Radio Control: Soaring
FAI Team Selection for 1977 OFFICIAL WORD on the First R/C Sailplane World Championships to be held in South Africa should be available by the time you read this. Lead time doesn't permit that announcement in this column, but hopefully South Africa will be hosting the event in April, 1977. In the meantime, we, the U.S.A., have all of 1976 to select the best three fliers to represent our country. A proposal which was drafted by Otto Heithecker was adopted last July by the N.S.S. Board of Directors. This proposal, in essence, says that Quarter-Finals are to be run anywhere in the country during the month of May. Semi-Finals would be conducted during the July 4th weekend in six areas of the country. The finals would be held in September over the three day, Labor Day, weekend.
Radio Control: Soaring
HOW MANY OF US, through the course of our model flying, have had the occasion to help the new flier in our group with his, or her, first flight? We probably each have our own "talking through" techniques for the neophyte-and most of these procedures, no doubt, have been successful. Yet, how many of these new fliers really learned anything from those first flights? It has been this scribe's observation that the normal "talk through" conversations, which range from "a little right"-"push the nose over"-"a little up"-to "Harvey, I think we better run for cover!" have left the new flier with not necessarily the same confidence it takes to run a sailplane on a slalom course through a string of telephone poles.
1975 League of Silent Flight Tournament
IN 1970 when the first LSFT Tournament was scheduled, the registration mark of 100 seemed to be a milestone for contest attendance. The fact that the LSF membership was just pushing the 100 mark made the contest figure all the more an improbability. This year a limit of 150 had to be placed on pre-registration so that the tournament could remain manageable. The dates: August 30 and 31, 1975; the place: Costa Mesa, Calif.; the site: Mile Square; Co-Contest Directors, John Donelson and Bob Hahn. The tasks: 5-minute duration, 7-minute duration, 10-minute precision-duration, 2-minute precision, 4-lap speed-distance task over a 150-meter course; 10-minute duration.
Radio Control: Soaring
HHL/D has earned the reputation of being able to manage some of the finest contests held anywhere. Their annual September contest-held on Harris Hill, the birthplace of full-scale soaring some four and a half decades ago-is a yearly gathering of over a hundred RC sailplane enthusiasts. The contests have always been expertly managed by gentlemen like Ernie Heyworth, Jim Gray, Dick Pike, and Tim Shaddock-to name but a few. The events, while a slight departure from the rule book, have always been innovative and most challenging. So if you're looking for one of the best contests with some of the finest flyers in the country, plan on Elmira in the fall. The scenery alone is worth the price of admission.
Radio Control: Soaring
Sailplane Distance Record Tentatively Broken. In an attempt to break Jerry Krainock's existing distance record of 27.20 miles, Jack Hiner of Downer's Grove, Ill., flew 32 miles for the straight-line record try. A year ago, over the three-day Memorial Day week-end, Jack set a S.O.A.R. club record for a thermal duration flight of 3 hrs., 7 mins., 52 secs.! It was this flight that urged Jack to plan for the distance record because weather conditions couldn't be more ideal. It should be noted that Springtime in the midwest produces evenings with the temperatures in the forties followed by daytime temperatures in the seventies. The freshly plowed fields that blanket this area become a caldron of thermal activity and if the soaring axiom-for every thermal there is a "downer"-is true, these "downers" probably exist somewhere near the Missouri border! So-with these weather conditions as part of the master plan, Jack made preparations during this past year.
