Check the times out and I was amazed again. First I never thought it could be possible these little models max four consecutive flights, now we have a draw in the fly-off. Both modellers are true winners, congratulations for the two first place competitors on 8" CLG!
Here is what both fly-off competitors lived trying to fly in these snowy windy days:
Tony:
..." drove out to the fairgrounds and could see that the winds were very light (2 to 5 km/hr) so I prepared my glider and launch handles for some fun flying in the snow.
We have had so much snow this past week that there was no way to get close to the field, so I had to trek over a massive snow bank and trudge through the snow out onto the field. The first picture below shows me and my StingerII at the entrance to the field. Yes, that's snow! I made 4 test flights before attempting my 5 official flights. The first flight was a bit loopy, so I made a slight tweak to the stab. The second flight was a lawn dart so I made a slight adjustment the other way. The third flight showed a good launch and recovery with a slight stall in the glide. With a bit of clay on the nose I set a short DT for the 4th test flight and launched. The climb and glide were just about perfect and the DT worked to perfection. However, a problem was observed related to the drag flap type of DT in deep snow. Look at the second picture to see what I mean! The DT creates a high speed lawn dart spiral, and she buries in right up to the fin and stab! For future winter flying the stab and fin must have a light coat of florescent Orange to help with the recovery. I decided to set the DT long (2:30+) so that hopefully the model would land in the snow whilst gliding. This worked as all official flights landed before the DT employed. This made it much easier to spot the model on the snow (see the 3rd photo). Here's my flight log for the Fly-off: Date: Dec 17th, 2009 Location: Minden Fairgrounds, Minden Ontario (Canada) Time: 1:00 p.m. Conditions: Calm, clear and cold! Model: StingerII 8" clg - weight 5.0 grams Rubber: 1- loop 3/16" Tan1 (Feb 1993) x 8.0" long Flight Time comments
1 70 secs didn't try to pick air. Nice flight, but no lift
2 91 secs found a bit of light lift that dissipated quickly
3 120 secs tried to pick some air. Found a very nice, gentle thermal. Landed at exactly 2 minutes!
4 110 secs another small thermal
5 117 secs picked a decent thermal that got very high, but came down quick after 1 minute"
Flight Time in seconds
#1 86
#2 83
#3 113
#4 137 (target time met)
#5 91
Pete:
..."Following are my times for the 8" catapult glider fly-off. I flew on the 12 of Dec., a day that was forecast to be bad, but turned out very nice. I got to the field a 10:30 and 4° C with mostly cloudy sky, but within 30 minutes the cloud cover dissipated allowing the sun to warm things up to a high of 7° and a good number of cumulus clouds (many towering!) indicating thermal activity. My times confirmed this. The last flight was at 15:00 and 5°. Humidity was 85% and the conditions were ALMOST perfect (a little less wind and it WOULD have been perfect!).
Flight Time in seconds
#1 86
#2 83
#3 113
#4 137 (target time met)
#5 91
