So I laid out my bungee and launched on my nosehook on the back side of the local dam at the bottom and could not get the orbits to sustain- bummed..

I was standing at the bottom of the dam on the backside.

Anyone know what I might be doing wrong? It works just fine here when you stand on top looking over the guardrail...

I would guess that you want quite a bit of wind and a thick forest to get enough of a shear going with trees. There are lines of trees near where I live that are begging to be DS'd, but when you go behind them the wind just filters through at full speed since there is just one row.

They're not dam trees?

Probably just a matter of perspective if you were able to make it work just fine from the top. Its easier to know where to make the top turn when you're standing right at the guardrail...

Did the bungee give you the same initial dive in height as you had when trying from the top? My guess is that if you had another set of hands, you could stand off to the side and closer to the base of the dam while your buddy let the plane go. This would give you better depth perception and help you place the turns in the right spots. Maybe you could bring a video camera with you next time. Surely we could spot the problem...

Hey, Ive tried dam/ bungey DS with some pretty good success. I stand at the top of the hill though and just launch at a cross wind angle. You would think it would blow the model sideways but I didnt have much problem. It was a light model and light wind, so not much wind to blow it off course, and I only use a very short bungee so I dont have to walk back very far. Now you can have the best of both worlds- stand at the top where you can normally do, and also bungee launch.
Give it a go, it might help.
Cheers
Josh

Originally Posted by josh18

Hey, Ive tried dam/ bungey DS with some pretty good success. I stand at the top of the hill though and just launch at a cross wind angle. You would think it would blow the model sideways but I didnt have much problem. It was a light model and light wind, so not much wind to blow it off course, and I only use a very short bungee so I dont have to walk back very far. Now you can have the best of both worlds- stand at the top where you can normally do, and also bungee launch.
Give it a go, it might help.
Cheers
Josh

I know thats works well, but I am more of a bottom feeder.

Where I live there are no mountains so you have to fly super low on the back side so thats why I prefer the bottom.

One day I got a treeline on top of a wide 10-20ft hill to work once- yea only once for 25 seconds. A thermal was on the front side and reshaped the flow to make it perfect for mind boggling speed. Once the thermal was gone the shape of the flow went back to zero boost. I did not get any laps after that day and I have tried that spot for months.

How far is your closest hill ??? Or hills??
I'd start driving further , better return for time invested..
Our best spots here are 2 or 3 hours away , and we have a few about an hour.
Where do you live ??

Tim

Isn't the "Euro Bottom Turn Style" where they dive at their heads rather than pull up at their heads? Gutsy!

i underst what you mean as i fly small dams with big wind also. since the dam is like 50 ft high and not tall i have to keep tight to the backside and the bigest problem i have had is hitting the bottom when making them realy fast laps trying to gain even more speed and wanting to stay in the good air and go biger the bottom or valley just gets in the dang road. lol

i am thinking the next time i go out i will fly as far back and high as posible in the front side air then walk half way down the hill then dive in.

if i had a bungy i would try what you are doing but instead stake it at the top lip then walk down and shoot the plane up the backside. might be pretty risky though. lol but might work.

my guess is you are not penetrating the front side air as it would be more difficult to see the top from the bottom as is the bottom from the top.

later andrew K

I would imagine it's hard to DS while you're under-water.

-James

lmao,

ya i had to reread my remark but ya no diving into the lake just dive the plane into the back side.. lol