I now also do DLG

Last Saturday afternoon the F3K guys gathered at the Groen Goud Gliding Club field to fly the WAG (World Air Games) 3rd and final qualifier. Lionel Brink acted as observer (with some great observation commentaries) and Mark Stockton was CD. Full results and Lionel's report on the MGA blog.

The Weather was less than ideal for DLG flying – we started the contest just after a thunderstorm had blown through so the air was a little flat and heavy with a fair breeze blowing through. The seven contestants had an extremely challenging time and not many flights exceeded three minutes.

Lionel Smith put my Salome together for me a few weeks ago and I set up the transmitter programming during the week before. Test flying was carried out on the Friday afternoon before the contest and it flew perfectly. However, I very quickly realised that I had some serious practice to do on the launching part. I could manage the test flight “soft” launches ok but when it came to putting everything into it for the big launches, my legs just tied themselves into knots. Even on the contest day I did a few unorthodox launches with extra turns and sometimes not letting go at the right times – but the model survived with only the launch peg ripping out of the wing tip.



The little F3K models are absolutely amazing: claimed launch speed to be around 150km/h, able to stay up on the lightest of lift and although only weighing in at around 300 grams, still able to penetrate a considerable breeze.

A really great new class for me and I’ve already bought the Long Shot 2 as a second model. What’s more important is that the F3K guys are such a great bunch and the contests are really fun.



So come on guys, how about putting BERG on the F3K map – the Long Shot 2 manual distinctly says “Discus launching is not likely to harm your body in any way as long as you warm up your muscles before trying to launch at full power “?! And they even give the warming up tips.

Finally don’t forget the final leg of the HTL and year end function at Heidelberg on the 7th December.
See you there.

F3K at BERG on Saturday

There was an F3K at BERG on Saturday. The conditions were tricky with a fairly stiff breeze blowing in from the SW, so what thermals there were, moved very quickly across the field.

To see a round by round report and the results go to the F3K blog http://f3k-rsa.blogspot.com/

The pilots that caught and followed thermals had to be careful to have enough height to push back upwind to make it back into the box. There were quite a few who got caught out and landed short. For those of you who are wondering what I'm on about; in F3K rules there is a box demarcated on the field and pilots must launch and land form inside this areas to score points. If you land outside the box you loose that flight score.


In the photos above you see two gliders without stabilisers. The first is Stephan's FSW DLG (Wyrd) and the second is Ian's Blaster. (No he was not trying to copy Steph) The stab broke off. FSW (Forward Swept Wing). We all know about flying wings (Zagi's) and how they work. Well it's the same for FSW. The reason for the boom with the vertical fin is to assist with stability in the Discus launch. It launched very well, but Stephane still has some fine tuning to get it to thermal better. It has 4 servos in the wing. The outboard ones for ailerons and the inboard ones for elevator/flaps. Yes flaps! So it even has crow breaking.