Winning 2016 F5J league

Update 16/12/2016: The final results of the 2016 F5J league has been published. I am happy to announce that even though I did not compete in the last few contests I still managed to win the 2016 F5J League!

Since it was my first year of contesting (and flying for that matter) I am more than happy with the result!

I am also taking this opportunity to announce that I won't be competing in 2017, I am selling most of my planes as well. RC gliding/F5J was fun but I am now going back to full-size flying on weekends.

Thanks for the support!
Rudi

Late winter practice and fun fly session

I have not made many posts here recently but it is not because I am not flying! I have just been so busy at work and building planes.

We are now heading into spring so with the temperatures rising we will be flying even more, if that is possible! It has been a mild winter, other than one Sunday with really high winds I managed to fly every day I wanted to fly.

Since it now appears that the first F5J Work Championships will be in 2019 at the earliest I have slowed down a bit with practice sessions and even skipped a contest or two. I am flying more for fun but still building skills. Since the first WC is so far away I think I need to fly in at least a few EU contests over the next 18 months. With the EU summer just about over for 2016 I will be aiming at a few selected contests in 2017.

I went to SGC early this morning for  trimming and fun flying session. I have recently changed the programming on my Maxa since the camber setting was not working well so the main "mission" this morning was to setup the camber for minimum sink and best rate of climb in weak thermals.

Maxa ready for trimming session

I also wanted to fly the Pike Perfect again, the last time I few it was in a contest and it suffered a mid-air collision, it is now fixed (rudder and stab replaced) but I have not had the chance to fly it much since the repair.

Pike and Maxa, field still dry from the winter.

The camber settings I configured at home seemed perfect, soon I was looking for a bit of lift, it was still early, before 8am but soon I found an area of light lift, the Maxa is really superb when working light lift, lots of fun! The flight below started as a low launch, just over 35m, intended as a landing practice flight, as I turned final I could feel a bit of weak lift. The next 8 minutes or so was spent carefully working it, trying to center the light lift to make the most of it.

I finally managed to work the plane up to 85m, you can see the peaks where I found better spots in the lift. I eventually left the lift and landed because a flying friend arrived and I wanted to say hi to him. It looked like conditions were going to get really good!

Maxa playing in light lift.

The next flight was even more fun! I launched to 100m, initially I could no find any lift, eventually when I was below 50m I found some light lift, the plane did not climb much but I managed to keep it in the air till eventually, after about 4 minutes the lift broke away and I rode it up to 150m before screaming down to a practice spot landing.

Maxa low level scratching.

The next few flight proved similar, light lift making for lots of fun!

Maxa dropping below 40m before climbing out again.

I then assembled the Pike, the lift was now a bit stronger, it was great fun thermalling up high then screaming down before looking for the next thermal.

Pike playing in the thermals!

What a great days flying! Next weekend it is the Postals contest and the weekend after that it is round 7 of the F5J league. My primary and secondary planes are ready to go, hope the weather is similar. When the lift is really weak I love it as low level and light lift conditions are areas where I am happy to take on any other pilot, more fun than when conditions are good and it becomes a landing contest!

New addition to the fleet, Xperience Pro

Since I was contemplating entering the F3J as well as the F5J category in the National championships I urgently needed a ready to fly F3J plane. I was fortunate to get my hands on a very nice Xperience Pro but with only 1 weekend before the contest I did not have much time to practice on the winch!

XPro ready for early morning test and trimming flight.

As things turned out I never got a chance to practice winch launching as the times I could go to the flying field the club winches were not there. I did manage to build a bungee and get a few launches but it is not quite the same!

 Practice, a few bungee launches

Pike and XPro, final pre Nationals practice.

The final practice session went well, the Pike was flying well and I decided that it will be my primary F5J plane as well as the backup F3J plane (with prop removed) as it still has the towhook!

Round four of the 2016 South African F5J league

Round four of the 2016 South African F5J league was held at the GEMS field on the east Rand.

The weather prediction for the day was for cloudless skies and almost no wind, and that was exactly the way it dawned and stayed the whole day!

I was there early, as usual, I prefer assembling my planes and having a quick flight on each before most of the people arrive. It allows me to concentrate on what I am doing, when the other competitors then arrive I have time to chat to them.

