How to Create a Slope Soaring
Pilot
There is nothing but a smile as Greg Schutte’s not-so-little-anymore nephew retrieves and gets ready to relaunch.
I have recently spent time with a couple of my nephews. One is into drones, and one drives RC cars. My nephew that does the cars decided that he wanted to start flying RC. A couple of years ago, I took him out slope soaring. He was really interested in learning to fly. With my job and him living in another town a couple of hours away, however, I never had the opportunity to teach him.
He has been out of high school for a couple of years now and has been bitten by the flying bug again. He bought a couple of RTF RC airplanes and taught himself how to fly. He was recently in town and wanted to go slope soaring, so I met him at one of the local hobby shops and we headed to one of the nearby sites.
I think one of the easiest ways to get a person into Slope Soaring is with Combat. I really learned to fly when I was a new pilot using a Combat wing. They are easy to build, robust, and fly well. I can still remember laughing so hard that I would almost crash my airplane. Flying inverted became second nature. Bouncing off of the rocks and doing all kinds of weird launching became the norm. The nerves about crashing eventually became null and void. The amount of fun flying Combat, especially in a group, is almost unmeasurable.
I recently found a new flying site and wanted to try it. When we got there, the wind was blowing in at a steady 15 to 20 mph. I grabbed my Sparrowhawk and evaluated the site. The lift was there, so it was go time.
My nephew had grabbed his powered airplane and decided that he was going to fly. He powered it up and his brother gave it a launch. He did this so fast that I did not even realize that he was flying a powered airplane on the slope. Of course, that is not something you would see every day. Pilots who fly those usually stay on the grass fields or runways. Most of them with whom I talk have never even realized that they can slope soar with their aircraft.
I was surprised at how it flew. It was obviously slower than my Slope Soaring model, and he did have to give it power to get out from the ridge every once and awhile. He could obviously fly his airplane. We both landed and he was all excited.
He was blown away that I could fly for more than 5 to 10 minutes on a battery. I let him know that I could fly for 30 to 60 minutes or more depending on the wind and the sailplane I choose. I had brought a couple of my Slope aircraft for him to try. I grabbed my Zagi Combat wing and gave it a toss then gave him a quick tutorial on the basics of the hill and how to slope soar.
He was going to get his airplane again, and I stopped and handed him the transmitter. I told him that the Zagi would be a lot more responsive than his powered model. In less than 10 minutes of flying, he was ripping it up. He could not believe how easily the airplane flew and how responsive it was.
My nephew had broken his powered model multiple times while learning to fly. The first time he landed my Zagi, he bounced it and was amazed at how it was not damaged. I just looked at him and said, “Welcome to flying a foam Slope Combat wing.” After approximately 30 minutes of flying the Zagi, I could tell that he was comfortable with it.
My next step was to launch my Sparrow. We flew around for about 5 minutes, and then I yelled, “Let the Combat begin!” I do not think the smile on his face disappeared for the rest of the flying session. The trash-talking and laughs started to flow. While we did not have any solid swacks, we did get in a little rubbing. Being a newcomer to Slope flying, he did have to walk a couple of times to get his airplane, but it was always unhurt and ready to launch.
After we were done flying, he had a ton of questions about how Combat wings are made and how to get one. Unfortunately, Zagi is no longer in business. I did give him some other companies to investigate if he wanted to order a good Combat wing. The Mega-Lite SST from Fancy Foam, or the Matador from CrashTestHobby.com, are just a couple that I recommend. Both companies have multiple types of expanded polypropylene (EPP) foam flying machines for Slope Soaring or power from which to choose.
I have had my Combat wing design for almost 25 years. I told him that the next time I am in town, I would show him how to build his own cheaply and fast. We are already planning to put the power system from his current airplane into a Combat wing. He really likes how responsive the flying wings are.
My nephew lives where I grew up, so I sent him information about a couple of Slope Soaring sailplanes to check out when he is home. This coming summer might be fun when we all get together. My son is already a good Slope pilot and can hold his own. The days when I would fly Combat with a group of fellow fliers might be back in the works.
I can see that I have created a new Slope Soaring pilot with my nephew. But hey, that is what uncles are for!
Fly safe.
Photo captions
The 60-inch Sparrowhawk tests the lift at the new spot. The view is pretty good.
SOURCES
- League of Silent Flight (LSF)
- silentflight.org
- FatLion.com
fatlion99@yahoo.com - fatlion.com
- Fancy Foam
- fancyfoam.com
- CrashTestHobby.com
crashtesthobby@gmail - crashtesthobby.com
- Magnum Models Performance RC Models
larryblevins@magnumrcmodels.com - facebook.com/magnumrcmodels
- Canuck Engineering
(970)-518-7492 - canuckengineering.com
