About A470 Soaring


This is the blog for a few guys who spend their time flying radio controlled gliders, or slope soarer's, from the many and varied slopes around SE Wales.

This usually begins at the northern end of Cardiff, driving north up the A470 up to the Heads of the Valley's and the southern fringe of the Brecon Beacons. But the A470 road continues its windy way all the way to N Wales.

There are many slopes available for most wind directions, the most famous being the area between Nant-y-Moel and Treorchi known as The Bwlch, which has some of the best slopes and flying in Europe with many F3F competitions being held there each year and visited by many fliers from Europe and around the world. At 1500 feet (450m) above sea level, there is usually more wind than not, and certainly more than at sea level.

If you require any further information, are new to slope soaring or are visiting the area, please contact Steve at steve.houghton59@gmail.com . I look forward to hearing from you.

Take a look at Page 2 (look below and to the left here) for Google maps of our most popular Flying Sites.


Sunday, 20 October 2013

A day of disasters at Southerndown

19th October 2013 - Phil and I headed off to a sea cliff site at Southerndown on the Welsh south coast. The forecast was for 9 - 12 mph southerly, but when we arrived it was south easterly and barely 7 mph. Still, the breeze was only slightly off the slope and I launched my Wildthing and Phil his Speedo. All went well and we managed to stooge around in anticipation that the wind would pick up speed.

Phil then decided to give his Banana a go and proceeded to launch but, during the flight, the Banana stalled several times and Phil decided to land it. However, before he had a chance it stalled and ended up nose first in the ground javelin fashion. No damage done so he launched again but with the same outcome.

Phil then decided to assemble his foamie Red Arrows Hawk and give that ago, but after launching he flew it too far in from the slope, it stalled, and ended up in a tree.

Undeterred he had another go, only this time it stalled again and ended up in thick shrubbery down the slope.

Anyway, here is a short video of phil launching his Banana and some photo's of the couple of hours we spent at Southerndown.

                                                 
                                                                                   Steve launching a Wildthing
                                           
                                                         
                                                                                 Wildthing in flight

                                             
                                                                                  Phil's Banana - Oooops


                                                                                   Steve launching the Whisper


                                                                               Whisper almost landed on the Banana
                                                                               Phil cries out, "no landing in the pits"


                                                                                    Phils Hawk in the first tree


                                                                                   Phil's Hawk in the second tree


All the models together

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