carrinsr
May 17, 2005, 12:47 PM
I started flying sailplanes in 1983. This is going to sound like I'm bragging. I'm not. These are simply the facts, and there are still some club members around today who were around back in 1984 when all this took place.
During that summer I launched my Graupner Cirrus 13 Saturdays in a row, and flew her for well over an hour (each time from the first launch)...bringing her back down only because I was concerned about the receiver battery pack getting low. On the 14th Saturday I lost her in the clouds! (Someone found it a year later and returned it...only the fuselage was left.)
During one of those flights I teased a pair of hawks who were obviously planning for parenthood under a large Cumulus cloud. Each time the male dove at the Cirrus I pushed the stick forward until the plane started to invert...at which time the hawk lost a few feathers trying to keep up with it...then he climbed back up to his mate. But he became smarter, and on his last attack he let me get too close...and before I could invert he grabbed the fuselage just in front of the rudder and cracked the ABS plastic! Not to be outdone by a hawk, a friend of mine repaired the crack with fiberglass and I was flying again the next Saturday.
Some club memebers swore I could see thermals. But this is Florida, and most thermals help form Cumulus clouds...so just get high enough in a thermal...then fly from one Cumulus to another!
I started playing golf that fall and just packed my other sailplanes away. But over the years I did purchase 4 other Cirrus sailplanes.
I started flying r/c sailplanes again last year, but due to aging and weaker eyesight, I now fly biggie sailplanes, such as my one-of-a-kind 14' wingspan REF Condor...which has superior thermal ability! I own a NES Hybrid, but I'm an old stick-and-rudder man...so I may never fly it. Anyone want a Hybrid?
During that summer I launched my Graupner Cirrus 13 Saturdays in a row, and flew her for well over an hour (each time from the first launch)...bringing her back down only because I was concerned about the receiver battery pack getting low. On the 14th Saturday I lost her in the clouds! (Someone found it a year later and returned it...only the fuselage was left.)
During one of those flights I teased a pair of hawks who were obviously planning for parenthood under a large Cumulus cloud. Each time the male dove at the Cirrus I pushed the stick forward until the plane started to invert...at which time the hawk lost a few feathers trying to keep up with it...then he climbed back up to his mate. But he became smarter, and on his last attack he let me get too close...and before I could invert he grabbed the fuselage just in front of the rudder and cracked the ABS plastic! Not to be outdone by a hawk, a friend of mine repaired the crack with fiberglass and I was flying again the next Saturday.
Some club memebers swore I could see thermals. But this is Florida, and most thermals help form Cumulus clouds...so just get high enough in a thermal...then fly from one Cumulus to another!
I started playing golf that fall and just packed my other sailplanes away. But over the years I did purchase 4 other Cirrus sailplanes.
I started flying r/c sailplanes again last year, but due to aging and weaker eyesight, I now fly biggie sailplanes, such as my one-of-a-kind 14' wingspan REF Condor...which has superior thermal ability! I own a NES Hybrid, but I'm an old stick-and-rudder man...so I may never fly it. Anyone want a Hybrid?