Surfimp's VTPR clinic - Ellwood, Weaselfest 2012 (8 min 54 sec)

Permalink: VTPR Aerobatics Clinic with Surfimp

This is the VTPR clinic I gave on Sunday at WeaselFest in celebration of the 5th anniversary of my SlopeAerobatics.com site launch. I'm flying my 17oz Le Fish in about 10mph wind coming straight in at Ellwood and am demonstrating some of the basic building blocks of the VTPR aerobatics flying style.

VTPR is exactly like any other form of aerobatics flight, you just perform the figures closer to the ground. Because of this, the same fundamentals of establishing a straight baseline and working on getting precise 45* and 90* up/downlines apply. From there, it's just a matter of working the available lift and site topography to come up with a fun routine.

I hope this helps people who are curious about VTPR and interested in learning more. I'll be very happy to produce more videos about how to fly VTPR, how to setup the gliders, program the radios, construction techniques, you name it. I love this kind of flying and just want to share the stoke. Let me know!

HUGE thanks to Andrew v B (AvB) for capturing, editing and hosting this video. He and his crew are on DS safari here in SoCal and they stopped by WeaselFest. Really stoked and honored he took the time. Thank you Andrew!!

Steve

Congrats on the video- excellent intro. to those interested in this skilful side of flying aerobatics!

Lets hope it inspires folks to have a go and submit something in the aerobatics competition.

Thanks Andrew and Steve for this wonderful video. I am so glad they preserved this moment. It was a beautiful afternoon of flying with tons of positive energy on the slope. This video is an excellent primer* for any VTPR wanna-bees.

Excellent job gentlemen!

Dawson

* primer |ˈprimər| noun
an elementary textbook that serves as an introduction to a subject of study

I think we should make a series, Dawson. This should just be the beginning! I would love to film you doing something similar. Maybe as part of it, you can give a tic-toc tutorial, that's a thumbtwister for sure!

And then of course we'll have to go and get a precision tutorial from Rog and Phil in the UK, then skip across the channel and get a VTPR masterclass from Eric and Rémi

Wouldn't be right to miss out on some Alpine soaring exposition from François Cahour, and while we're at it we should pop in and see what Giulio Cornia is up to with his giant wooden scale aerobats in the Italian Alps.

And last but not least, we should really buzz down to ZA just to make sure they're not up to something whilst no one is looking. Bakkie and Sean can give a roadsliding demo, with Johann dressed up as a witch per usual

On the way home we'd check in on Dieter and Luis in Colombia and see what Andean acro is all about.

Steve

and he did all of that - whilst talking the whole time

great video - will be happy to come & take lessons there

Phil.

Thanks Phil, the entire "performance" was 100% improvisation, both the flying and the speaking. I'm quite glad it went as well as it did

Steve

Excellent vid stevegreat audio tutorial
Would be excellent if you would do a similar vid with commentry for the weasel flyers.[as you are a huge promoter of the weasel glider and were at weasel fest assumed from thread title it was going to be about weasel glider

Steve
I visit your site regularly and find the info very helpfull

But not all of us are up to your piloting skills. As you have a relationship with the weasel slope glider builder which you promote I think it would be truely great if you would do some vids on VTPR for weasel slope soarers .

Cliff

+ Thumbs up for TX Set up for VTPR

Originally Posted by 16141

Steve
I visit your site regularly and find the info very helpfull

But not all of us are up to your piloting skills. As you have a relationship with the weasel slope glider builder which you promote I think it would be truely great if you would do some vids on VTPR for weasel slope soarers .

Well like I said in the video above, the principles are the same - establish a baseline, get comfortable with flying straight and level along it whether upright or inverted, and then start working in your rolls, loops, and vertical figures.

Once you start practicing the figures, the piloting skills will come... in fact, it's the only way they will come!

Steve

Originally Posted by QUIKSILVER

+ Thumbs up for TX Set up for VTPR

Thanks for the suggestion. I have access to the following radios:

- Hitec Aurora
- Hitec Optic 6 2.4ghz
- JR 11x
- Futaba 8FG
- Turnigy 9X

The basic VTPR setup for a conventional aerobatics glider using a symmetrical or nearly symmetrical airfoil and fullspan or nearly fullspan ailerons is simple, all you really need is flaperon mixing (for the two servo wing) and snapflap (elevator > flap).

Beyond that, you can get a 4 axis setup going, where you have dynamic trailing edge control on the flap stick. With that setup, you have neutral trailing edge at center flap stick, reflex at forward stick, and camber at back stick. This gives you options for adding camber in light lift or thermals, as well as an extra "out" when pulling out of something that you might otherwise crash from. But... it's extra work to setup and is probably better left for "down the road"... keep it simple and just focus on the flying, that's enough to start with

I will see what I can do; a quick vid that at least demonstrates these different features would probably be helpful, as there's often a huge amount of confusion around what is what.

Steve

Futaba for me please!

A Video on differnt settings would be amazing...

I understand what 'Snap Flaps' mean, but no idea what it does?

A general one to us Noobs would be amazing!

Cool; that's very helpful guidance for me and no problem to execute. I won't make promises on delivery dates but I will "put it on the list" as they say

Steve