Because of the weather prediction for little wind I assembled 2 planes, the new Pike Perfect ET I wanted to test in it's first contest and the trusty Supra as a backup, just in case. Today the Osprey was taking a rest.

A few quick test flights, and practice landings using RC-Timer Pro on my phone showed that all was well.

Supra and Pike ready for action.

Soon the other competitors arrived and we started flying. Round one went well for me, I did not manage a max but nobody else did either, landing last and getting close to the spot gave my my first round win and 1000 points for the day.

I flew round 2 immediately after the first round, this time I managed to find lift and even though it was still early and the lift was not strong it was an easy 10 minutes. My landing was again good for the second round win and 1000 points. Now the pressure was on, if I could keep this up.....

Round 3 was exciting, I could not find lift only sink so finally deciding I must land and at around 4 minutes to at least get a decent landing. Fortunately I found a small bubble on the base leg that I managed to work, winning some altitude and then loosing some again while I was trying to find the core of the thermal. At around 7 minutes the thermal finally broke away so I rode it up for a few circles before heading back to land. Another round win and 1000 points. This time I had to work really hard for the win!

Round 4 was almost a mess for me. At about a minute before launch I did a final control check only to find to my shock that the right flap was vibrating at around the 60% down position, it did not go down any further and refused to go up at the first try, only after a few cycles.

Since there was no time left to change to my backup model I decided to just fly carefully and avoid using the flaps. The result was a rather nervous flight, I found a good thermal but started coming down sooner than normal, loosing height with some aerobatics. The final approach was also not fun, keeping low and not too fast. As I got close to the spot I was still a bit fast but at least low so I managed to plant the nose to prevent a slide on the hard ground. I ended up landing a bit short, 3m from the spot but the landing along with the flight was again good enough for a round win and a 1000 points.

For round 5 I changed to my trusty Supra. I managed to find lift early in the launch so this launch was my lowest of the contest. The lift turned out to be weak and just about overhead and right in the bright sun. It was not moving since there was no wind so just about the entire flight was flown right above me! Not comfortable but since the lift was weak I was low so I could not really go look for other lift. I managed to hang onto the lift, despite my neck's complaints for the full 10 minutes. A decent landing gave me a round win and 1000 points. Getting this round win was rather painful!

Starting the last round I realized I have a good chance to win the contest, maybe a bit over confidant I did not really try to read the air before the launch as I normally do. I soon saw the errors of my ways as I launched into huge sink. The whole, very short flight was a battle to stay higher than the competition in my slot. As it turned out the other guy landed at 4:02 and I landed at 4:04, really terrible times but my 50 points landing over his 5 point landing gave me the round and a final 1000 points.

So I am happy to report, 4 months after starting to fly RC gliders and F5J, I managed to win my first contest with a perfect score of 6000 out of 6000.

We are now two short weeks away from out National championships, I am hoping I can get a bit more practice in before then!

I checked the flap servo on the Pike when I got home, looked like a stripped gear on the Graupner/JR DS 3210 servo but when I opened it up it looks more like a faulty, misshaped gear that must have come like that from the factory. Anyway, the servo was replaced and the plane is functional again.

Early morning trimming and practice session.

After the recent successful test flight of my F5J Pike Perfect ET I decided I need to play around a bit with things like camber, CoG and crow compensation before I could be sure that the Pike should be my primary plane for the next F5J contest.

Setting up just the right amount of camber for minimum sink for those dead air early morning flights is best done when there is no wind or thermals, so best time is just after dawn.

Sunday morning dawned absolutely quiet and quite cool for this time of the year, I was at the field assembling the plane just before the sun rose, after the very hot summer we had the 10C was really refreshing but I knew the temperature would soon rise to the predicted 30C.

The Pike ready to go, the grass was sopping wet from dew during the night

The first few launches was spent getting the launch trim right, the plane seems to climb best, at around 10m/s with neutral elevator trim. The best climb angle, after the initial vertical zoom, is around 80 degrees. A quick bit of down elevator before switching off the motor allows the plane to transition nicely into level flight. The Pike needs 20-22 seconds, depending on the wind, to get to 200m, during contest conditions the motor run will be seldom more than 10-12 seconds, when conditions are good it could be 5 seconds or less!

