HTL 2016 contest round 1

Round 1 of the HTL (Highveld Thermal League)

21 February 2016

The HTL contest is a thermal duration contest, normally 6 rounds of 10 minutes is flown (during 12 minutes of working time) with one round you can discard. Landings are scored from 100 to 0 points with every cm counting 1 point (so 10m or further equals 0 points. If you exceed the 10 minutes, even by 1 second you loose your landing points and if you land 75m or further away from the spot you score 0 for the round.  

This is normally a winch launch contest flown with F3J gliders but to boost the number of entrants the organizers decided to allow electric launch planes with a 30 second or 200m height limit. This seemed fair as the winches were using 200m mono filament lines so with a zoom they can also launch to 200m or higher.

As I am predominately a F5J pilot I decided to enter with my F5J planes, I realized I had little hope of doing well (extra drag from the prop, more weight and not being able to "dork" land like the F3J guys all counted against the electric planes) but I thought the practice would be great. As it turned out the contest was really fun and it was nice to see the F3J guys in action, with the whole 2016 F3J WC team in attendance the standard of flying was really great!  

It turned out that only 2 electric planes entered, myself and my flying buddy Frank.

Early morning at GEMS flying field

As usual I arrived really early and assembled my Osprey and Supra planes. The weather prediction was for a gentle breeze from the south-east so the plan was to fly the light Osprey as the primary plane with the Supra as backup. 

At first the weather prediction seemed right but soon after I had the planes assembled the wind started blowing up to about 28km/h. This made me decide to get my "heavy weather" plane, the Xplorer ready as well. As things turned out the wind dropped a bit later but the Supra seemed the better choice so that was the plane I flew.

My planes ready to go

Soon other pilots started to arrive and the GEMS flying field was a hive of activity with planes being assembled and winches being laid out. I managed to take a few photos as I was ready to go!

First competitors assembling planes

Nice collection of planes!

More planes and some shade.

By the time all the planes were ready to go there was a really nice collection of planes present, every single one a molded plane with the most popular models being Supras and Xplorers. A few test flights were flown before the pilot's briefing, seemed like everyone was happy with their equipment.

After the pilot's briefing we started with round 1, I was in group 1 so no time was wasted getting into the air. There was no sign of lift, it was now quite heavily overcast and the round turned out to be a question of who can float the longest! I managed to stay airborne for just over 8 minutes but unfortunately I totally missed the spot as the wind picked up right as I had to land, since I was trying to stretch the time I was rather low so I simply landed short, about 12m from the spot! Lesson learned, the landing is worth 1:40 flying time so rather than stretch the glide get the landing points.

On the normalized (Man on Man) score I ended up with 784 points, this would turn out to be my worst, and thus drop round.

Round 1

I flew in round 2, group 3, so I had a bit of time to relax while timing for other pilots. It was obvious that everyone was struggling with the marginal conditions.

When my turn came I had a good launch and moved upwind to where I had seen other pilots catch some wave lift, it turned out that it was not easy to ride so after an initial bit of "not coming down" I started coming down a lot faster that I liked. Fortunately I managed to catch a weak thermal from around 40m altitude that allowed me, with some careful flying, to reach 10 minutes. Unfortunately, I AGAIN missed the spot, the sudden wind changes was not helping, I decided to come in fast and a lot higher on the next rounds. My efforts netted me 903 points, I had the best duration in the group but the 0 for the landing robbed me of a 1000.

Round 2

Round 3 was "interesting". I managed to work the wave lift a lot better this time, the Supra was not climbing at all but it was at least maintaining altitude. All was fine till it started raining! At first just a few drops but then a lot more! People were running for cover with their planes but the guys flying continued. As I wear prescription glasses it soon became a problem trying to see the plane, I decided to rather land a bit early than loose/crash the plane.

I was only slightly short of 10 minutes and at least I managed to get some landing points, unfortunately one of the national team members flying in my group had a great flight so I ended up with 847 points, not a great round but it was fun flying in the rain!

Round 3, rather wet!

After a slight rain delay we started round 4, I was up early and with a few drops of rain still around, and more heavy rain in the distance I was worried! I again managed to work the wave lift for a while but soon fell out, once below about 160m you were below the lift and the slow decent started.

Fortunately I managed to stretch the glide, I found that about 3mm of camber on the Supra really helps. As I was getting ready to land on 10 minutes I realized that everyone else was down already and they were all watching my landing to see if I could take the round, lots of pressure!

