Michael Heer
Oct 13, 2006, 08:59 PM
@1016836
!Introduction
The feed-back I have received from some of my past "event" reviews is that readers want to see and hear more about the planes and gliders and less about the contestants. In fact many were just interested in video of what was flying. In response to that I am doing this review as a series of short videos. Most feature a specific glider and there are some facts about the glider in the short text and then you get to see a short video edited down to about 1 minute from one of its flights on Saturday at the Fall Soaring Festival. Because the videos have been kept to about a minute there is only one version of each video.
There were 302 registered entries per my review of the CVRC website and 171 of the entries were in Open class, 61 in RES, 45 in the Woody class, 20 in two-meter and 5 in youth. That is 302 planes and less than a dozen were selected by me mostly at random as space and time were limited. I hope you enjoy this brief glimpse at a small slice of Visalia's 2006 Fall Soaring Festival.
!The Soprano
The Soprano is a Rudder/Elevator/Spoiler class glider and has proven itself to be a top competitor. This glider is imported into the United States by Isthmus Models and it has a wingspan of 122 inches with a wing area of 1022 sq. inches. It is 60.5 inches long and the target wing loading without ballast is 7.18 oz/sq. foot. With many members in my club flying them it was a natural to be the first of our videos. It has previously been reviewed here in Liftzone. At Visalia I decided that the first Soprano I saw I would videotape. That happened to be Charles Eaton's glider, late in the first round.
@1016653
@1016652
+1016661
!The Icon
The Icon is a full house Open class glider from Mapleleaf Design and has a 130 inch wingspan with a length of 64.75 inches and a wing area of 1150 sq/in. The weight of this one was 76 ounces and it reportedly cost $1900 and was purchased from Soaring Enthusiast. The pilot was Mehrdad Amir and he had a very nice flight. He ranged out a bit and challenged my camera's ability to keep the glider in focus.
@1016637
+1016662
!Stork 2 Pro
The Stork 2 Pro is the subject for an upcoming review here in Liftzone and it was the third subject for my video camera. It comes in both a V-Tail version at 60 ounces and a conventional tail at 62 ounces target weight without ballast. It has a 127 inch wingspan and a length of 57 inches. The wing area is 974 sq. inches and the wing loading is approximately 9 oz/sq.ft. They are imported into the US by Soaring USA.
The Stork 2 Pro in the video below was flown by Ed Stewart and he loves his plane! He said it was an excellent aircraft and the new lighter version will be even better. He said other nice things about his glider but he sang the praises of Bob Breaux, the owner of Soaring USA, even louder. He will only buy from Bob who is completely honest and per Ed, Bob can be completely trusted. He said even more nice things about Bob but I couldn't write that fast. Needless to say he is a happy customer. Soaring USA has the Stork 2 Pro V-Tail for $999 and the X tail for $1099. For more information contact Bob at: www.soaringusa.com.
@1016639
@1016836
@1016838
@1016837
+1016795
!Sharon Pro 3.7
Darwin Barrie was the pilot of the orange and black Sharon Pro 3.7 seen on the video tape below. It was one of two such planes that has custom paint and graphics for Team Futaba. It cost $1400 (Custom paint and graphics) and was purchased from HKM-USA and was flying at 83 ounces for the flight seen below. It was flown using a FUTABA 14 MZ transmitter and his timers were Bill Maluey and Jerry Robertson. For more information on this glider go to: www.hkm-model.com. HKM is selling both the V tail and the X-tail version for $1249.00
@1016638
@1016877
@1016878
@1016879
+1016796
!Pike Superior
John Wilson was the happy owner/pilot of the pink Pike Superior seen in the video below. He went left after launch when everyone else was going right to a sink hole and he got his time. He has had the plane for six months and he really likes it. It can cover ground when needed yet it really floats. He says it is the best plane that he has ever had. Per Soaring USA's website the stats are: wingspan 129.9 inches, length 59 inches, wing area 1032 sq inches with weight from 71-76 ounces. The wing loading average unballasted is 9.91 oz/sq ft. For the price and more information contact Soaring USA at: www.soaringusa.com.
