1st time slope soaring

[herbertjalarcon]

So with this lockdown, my local field is closed and all the others are limiting admission to 10 people at a time, so I've been looking for other places to fly. Started thinking about slope soaring...I built a Simple Soarer a few months back to launch off of my twin engine hauler (which is a lot of fun) and I've hi-started it a bunch, but have never gotten great air time...either too much wind or not enough heat for thermals... While looking for a place to fly my P-38, I noticed on google maps a ridge with a nice pad cut into the top, all part of a trail that starts across the street from my best friend's house... it's about a mile hike, with the first part pretty steep, but then it levels off into a nice walk... I watched some video before attempting to soar, and here is the result...best part, glider lived to fly again this Wednesday!

 

[Piotrsko]

I believe you're flying thermals that are constrained by the mini bowl (?) off to the right. The bushes dont seem to be moving much so not a lot of wind & you need at least enough to make streamers fly.

OTOH, killer site. I'm jealous. BTW add a click of down trm, it's stalling so you need to go a bit faster.

 

[danskis]

Awsome!!!! What was it blowing?

 

[herbertjalarcon]

Awsome!!!! What was it blowing?

I believe you're flying thermals that are constrained by the mini bowl (?) off to the right. The bushes dont seem to be moving much so not a lot of wind & you need at least enough to make streamers fly.

OTOH, killer site. I'm jealous. BTW add a click of down trm, it's stalling so you need to go a bit faster.

No thermals...it was cold...the slope is pretty steep about 10 ft down the slope, so there's barely any wind where you stand, but it was blowing 10mph a few feet in front of the ridge...it was a perfect spot...and we could see my friend's house from the pad...it wasn't really stalling as much as being buffeted by the wind...the simple soarer is really light and I only had a 1300 battery in the nose for weight...it was a little light to penetrate...but I'll try the trim... it felt really great to fly...didn't feel like it needed trimming, just constant input as the wind was a bit gusty as well...

 

[herbertjalarcon]

Awsome!!!! What was it blowing?

I don't have a gauge yet, but the weather channel said 10mph...

 

[herbertjalarcon]

I believe you're flying thermals that are constrained by the mini bowl (?) off to the right. The bushes dont seem to be moving much so not a lot of wind & you need at least enough to make streamers fly.

OTOH, killer site. I'm jealous. BTW add a click of down trm, it's stalling so you need to go a bit faster.

oh, and the bushes are Manzanita, they don't blow in the wind too much ! hahahahaha pretty tough on planes as well! hahahahahaha

 

[herbertjalarcon]

I believe you're flying thermals that are constrained by the mini bowl (?) off to the right. The bushes dont seem to be moving much so not a lot of wind & you need at least enough to make streamers fly.

OTOH, killer site. I'm jealous. BTW add a click of down trm, it's stalling so you need to go a bit faster.

Here is an overhead view of the pad...the wind comes from the northwest, right up the slope and with the canyons on both sides it has a massive amount of lift off the W/NW point...I'll be out there again Wednesday afternoon!

 

[Tench745]

It's exciting to see you having so much success on your first attempt!

I've tried sloping my SS a couple times. I don't have a site anywhere near that nice, so it takes a good blow to get enough ridge lift for my inexperience. I keep running into a problem where the rudder isn't enough to keep the plane pointed where I want in those strong winds, so after a while it all ends with either an uncontrolled roll into an eventual stall and nose-dive or a trek down to the base of the hill when I fly out of the lift.

 

[herbertjalarcon]

It's exciting to see you having so much success on your first attempt!

I've tried sloping my SS a couple times. I don't have a site anywhere near that nice, so it takes a good blow to get enough ridge lift for my inexperience. I keep running into a problem where the rudder isn't enough to keep the plane pointed where I want in those strong winds, so after a while it all ends with either an uncontrolled roll into an eventual stall and nose-dive or a trek down to the base of the hill when I fly out of the lift.

I feel you! You might want to try some more weight...I noticed the wind really threw mine around with just a 1300 battery in it...