A Big Air Weekend

Well what a fab weekends flying that was! Mark, Chris and myself flew on Mickey's slope at the Bwlch where the air was booming but, it was flippin cold up there. You wouldn't have believed it is still only August. Brrrrr!

Here are a few pics Chris took of the landscape there.

Sunday saw Myself, Mark, Chris, Phil & Wayne at the Abertysswg slope where again we had booming lift. A few locals turned up too with foamies and at one stage I think we had 8 in the air at the same time.

Highway Code Refresher

I pinched this from another blog but I liked it so thought I would spread the word.

Weekend Flying 16th & 17th August

Well the forecast for this weekend seems ok with some dry weather ahead, wind westerly in the teens mph wise, so I guess a trip to Mickey's at the Bwlch is in order.

I've finally got around to building the Traceur, VTPR aerobat. The fuselage and tail feathers are done, tomorrow evening I'll sort out the wings and then that'll be it for this week. Next week I shall look to cover it in laminate film and add some decoration. I just need to purchase some snap link connector extenders to fit onto the snakes for rudder and elevator. So a trip out after work one evening may be on the cards to give it its maiden flight.

There are no instructions with the kit so it's a case of thinking carefully about how you're going to build it. As it is, I have made one or two errors but have managed to get around them. I will post a build blog once the plane is finished.

A mixed week

I met up with Phil and Mark on Thursday after work but the top of Meio didn't have enough wind to create any lift. I'd taken the high start with me also but the folliage on the top is about 3ft long and I felt that the line could get caught up so I didn't want to risk a launch.

After a while of chatting, the wind picked up to a very marginal, will it, won't it, speed. What the hell, and I threw off the Whisper. Now I love this plane as it will fly in the lightest of breezes or 30mph quite happily, and I needn't have worried as she flew straight and level.

I couldn't gain any height but it didn't look like it was going to sink to the point of me having to land out.

Phil was flying his Libelle and Mark had his Xperience Pro back from having a repair done. So we all managed a little bit of flying, which is better than non.

Saturday and I met Chris and Mark on Meio once again. We had a good, stiff breeze blowing in our faces, the lift was great and so was the flying, until the showers arrived, which brought an end to that session. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed for next weekend.

Sun, wind and gliders too

Firstly I would like to say welcome to Andrew who came along to the Bwlch a couple of weeks ago to see what we at A470soaring.blogspot.co.uk do at the weekends. Andrew must have been impressed because he turned up at Meio Common with a Wildthing 60 today. With a bit of work the lads got his plane set up on his tx and it was out on its maiden flight and being trimmed out.

It wasn't the best day conditions wise to get Andrew on the sticks. The lift wasn't great, it was blustery, thermic, with big sink too. Hopefully in the weeks to come we will have better conditions to give him some stick time.

On the other hand, Wayne is now doing really well. His confidence is building with each flight and he seems to be loving it.

We did manage to get some flying in and were joined by three guys from the Gaer Park MFC who couldn't fly their power models due to the windy conditions at their flying field near Marshfield, between Newport and Cardiff, so they came to the Meio to get in some "proper" flying ;o)

The weather for the coming week looks unsettled but hopefully it'll calm down for next weekend. So we hope to see you on a nearby slope soon.

Another Fab Sunday at the Bwlch

Well the usual crew ended up on the Ice Cream Slope at the Bwlch on Sunday, with an estimated 20 - 25mph breeze blowing, huge thermals, we all had a fab time.

                                          Mark      Big Phil       Chris       Steve

Big Air on Mickey's

Well Sunday saw the usual crew heading out to the furthest slope at the Bwlch, Mickey's West, with all sorts of models there to fly.

Halfway through the afternoon, a visiting couple, Steve and Jackie from Bern, Switzerland turned up with three models to fly. Apparently Steve had read on a forum about the amazing flying to be had at the Bwlch and so they decided to make the trip.

Well they certainly seemed to enjoy the smooth, booming lift, which Steve said was so different to back home, where the air is very turbulent. We hope Steve and Jackie will return again some day and maybe spread the word and bring a few friends with them.

Here is some video of the day.