Yay longest flight!!

[ashdec87]

Hi,

Was an awesome day nice and sunny so i went to the local park and set up my histart and sent my aspire skyward. Got some really good launches, and i found a decent thermal over some houses. Put the nose in the wind and watched the plane climb. It was like it was riding an elevator...coolest thing ever!! Stretched one flight to 6.5 minutes...so much fun..till my fingers got too cold and i couldnt feel the sticks..

I"m loving this thermal stuff.

ash

[John_R_C]

You're getting addicted.... ;)

Especially around Chicago this time of year :rolleyes:

Just wait until summer :p

John C

[Robglover]

Way to go. You need to hook up with the SOAR guys and do some more.

[eye_rc_soar]

Your getting adicted, good. :D

Just wait until you now start getting worried about keeping it in sight as it turns into a pin head dot in the sky. Then wait until you start getting worried about having to come down because you are worried about how much charge is left in the rx battery.

don

[ashdec87]

Robglover, i ahve hooked up with the soar folks here. That's i how i leared what a thermal looked like in the first place.

I"m gonna go for another flight today, this time over my school and its massive parking lots...its really sunny so i hope to snag some nice thermals.

ash

[ashdec87]

HAHA...really broke my old record...went flying today at my school, thinking i could get some lift over teh parking lot. It took a long time and many launches to find something substantial. Kept finding small pockets, but they werent enough to really fly on..until i found a massive one as the wind calmed a bit. This thing litterly sucked the plane WAY up. Not quite specked, but it was getting hard to see. So rode that one for a while, then the wind picked up and moved the thermal and i couldnt find it. Ended up losing a lot of altitude in the process of hunting, but my flight turned out to be 7.5 minutes!!

Have to admit, that was so much fun!

ash

[wingsnapper]

Yep, sounds like you got into something. Good thing you are taking note of whats going on around you. Sudden calming or shifting of the wind is a dead givaway for a thermal. I'll bet you could really get some good times if you'd just let your thermal circles drift with the wind. Thermals move a bit more slowly than the surrounding air, but still they must drift with the wind. So when you get a good bump or wiggle, just fly a bit further into the "good air" and start turning. Adjust you circles toward anything that seems to be trying to eject you from the area, and when you find the sweet spot, let the plane have it's head by allowing the circles drift downwind. You will know you are cored out when the plane gets real energized and seems to get sucked along. Everything is jumpy and the plane will really zip around while circling. Don't be afraid to let the plane fly a little faster at this point because you are in the best part of the lift and really moving up. Besides, flying too slowly can cause you to start stalling and get spit out into the big fat area of sink that always follows a thermal. Just remember light and lively = lift and whatever you do don't try to anchor a thermal over one area. Also, think big.. Most likely that warm air over the parking lot was just feeding some larger area of lift that happened to pass close enough to draw from it. When the wind picked back up the lift had just past you by and the air just above the lot was left to rekindle it'self waiting for the next passing spark. Take the above ideas to heart and I'll bet you bust 30 minutes next time out.
JS