Recent trip to Volksrust

E- Tsotsi does it again!

On the Easter weekend and only 6 weeks after the first record attempt, my electric Tsotsi has done it again. This time round it flew for just about double the distance set before (72 km by road and 63 km in a straight line). Like last time all information will be forwarded to the MGA for recognition of the new distance record.

In a second attempt on Sunday to improve on the 63km we could only achieved 50km due to a faulty throttle set up and ESC not responding properly in strong head winds.

This time round the conditions was just the opposite from the near ideal conditions we had on the first attempt. Starting of on Saturday the 11th of April at around 7 AM and 6 km from Volksrust , heading towards Amersfort, Moregenzon and Bethal . The total course distance of 100km.

The condition did not look promising at all and with a cold front passing over the day before there was a distinct nip in the air. We were fortunate to have the AMT Bakkie from Evan's work to improve visibility while tracking the E-Tostsi and this proved to be a much better option than the one sided view I had from Evan's Kombi on the first attempt .

My normal camping chair was secured to the back of the Bakkie and apart from the rushing wind noise, was reasonably comfortable. Once again and like the last attempt there was just about no wind, but what we did not take into consideration was the low cloud and mist that developed after the flight had stared . This made for some interesting and challenging flying for more than 2/3 of the distance. After the first encounter with low cloud and losing the Tsotsi for about 15 seconds, I was restricted to very short motor runs and low climb out heights.

At times the mist and fog got so low that I hat to fly the Tsotsi about 20 meter above and in front of the Bakkie and when I had to go over telephone lines I opened the throttle for a short burst and climb to a point maybe 40 meter high until the Tsotsi’s outline was only just visible in the mist. This routine cost us some distance of the flight but I don't think even if the conditions were ideal that I could have gone the full 100km. In any case I have once again accumulated a lot of data and you can be sure that I will try again to go the full 100km.
I would like to thank Evan, Edmund, Sam and Kayleigh for giving up some of their time to assist me with the two attempts and also to AMT who kindly loaned us their Bakkie for the weekend.

Record data:
Date of Attempt: 11/4/2009

Distance by road : 72 km

Distance in a straight line: 63Km.
Start point: S 27 deg 17.117 min
E 29 deg 53.786 min
End Point: S 26 deg 46 min 16.4 Sec,
E 29 deg 37 min 32.8 sec

Duration: 1 hour 34 min 59 sec.
Average moving speed: 45.6 km/hour.

Motor run time 17min 40sec.

BERG Field in great shape for HTL MMS #3

Guess who is Back( and with out snow boots)

Zimmy on landing!!!

Good turnout of BERG members on Sunday

Sunday morning early the weather did no look promising at all with some heavy clouds hanging around. But I haven’t flown the week before and I needed to get my fix for the next week and so I set out for the field anyway. I took the winch with just in case some other members needed it but my intention was to fly the E-Tsotsi only.

I arrived at the field at around 10.00 AM and found that Craig , Michael and Lionel were already hard at work practicing for the upcoming F3B world championship later this year.

The heavy cloud cover suddenly cleared up and we had very good thermal conditions for the rest of the day with Tony doing a 35 min flight with his normal Tsotsi and myself , 2 flights with the E-Tsotsi of more than 1 hour each.

Lionel timing for Craig(F3B practice)








Lionel's new "Wit Blitz" Electric pylon racer

MGA announcement.

Piet with the 2M Tsotsi and the team that establish a SA Record.

Yesterday the MGA made the following announcement.

Hi everyone,

I am pleased to announce that the following National Records have been ratified by the MGA:

F5 Open (Radio Control Flight): Aeroplane: Electrical Motor Rechargeable Sources: Distance in a straight line: 21 February 2009, Piet Rheeders, 35.1 km (new SA National record)

Congratulations Piet!

Lionel Brink
Chairman: Model Gliding Association

I would like to once again thank my team (Evan, James, Kayleigh and Robyn) that help me establish this record, also my thanks for the efficient way the MGA and in particular Lion Brink dealt with all the paper work that had to be done.

I am planning to do a 100 Km stint shortly and then the world record will be my next goal. But for now I need lots of Lipo cells and that means digging deep down in ones pocket so please do not tell my wife yet.

Sungazer Surprises

Nice Pic of one of the sailplanes being pre-pared for the Sungazer event next month
This beauty is and ASG 29 the latest 15mtr follow-on from the ASW27/28 with which it shares its fuselage, however it sports an advanced wing with a tapered planform and winglets.
Cant wait to see it soar.

SUNGAZER SCALE SOARING

Well it's officially the first day of autumn , and with just under 2 months to go its time to start planning the upcomming Sungazer event.

The Sungazer is an annual event which was conceived from the slope flying of medium and large scale gliders at Volksrust. It is not a competion but an oppurtunity for "like minded" RC pilots to fly scale gliders and share the experience.

Last year kicked off with a very succesfull and well surported event, nearly 50 scale gliders were at the Sungazer and we hope to equal or better that this year.
Some problems were experienced and hopefully they do not re-occur , unfortunately for various reasons 6 models crashed and this year at the pilots briefing , we will again discuss the rules and especially the frequency control and flying procedure.

Last year the shirt and cap handouts , braai,snacks, beers cooldrinks and hardluck prizes were all sponsered . This year we have decided to do the same sort of saterday braai , shirts etc, but we cant expect a handfull of people to foot the bill. As such there will be an entry fee to the event of R100 .Pre-entries will required and will be called for soon on Mgasa. An e-mail confirmation and banking details will then be forwarded to entrants.

Hopefully with a 3 day event the chances of a good day/days of wind increase but with more serious pilots often bringing several scale gliders we will limit the entries to 30x valid SAMAA registered glider pilots.

With just 2 months to go, now is the time to get cracking with that scale glider.
It can be a beautiful wood and fabric vintage ship or one of the latest glass and carbon high performance glider , but ....it must be a full or semi-scale replica of a full size glider.

Acommadation has been booked for the whole weekend at Oom Louis , and this will serve about 25/30 people , some pilots choose other places to stay and we urge you to make your arrangements early for the long weekend.

Cheers for now