Checking the battery, a 3S, 1300mah 45-90C pack, shows that I can get 3 full launches and 3 10 minute flights on a charge. I change the battery after every round during a contest but for practice this is great.

Between flights, resting the pilot!

Trimming for minimum sink, using a FrSky Vario feeding telemetry back to my Taranis transmitter, showed  that for level flight around 2-3mm of camber provides the lowest sink rate. When in a thermal turn a bit more, 3-4mm, works best. The vario is a really useful tool to get to know your plane and getting the settings just right.

More club members arriving to enjoy the perfect conditions.

Soon the sun was a bit higher in the sky and the first signs of lift appeared. I love flying in marginal conditions since it is really challenging to keep the plane in the air working every little bubble of lift.

It soon became obvious that the Pike is really great at low level scratching, once setup she can turn really flat and the bigger wing span, 3.8m, is an advantage in marginal conditions. It did not take long for me to decide that the Pike will be used in the next contest! The powerful flaps also make precision landings easy, I just need to get used to how the plane just stops in the air with full flaps!

Launching 150m into sink and then working some weak lift.

A 75m launch into very light lift.

After a few flights I can confidently say that the Pike can scratch as good and even better than the Supra. The lighter Osprey might still float a bit better but the Pike's better speed range allows you to search far and wide for lift.

Pike waiting for the next flying adventure.

With a bit more practice I am really looking forward to flying the Pike in a contest, next round of the F5J league is on 16 April....

Round three of the 2016 South African F5J League.

Round three of the 2016 South African F5J league was held at SGC flying field.

The day dawned with some cloud and a rather wet field due to all the recent rain. There was very little wind predicted so everyone was looking forward to a great day's flying.

Dawn at SGC

Soon the competitors started arriving and assembling their planes, the usual bunch was there plus a few new faces, always great to see more guys starting to fly F5J. The flying field was nice and busy as the South African national F3J team was also there for some official practice.

My Supra and Osprey ready to go.

A few of the competitors did some last minute test flights and then we started with round one group one. For a change I was not in group one so I could relax a bit. In the past round one has normally been my worse, and thus throw away round but not this time. The trusty Supra managed work some weak lift giving me a score of 993.8, if I did not miscalculate, due to the lack of wind, and land a bit early it could have been a 1000 but it was a good start for me.

Ivan flying, Piet timing.

Round 2 was not so great for me, I gambled and flew out far looking for lift but it did not work out, I did not manage to make the 10 minutes and ended with a score of 746, this would eventually be my throw away round.

Gordon showing us why he is always the guy to watch, he always seem to find lift when the rest are struggling!

Round 3 I managed to get some good lift and also a good landing giving me a round win and 1000 points. I must say my landing practice is starting to produce results, my worst landing of the contest was 6m and the rest were a lot closer with a few 1 and 2m landings.

Getting ready to launch

Round 4 was an interesting round for me, initially I found some lift but it soon disappeared and the sink that followed was not fun! Soon I had to start thinking about landing as the Supra simply fell out of the sky before I could escape the sink. 

As I was positioning the plane for landing I noticed a slight bump and decided to try one circle, well the one circle became a second one till eventually I spent around 7 minutes at low level, seldom above 40m, it was hard work but great fun, I also noticed I had a few spectators, including some of the F3J guys, watching this lot, I think they were waiting for me to fall out the sky and miss the landing! Well, I did not and managed to make the 10 minutes and a decent landing giving me another round win and 1000 points. This was an extremely satisfying flight!

Chris Adrian concentrating, he was the eventual winner pipping me by a few points!

Round 5 was easier with weak but consistent lift, at one point we had quite a few planes circling in the same area. I unfortunately messed up the landing a bit costing me the round, my final score was 947.7

Round 6, the last round, I managed to get some good lift but so did just about everyone else. I did get close to the time but again I was a bit fast and landed too early, I need to work on this forcing myself to land later. My score for the round was 980.  

Results for round 3 of the 2016 F5J league

When the scoring was complete I ended up in second place by less than 6 points out of 5000, not bad! I noticed that if we did not have a throw-away round I would have won. Now I just need to work on my timing during the last few seconds.....

The results for the 3 rounds we have flown so far shows that I am in first place overall despite the fact that I did not win a round, my consistent scores helped a lot! I am happy with my progress, a few months ago I started with a little foam plane and now I am giving some guys a run for their money.

