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.


Thursday, 6 April 2017

Weekend flying forecast 8th/9th April

Hi guys. I'm posting the flying forecast today because tomorrow morning I shall be on a 5 hour road trip to sunny Llandudno, to attend the first PSSA meet for 2017.

The general forecast looks great, with it being sunny and warm in SE Wales. However, there is usually a downside, and in this case it is the wind speed.

Saturday - A sunny, warm day with a 8 mph SSE breeze.

Sunday - This is much the same as Saturday with a 7 - 8 mph S to SSW breeze.

Your slope choice will be Back of Wrecker at the Bwlch, and maybe Southerndown.

There are those that will tell you that whatever wind speed is forecast, you can expect up to an extra 10 mph at the Bwlch. My personal experience is that this is not often the case once the wind speed drops below 10 mph.

I have gone up to the Bwlch on many an occasion when such light winds have been forecast at Cardiff airport, and found that the wind speed on the slope has only been that forecast, or in some cases, less.

So my advice to anyone intending on flying at the Bwlch this weekend, is to take something along that will float in the lightest breeze. I usually take along my 2m Climaxx Compact E, a balsa built thermal soarer from Hollein.

Here is a video taken between Christmas and New Year 2016 when Phil and I met up with Paul Hampshire on Back of Wrecker. The forecast on XC was for 17 mph, but we struggled to get 8 mph.

Have a great weekend all.

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