Tony's Shongololo Flies

On Sunday the 10th June after the F3B practice session ended, Tony assembled his Shongololo for the first time at the flying field. The usual checking and range checks were done and then with Piet at the controls and Evan doing the launching it was given a test glide to see if the incidence was more or less okay. After some adjustment to the elevator setting it was committed to the winch for it's maiden flight. Straight up the line she went without a glitch. After the initial trimming, Crow break was deployed and she pitched her nose up, so more down elevator compensation was required and the dive test reveled that she needed a little less nose weight. So Piet brought her down and the necessary adjustments were done and then she was launched on flight #2. Crow was tried again and she still pitched up so more down compensation was required. The one flap jammed down when the knuckle hooked the top skin, but Piet turned her down wind, opened and closed crow again and the flap closed. Crises over he landed her and further adjustments were done to rectify the sticking flap and down compensation in Crow mode.

Now the moment of truth had arrived. It was Tony's chance to fly his own plane. Piet flew her up the line and handed Tony the transmitter. He was understandably nervous, but flew her like a champ and only handed the transmitter back to Piet for the final approach and landing. After a bit more tweaking of the settings it was up the line again with Piet's assistance and soon Tony was trying his hand at thermalling.Even managing to catch a little bubble and extend the flight a little. This time it was his turn to land which he managed quite okay. Unfortunately the silicone hinge let go when the aileron caught the grass on landing. Luckily no damage to the model, but it does go to show that ordinary bath silicone is not the stuff to use for hinging.

Once all the excitement was over it was down to some celebrating and Tony soon had the Champagne flowing. It was a very memorable days and the late afternoon drink after flying to celebration Tony's new Shongololo was much enjoyed by those present. Well done Tony She looks lovely and may she always fly in Green Air and all the landing be smooth and gentle.

A special thanks must go to Craig and Rodney for this wonderful model and the permission they have given us to use their design in the building group. I'm am forever grateful for all the advice and assistance that they have given me. Thank you!

Just for the record there are already 4 Shonglololo's that are complete, Tony #1, Hannes #2, Gordon #3, Heinrich #4 and we are currently busy with #5 for Henk. There are another 8 people lined up in the building group, Mark, Robert, Len, Trevor, Rudi, Peter, Derek & Etienne. The turn around time is 3 week per model so by the end of the year we should see quite a few more Shongololo's flying. At this rate we could soon start a Clubman class in the HTL just for all these Shongololo's. If anyone else is interested in joining the group please contact me evanevshaw@gmail.com We build once a week on a Wednesday evening at my place in Krugersdorp.

BERG blog Hit Counter register 4000

Almost unnoticed by the BERG blog team consisting of Mike May, Evan Shaw, Charl Veviers and myself, the BERG blog hit counter step over the 4000 home page hits a few day’s ago.

This figure represents an average hit count of 400 over the last 10 months
and once again proved to us how useful and popular this tool has become.

I am not sure what attracts our visitors most but I presume that the construction articles by Mike and Evan must be on top of the popularity chart and then also the fact that we try and keep the BERG blog update at least once a week.

As a comparison to the SAMAA official Blog, they have attracted 17,287 hits over 27 months to average 640 Home page hits per month the BERG Blog’s 400 Home page hits is doing well. To Mike, Evan and Charl, thanks for your support and keep up the good work.

It will now be interesting to see if we can get to the 5000 hits mark in our first year.

HTL - BERG Thermal Challenge

BERG hosted the 4th HTL on Sunday 3rd June. The competition was flown to a new set of rules, the BERG Thermal Challenge, developed to try and make the event more of a thermal comp with less emphasis on launching and landings. On the whole it was quite successful, with the relaxed landing system, which saved a lot of dorking. The 15 second launch window worked but did not really stop the mad rush in the beginning as was hoped, so this is an area that must be looked at for future events. Mark suggested a working time of 12 minutes and 15 seconds in which to record a 12 minute flight without any launch penalty! Comments welcome!

The winch line was well spread out with 29 entrants in 10 teams. The 27 finishes are testament that the rules did not put to much strain on ones plane. The thermal condition were quite tough, but there was still plenty of lift about if you could find it and there were plenty of maxes recorded. It seemed that all of the the strong thermals would develop low down upwind, drift across the field quickly and finally break away on the downwind side of the field and take the models high and far back. The weather gods smiled on us for Sunday and we must be very thankful for what turned out to be a lovely day in the end.

Our CD for the event was Charl who run a tight schedule which allowed the comp to end at a decent enough time so the fly-off could happen when there was still some lift about. Thank you Charl!

Thanks must also go to Lionel the scorer (above), and of course Marti (below) for providing us with plenty to eat and drink. Marti's tuck shop is beginning to become a regular feature at our events and is most appreciated and enjoyed by all.

The fly-off was contested by 7 pilots (below) who ended the event in the following order. 1st Paul, 2nd Izak, 3rd Conrad, 4th Craig, 5th Rodney, 6th Michelle, 7th Mark. Well done to all. The full results will be made available on the mgasa group.

