Driving home from work in Bristol this afternoon, it looked such a lovely day and I wondered if I should do a bit of thermal soaring when I got home, however, the wind sock on the Welsh side of the Second Severn Crossing was hanging limply, not a good sign as a bit of a breeze is beneficial to aid launching and also to blow the thermals towards you.
After loading the car with the hi start bungee and the Whisper, I headed off for the 5 minute drive to the Three Blackbirds field which, was totally deserted. I looked around the field and up into the sky but I couldn't see any birds soaring in any thermals, checked the wind direction using the old faithful method, the grass drop test.
I put together the Whisper but to my dismay, the right wing flap wouldn't work. The servo seemed fine so I assumed it was probably a bit of dodgy wiring. Anyway, I wasn't going to let a dodgy flap stop me so I disabled the flaps, after all, the thick grass was about 2ft tall so landings would be soft, if maybe a little quick and I set out the bungee.
Launches were straight and true, (unusual for me), but with no launch flap available I had to use a lot more elevator to achieve a steeper and higher climb.
For an hour and 20 minutes I launched and launched again but to no avail, the thermals had deserted me, but I had fun and lots of exercise, walking up and down that field full of long grass, my legs are aching now.
Shame there mate.
ReplyDeleteAt least you had practice launching.