Originally Posted by Daemon

Great vid!
Who woulda thunk we'd see John flying a tighter, higher line than Spencer though.

I noticed the same thing!

I think the bottom line is that the air each of us flew in was very different... I had more powerful wind but had to deal with a LOW shear layer and some heavy duty turbulence. By the time John got there, the absolute windspeed had dropped off a little but the backside was buttery smooth and the shear layer had lifted considerably.

If I had flown John's line with my air, the plane would have spent the majority of it's time IN the shear layer, never getting clean air for the turns, and I probably would have crashed by being rolled in. If John had flown my line with his air, I think he would have left some speed on the table...

Spencer

Maybe so. Just felt like he was maybe burning off some speed in
the tighter turns. Looked like a very tight line for a plane that big, but
we're also talking 300+mph so perception is a bit skewed.

ian

I had less wing loading, and could work the tighter lines. Big circles can help efficiency but may you have to see whats working. The big circles did not seem to give the results. Problem though was i could hear Spencer's speeds, but not Matt's. And the higher numbers were coming from Matt. Soooo?

Smooth gives better head room, and you can work the grooves. Rough, and its hard to stay consistent long enough. I had flown the Bird earlier (first up) waiting for Jason and Spencer to get back, and it was rough, strong wind and a small V tail. A combination that was nearly impossible to even establish a line for periods of time. I think i like smoother air even if 5mph slower. Just for setting a good line.

Hey John,

Did you get to try your heavier Opus with the extra ballast in front of the spar?

Eric

Yes it was heavy, span ballasted, locked and glued flaps. It should have workded better, but its an old plane,, and there are things just no right about it. Im still working with it, but its a V tail (issues). Jason has done well with his Simonized Opus, balasting it up. Not span wise, but the balast still seems to be helping.

My MCT that went 328 MPH had all the wing ballast plus 32 ozs in the belly. With all that weight I had to fly huge smooth circles as to not snap the wing. The wings looked like they were on the verge of something really bad but hey, they did not flutter or snap!

Look's like Weldon is shaping up nice today...
I expect John Buxton will break my Wizard record today


Nick

Sorry Nick, had grad duties to do. Got home 6:45. Stopped to fly with DABOZ. Light winds there also. Tues looks good to go. Wish you could be here to maiden it for me.
John

john- is tuesday looking good enough for big ###'s?

JOe

Originally Posted by KingOfTheHill

john- is tuesday looking good enough for big ###'s?

JOe

It may be surprisingly good, but will know more tomorrow. On the other hand we may see a lot of 20-30 for the rest of the summmer. Good for fast DS, but not for world records. Last Summer was like that. After June, nothing bigger than 30s 'til September. Tuesday may yet get more promising. Lets watch for it.

http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/...eekday=Tuesday

The few days I spent with Tony at Weldon, were forecast 10-15mph max
and ended up being 20-25mph pretty much the whole time (just a bit
much for my video plane, and ultimately turned out to be too much
for the Crossfire). The forecast for Tuesday is twice that, so
I doubt most folks would be bored up there, flying 250+ all day long.

I'm looking forward to hearing how that Wizard flies. It'll surely
break the current platform record in about 5 laps at Weldon.

ian

If Ridgecrest picks up a bit, and

http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/...eekday=Tuesday

Bakersfield stays good, then it may become world conditions (over 300mph)

http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/...eekday=Tuesday

So far Ridgecrest is a little slow, and not straight out from the West. But we shall see. Some times better than forecast, sometimes disapointing.

Before coming up to fly, stop by and pick up one of these. Esp if you want to go to 600mph.

http://www.hammacher.com/online_cata...nding_page.asp

Wow
http://www.hammacher.com/publish/752...ource=OLCSMB08
I wonder how good it is??

It seems to be a K band radar gun,,,I didn't see it on Stalkers web site??

But I did see it here
http://www.opticsplanet.net/stalker-...radar-gun.html

Did you allready order one John?


Nick

Originally Posted by Indubitably

Before coming up to fly, stop by and pick up one of these. Esp if you want to go to 600mph.

http://www.hammacher.com/online_cata...nding_page.asp

Link didn't work but found it here

http://www.hammacher.com/publish/75263.asp

600mph ???

[edit] Nick beat me to it.