Hangar 9 Aspire Hi start & winch?

[Jim Osterling]

My son & I put together the Aspire arf yesterday and flew for the first time today. It came in at 32 oz (6.8 oz/sf). We picked up a high start also. I reinforced the bottom of the wing with packing tape in four places with two foot pieces across the center joint.

The handlaunching didn't work too well. However, the high start did much better. We could use some tips on how to get off the high start. We try to keep the nose down so it won't stall but not sure the best timing for this. Mike (my son) did catch a little bit of thermal circling 3 times without losing altitude at about 30 feet above a large dark tree. A victory for beginners!

also, our club flies gliders on Sat. mornings but uses winches. Can this plane take a winch launch or will we look foolish (and break the wing) showing up next Sat.?

We appreciate any and all help.

Jim & Mike

[Jack Hyde]

Take the plane to your club. Any plane can be launched with any winch IF the winch pedal operator is on the ball. I have seen a few built-up wings folded during launch - very few. Winches have a "gas pedal' . If you don't push down and hold it, it won't pull your wings off. It takes practice to pulse a winch so a light plane with fragile wings goes up and doesn't break. I have launched all sizes and shape planes, including most Spirits, a Sailaire, several popular ARF's, a Chrysalis 2m, etc with my winch and have never folded a wing. I would guess you will have a lot higher probability of not damaging the plane if you launch at your club with the help of an experienced winch driver.
A really good flier once said he has less trouble with new planes on a winch than hand tossing. With a winch you get up and away from the ground quickly and can stop pulling if anything starts getting out of control.

[Ollie]

Jim,
It sounds like you are referring to the Cape Coral R/C Hawks field. There is experienced help available there. The only time beginners looks foolish is when they get in trouble by not taking advantage of the friendly, experienced help available.

[Jim Osterling]

Thanks for you replies. Actually, I was going to go to the club site Sat. anyway, but it sure is nice to get some feedback from experienced fliers so I know what to expect.

On Sat afternoons, we fly electric planes. One of the glider people that I met and timed for at a contest (wanted to see what the glider flying was about) is very experienced. He has also taken up electric powered flying in the afternoon. I'll look him up as I'm sure he'd be willing to show us the ropes (or winch line as the case may be.....).

Although the powered planes are fun, my son and I are looking forward to getting involved in non powered flight as well.

Thanks again for your help.

Jim

[leverick]

Absolutely go on Saturday. 99% of the sailplane pilots are more then willing to help teach you about winch launching. The aspire wil do fine on the winch but you will need to learn to pulse the launch as pointed out earlier.

I learned by having a more experienced pilot lauch the plane then hand the radio off to me, then I progressed to flying it up the line while the winch was controlled by another pilot. I did this about a dozen times before I winch launched my SPirit solo for the first time. The trick is to get comfortable with the winch and foot pedal. Tension the line with a few taps on the pedal then floor it for a few seconds to get it away from the ground and gain airspeed then tap the pedal until your plane gets to the top of the apex then just fly it off. Don't get sucked into trying to do a good zoom release with the winch on a built up wing like the composit ship guys do--thats where the folded wings and bent wing joiners happen. Just fly it off at the top.

Interestingly enough, my brother in law just built an aspire and Ive flow it several times off a high start. Its a nice glider and thermals well but its slow speed handling is not as forgiving as the great planes spirit. You need to keep the airspeed up in which case it performs as well as most built up ARF 2 meters. It seems to have a little better penetration then the sprit as well. Good choice for your first sailplane. Don't worry about the winch launch, just learn the technique. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

CHEERS, Leverick