"Hi Chris!!"

Weldon report-
made it up there around 3pm on Friday. The subaru almost made it to the saddle with three people and camping gear. I kicked out the two passengers and made it to the saddle no problem. The second part, up to the top of the ridge was a little to loose and sideways for my taste so we parked it and hiked the hundred or so yards in the 90˚/20mph wind, planes in hand.

John Buxton from Bakersfield met us up there shortly after that.

My friend Tony and I flew our Predator Bees on the frontside with about 5oz of lead on top, but they still wanted to get "blown over the falls" with all the wind coming up the hill. Lots of lift everywhere with thermals and all that fun frontside stuff... but that's not what this thread is about.

The Predator Bee was a little to light and ended up cracking an elevon on a DS crash so that even with full right trim it would pull hard left with any good speed. So I hung that one up and John let me fly his JW... after a few crashes I was able to get it up to 112MPH, a personal best. Then again, it was the first time I was ever under the radar so anything would've been a PB

That was alot of fun... but I wanted to fly some glass so I pulled out the Mini Salto. The right aileron was working, then not working, then working again so I threw it out hoping for the best (just after another repair) but the control throws seemed super slow and low, not enough to get out of any hairy DS situation so I never DS'd the Mini Salto.

So, I switched on the Whisper (which was doing the annoying glitch in the heat thing again earlier in the day so I put it in the shade and waited for things to cool off a bit).
On the first toss I almost lost the model 'cause there was to much up-elevator. On launch I had to apply full down elevator to keep it from blowing over the back but it had already climbed a good 50ft when I tried applying some down trim and letting go of the elevator stick resulted in a trip over the falls to the rotor. I managed to click enough down trim in while it was getting blown over the hill to get it into reasonably level flight before it went halfway down the hill. I glided it in and popped it into some bushes with zero damage.
Brought it back up, put a few more clicks of down in and pushed out into some good wind out front. Of course, I fooled around on the frontside trying to feel the plane out as this was my maiden flight with it... but it didn't take long for me to break down and take it to the darkside. The 2 meter wingspan really helped to stabilize things for me compared to the bee and JW but it's still a very light plane and I could see it wobble at the shear layer. Overall, it was a nice plane on the backside with a high speed of 107MPH, a world record for that plane as far as I know. I need to work on making some ballast for it so I can push that speed a little higher and to stabilize it some when it breaks through that layer.

John was an incredibly kind individual and even though Jack bit Tony's plane, his dog is pretty cool too I look forward to flying with him again.

I hope us San Diego guys can make a trip up there sometime in the near future.

I'll post some video when I get around to it.

-James

Sounds like you had some fun out there James. I'm jealous!

James sounds like you had a great time. How far is Weldon from 92011 or do you have a KMZ file for it?

Anyone know how Norco is for DSing on trypical summer days or is Norco a Santa Ana site only.

Originally Posted by rockbus

James sounds like you had a great time. How far is Weldon from 92011 or do you have a KMZ file for it?

Anyone know how Norco is for DSing on trypical summer days or is Norco a Santa Ana site only.

Yup, lots of fun and lots of sun!

I took the 15 to the 395 to the 178... a very nice drive, 250 miles, 4.5 hours.

Weldon via 15

Google takes you up the 5 to the 14 to the 178 same distance/time, different scenery.

Weldon via 5

How about taking the 15 to Pala Hill first, then on up to Norco, up to the 10 and over to the 5 to catch the 14 to Parker and then up to the 178 and over to Weldon... it'll be a DS slopin' safari! Who's in?

DS Slopin' Safari!

-James
working on the vids

Ds slopin safari! That's what I'm talking about. Count me in! Who's got the 4x4's? Never heard of Pala Hill. Looks awesome on the map!

I think we should keep on going and go snow boarding and dsing the cornus at Mammoth! Then from there we can go over to Yosemite and ds the backside of halfdome! Could you IMagine!

Added to bucket list "DS Half Dome"

http://www.pdphoto.org/jons/pictures..._bg_090504.jpg

http://www.oceanlight.com/lr/full/4f...ebe5556b4d.jpg

http://www.oceanlight.com/thumbs/03461.jpg

http://www.thecaliforniahikingpage.c..._top_of_hd.jpg

http://www.saroy.net/trips/halfdome/halfdomeback.jpg

Hey guys missed reading a few posts. The DS safari post is what came up first and got me day dreaming. Never even thought about dsing Half Dome before and it sure could be insane. Probably result in some jail time but it would be worth it :O)

Anyway James I just read your post about weldon. Wow, how cool was that. Hitting the centenial mark the first time with a radar gun. So sweet. Great Job. I had my first radar experience 2 weekends ago at Poway with Ray's/Rockbus's radar gun. My pb is 73 with my bird and 50 with the weasel. Adds a whole new dimension to the ds experince. Glad to hear you scored at weldon. Can't wait to see the video.

On the video report from poway 2 weeks ago. Ray was able to get the video off the tape with his laptop when we were waiting and praying for wind at Daves. So it is almost there for viewing on the www.

Gotsa, I forgot about your encounter with the bees that day as well. They must have been migrating or something. Haven't run into them again up there.

Definitely, DSing at poway this weekend if we don't go on our ds safari. Can't wait for you to use the bungee.

Chris

Hows Pala is it better than Poway?

We can hit Pala then pig out at the buffet till we puke.

Originally Posted by quadshot

Anyway James I just read your post about weldon. Wow, how cool was that. Hitting the centenial mark the first time with a radar gun. So sweet. Great Job. I had my first radar experience 2 weekends ago at Poway with Ray's/Rockbus's radar gun. My pb is 73 with my bird and 50 with the weasel. Adds a whole new dimension to the ds experince. Glad to hear you scored at weldon. Can't wait to see the video.
Chris

And that was with maybe 7-10 mph on the front side - weasels were having a hard time staying up.

Well last FRI was a bad day for me. Went up to the Bump, and even knowing that the wind was shifted in a way that makes the backside very turbulent, threw it down anyways. Didnt turn out good. Lost elevator control and it turned right into the hill at the bottom, exploding as it plowed into a rock the size of a volkswagon. (WOW!! Never saw that boulder before!) It was my beloved 115" super-V. It was quite old and ugly but got me into dS'ing. So now its back to the whistling Shark till I find something new.
If anyone has anything for sale or willing to part with Im looking for a new Ds ship. Just something capable of low 100's will do. 72-120" v-tail preferred.

Oh yeah here's the vid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMStGk6EYlQ

WOW that sucks, fix it.... Been there

you want a V instead of a T or X tail? If you get a good shot at an X or T you may like it. Anyway sorry to watch the vid,



Chris

Sorry man! That bites! I know the feeling too. I'll take the pieces if you don't want to fix it.

-James

Please be careful with the "what the heck, I'll see what happens attitude" and DSing, heck any flying at all.

Imagine hurting someone and knowing you were flying faulty equipment to begin with.

Not trying to piss anyone off here, just expressing the importance of safety.

Amateurs or not, we have a responsibility to fly safely.

Pala = Bills Hill

Gregg, I sent you a PM.

Chris,

Are you still planning on going up to Poway this Saturday? I got my tow hook all made up. Just have to figure out how I'm going to mount it securely enough - I think tape would be a pain because I'm worried that it won't come off my fuse after I put it on...

Not to mention it's going to make the plane a whole bunch more noseheavy and I'll have to figure out how/where to add tail weight. I could probably take out some of the noseweight but that requires removing all of the gear from the fuse cavity. On second thought, I'll probably end up doing that - even though it is kind of a pain in the arse. That'd keep it lighter too.

This is regarding a Moth for those who don't know.