RC SLOPE SOARING
LEGACY
By Greg Schutte | gschouty@yahoo.com
I RECENTLY had the privilege of giving a talk about Slope Soaring at a local indoor fly-in held in Denver. After the talk, I handed out some walkalong gliders that I had purchased from Slater Harrison at SciencetoyMaker. The company offers a couple of different types of walkalong gliders.
I purchased the Jagwing in the ready-to-fly configuration. The Jagwing flies well right out of the box. It flies slowly enough that you don’t need to be an Olympic speed walker. Even new pilots can easily fly it. Before I knew it, there was indoor Slope flying being initiated at the fly-in. I highly recommend checking Slater’s stuff out.
On my way home, I was thinking about how much enjoyment there is from sharing the sport of flying. This brought back a multitude of memories I have from throughout my flying journey. My Uncle Bob specifically came to mind. I remember that when I was a little kid, we would go over to his house. There were three things that would always happen—we would get yelled at for running up and down the stairs; I would look through all of his model magazines; and I would go into his hobby shop and just look at all of the cool stuff he was building or had built.
There was a gold Bell Jet Ranger RC helicopter that was just so awesome. I would stare at it for hours. There was a spare bedroom connected to the shop that had all of the walls covered with airplanes on battery chargers. Back in the hobby shop, the smells of Ambroid, epoxy, super glue, and kicker would fill my nose, and I would sit on his stool and just imagine being able to do this one day.
I would study the plans on the table with a half-built balsa wood structure laying on top. There were small power tools hanging from the table and I would try to figure out what they were used for. Sometimes, my uncle would be down there working, and I would try to ask smart questions about what he was doing. He would answer my questions as best he could. It clearly made him nervous with me walking around. I tried not to bump into stuff, but I was not always successful.
Every once in a while, he would go flying and I was able to see it. I remember him flying a small CO2-powered Free Flight (FF) model in a vacant lot close to his house. He would charge the motor and let it go. It would fly in a large left-hand circle then land in the bushes. I remember the weird noise the motor would make as it flew. The closest I ever got was flying a Cox-powered FF Airwolf helicopter. At the time, I thought FF was boring compared with RC airplanes.
Going to the flying field was also cool. Uncle Bob had a Great Planes F4 Phantom that was just so graceful in the air. His Great Planes Corsair was one of my favorites to watch fly. Seeing him fuel up those airplanes, start them, adjust the needle valve, and then fly always intrigued me. The scar on my right index finger is a reminder of the era. APC propellers are sharp when the motor hits compression and stops turning. I can still smell the gas, but I can’t forget the oily mess.
As I got older and learned how to fly RC, my relationship with him changed. We had something in common to talk about. He is a master aeromodeler. He even built his own experimental full-scale airplane called a Quickie Q2. The Q2 was designed by Burt Rutan. Going flying in his Q2 has always been a highlight in my life.
His boat models are at the next level and are truly works of art. When he builds something, he puts his all into making it perfect. His models have even graced the pages of this very magazine numerous times throughout the last multiple decades.
I remember that one time, my cousin,
Rob, and I met Uncle Bob at the Slope Soaring hill. He had borrowed a Slope Combat airplane and we both had our Combat wings. This was the first time that I had shared the air with my uncle. He had
never flown Combat before, and we were beating him up badly. I was getting cocky, of course, and had to rub it in. He took it in stride, and it ended up being a good day. I had less than a year of actual RC pilot experience and was just excited to fly without crashing.
Today, I have a good relationship with my uncle. We both like anything with RC and just building stuff in general. I’m now getting into the more Scale look of airplanes and trying to not be such a hatchet man. We do share progress on our building projects as much as possible, and I try to visit and fly with him as much as I can. He always has new stuff to show me.
I consider myself to be a second-generation aeromodeler. My Uncle Bob is my gold standard. I hope I can live up to and share his legacy. Thank you, Uncle Bob, for not kicking your blonde-haired wild child of a nephew out of your hobby shop.
SOURCES:
League of Silent Flight (LSF)
www.silentflight.org
SciencetoyMaker
(570) 506-8094
www.sciencetoymaker.org
Fly safely!
