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.


Saturday 21 November 2015

Maiden flight of the rebuilt Polecat

Flipping eck it was cold standing in the snow on the VR98 slope at the Bwlch. And I was the only one brave or foolish enough to go flying today.

It was 0°c and the first snow of the season when I chucked the newly rebuilt Polecat off the slope. It immediately dived, bounced off the snow then headed off into the blue sky. A few clicks of up elevator and two clicks of left aileron and she was flying like a good un. 

Landing is usually tricky on the VR98 with the road being only a few metres behind you, and it took me three attempts to get her down as she was coming in so quickly, but get her down safely I did and I look forward to giving her another flight tomorrow. 


The VR98




Safely down

Happy flying
Steve 




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