Fortunately I got it right ending, after a short slide on the wet grass, about 1.2m from the spot, this was good enough for a round win and 1000 points. When I got the landing right a few guys cheered, nice sportsmanship!

Round 4

Round 5 also started with me riding the wave lift, even climbing about 50m this time but then the wind dropped and it was time for the usual slow decent, well, actually it was descending a lot faster than I hoped it would!

I decided to not try and stretch it but rather concentrate on a good landing. As I was turning finals at about 20m altitude and just short of 8 minutes into the flight I felt a slight bump, since it was rather low and by now the wind had picked up again I was rather hesitant to try and work the lift, the lost landing points in the first 2 rounds were still haunting me! My timer was rather surprised that I decided to do one turn, I could hear in his voice that he was not impressed!

Well, the one turn gained me a bit of height, but I also drifted a lot down wind and I realized I now had no choice, I had to work this thermal to get enough altitude else I would never make the spot! The thermal started breaking away from the ground and I had some hope! Then my timer, who was watch my plane and not the clock suddenly announced that I had less than one minute left! A mad dive/dash for the spot resulted in a less than perfect landing but at least I did not overrun the time but it was close!

The normalized score of 992 was not bad everything considered!

Round 5

By round 6 the clouds had mostly cleared and a few guys were catching and riding thermals, the wind had also dropped a bit, but just a bit. My launch was fine and I headed for my normal wave riding spot. I could soon see that the wave was not going to help me this time as the change is wind strength and direction made it very weak!

A search towards the South soon resulted in me finding a decent thermal, it drifted downwind fast but as the Supra was climbing well I was not too concerned. Soon it was so high and far downwind that I chickened out and left the thermal to return at high altitude. After the contest a check on the Altis log showed that I abandoned the thermal at 503m above ground level!

Soon I had to decent as the time was running out, full crow brakes got me down to a decent altitude where I then spent some time looping, rolling and doing split-S's, lots of fun! When the time came to land I misjudged it a bit as there was now no wind, I landed about 15 seconds early as I had to use a lot of crow to burn height at the last moment but at least my landing was decent.

My score for this round was 975, seemed like some other pilot also found lift and one got his timing right!

Round 6, maximum altitude 503m!

I really enjoyed this contest, even though I knew it would be difficult to be competitive against decent F3J planes and pilots who can really fly them I still had fun and even managed to beat quite a few guys with my final 6'th position! I also learned a lot and that is more important than a win/good place for me at this stage!

Can't wait for the next HTL contest, I think if the conditions are better and it does not turn into a floating contest a F5J plane can be competitive, time will tell......

Weekend on the horizon!

It is Thursday evening and my mind turns to the weekend and flying, just what is needed after a hectic week!

I have entered a local contest on Sunday, it is the first leg of 4 contests in 2016 called HTL (Highveld Thermal League)

The contest is basically a thermal duration contest with 10 minute duration task and a spot landing (100 points for a spot decreasing with 10 points per meter up to 10m out).

Normally this contest attracts the F3J guys launching from a 200m winch, but to attract more entrants the organizers decided to allow electric launch planes as well with a 200m launch height limit. I am planning on flying one of my F5J planes, maybe the eSupra or the Osprey.

It will be interesting to see how the electric planes perform in relation to the F3J planes. I am under no false illusion that I will do well, not only will our full 2016 F3J National team be competing, they will also be flying their contest planes. In addition the field contains most of the other top local pilots. What I am hoping for is some fun and practice that will be put to use in the next F5J contest.

Saturday morning will be used for a practice session with my flying buddy Frank, Other that the practice I also want to put some time on my little 2m Taser, should be fun!

I will report back on the contest after the weekend.

eSupra and Osprey, weapons of choice for the contest this coming weekend.

Second round of the 2016 South African F5J League.

The second round of the 2016 local F5J league was moved from 21 February to 13 February due to a clash with another event.

The location for the second round was the GEMS flying field, a field consisting of a few adjacent Polo fields, a great place to fly!

The weather prediction was for a sunny day with the temperature going up to 36C and winds up to 30km/h.

I was a bit worried about the wind, the plane I wanted to fly in the contest, the Osprey, is a bit light for really strong winds. The decision was made to relegate the Osprey to backup duty with the primary planes being the eSupra for mild to medium winds and the Xplorer for when the wind really picked up. As it turned out it did get quite windy but the eSupra coped well and I never felt that I needed the Xplorer.

