Vol. 2004 Issue 7 July Inside this issue: Electric Duration Contest Pg. 1 New Slope Site! Pg. 2 Scale Slope Contest Pg. 3 Pictures Pg. 4 Contest Calendar Pg. 5 Thermal Tech. Pg. 6 Contest Flyer Pg. 7 July Events list Pg. 8 Club Officers & Officials President Bruce Rose 503.642.9463 Vice President Mike Bamberg Treasurer Tom Culmsee 503.667.4532 Secretary Tom Fowler 503.281-6820 Director Alex Kain 503.614.0183 Contest Coordinator Amy Pool 503.262.8357 LSF Coordinator Rob Thompson 503.691.6764 Records Retention Bruce Alber 360.573.3441 Librarian Don Lawson 503.645-4007 Web Page Editor Bernie Wolfard Newsletter Editor Roger Breedlove 503.646.1695 rogerbreedlove@hotmail.com JUNE 19 Electric Duration Contest Six souls turned out for the only electric duration event of the year. The weather was perfect. We started a little late because someone didn t show up on time, but that put us just a little closer to the best part of the day. Round one was only flown by Bruce Alber as he had a new to him airplane. Everyone else got a by and 1000 points. Round two put Pesz in the lead with a perfect score (15 minutes and no motor run). Bob Sterett was in second with 16 seconds of motor run. Robin flew the only Speed 400 airplane and was in third. Bruce was learning about thermaling a hotliner and Rob had an equipment failure of some kind and brought up the rear. In the third round things got interesting. Sterett had 26 seconds of run time and took over the lead. Pesz had 36 seconds to go and parked his Stratos in the middle of a giant blackberry patch. It took a while to find the airplane and it was retrieved by Eric Alber later in the day. Now there are only five in the contest. Rob had moved up one, Pesz down one, Robin and Bruce in the same position. PASS Meeting Notices Round four had some more movement, Bruce is now getting much better with his hotliner, Robin is now in second Rob is up one and Bernie flying the only thermal bi-plane in the contest started slipping his pinion gear. In the end everyone had a great tine on a great day and Pesz got his airplane back without a scratch. RESULTS; 1. Bob Sterett 4906 2. Robin Robinson 4787 3. Bruce Alber 4550 4. Rob Thompson 4471 5. Pesz 2927 6. Bernie Wolfard 2041 The next regular club meeting will be on Tuesday July 13th, 7:30 PM at the GOURMET STUFFED PIZZA, Lake Oswego. Don t miss the huge raffle, entertaining Putz nominations (early participants) and the show and tell items. Our next scheduled Blue Lake Funfly and Sausage Festival will be the annual PASS open house on Saturday August 8th. Because this will be an open house it is a good time to invite anyone you know who might be interested in RC gliders and electrics. Contact Bernie Wolfard for more information.
Page 2 World s Finest Slope Soaring Site Tiger Woods in Dubai for the Desert Classic.. $1 million appearance fee and he gets to hit balls from the tallest hotel in the world! Pictures show Tiger practicing off the helicopter deck at the top area of the Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai (7+ star hotel - one of the finest in the world.) The last one gives you the "BIG" picture - gorgeous structure! OK. So it looks like a helicopter landing pad. Contest Directors Please send your reports and pictures to the newsletter editor at rogerbreedlove@hotmail.com
Page 3 Memorial Day Scale Slope Fun Fly Weather wasn't ideal for our Scale Slope Fun Fly on the Memorial Day weekend but south/southwest winds at 10 on Peterson's Butte are pretty good. Kept some heavies on the ground but most everything else could fly. We attracted 18 fliers and a hand full support personnel including Pez who came down to see if we were doing it right? Format was very casual, just frequency control and a few awards. Best PSS went to Tom Fowler for his F-20, not enough wind to fly it but it was gorgeous! Best Scale, non-pss went to Dieter Mahlein for his Grunau Baby built by Mick Carlin, lift conditions were perfect for the Baby and it flew great. Best flyer went to Robin Robinson for his micro troop carrier. Robin says the troops really look forward to the loops and rolls! Now for the most important awards: Far Out Landing and Putz. Tom Fowler garnered the Far Out with a landing way down in the berry bushes. At last report he still didn't have poison oakt? Noted e- Flight expert from Coyote Hobbies, Ed Holst, won the Putz this year with a small electrical oversight. Didn't turn on the receiver before he launched! What kinds of planes did we attract? Everything from the Grunau Baby and DG 600 in the "traditional scale" venue to PSS's jets and your garden-variety slopers. It was a great way to say good-by to Peterson's until the fall." Jim Riggle, CD Slope Heads all decked out in their finest winter wear on the last day of May! Jim Riggle, CD
Page 4 Pesz with his new tow plane. Dave with his gnat. Good weather site. Last flight of the Concorde.
