Hi MMMMAAAATTTTTEEEE...

Josh looks like you may have a few more mates, have u got any more updates on speed. This is such a versatile plan that can fly in a range of conditions

I know when we were up on the hill Monday we did not have Internet access so it may take a while for these to be posted.

Does anyone have video of me ds'ing. I hope to get my photos up after the kids are in bed

Last update they said 338 and I think the wind died down a bit after that. Im just waiting for some info too. I hope they weren't just pulling my leg!

...if they were, they'd have to be 18ft long by now... LoL

BJ

Just got back from a massive day at Tekepo.

No Josh, we are not having you on. Alex got your Scorcher to 338mph over 2 long sessions flying for long periods of time in the 300’s or high 200’s. The Scorcher tracked awesome and Alex made it look easy.

Andrew flew the Wizard early in the piece when the back side was pretty rough and he was going well but then it went in at the bottom corner after the elevator came off. No one was 100% positive that it was the elevator but Dave and I just watched the video and we could clearly see the elevator separation.

Alex flew the burner to equal the Burner record, then the Scorcher to beat the record, then the Reaper and beat that record etc etc

Asto did some awesome flying, especially with his tiny D40 that he pushed to 207mph. It was madness seeing something so small go so fast.

Gareth flew his AFP60 to a PB of 174mph upping his PB of 138 until the AFP blew up in mid air in a most spectacular fashion.

I managed to up my PB from 123 mph to 145 with my AFP60 and was pretty happy with that.

It was a big day of plenty of action, (most not even mentioned above) speed and unfortunately carnage with a good size pile of wreckage at the end

Jono

Aargh, it sounds like one of those days of folk lore! Nice work on all your speeds boys, so sorry about the wizard Andrew.
Damn I wish I was there!

Wow sounds like a crazy day , with lists of fun. BUT as usual carnage sorry to hear about the dsx great plane.

Well my Wizard Compact DSX is dead. Somewhere around 270mph, the right side of the stab blew up, and the whole tail, fin and all ripped off and the plane went in in a split second. There was a full span wing mark across the ground, nose well buried and 1/3 chord of the wing stuck into the dirt like a spade, driven in by the heavy wing joiners and ballast. It took heaps of digging by Gareth to get the nose out. He and I couldn’t get it out but Asto finally did. The only salvageable part of the airframe was the fin.

When we arrived about an hour behind the others, Alex was flying the Burner. I have never heard a Burner make that sort of noise. It was thundering so loud. Louder and booming more than Weldon. He hit the 285mph plank record and soon it went in with a cloud of dust, totalled.

A couple of guys flew stuff, but soon the wind went way, way north and was tearing up both sides of the ridge. We thought that might kill the day but about half an hour later as we were eating lunch, I felt the wind shift and the backside went calmer and I grabbed Alex to launch the DSX. Two steel joiners and wing ballast, about 6.8kg. I worked it hard as I could and it was rough, and I couldn’t get over 278mph. It just wasn't producing the power and speed we were expecting from the wind. Flew it for ages. Big hits at times, some big saves. At times I waited frontside for the back to die down and tried again, and near the end it started to really rip. I could feel the power get better and kept pushing then BOOM, it tore apart mid flight and went in. Stupid thing is my instant response was happy because “it wasn’t my fault” and it took a while for it to sink in that my dream plane was no more.

We didn’t go and get the wreckage because the conditions were so good that it was a priority to keep flying, so Alex got the Scorcher up and put on a totally world class display. We all applauded at the end of it both for Alex’s flying and for the Scorcher. He got it to 335 … incredibly good. Improved it to 338 later!

Anyway when we finally got the DSX bits, I thought the wing had folded but the necropsy revealed that the stab was the cause. Wow.

There was so much, far too much to do a full report. From the time the Scorcher flew the zone worked quite cleanly all afternoon - a big score. From that time the crashes were from things blowing up or like Alex's D60 losing aileron and crashing down in the valley. Some highlights quickly:

Alex broke the Reaper record to 211mph.

