Nov 2, 2018
Slope soaring on a beautiful Southern California evening
seen from Iraq
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from T1
seen from United Kingdom
seen from Malaysia
seen from China
seen from United Kingdom
seen from United States
seen from Germany
seen from United States
seen from Spain
seen from United States
seen from Canada
seen from Singapore
seen from United States
Slope soaring on a beautiful Southern California evening
Ultrabatics
The agility of these radio-control "ultrabatic" slope gliders is astounding.
The planes and flying techniques have evolved dramatically over the past few years. Here's a summary.
Midsummer Fly, June 2014
The sun appeared and the wind blew for a Bo Peep special with Tone, Den, Luke and me, plus Paul, a yoof and some other chaps. Wind slightly off the slope but plenty of it to provide lift. A speed gun appeared and some fast passes were recorded, the highest being 258Km/h. Tone provided the BBQ and a farmyard of meat, the rest of us brought along a few bits including some unusually delicious strawberries. The morning and early afternoon saw the moulded stuff tooling about, and as the wind eased later, the scale units had their time. There are few better sights than seeing the '26 come past low from the back of the slope, hit the lift and climb away in a bank. Tone, Den and I left at about half seven, eyes and noses streaming from pollen off the miles of crops upwind. Just hope Den got to the bog in time.
The first full LGRA fly of 2014. It has rained for weeks, this was a welcome break. '26 unused for so long that the elevator pot stuck creating a fee Pampers moments as it looped unexpectedly.
View from the top
Discovering Slope Soaring
Maya is starting to really discover the joys of slope soaring.
The up-side to discovering slope soaring? It's super fun to watch! And it gives us more flexibility in hunting style.
The down-side to discovering slope soaring? Maya now wants to slope soar on EVERY hill in the area, including ones about a mile out.
I had to wait for about ten minutes today while she glided along every hill she could find (just a speck in the distance, sometimes out of sight), until she slowly worked her way back to me. I wasn't worried because I knew she was at weight and would come back in time, so I just waited it out. She's discovered this new technique and she's having fun with it! That's fine for now :) I'm letting her branch out and explore the flight style. Once she gets good at soaring, I'll start reigning her in more and returning the focus to hunting. Honestly, I enjoy watching her float through the sky, even when she's far away and we have rabbits to chase lol