2008 Montague Cross Country Challenge June 13,14,15

[steelhead]

Howdy all-

Just making sure everyone knows the Montague XC challenge will be held on
June 13, 14, 15th, in Montague, CA (Near Yreka, CA)


For those of you who dont know what goes on at an XC event, 11 pound, 15 foot span sailplanes are flown around a course of frontage roads while the pilot and team are in a vehicle flying the plane to the next waypoint at altitudes of 4000 feet above the ground.


Even if you dont have a team, it's a weekend of sailplanes and sailplane stories. Don't worry, plenty of flying and testing goes on at the field before, during and after the event, so there is plenty to see and do.

This is seriously one of the most fun weekends of RC flying you will attend!



RC Soaring Digest article from 2006 is on page 32 here-

http://www.rcsoaringdigest.com/pdfs/RCSD-2006/RCSD-2006-08.pdf

5 megabyte video from 2006 here-

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=530220

For more info and pictures-

WWW.XCSOARING.COM

See you there!

Dean

[steelhead]

These are the announcements from 2006 and 2007 with some photos and such here on RCGROUPS-

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=527436


http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=681011&highlight=xcsoaring



And some more photos from www.XCSOARING.com

http://www.xcsoaring.com/contests/mccc/2007/photo1.htm



Dean

[steelhead]

Weather update-

The weather forecast for Yreka, CA for the contest weekend is sunny, 80 degrees with NW wind 5 to 9 mph.

UV index of 9, so bring sunscreen!

Dean

[cde]

Im new to sail planes and live in Medford..might go down there and have a look. I've heard great stories about the aircraft and teams !! :)

Calvin

[jtlsf5]

Im new to sail planes and live in Medford..might go down there and have a look. I've heard great stories about the aircraft and teams !! :)

Calvin

Make your pilgramage on Saturday and plan to stay for the BBQ. Tickets should be available there, and the food and conversation is great.

JT (Team 511)

[steelhead]

You wont regret the trip! If you do come on Saturday (usually the best day, as JT said) come early- try to get there before the pilots meeting, at 9 am. That way you can see how it all goes down from start to finish.

Introduce yourself when you are there. We'll help you figure out whats going on, and all the goodness of sailplanes.

This really is an eye opening experience for someone new to sailplanes, especially since it is held at a full scale gliderport. There should be some full scale aircraft around for you to see as well.

Hope to see you there!

Dean

[John Ellias]

I just returned last night from the 2008 Montague Cross Country Challenge and want to thank Dean Gradwell, Bob Clarr, Roger Hebner, Stuart Title, Ron McElliot and anybody else the worked to put on this great event. The tasks were very challenging this year due to the spotty thermals, but that just made the racing more interesting and the scores very close. Without a doubt the highlight of the weekend was meeting the team from North Carolina known as team “ALOFT” and watching their SBXC perform the tasks on all three days autonomously. Dan Edwards, as part of his Master’s thesis is heading a project in where he has essentially installed a computer in his SBXC and programmed it to fly a cross country tasks, including thermalling as needed. His pilot Adam, would take over only when launching and landing, which can be very challenging up at Montague depending on where you land out. Adam did a great job making sure the SBXC loaded with expensive hardware always came back to the field undamaged. Chris the driver for the team would navigate the course while Dan had his head buried in the laptop. Dan gave an excellent seminar on his project on Sunday morning. I hope team ALOFT will make it back next year! Check out the project website at: http://goosetech.homelinux.com/soaring/index.php

John

[rocketman47]

Im new to sail planes and live in Medford..might go down there and have a look. I've heard great stories about the aircraft and teams !! :)

CalvinCalvin,
No need to go to CA to find fellow glider pilots.. We are soaring right here in the Rogue Valley! I have an electrified ASW28, and another fellow here has a 1/4 scale Cessna 188 Agwagon for aerotowing. Here's a link to our web site!

http://roguevalleyrcgliders.com/

Randy

[ShredAir]

Without a doubt the highlight of the weekend was meeting the team from North Carolina known as team “ALOFT”
I agree whole-heartedly! -- These guys completed the tasks on days 1 and 3 (no team completed the day-2 task), and they always finished in the top half of the contest. Watching their plane autonomously find and turn into a thermal was astonishing. In fact, this "robo-plane" seemed better at drifting with the squirrely thermals than its human-controlled cohorts. On the distance task, they managed 39 miles of autonomous soaring flight!
But the coolest thing for me was to see these three smiling guys arrive at the base without the plane, no one flying it, waving at us, getting out of the car, pointing back up the course, and saying: "here it comes..."