Page 5 Revised Contest Calendar 6-1-04
Page 6 THERMAL STUFF Article No. 2 [Destination] By: Robin K Robinson As you remember, the last article left our glider in the air at about 600 feet of altitude heading toward the destination that was selected before the launch sequence began. Your timer has started the stopwatch in order to track your task time. Whatever that task is, you know your glider will be on the ground within three minutes if you fail to find lift or rising air. A destination is best determined before launching. It is imperative that the destination be decided finally within one minute of the start of the launch. This is why the moments before launch, while you are waiting in line, are so important to the outcome of the up-coming flight. These moments are best described as quiet time for the pilot and timer. Both will be watching, and observing in order to make a good launch destination decision. When hooking up the launch line to the glider, the pilot and timer will confer with each other and make the decision. It is best when both pilot and timer know where the glider will be headed to after the launch. DESTINATION FACTORS: Let s take the bad situation first. [1] You have just been put at the head of the line for launching for some reason that you can t control, you re out of breath and no one else is in the air. Five minutes ago, the fellow you were timing for did well upwind at about 10 o clock. It has been about 15 minutes since anything good has happened out at 2 o clock so that is where you are going this time! You will do a launch straight upwind and then search to the right using upwind S turns as you watch the glider for cues. When you get to the limit of visibility then move left toward the 10 o clock position and continue around left until it is time to approach the landing area with enough altitude to make a normal textbook landing for maximum points. If you found lift during this search, you would have been able to complete the time task because the search was up-wind. Had the search been downwind, you may have had the added complication of being far, far away with low altitude at the end of the task. Here is a better situation. [2] As you re waiting in line to launch, the three pilots ahead of you have found lift and are established in it at 9 o clock with a very light wind shift also blowing into it! Would anyone wonder about where to go? There is a downside; if you re going to carry this round, don t miss the landing. Try this. [3] The wind has shifted and is blowing lightly but steadily, more to the right than normal, it has not yet turned colder than average for the day though. I would launch and search out in the direction of 3 o clock and then move carefully upwind watching the glider for clues. Your personal launch destination factor list will grow quickly if you spend a portion of each contest day running the retriever winch. As each contestant launches and completes the round task, you will be able to pick up on their strategy and measure their success for future use. On some days, you will notice a pattern in the way lift is cycling though the flying area. It goes something like this. Every 15 minutes a boomer comes through within reach of the launch; left, right or straight ahead. If you re not in it you are out of luck for lift. Here is what you do. With five minutes to go to boomer time, call for a retriever operator and go get your plane and a timer. Get in line and by the time you re ready to launch, a ten minute task thermal will be waiting for you! IN CONLUSION: Always make the launch with a destination in mind that is based on observation of factors taken or noticed within one minute of the actual launch time. Then, stick to the plan until interrupted by lift and don t forget; circle!
Page 7 This page left blank intentionally for contest flyer(s)
P.O. Box 805 Gresham, OR 97030 Mailing Address Line 1 Mailing Address Line 2 Mailing Address Line 3 Upcoming Events: Saturday, July 3. at 11:00am- Fun-1Slope Race Location-TBD Contact: Del Delashmutt (503) 771-8858 Sun., July 11th. at 10:00am- F5B Race. Location- Salem Sod Farm Contact: Don Pesznecker (503) 659-9624 Sat., July 17 th. at 9:30 am Cross Country Race Location - Salem Sod Farm Contact: Mike Bamberg (503) 640-5926 Sun., July 18th. at 10:00am- Nostalgia Thermal event Location- Salem Sod Farm Contact: Jeff Nibler (971) 219-4804 Sat., July 24th. at 9:00am- Thermal Deathmatch Location Salem Sod Farm Contact: David Portwood (503) 262-8357 Sun., July 25 at 10:30am- Speed 400 race. Location- Blue Lake Park Contact: Bernie Wolfard (503) 466-0514. Sat., July 31st. at 9:30am- Handlaunch Location- MSRP Contact: Bob Nelson (503) 645-5313 PASS Web Site- Check out our NEW Web Site at: www.passoaring.us PASS Event Line & Voicemail- (503)321-5199 Sponsored by Tammie s Hobbies, Beaverton OR