I went to the field really early, the main reason was that I wanted to do a few landings with the Xplorer since I have not flown it for a while and I also wanted to have a look for possible ridge/wave lift sources in case the wind really picked up.

Sunrise at GEMS, eSupra and Xplorer ready to go.

After a few test flights with the Xplorer and the eSupra I was ready, the rest of the competitors slowly started arriving and it was nice to chat rather than run around getting my planes ready.

The first round started at exactly 9am, the wind was light but the lift was even lighter. I flew in the first group and the eSupra was convincingly out-floated by a very light Hyper Ava, this turned out to be my worst round..... I think I need a Hyper Ava in my hangar......

Round 1, a slow decent with no lift.

The second round I managed to find lift just after launch, it only allowed me to climb to about 230m but I managed to stay there for the full 10 minutes. A decent landing allowed me to win the round for the first 1000 of the contest.

Round 2, weak lift and hard work.

The third round was again a fight with no lift, my time just below 6 minutes was second best of the round but I messed up the landing, this bad landing would eventually cost me in the contest.

Round 3, little lift for everyone but a bad landing (13m) for me.

Round 4 was fun, I launched into a low thermal that I rode down wind (by now the wind was really pumping) till it finally broke away from the ground, a maximum altitude of 373m was reached and I managed a good landing for my second round win and 1000 of the contest. Since I managed to out-thermal my main competitor, in the same thermal, during this round it was a great boost for my self confidence.

Round 4, working had for a max.

Round 5 was another no-lift round, I managed to scratch at low level most of the time, my time of just over 7 minutes, and a decent landing allowed me to win the round and add another 1000 points to the total.

Round 5, only some weak lift but it was the same for everyone!

Making sure of some landing points, not perfect but better than nothing! 

Thanks for the photo Deo!

The last round (we do not fly fly-offs) started in really windy conditions, I almost changed over to the Xplorer but there was really no time so the eSupra it was. After launch I could find no lift, only sink, by 3 minutes I was quite low and worried, at least the other pilots were in the same situation. At around 4 minutes, and below 50m, I found light lift, I was soon joined by 2 other planes and the game was on! Some really careful flying till the thermal finally broke away and drifted downwind allowed me to climb up to 372m leaving the other planes behind to land, it was REALLY satisfying! When the time came to descend I was so high that loops, rolls and inverted flight added to the fun! A decent landing gave me a final round win and 1000 points pushing the other guys in the group down.

This flight showed me how important the right amount of camber can be in these minimal conditions, something I have not used in the past.

Round 6 fight to find lift, fun!

When the final points were tallied I was in a close second place, that one bad landing cost me the contest! Well, at least I know more practice will fix that! 

eSupra and Xplorer, great planes!

I must say I am quite happy with my progress since I started flying end of October 2015, first a foam glider (Phoenix 2600), then two 2.9m wood and glass Mystiques with lots of flying. Next came the Osprey as first molded plane with the eSupra and Xplorer joining soon after that. Two contests under the belt and I think I can say with confidence that I am now getting competitive. 

We have some really great local pilots but I now know that I can give them a go, all I need is lots more practice, and that is such fun!

Can't wait for the next contest......

Carbon Taser test flight

I managed to get a few free hours in a rather hectic work schedule yesterday. I did not have time to do a decent setup on the radio, just the basic V-tail setup with flaperons. No camber or reflex settings, will get that done later.

Assembling the Taser for the first flight

A quick hand launch with the motor off showed that the trims were perfect, and also that she glides really well!

Ready to fly!

The first launch with the motor was perfect, I have the motor on a slider, at a fast idle she just maintains altitude and at full power she can go up vertically. Once the motor is shut down she glides really well, you can turn really tight and flat. On the first flight I found a weak thermal at below 10m while getting ready to land. I managed to work the thermal up to over 100m before having some fun with loops and rolls.

The stall is an absolute non-event, she just nods her nose and continues to fly with no noticeable height loss. Even in really tight slow turns I could not get her to drop a wing, really great for working weak lift low. The first flight ended in an easy hand catch, this plane is so responsive you can put her exactly where you want her!

On the ground after the first flight, I love this little plane!

The two photos below show the Taser, for size comparisons, next to my eSupra, she might be small but she flies exceptionally well!

I am planning on flying her in a few local ALES TD contests this year entered in the 2m class, she should be really competitive!