@1016640
@1016833
@1016834
@1016835
+1016797
!Visalia Mid-Airs
There were two mid-airs that I know of on Saturday and both occurred in the launching area. One involved a bird flying through the launch area that was struck by the launch line of a plane going up on launch. Launch line 1 Bird 0. The second one involved two planes. One that had previously launched came back into the launch area (as told to me) and hit the wing tip of Keith Kindrick's Pike Giant and knocked it off. I was over in the vendors row at the time and heard about it while Keith was still flying. However, it took me so long to get the plane in focus I only got 15 seconds of flight time so I repeated the clip in the video below. Keith got his plane back and the repair needed was relatively minor. But he missed the landing zone so he got no points for that round.
@1016643
@1016876
+1016880
!Launches
Every flight starts with a winch launch in Visalia. Some do it better than others. The following two video clips show the launches as viewed from behind and from the side. The Zoom part of the launch was sometimes lost and I apologize for that.
@1016687
@1016877
+1017337
+1017338
!The Fall Festival in 50 seconds
Well we have to show a little bit of the Festival because it isn't all flying. Here is a 50 second video to give a taste of the Fall Festival.
@1016641
@1016946
@1016947
@1016948
@1016949
@1016950
@1016951
@1016952
@1016642
+ 1016942
!3.5m Gnome
The 3.5 meter Gnome is a glider in the Woody class. So called because they are made the old fashioned way with wood and from older designs. These planes compete against other older designs and not the new modern carbon fiber planes. I lost my note sheet on this plane so going from a memory that may be completely wrong...I recall the pilot being John Krug and he obtained his plane years ago from NE Sailplane and that he modified it when he built it. If it is not John Krug I apologize!
@1016644
+1016978
!Sky 2-Meter
The Sky 2-meter is from Art Hobby and was designed to have ailerons or be a RES sailplane. This one's owner cut the wings and added a carbon fiber box spar to allow him to zoom launch off the winch and made it an RES plane with polyhedral. Dave Alchin's the owner and pilot and Gene Dias launched it for him and timed for him in the flight shown below. The V-tail kit currently lists for $ 164 on Art Hobby's website.
@1016649
+1016977
!Age Classifications
They have two age categories for competition at the Fall Soaring Festival: Gray Cup and Youth. To represent this I captured part of the flight of A.J. McGowan. His timer was his dad and in the video below you will see his landing. When I left Saturday night I checked the scoreboard and saw he was in second place...by one point. I checked Visalia's website and with the final posting Monday night I learned he had finished first, with a very good score for anyone.
@1016650
+1017299
!Landings At Visalia
Visalia is famous for having a different method of scoring landings every year. This year they had a small box divided into sections with a circle in the center being worth maximum points and a percentage of your flight points as well. Thus a perfect landing on the seven minute round if time was made was worth more points than the same perfect landing in a three minute round if the time was made. People weren't talking too much about the landing boxes as the "landing Field" was smaller this year and that was the topic of conversation. In the videos below you will see a small dirt area known as the top of the Berm, then a short grassy area with the landing boxes. Right in front of the pilots and just after the landing boxes was the foul line. If the nose of the plane crosses the foul line no flight points, zero for the round. The plane has to be seen on the berm or on the grass without crossing the foul line or the pilot gets nothing for the flight.
The first landing on the video below, the title screen landing was by Neil Nolte who finished second in Open class.
@1016652
+1016988
In the next video I picked up Arthur Markiewicz flying his Sharon Pro 3.7. He had enough altitude to make his time and he was in position to focus on making his landing points and time. He did a very good but not perfect job on his landing. Anything less than perfect is a little disappointing for the pilot but I'm sure most of the contestants would have loved to have this landing. Listen for him at the end of the video. Although this landing was with his Sharon Pro 3.7 in Open class, Arthur finished second to Mehrdad Amid (Who we meet above with his Open class Icon.) in the 2-meter competition.
@1016651
+1016427
!Visalia Nights
I counted at least five different Slow Sticks flying at night with some form of illumination on them. The following is a video of most of those Slow Sticks. That video will end this review as I headed for home a little after 8:00 after a great day in Visalia.