Andrew Palmer pushed the original vac bagged Scratcho to 204 and the wings clapped and it went in way, way down and Neil searched for nearly an hour before finding it and hiking back up. Andrew is still really sad about the Scratcho! (we’re staying at his house now after arriving home nearly midnight).

I finally got the heavy Scratcho out to fly, then went for a walk to see if I could see Janet who’d gone on a huge walk … in fact she walked nearly 5 hours (round trip) and got up to the top of the mountain that the Tekapo Ridge goes to, and stood there in the snow exhausted and photographed it and headed back!. Anyway meanwhile Alex fired up the heavy Scratcho and flew it to 278mph in my absence (new airframe record). I came back later and flew it to 250. I was so stoked because I’ve moved the CG back about 7 – 8mm and it’s transformed from a dog to a fantastic plane. Man it flew nicely. So damn fast and fun. It didn’t even feel like it had lead in the tips!

There was so much more action ... Asto got 202 with the D40 we fixed in Peter's garage yesterday morning ... the one he thought flew like crap but today it went like a rocket. Asto's Mini Sound Wave looked seriously good, cutting fantastic laps and tracking like a train in huge wind. Conrad had only done a few DS laps before but did beautifully with Alex's Jazz getting up to 118 I think. Gareth's laps with the Bee II were beautiful.

I only checked the wind speed once just for a minute, when Alex was flying the Scorcher the 2nd time, and it was between 40 and 60 knots but it was more than that at times.

I’m cutting off now and going to bed but the damage from today is 7 planes destroyed and another 2 badly injured. Everyone who flew today destroyed at least one plane.

DESTROYED:
Alex’s Burner
AvB’s DSX
Gareth’s AFP60
Jonno’s JW60
Dave’s AFP60
Andrew P’s Scratcho
Alex’s D60

BADLY DAMAGED:
Jonno’s Raven (not sure if that’s right, could be one of the above)
Andrew P’s JW60

People there:
AvB, JvB, Alex, Astan, Gareth, Dave, Jonno, Neil, Conrad, Barry, Andrew Palmer. We didn't leave the hill till nearly 8pm, still blazing hot sunlight. Still DSable.

Just got back and totally stuffed Congrats Josh on a awesome build mate 338mph with the scorcher and Alex flew the pants off it. No I didn't have a go there was too much going on with holding guns and fetching plane that blew up so sorry to see that Wizard blow up Andrew. He was pushing really hard in some bad ass air.
I'm so stoked to fly my MSW 36" to 210mph empty and it was rock solid next time I'll add ballast. The D40 was cruising at 206mph in the lighter air of the day.
Sorry Kev but I only managed 240 something with the Burner. But Alex flew his one in the wild air too 285mph. That kid can fly.
I am happy that I managed to bring all my models back alive. Just some minor cosmetic damage on MSW and Burner. But those MKS6100's are crap and I don't recomend putting them in a burner Kevi.
Oh I think I got 264mph with my D60 on second flight. The first flight I dived in and it almost didn't come back due to the wind swinging North. The wind was directly sideways on the hill.
Andrews heavy Scatcho speed was great too Alex smashed it's airframe record too.

It was amazing how many gliders blew up in the sky today.

The AFP, Wizard DSX,and a few more should be some great video's to come.

Asto ( ready to pass out)

Wow, sorry for the carnage. Jealous of the day on the hill you had !!!!!

Wow..crazy.
Looking forward to the video.

Thanks for the reports guys and again, sorry about all the carnage. I hope I get a chance to come and see the ridge in those sort of conditions some time- it must have been pretty damn scary by the sound! Thanks to Alex for getting the unreal speeds, it must have been really something to behold! Now I can go get some sleep too!

Great to see you got such a great day and some solid speeds.

On seeing the ridge on Monday I wondered how far we were from the snow capped ridge. That would have been a great Walk with a good view of the surrounding mountains and lake

Hey Andrew, sorry to hear about your DSX (and the other guys' planes) unfortunately I know how it feels.. what you need now is a 100" Scratcho XL mould! Hope you keep the adventures, videos and write-ups coming, your last video was excellent. I think you should get sponsorship from NZ tourist board