2016 F5J league results after 3 rounds

 The next round is on 16 April, I am hoping to have a new plane, the Pike Perfect ET, ready by then, if conditions are weak again like the last 2 rounds the longer wing should help a bit.

Pike Perfect ET F3J to F5J conversion

Just a quick note on the Pike Perfect ET conversion that I have been busy with on and off between other projects.

I finally got around to finish the job and test flew the plane this morning. I am more than happy with the results! The plane needed no trim and the CoG position at 110mm from the leading edge seems perfect.

Ready for the first flight, exciting times!

The Powerline 1025 motor driving a RFM 16x8.5 prop powers it well with just about vertical climb capability. Using a 3S, 1300mah 45-90C battery I can get 2 full (200m) launches or 3 to 4 lower F5J style launches.

Chopped nose with 30mm spinner and 16x8.5 RFM prop

During my early morning session there were not many thermals around but I did manage to find one and she circles well, a bit of camber, about 3mm, helps to slow things down in a thermal turn and helps with the rate of climb.

I also managed to ride some ridge lift and it looks like she might well have a lower sink rate and higher LD than my other planes. I will install a FrSky vario to get some telemetry feedback on sink rate. It makes setting up the plane for marginal conditions just that bit easier.

Back after the really successful first flight!

Now I need time to practice with her before the next F5J contest that is just 3 weeks away. She lands well with really efficient flaps making energy control easy during the landing phase so she might be a good contest plane.

If I am convinced she has an advantage over the Supra and Osprey she will become my primary plane for the next contest.

The fun of scratching for lift at low level.

I think one of the most satisfying things about thermal soaring is working hard scratching for lift at low level and then finally managing to get the plane to climb to a decent altitude.

During a F5J practice session last Sunday I had a few flights where I ended up really low. Below is the download from the Altis log showing a flight that initially started in huge sink and then for many minutes I was at around 20m altitude and not gaining. With some careful flying I managed to keep the Osprey from descending any further, hard work but very satisfying when you get it right.

I slowly worked my way around the area trying to find the best air. I must say the Osprey is really superb at this, you can circle tightly at low level without any fear of dropping a wing. Careful adjustment of the camber also allows you to fine-tune the plane for the condition.

Eventually the thermal broke away from the ground and I managed to climb up to about 130m. After that the fun was over and I brought the Osprey down at high speed listening to the distinctive sound a hollow molded glider makes at high speed!

The more I fly this Osprey the more I love it, I think I should keep the second one.....

The hero in this story, the Osprey!

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......

Low level fun in weak lift!

I went out early yesterday morning for some practice and also a bit of fun flying.

Since the wind was light and there was not much lift around so early I was using the Osprey. After a few low launches to just practice landings I launched a bit higher, first try was launched to 116m.

At first I did not find any lift and slowly descended to 40m, there as I was getting ready to land, I found a bit of buoyant air, not enough to climb but it did allow me to maintain altitude for the next 3.5 minutes. Finally after 3.5 minutes the warm air broke away forming a small thermal that with careful flying allowed me to climb to about 95m, there I lost the thermal but managed to find it again after a decent to 70m riding it up to 90m again.

At this stage a friend arrived at the flying field so I decided to cut the flight short, total time around 10:30 and never higher than launch height!

I find flights like these really fun, it is hard work as you have to fly very carefully and work the weak lift as best you can but you learn a lot and it is extremely satisfying!

A really fun low level flight!

The Osprey is really great for this kind of flying, it can make use of the lightest lift and can be circled really tight and flat.

Taking a break between fun flights.

The next flight produced similar results, launch was to around 80m, very careful flying produced a very slow climb, peaking at about 118m and eventually making the 10 minute target after working another weak thermal towards the end of the flight.

Slow climb to 118m and then an even slower decent till the 10 minute target time.

The next launch was to 95m, over the next 10 minutes I worked 4 weak thermals twice peaking at around 160m before the 10 minute target was reached. Really fun and great practice for when you need to stretch a contest flight!

4 different weak thermals worked in 10 minutes.

I am really getting to know the Osprey now, unless the next contest is really windy I think it will be my #1 plane. The one thing I need to do is to try and get more flap movement, the current 60 degrees is not quite enough and it makes precision landings difficult.

