Decided to try and soar my Lidl Big Bird on the coast, but not a very user friendly location! It's my bigger wing-span version of a Lidl foamie RC conversion, and she's been a bit jinxed when I've tried to maiden her. I felt I came a bit close to losing it a couple of times here, but got away with it! Next soaring flight test will be inland and with a bit more wind. 😳 Build blog is linked on the video.
My Lidl RC Big Bird Conversion finally gets a coastal soaring maiden - A BIT SCARY!
- Thread starter Bonzodog
- Start date
Because if you are soaring into wind your ground speed is slower when pointing into the wind. (Aircraft speed minus meteo wind speed.) Admittedly the downwind speed will be higher though. Watch a kestrel adjust it's airspeed to match the wind speed. It will just sit there.
I paraglide and in a strong head wind soaring on the coast I can be stationary too, like effectively hovvering in one spot.
Yes, I don't think it was the best place for a soaring test. 2nd flight wasn't quite so bad after my nerves calmed down a bit, but next time I'll find a nice big slope inland without so many trees!
Thank you for your observations, but I wasn't talking about flying it in a howling gale,
I said 'with a bit more wind' i.e. just a slightly stronger breeze. 10 or 15 mph. There was pretty much zero wind that day and with no wind there was no up-draught on the slope to soar in.And 'crosswind drift' , yes, maybe 45 degs in a breeze and I said downwind will be faster.
Onboard computer? I've got one too, my brain
and 600+ hours of paragliding and paramotoring and I've done many hours of soaring, sometimes joining the gulls, so know 1st hand about crosswind and downwind? .
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