Dieter Mahlein, ShredAir

[rocketman47]

Autonomous RC? :confused: Makes about as mush sense as paying for services at the Bunny Ranch, and then detaching your "manhood" & sending it on in to have a good time without you! :rolleyes:

[SmokinJoe101]

Did Team ALOFT have there FAA operating permit for there UAV? :)

sj

[jtlsf5]

I agree with John, these guys came to demonstrate their Master's work. It was interesting, informative, and they always kept the plane in sight with the ability to take over manually if needed. They deserve kudos for ingenuity, not negativity from those that didn't see the elegance of their work.

JT (I was there)

[Miraj]

fantastic shots and sounds like a heap of fun.

I have to ask, is it legal to ride in the back of a ute/pickup in the US?

We couldn't get away with that here is Oz.

M

[jtlsf5]

fantastic shots and sounds like a heap of fun.

I have to ask, is it legal to ride in the back of a ute/pickup in the US?

We couldn't get away with that here is Oz.

M

Its legal to ride, but in many states you must be secured by seat belt. California is one of those, and we deal with it by belting those that ride in the back. The easiest thing is to use an RV chair which already has a belt, and bolt it to a piece of 3/4" ply. I prefer this option as these chairs also tilt, so I can have neck/head support while flying. Others use bass boat chairs mounted directly to the bed of the pickup. Both of these have real advantages over riding in convertibles, namely the ability to swivel so as to fly the plane 360 from the car. When riding in a Jeep or convertible, it is only comfortable to fly straight ahead or straight behind. Anything else is a strain.

JT

[steelhead]

Here's a couple of photos I took at Montague-

Dean

[rocketman47]

Was it a XC contest, or a car show? :confused:

[bobby legue]

cross country, launch-cover a distance-and return.

[jtlsf5]

cross country, launch-cover a distance-and return.

You're thinking LSF tasks. Montague was 3 days with different tasks each day. They were:

Day 1: Speed, 2 hour minimum, fixed course to a remote turnpoint, open course thereafter

Day 2: Distance, fixed course

Day 3: Speed, fixed course

JT

[ShredAir]

We have received a CD full of photos from Jim Rolle, and we have our own to wade through; we also received the official scores from the event. Which means, Marcela and I will go to work and update the website http://xcsoaring.com as soon as we can. I'll be writing a report, unless someone else wants to volunteer... : )

Dieter Mahlein, ShredAir

[DEAN GRADWELL]

Dieter,
Thanks for volunteering.
This year seemed special, perhaps they all do.
Thanks to all that took part.
Regard Dean

[ShredAir]

The results and my report are now posted on http://xcsoaring.com. A photo album is coming soon; we have many photos to choose from, and Marcela is very meticulous, so it may take a few days. I'll post again when the album is up.

Dieter Mahlein, ShredAir

[John Ellias]

Dieter, I think I can speak for all of us lazy people, by saying thank you and Marcella for doing the write up on the contest. In fact the whole XC website looks great. I really enjoy reading about or looking at the pictures of the past contests. It is nice to have one site where you can get the latest info on XC soairing, get contest results, and other informative info. Thanks Dean for sponsoring the website.

John

[jtlsf5]

Dieter, I think I can speak for all of us lazy people, by saying thank you and Marcella for doing the write up on the contest. In fact the whole XC website looks great. I really enjoy reading about or looking at the pictures of the past contests. It is nice to have one site where you can get the latest info on XC soairing, get contest results, and other informative info. Thanks Dean for sponsoring the website.

John


I agree, what John said.
JT

[TrekBiker]

I agree whole-heartedly! -- These guys completed the tasks on days 1 and 3 (no team completed the day-2 task), and they always finished in the top half of the contest. Watching their plane autonomously find and turn into a thermal was astonishing. In fact, this "robo-plane" seemed better at drifting with the squirrely thermals than its human-controlled cohorts. On the distance task, they managed 39 miles of autonomous soaring flight!
But the coolest thing for me was to see these three smiling guys arrive at the base without the plane, no one flying it, waving at us, getting out of the car, pointing back up the course, and saying: "here it comes..."

Dieter Mahlein, ShredAir

http://soaring.goosetechnologies.com/

[ShredAir]

Photos of the event are now posted on http://xcsoaring.com.

Dieter Mahlein, ShredAir

[ShredAir]

Joe flew 147 miles 20 years ago. We posted his report at http://xcsoaring.com in hopes that someone may get inspired to beat this record.
We've already glimpsed at maps of the high Colombian plateau in between the Andes and the Amazon jungle, and we will be doing more research in '09.

Dieter Mahlein, ShredAir