The prize winners (above) from left to right, Lionel - Hard luck prize. (For a tree snatching his model from the air and then throwing it down onto the fence and destroying it.) Alan - 1st RES/100, Paul - 1st Open, Heinrich - 1st 2 Met, Peter Karner - Hard luck prize. (Breaking his Tsotsi on the first flight of the day.)

Below, Rodney and his timer Alan, provided us with some acrobatic Hop, Skip and Jumps on his landing in the fly-off. Quite a site to see the old man leaping into the air as his model passed under himself. Who said that we don't get any exercise when we fly?

The winner Paul with Lionel timing for him in the fly-off.A few more photos from the events.

Another Shongololo is born

Last night Heinrich's Shongololo came out of the moulds. That's the 4th one since the group started in January. This one is yellow on top and dark grey underneath, with a yellow fuselage.

Good luck with the finishing Heinrich and we look forward to seeing it fly soon

Heinrich and Mark examining the finish.

Jack joined in the celebration

Some other photos from previous weeks below:

Painted wing moulds awaiting the skin lay-up

Joiner and Joiner Box

Fuselage laid up in the mould and ready for joining.

Carbon canopy and servo tray.

Frost Bite Sloping -Brrrrrr!!!!!

Yesterday Charl and I snuck out for a little Slope flying. Charl had seen a south facing slope he wanted to try. What look promising on Google Earth turned out to be 4x4 country and very rocky. So we could not get to the better looking slope we would have liked to, but the smaller slope we did get access to had a good shape and the lift was good. There is no landing space for anything other than a Foamie and even that is likely to make a dent in the covering. Next outing we will go with a 4x4 vehicle and see if the bigger slope perhaps has better landing facilities.

The one nice feature at the slope we flew is a small escape landing plateau just below the launch point before the main drop off.

But anyway we had an hour or two of some pleasant flying in the freezing cold wind.

It's amazing what we do for fun!

All Quite on the Western Front

Not much action at BERG on Sunday due to the weather and people being away.

Piet was away in East London on business and Mike was away on a fishing trip for the whole of last week, so he stayed at home to spend time with the family.

Of course the Blue Bulls victory on Saturday would have left some with rather thick heads.

As for myself, I went and flew at ETB on Sunday with the F3B team to help then with Distance practice. It was a real early start and I was on the road before sunrise.

The early start meant we were at least able to get in some flying before the wind picked up. By midday we had completed 4 rounds and were just starting some speed practice when the wind got too strong and we had to pack in.

Just a reminder that BERG will be hosting two F3B practice days next month on Sunday the 10th and the following Saturday the 16th. The emphasis will be on Distance, with some Speed as well. So if any of you want to try your hand at F3B this will be a great opportunity. It is not a comp, so is very informal and relaxed. Of course the top pilots will be there and ready and willing to help.

Code Name “ Didgeridoo”

Well that’s the name Evan and Tony gave my 2 X scale “Aquila “. Anyway I am progressing slowly but surely. This will be my first GBOGH RC glider and that is more than 5 meter in wingspan. The pictures here show that I have done the leading edge and bottom carbon spar and also laying in the servo leads. I am planning to put 3 servos in every wing. As I go along I will keep you updated.

Easter weekend at Volkies

We had some great flying with winds up to 85km/h on Saturday with heavy mist that only lifted by noon. Here are some pics:

On Sunday we had wind at 35 km/h out of the south east with wave forming to the East of the slope.

This got the boys firedup and the big ships came out to play.

Peter Karner also flew his Prodij for the first time and had a blast.

A great time was had by all and we hope to go back soon.

Postals 6th May 2007

We had a bigger than usual turnout at BERG for the Postals on Sunday. Not only from BERG members, but the team form MMS came and flew at our field as well because they have been experiencing frequency problems at their field and are nervous to fly there until they have found the cause of the problem.

The team from BERG was Piet, Mike, Chris, Tony, Peter, Evan and Heinrich.

Phil Binet and his wife Mary joined us for the day and Piet soon roped Phil into the role of scorer. Thanks Phil for a job well done!

The weather was lovely, with a gentle breeze all day varying from SE through to NE and the thermals plentiful. All the winches were arranged in a semi circle all facing different directions, from East all the way around to NE. If there was lift there was also sink and you had to time your flight properly to catch the thermals, which some accomplished very well while others struggled. But all in all a very plesent days flying.

Heinrich brought his bike along to retrieve the chute. But the grass make the ride very bumpy and he found it much easier to pay Justice to retrieve the chute for him.

After all the Postal flights were done it was down to some relaxed flying in the last thermals of the day. It's a hard life here in Africa!!!!!

Piet's Dickorydoo takes shape

As you all know, the BERG 100 Cross Country is scheduled for the end of July and Piet is hard at work "prepetating" to get a suitable ship ready for the event. I visited him yesterday and and managed to get a few spy photos of the model he is busy building.

It looks like a giant Aquila but will have ailerons and flaps and be about 5 meters span. He has chosen a very interesting combination of sections. The root is the SD5060 going to the SD7037 at the poly break, then to the SD 7032 at the tip.