2nd 2010 Aerobatics League

So there we were, on Chapmans Peak, staring into the morning light with the lift
a bit on the sea-sick side with the hot air from Friday still coursing through the valley.
A little while later things seemed to improve and we began the 2nd League event for 2010.
Due to the first 3 moves being obligatory and somewhat more difficult than the last leagues
top 4, you had to come running out of the blocks and in full gear.
Two rolls sounds easy till your up on the line and the hands are shaking a wee bit!
and then the two rolls get a bit of a nervous twitch about them,
somewhere between roll 1&2.
Bar a few bits of drama, notably a self guided glider and roadside landings,
we managed to get two rounds in for each pilot, and had a good day getting
the aerobatics leaugue back on track. In the end with points tallied up,
Bobby Purnell took top honours flying just beautifully, followed by Charlie Blakemore in second,
and Damian Hinrichsen in third position. Well done guys, and shows
that the rest of us better get back to some practising if we are
to avoid getting our butts kicked next time around.

Sunday dawned as beautifull as Saturday and once again Chapmans Peak
delivered the goods on less with but with silky smooth lift
that just invited hours of flight. Pity about the poor attendance on the slope,
but it was well worth the effort as Brendan put the Vector and the rest
of his fleet through the paces and Christo and myself flew the Implala
and foamie warbirds around for the day. Even the Banana got to do
some high speed flight just to get the adrenaline going in rather
heavy conditions for this 600 gram glider.
All good on the day without a single injury to man of machine.

First position man, Bobby Purnell gives second position man, Charlie Blakemore the call

Competitors watching the action

The event scene for the day

Bobby recieves the first place certificate from Jeff

The Sunday afternoon session with Christo putting the Banana through its paces

More of the same, just makes you want to go sloping, doesn't it?

Aerobatics League has another bash at it

We are planning to hold the Aerobatics League event this Saturday,
the 4th of September,  as conditions look to be delivering a beaut of a north wester.
So come along, join in and get involced in a bit of the action..
We are looking to pull off at least 2 rounds each and possibly a third
if wind and time constraints allow.
Venue will be Chapmans Peak and kick-off will be 10AM…
so be there bright and early, sign in, payup, list your maneuvers and get ready to rock and roll
for a full days flying, as open sessions will follow the aerobatics event.

Hotbox thermal fun in Hout Bay

After a promising prediction by all the weather forcasters
most Cape Slope guys are well aware that when a
South Easter is trying to make an appearance from one side of the Peninsula
with a cold front bearing down from the other side,
the wind will be a bit wishy to say the least and the poor old South Easter
was just going to get beaten into sibmission.
Which is just what happened and hence the aerobatics comp for the weekend
had to be called off, as there was nary a chance the wind would deliver
anything even near to a stable pattern.

This was after Saturday had delivered a good dashing of rain,
followed by break in the weather that had a good few of the slope guys
out for a afternoon session at Chapmans peak.
With a new front promised for Monday, the Sunday weather turned east
and hot as a kettle.

Not to be deterred a few crazies made up of Bobby, Charlie, Marc and myself
made a run for the Sandy Bay slope in the hope it would channel the North Easter.
No luck on that side, but while staring at the east side of the slope we watched
a raptor thermal its way to heaven, and the decision was made to give it a bash.
Bobby took along his home brewed nYoni and we took the wings and the Aldij.
After a bit of a scratchy start there were some thermals that
popped at exactly the same spot every time. With this little piece of info in the armory

Bobby managed a good hour and a half flight, right to the top of the ridge
and back on a few occasions, while I ran around with the BEE wing
attempting to steal the thermals from under him. In the end a washed out day
proved to be a great heap of fun, while offering some awesome views of the
Hout Bay landscape and a good few raptor fly byes as they utilised
one and the same thermal landscape.

Bobby and Charlie take in the Sandy Bay scenery

Bobby works the thermal bubble that was there with amazing consistency

A bit of the Hout Bay scenery that was on hand

Aerobatics League Schedule 2010

Yes we did fly last weekend, albeit in a howling North Wester,
and it was fun to say the least… till rained out,
but focusing on this weekend for the aerobatics league.
Here is the revised schedule with the square loop and
4 point rolling circle added back in with respective K-factors attached.
Looks like we will do the league event on Sunday due to the weather settling
in for a good old fashioned South Easter and Red Hill looks
likely to be the slaughtering grounds.
Confirmation will be via sms as to venue.

Remember the three new mandatory moves are as such,
and you are to choose seven optional moves based on k-factors.

He who dares wins!
or has a butt clenching moment of note, while deciding just which way is actually up.
R 50-00 entry fee payable on the day to cover costs.

Black Eagle Trophy t-shirts reprinted, so if you ordered extras
please organise payment as we will have them there on Sunday for collection

See you there.

