...
I purchased the Shrike short kit directly from Ed Berris, skykingrcproducts.com, here in Minnesota. I did not build or assemble this Shrike. I’m not a published reviewer of planes, but I do have plenty of slope hours and have flown many pitcherons. After careful review of the instructions, I felt the aligning of ribs, tubes, spacers, and drive pins was above my building skill level. I was lucky enough to have local building expert Ib Jenson bag my wings and tail plus fit all the control pins, tubes etc. Ib has his comments already out on websites. I did find prepping the small fuse and canopy simple and easy. The glass work was nice with no noticeable seams, holes, or bumps. Ed’s warning on sanding the tail boom should be highlighted. I had to cut more than one carbon splinter out of my hand!
Ib had made two very quick test flights in light conditions before I left and commented that the CG still seemed too far forward per the instructions. After painting fuse and swapping in my Hitec gear, the Shrike weighed in at 24.9 oz. Bench check all the throws carefully. Go to the stick corners and check for pins hitting or binding. There are many spots that can cramp your controls. Sometimes more wing movement than you may think is required for wing tilter... The Dremel tool came out to touch up a few openings.
Day One: SD
Our usual SD I-80 slope spots saw no wind and temps in the upper 90’s F. I tried a few hand tosses over a mild slope and the Shrike was almost a dead stick and did not want to fly. I added a ¼ oz to the tail on the next try and that gave me just a minimal glide path. Too damn hot to continue, so we drove west.
Day Two: Wyoming
We flew a few truly spectacular high risk, thin air slopes, switch backs and cliffs during the day, but no spot seemed right to do Shrike testing. All the landing zones involved roads or rocks. It was a fabulous exciting slope day with foamies.
Day Three: Utah
By now, I’m itching to get the Shrike flight tested. POM North-Draper, Utah- Soar Utah Slope Site was setting up nicely for the afternoon. North winds at a solid 10 mph with higher cycles up to 18-20 mph. During pre-flight I taped another 1/8 oz of lead on the tail boom end. First toss, Shrike flies flat and true. Now we have a glider. The Shrike, like many pitcheron ships, needs to have its wings trimmed down until you find a comfortable air speed. Once up to speed the fun can begin. The high rate setting seemed too strong for high speed turns, but lower rates felt good. At times, I think I’m moving the stick large amounts, but that is not uncommon on a wing swinger. Turns are fast and true. The nose was coming up in the turns with excellent lift. I’m thinking another CG adjustment? No bad habits and all the basic maneuvers appeared true and easy. It has a good feel in lift and I like the speed. I did notice the Shrike does get difficult to see at a distance due to it slim thin profiles. By now many nice ships are flying and I needed to focus on the Shrike. I had two ½ hour plus flights. I did make huge downwind turns on landing approaches and still had more than one flyby due to extra height and speed. In my opinion, you have to fly the landing with a firm hand; it does not naturally slow down or flare.
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| Emil's Shrike at Point of the Mountain, North. Photo: Greg Smith |
Day Four: Utah
First official Soar Utah day but Copper Mine overlook is rainy, snowy and fogged out. I did not make the drive. North winds still in control and POM north is looking perfect. This turns out to be my favorite Soar day. Top pilots from all over the country rigging up contest planes for testing. A great, fun mingle around ships I could never build if I practiced 40 hours a week; see amazingly good pilots fly 6 meter scales or Point Fermin PSS rockets, or your normal Soar causal slope day.
Overnight, I had removed ½ the shot in the Shrikes nose to get the CG even better and the inverted flight just right. First flight seems really good on the CG now. Just taking it thru the paces and trying new moves. Bench up behind the parking lot on the 900’ big ridge and get some speed runs. The Shrike is extremely quiet in the air, but makes a very cool whooshing sound when you dive it long and hard. I liked that! Many of the other ships flashing by make so much noise that I get nervous. Maybe it is that muffler, no muffler macho preference gig?
On two of my flights a big down cycle arrived, and the PSS boys are raising dust clouds landing quickly. I slowed the Shrike way down and it appeared very happy working the light lift until it was the only plane still flying. I’m seeing it will fly fine in light conditions, but it is nowhere near as fun. I finally pull a dork land at the edge of the slope. Shrike seems tough enough to take a knock about.
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| Emil's Shrike at Point of the Mountain, North. Photo: Greg Smith |
Day Five: Utah
Soar Contest day: Strong south winds fail to develop at POM south. Contest boss moves event back to North side. Sweet, I like the north side better now. Bigger area to fly, set up, park and get around. Before the switch I get to fly my lite Pixel over the working gravel pit. It looks like the scene in Road Warrior when Mel checks out the gas plant from the knoll. Lift is okay, but the visual impression is way cool! Hope the photos come out?
Contest conditions are very good, and the planes and pilots fly fine. The big scale gear is awesome and the small modern planes rock. You can read better articles on that topic elsewhere.
The Shrike does not fly again on this trip, due to my minor self induced Paragliding injury the next day.
PROS:
- Packs small and travels perfect in rifle case or other box
- Fuse is small, but somehow roomy enough for normal electronic gear
- Flys fast or slow
- Great turns w/ good speed retention
- Solid feel w/ excellent control
- Quiet but w/ a cool high speed- whoosh.
- Does not appear fragile
- Good pre-flight set-up instructions
CONS:
- At slope, pre-flight wheel collar wing control pin connection is bothersome and exacting. My most disliked feature.
- 3/32” fin wires sticking from tail boom are difficult to pack around and nasty
- Can be difficult to see at certain flight angles
- Could be a challenge to land for new pilots
Recommendations:
- Experiment w/ the CG until you love it
- Go w/ the digital servos for that solid feel
- Be willing to master detailed building alignments and controls
- Change the Allen head screws on 3/32” wheel collars to bigger T-Allen wrench
Related Links
SkyKing RC Products - http://www.skykingrcproducts.com
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