@1016999
@1017000
@1017001
+1016998
!Introduction
The feed-back I have received from some of my past "event" reviews is that readers want to see and hear more about the planes and gliders and less about the contestants. In fact many were just interested in video of what was flying. In response to that I am doing this review as a series of short videos. Most feature a specific glider and there are some facts about the glider in the short text and then you get to see a short video edited down to about 1 minute from one of its flights on Saturday at the Fall Soaring Festival. Because the videos have been kept to about a minute there is only one version of each video.
There were 302 registered entries per my review of the CVRC website and 171 of the entries were in Open class, 61 in RES, 45 in the Woody class, 20 in two-meter and 5 in youth. That is 302 planes and less than a dozen were selected by me mostly at random as space and time were limited. I hope you enjoy this brief glimpse at a small slice of Visalia's 2006 Fall Soaring Festival.
!The Soprano
The Soprano is a Rudder/Elevator/Spoiler class glider and has proven itself to be a top competitor. This glider is imported into the United States by Isthmus Models and it has a wingspan of 122 inches with a wing area of 1022 sq. inches. It is 60.5 inches long and the target wing loading without ballast is 7.18 oz/sq. foot. With many members in my club flying them it was a natural to be the first of our videos. It has previously been reviewed here in Liftzone. At Visalia I decided that the first Soprano I saw I would videotape. That happened to be Charles Eaton's glider, late in the first round.
@1016653
@1016652
+1016661
!The Icon
The Icon is a full house Open class glider from Mapleleaf Design and has a 130 inch wingspan with a length of 64.75 inches and a wing area of 1150 sq/in. The weight of this one was 76 ounces and it reportedly cost $1900 and was purchased from Soaring Enthusiast. The pilot was Mehrdad Amir and he had a very nice flight. He ranged out a bit and challenged my camera's ability to keep the glider in focus.
@1016637
+1016662
!Stork 2 Pro
The Stork 2 Pro is the subject for an upcoming review here in Liftzone and it was the third subject for my video camera. It comes in both a V-Tail version at 60 ounces and a conventional tail at 62 ounces target weight without ballast. It has a 127 inch wingspan and a length of 57 inches. The wing area is 974 sq. inches and the wing loading is approximately 9 oz/sq.ft. They are imported into the US by Soaring USA.
The Stork 2 Pro in the video below was flown by Ed Stewart and he loves his plane! He said it was an excellent aircraft and the new lighter version will be even better. He said other nice things about his glider but he sang the praises of Bob Breaux, the owner of Soaring USA, even louder. He will only buy from Bob who is completely honest and per Ed, Bob can be completely trusted. He said even more nice things about Bob but I couldn't write that fast. Needless to say he is a happy customer. Soaring USA has the Stork 2 Pro V-Tail for $999 and the X tail for $1099. For more information contact Bob at: www.soaringusa.com.
@1016639
@1016836
@1016838
@1016837
+1016795
!Sharon Pro 3.7
Darwin Barrie was the pilot of the orange and black Sharon Pro 3.7 seen on the video tape below. It was one of two such planes that has custom paint and graphics for Team Futaba. It cost $1400 (Custom paint and graphics) and was purchased from HKM-USA and was flying at 83 ounces for the flight seen below. It was flown using a FUTABA 14 MZ transmitter and his timers were Bill Maluey and Jerry Robertson. For more information on this glider go to: www.hkm-model.com. HKM is selling both the V tail and the X-tail version for $1249.00
@1016638
@1016877
@1016878
@1016879
+1016796
!Pike Superior
John Wilson was the happy owner/pilot of the pink Pike Superior seen in the video below. He went left after launch when everyone else was going right to a sink hole and he got his time. He has had the plane for six months and he really likes it. It can cover ground when needed yet it really floats. He says it is the best plane that he has ever had. Per Soaring USA's website the stats are: wingspan 129.9 inches, length 59 inches, wing area 1032 sq inches with weight from 71-76 ounces. The wing loading average unballasted is 9.91 oz/sq ft. For the price and more information contact Soaring USA at: www.soaringusa.com.