Saturday afternoon cam fun

A great days flying had on the Saturday last.
Notably the 11AM to 2PM session was the best with solid, cold and clean lift racing through the valley
and all the glassies had a great run and Chris Leal’s ME 109 got a maiden under the wings.
A little bit of CG adjustment to the rear and she will fly like a dream.
Those that arrived a little later missed out somewhat as the direction switched
to the west north west and made it all a little less predictable.
Still we had the chance to get two of the foamie warbirds, Christo’s Mustang and my Spitfire
loaded up with Go Pro cams and managed to get some great footage in awesome lighting conditions.
Old Kippie here managed to stuff up the camera settings and ended up home with 1.5 gigs of nadda/nix.
Yelling at the camera and tears of frustration were not helping the cause either,
so Christo to the rescue with his footage and some really nice stills from the flight.
Thanks Christo for some fantastic shots!
Looks like more of the same this weekend as another cold front builds on Saturday.
Yipee!

Wet weekend brings flying weather to town

Just a few pics from the long weekend and a few notes
Saturday – lovely day up at Chapmans Peak with early conditions just beautiful
slowly dropping trough the day.
Sunday – Ice cold westerly thumping through Kommetjie, following the arrival of the
frontal system overnight. Lots of pouring rain quickly subsides and gives us ballistic lift
Monday – Still cold but lovely South Wester up at Kommetjie again, stayed true throughout the day.
Highlights:
1. Damian flicking on his landing flaps while involved in a flip/flash/splash type manouvre
with the Voltij and ending up with a very long walk as the Voltij " lands" itself at the bottom of the slope
2. Steve launching the Polykarpov on Monday and ending up with as long a walk as it runs out of lift.
A little damage, but remarkably in one piece – the plane that is…. not Steve.
3. Malcolm managing to get the Impala stuck up on a rock right at the top
of the Kommetjie slope after suffering blowback at the top.
Man thats one long way up to the top of that slope.
Impala took some injuries but will fly again I have no doubt.
4. Foamie PSS combat takes place the whole weekend and the speed
of combat on Sunday was just scary, resulting in an overnight repair mission
for the Monday session.
Note to all pilots… when watching the combat recovery
of some other poor blighter that just took a whack, keep eyes on your own plane…
as Damian and myself failed to do… and Malcom failed to do… really well.
Must say, it's really tough to keep your attention on your own foamie while howling with laughter
and trying to see if the poor bloke next to you is going to recover from his death spin, or not
All in all, the Cape Peninsula is one hell of a place to be slope soaring!

TOSS Aerobatics League kicks off again on 28th August 2010

All SAMAA registered slope fliers welcome to join us.

NEXT EVENT -28 August 2010

We have re-structured the league format to make it achievable by all levels
of competitor with any type of glider. The new format is a single class with the
THREE “Mandatory Manoeuvres” and an additional SEVEN manoeuvres
selected from the “Optional List” with a higher K-factor manoeuvre scoring more
points than a low K-factor manoeuvre.
(You will be required to select your Optional manoeuvres on the
score sheet before the start of the event)
(K-factor explained) K-factor (K) – The scores awarded by the judges for each
manoeuvre is multiplied by the K-factor allocated to the manoeuvre.
Example – an 8 out of 10 score for a “Cuban Eight” would score you 80 point
whereas an 8 out of 10 score for a “Rolling Eight” would score you a 120 points

CHECK THIS LINK FOR DISCRIPTIONS AND DIAGRAMS OF THE MANOEUVRES -

Discriptions and Diagrams of manoeuvres (Extract from the MGA Document MGA-rules-10-aerobat.pdF)

Mandatory Manoeuvres

Optional List

Entry Fee: R50.00 per event payable on the morning.

These event dates are weather dependant and subject to change.

Please check the TOSS info Line  0712108400 prior to event for possible changes.

FUTURE EVENT DATES:

28 August 2010
02 October 2010
11 December 2010

Black Eagle project gets legs

Following the success Black Eagle Trophy, most of the guys seemed to take
a hiatus from building anything. Flying, yes, building, no!
The EPP warbirds have endured and boys are we having a blast with
these awesome little machines. Not as tough as the indispensable BEE wing,
but definitely worth the eye candy when flying formation combat.
They just look too darn pretty when gaggled together as a pack of 4 or 5 fighters at a time

In the meantime, and based on our discussions at the event itself with the guys from
Percy Fitzpatrick foundation, we were committed to building a scale Black Eagle glider.
The prime objective of this project is to see if we can illicit a response from the
smaller raptors. From what is understood, the small raptors are likely to come out
and beat the beast to death, or foam pieces if it ventures near their nesting sites.
That’s the theory anyway, and we are going to see if this is indeed the case!
If so, it opens the door for a fluid approach to the study of nesting sites
all over the peninsula as well as  the rest of South Africa.
The Fitz guys are excited about the project as are we…so this Black Eagle will be
built as a proof of theory subject and if the smaller raptors just plain ignore it,
then were back to the drawing board. But it is certainly worth the time and effort.

