RC SLOPE SOARING
DREAM DAYS
By Greg Schutte | qshooty@yahoo.com
THERE ARE SOME DAYS that appear to be a big glitch in life, in which I seem to be halfway committed to doing something—and nothing—at the same time. With my crazy work schedule, sometimes all I want to do is nothing, but I’m not a person who sits and watches TV or even plays video games.
I had been working 14-hour days for two months, with no days off. When I was at work, all I could do was dream about flying. My job site was located along a ridge. I had been watching the birds soar there for weeks. A couple of times, I took the long way home to scout out the ridge. I kept telling myself I was going to go fly there when I had a day off. With clocking in before the sun was up and clocking out after the sun went down, there was no time to soar.
After the job ended, I had a couple of days off before the next one started. On those days, the wind wasn’t blowing and all I wanted to do was sleep, do laundry, and get some groceries. That stupid adult/grown-up stuff seems to get in the way all the time.
We rolled into the next job and it was located 1.5 hours away from that ridge. The new job lasted for a month, and I had all but forgotten about the ridge because the new site didn’t have one to keep my mind occupied. It did, however, have some good nights, with the northern lights to keep me company. With my job being seasonal and the weather warming up, I was finally able to start my summer break.
On my second day off, I woke up and just needed to do something. I checked the forecast and, to my surprise, the wind was blowing 15 to 20 mph out of the south. The south ridge I usually fly is not accessible in the spring because the dirt road is normally muddy.
The thoughts about that ridge flooded back into my mind. My A-10 was hanging on the wall screaming at me. I grabbed it and on the charger it went. While it was charging, I changed my radio from my helicopter back to my A-10. I had been flying my helicopter in the shop after work just to keep from going crazy.
With the A-10 fully charged, I headed out to see if my thoughts could become reality. The ridge faces south and it’s only about 120 feet high and 75 yards long. I was nervous about throwing my A-10 off a ridge that I have never flown before. It is one of my best-flying airplanes and it took me many hours to scratch-build. The thought of needlessly crashing was not on the list of things I wanted to do.
I set up my wind flag and sat down to see how the wind was feeling that day. It was coming in on cycles as the thermals would blow through. The wind would lull at approximately 10 mph, and then go as high as 35 mph. It would switch directions slightly as the thermals hit the hill in different areas.
I sat there for nearly 10 minutes, just enjoying the moment of finally being on the ridge I had been watching all that time. Overall, the wind seemed strong enough to support my A-10. I flipped on the power switches and checked my control surfaces. Left was left and up was up. With it pointed
into the wind, I could feel the A-10 wanting to lift out of my hand.
I gave the airplane a strong launch and it went out straight and true. It climbed to approximately 50 feet above the ridge and I was off doing what I write this column about—Slope Soaring! The lift was pretty good overall when the wind was blowing. The thermals coming through would change that. It was interesting to see how the lift changed at different parts of the hill at times. At my regular flying sites, this usually isn’t a big deal.
The lift on the left came and went. When I flew to the right side of the hill, the A-10 would elevator up in strong lift. I did a flyby and kept up my speed so that I could make it through the weak lift on the left and back to the good lift on the right. The wind would build to roughly 35 mph, and my A-10 was barely able to penetrate for 2 to 4 minutes. The wind then calmed down to 20 mph.
The lift was good throughout the ridge for approximately 8 to 10 minutes, then it would be good on the left and the right side was weak. This process continued for the 45 minutes that I flew. I almost crashed my airplane a couple of times until I figured out this flow. I had to jump-start my brain back into flying mode for sure.
I ended up having two 45-minute flights on my A-10 before finally calling it a day. After that, I just sat on the side of the hill with the sun on my face and enjoyed not having to be at work. The fresh memories and pictures I had just created drained the uneasy feelings, and a peace of mind had overtaken me. I’m super excited for the summer and flying season to finally be here!
Fly safely!
SOURCES:
League of Silent Flight
www.silentflight.org