First round of the 2016 South African F5J League.

So the big day finally arrived! The first round of the local F5J League!

I was hoping for a last bit of practice the day before the contest but it was not to be, it was raining on the Saturday, I did go to the local flying field (the same field where the contest was going to be held) but ended up going home without any flying, oh well, that is the way it is....

I arrived very early in the morning for the contest, I wanted to have lots of time to assemble my primary and backup plane, and then also to fly a flight or two in the prevailing conditions to help me decide on the right plane to fly. I took the Osprey, Supra and Xplorer along to the contest, on arrival, and according to predictions, the wind would be light so the decision was made to just assemble the Osprey and the Supra.

The weather still looked a bit threatening after all the rain the day before but I was hoping for the best!

Still cloudy, but some blue sky visible so there was hope for good flying weather!

Once the planes were assembled and checked I could relax a bit and get in a few flights to settle the nerves.

Ready for the contest, weather clearing up nicely!

After a few flights on each plane I decided to use the Supra as my primary plane, for no other real reason than that I had more recent flight time on it than the Osprey.

Soon the other pilots started to arrive, was great to see some old and some new faces, there was a lot of chatting about the contest and some joking about each other's planes and  chances.

Everyone getting ready for the contest, there was an interesting selection of planes, from a few Tsotsi's (Locally produced, composite 2m plane) to the usual selection of high end molded planes. All the pilots were a LOT more experienced than me, but I was not going to let that little point get to me!

My planes ready, let the fun begin!

Some of the "opposition"

As luck would have it I was drawn to fly in the first group in the first round. I decided to take a reasonably high launch, rather make the time than land short, the chance to take a gamble will come later..

I managed to find lift soon after launch and climbed the plane as high as I could see it, this was really good for the nerves and the self confidence! Most other pilots in my group were also well away but at least I know I could make the time.

All went well, my timer gave me regular updates, at 7 minutes I started to descend and slowly get into position for my landing. As my timer called 1:30 I was slightly high but I was not worried as the Supra's flaps are quite effective. Then I got a shock, just after my timer called 1:30 I could hear at least 2 other timers starting to count down the last 30 seconds! Oh no! My timer got it wrong and added a whole minute to my time!

I still tried to get down in time but ended up landing about 7m short of the spot, but worse was that I was 1 second over the time (10:01) so I could not get any landing points! There was potentially the opportunity to get a re-flight, but it was not easy as our setup did not really cater for that. Plus I was a bit shaken and just wanted to relax. Not the best start to the contest or my new "contest career"!

Anyway, there was no time to think about all of this, I had to time for the next group and then fly again!

The second round went well, I managed to find lift but I was still a bit shaken so I messed up the landing, it suddenly felt that all my practice went out the window, well, at least I was putting a score up and not breaking the plane!

The third round was a disaster for me, I flew over to where I thought there would be lift (as my timer said he saw someone else finding lift there) and all I found was huge sink, I was down soon and some other pilots found lift, this might well be the round I would drop....

The fourth round was also bad with cold air and very little lift, but as it turned out everyone else had the same problem and I was down last for my first round win and a 1000 on the score board.

Round five was similar, I found lift but never got really high, I still managed to make the time but while trying to stretch the time I landed short and lost my landing points but still managed a score of 923.

Round 6, the last round went well, I worked two strong thermals and had so much height that I had to work hard to come down! My landing was good so the last round was also a win and 1000 points for me.

Ava turning to land, the owner, Ivan, turned out to be the co-winner of the contest.

The final results were only posted later in the day and it held a pleasant surprise for me. Two guys, Gordon and Ivan, were tied for first place, in the next position was me! A far better result than I could have hoped for!

Main lessons learned were not to always listen to your timer (telling me where lift was and me thinking that is an unusual place for this field, but still going there only to find massive sink), turned out that the timer was definitely less competent in finding lift than me looking at his own scores after the contest.

The other thing I need to do is practice my landing, in conjunction with the clock a lot more, it turned out that the extra complication of trying to get the time right messed up my landings. More practice practice practice needed.....

I am really looking forward to the next F5J contest in a month's time! Before then I will also fly in a TD contest and a TD "postal" contest, not F5J so not my main focus but still an opportunity to gain more experience.