After spending some time going through the internet and picking up on the
Eddie the Eagle build on RC Groups, I sourced the plans from the UK,
from http://www.myhobbystore.co.uk/product/16122/sf418–eddie-the-eagle
which was a cinch and the delivery and handling of the whole process was plain sailing.
There are also some other really nice plans up there for PSS models…. winkwink, nudgenudge.

In the meantime we had the pleasure to meet Dr. Lucia Rodrigues who heads up the
Black Eagle section at the Fitz and she spent an afternoon on the slope with the guys
and gave a few handy hints on some minor adjustments to the overall design.
Plans in hand we have started a build, I will handle the fuselage as best I can,
Jeff will be doing the wings and Damian is lined up to do the artwork,
feathers and all the detail. Whoa, that’s a wee bit of work for all concerned.
All balsa, wood etc  for the build is being sponsored by Hobby Warehouse
and electronics, servo’s etc is being sponsored by Chris Leal,
so a great thank you to the guys for supporting this project.

Very hastily organised,after a Friday evening phone call,  a few of us
headed out to Spier wine farm on Saturday morning early to Eagle Encounters
that is situated there. Run by a charismatic and knowledgeable raptor trainer
called Hank Chalmers, we were given a close up view of the Black Eagle that they hold there,
amongst what must be about 40 different raptors that have mostly ended up
in rehabilitation due to a list of injuries, man made and otherwise.
This place is so worth the visit if aviation/birds/flight are on your menu of interests.
We were lucky to be given a flight demonstration as well and believe me a Black eagle close up
on a flyby is a really impressive sight. Not small by any means, the sheer grace
of the animal is astounding a she (and yes it was a she) skimmed
the grass with millimeters to spare. This little trip served as immense
inspiration to all involved to get the Black Eagle glider to reality.

Who you looking at TOSSer?

That beak can do some damage, fingers away…

Hank, the man in charge and the impressive eagle. Those talons can snap your arm in two in a split second…

Landing – some stills from the videos

Brakes full on for a side view of the landing

Touchdown

and take off again

and now to attempt to add some media… if this doesn’t work it’s time to have a chat to our webmaster

…….    . sound of phone ringing….

and the fat lady sings

What a lovely South Wester on Sunday and
the Kommetjie slope delivered beautiful stable
conditions with the wind holding firm throughout the day
and in the ice cold conditions, the lift maintained
fantastic energy, for what wind was actually blowing on your face.
In what could be described as somewhat less lift than St. James
delivered for the day when the warbirds were last hoisted off the cliff,
Steve chose to find out what the Polikarpov i-15 biplane really was able to fly in.
With it’s rather large fuselage, short nose moment and biplane layout there had
to be just a hint of a concern as to just what enough lift would
be required to keep this rather short, rotund and lead laden lady in the air.

Steve recons the Polikarpov weight is undetermined as yet, as his scale only goes to 5 kilo’s!

Not a problem though. Once off the slope, this pocket rocket lifted it’s skirts
and flew like a dream in conditions that would have had one thinking
that it would be a trifle light. So once more, lessons learnt that
sometimes we underestimate our craft and their gliding abilities.

Ready, steady, little lady primed and ready to go

Wishy Washy weekend

Ideas of a decent weekend of sloping ahead
were quickly dashed with a dirth of wind once again,
but the chance to just get outdoors was grabbed at.
Luckily a few of us found some lift off the Kommetjie site
in light South West lift that improved slightly with the day.
It still took some nice skills to utilise the lift available
to source the best height…. and stay up there!
Towards the end of the day it cooled off and became quite
pleasant indeed and the foamie warbirds had a blast through to the evening.

Christo threw out his tiny elevon scratch built balsa glider
( all 70 odd grams of it, in traditional balsa, ribs and tissue building skills )
after finally figuring the wing-loading out to be 5oz!…
and it flew like a dream in the light lift.
All in all, a fun day out in the sun.

Christo's tiny elevon scratch build

Small glider, large area, hand me the binoculars Scotty!

Ridge running Mustang

Not the worst place in the world to be slope soaring

and finally, something that was given to me by Lionel Brink on his PSS visit.
A quick setting epoxy, that literally goes off in front of your eyes…
tried it out the other nite and was pretty amazed .
Seems to better the traditional 5 minute epoxies
and for those quick fix jobs is pretty darn useful and sets very strong too.
The guys up north swear by it for their thermal ships and its available at AMT.

Smooth-On Super instant- and it is