@1016640
@1016833
@1016834
@1016835
+1016797
!Visalia Mid-Airs
There were two mid-airs that I know of on Saturday and both occurred in the launching area. One involved a bird flying through the launch area that was struck by the launch line of a plane going up on launch. Launch line 1 Bird 0. The second one involved two planes. One that had previously launched came back into the launch area (as told to me) and hit the wing tip of Keith Kindrick's Pike Giant and knocked it off. I was over in the vendors row at the time and heard about it while Keith was still flying. However, it took me so long to get the plane in focus I only got 15 seconds of flight time so I repeated the clip in the video below. Keith got his plane back and the repair needed was relatively minor. But he missed the landing zone so he got no points for that round.
@1016643
@1016876
+1016880
!Launches
Every flight starts with a winch launch in Visalia. Some do it better than others. The following two video clips show the launches as viewed from behind and from the side. The Zoom part of the launch was sometimes lost and I apologize for that.
@1016687
@1016877
+1017337
+1017338
!The Fall Festival in 50 seconds
Well we have to show a little bit of the Festival because it isn't all flying. Here is a 50 second video to give a taste of the Fall Festival.
@1016641
@1016946
@1016947
@1016948
@1016949
@1016950
@1016951
@1016952
@1016642
+ 1016942
!3.5m Gnome
The 3.5 meter Gnome is a glider in the Woody class. So called because they are made the old fashioned way with wood and from older designs. These planes compete against other older designs and not the new modern carbon fiber planes. I lost my note sheet on this plane so going from a memory that may be completely wrong...I recall the pilot being John Krug and he obtained his plane years ago from NE Sailplane and that he modified it when he built it. If it is not John Krug I apologize!
@1016644
+1016978
!Sky 2-Meter
The Sky 2-meter is from Art Hobby and was designed to have ailerons or be a RES sailplane. This one's owner cut the wings and added a carbon fiber box spar to allow him to zoom launch off the winch and made it an RES plane with polyhedral. Dave Alchin's the owner and pilot and Gene Dias launched it for him and timed for him in the flight shown below. The V-tail kit currently lists for $ 164 on Art Hobby's website.
@1016649
+1016977
!Age Classifications
They have two age categories for competition at the Fall Soaring Festival: Gray Cup and Youth. To represent this I captured part of the flight of A.J. McGowan. His timer was his dad and in the video below you will see his landing. When I left Saturday night I checked the scoreboard and saw he was in second place...by one point. I checked Visalia's website and with the final posting Monday night I learned he had finished first, with a very good score for anyone.
@1016650
+1017299
!Landings At Visalia
Visalia is famous for having a different method of scoring landings every year. This year they had a small box divided into sections with a circle in the center being worth maximum points and a percentage of your flight points as well. Thus a perfect landing on the seven minute round if time was made was worth more points than the same perfect landing in a three minute round if the time was made. People weren't talking too much about the landing boxes as the "landing Field" was smaller this year and that was the topic of conversation. In the videos below you will see a small dirt area known as the top of the Berm, then a short grassy area with the landing boxes. Right in front of the pilots and just after the landing boxes was the foul line. If the nose of the plane crosses the foul line no flight points, zero for the round. The plane has to be seen on the berm or on the grass without crossing the foul line or the pilot gets nothing for the flight.
The first landing on the video below, the title screen landing was by Neil Nolte who finished second in Open class.
@1016652
+1016988
In the next video I picked up Arthur Markiewicz flying his Sharon Pro 3.7. He had enough altitude to make his time and he was in position to focus on making his landing points and time. He did a very good but not perfect job on his landing. Anything less than perfect is a little disappointing for the pilot but I'm sure most of the contestants would have loved to have this landing. Listen for him at the end of the video. Although this landing was with his Sharon Pro 3.7 in Open class, Arthur finished second to Mehrdad Amid (Who we meet above with his Open class Icon.) in the 2-meter competition.
@1016651
+1016427
!Visalia Nights
I counted at least five different Slow Sticks flying at night with some form of illumination on them. The following is a video of most of those Slow Sticks. That video will end this review as I headed for home a little after 8:00 after a great day in Visalia.
@1016999
@1017000
@1017001
+1016998