Thursday Dave and I met at Omega Hills and found a due east wind at 8-10 mph. We flew the face that faces Northeast and while it was not spectacular it was very flyable. Dave flew his Spyder and I few my Pixel. After about 45 minutes the lure of the east wind prompted us to head to Concordia.

Dave’s Lumberjack - North Bowl at Concordia

At Concordia we found that even though the coast of Lake Michigan is only about 15 miles from the landfill site the wind was more northeast. We did fly some at Concordia. Dave had his Lumberjack out and I flew my LEG P-51. The wind was off the hill by about 35 degrees but the lift was OK. Much smoother than the inland site. I always knew that coastal sites are smoother but it really drives it home when you fly both on the same day. We did a bit of Weasel flying too but with the northeast wind direction we knew there were better slopes down the coast a bit.

Astrowings members flying: Dave Kraemer, Mirko Bodul, Greg Smith,
Michael Davidson

View From the Top of Omega Hills; About 190 Feet Up.

Strong and gusty winds greeted Dave and I around noon at the new Omega Hills slope site on Saturday. Winds were out of the northwest around 15-20 mph. Not sure of the temperature, but it is definitely time to start gearing up for our year ’round slope season with plenty of layers and warm gloves.

Dave flew a number of planes; a foam wing called a Lumberjack, his composite 60″ Spyder, and the always impressive Opus. I had my recently recovered Pixel up. My Pixel has had several different designs, but I think it’s a sign of our often overcast Midwestern skies that it has gotten brighter and brighter! Fluorescent yellow, silver, and black helped it stand out in the overcast gray skies. Later, Dave’s PSS P-51B was out and looking awesome making low runs through the valley.

Michael Launching His Pixel

Greg and Mirko showed up a little later to join us and brought some sunshine with them. Mirko flew his Pixel and his Fitness with a 60″ wing, both Airtech planes with composite fuselages and veneered foam wings. Unfortunately Greg only had time to launch his Predator Bee foam flying wing with a bit of a test of some Dynamic Soaring. No DSing today, but there may be some in the future of the new site.

There’s plenty of learning to be done about the nuances of the new hill. It’s fun to explore the different areas of lift, best approaches for landings, or for some of us…”attempted” landings. There are plenty of choices for landing approaches and vast areas of soft grass free of twigs, stumps and rocks in which to set down your sloper. The few obstacles are easy to see.

Michael’s Pixel

The best note of the day is this; today was northwest wind, and in very recent history Milwaukee slopers would be stuck doing errands, chores, or- if anything to do with modeling- it’d be a build day. With the new hill open, we are unlocked from the availability of easterly winds we are normally wishing for. Now with more wind directions available to us at the new site, we were able to get out and carve it up. Thanks to all those that helped make this site a reality.

Dave’s Opus Tearing it Up

Note; please remember to email our hosts at Omega Hill before going out. The code has yet to be programmed at the gate, but there is a temporary code. Check Soarmilwaukee.com or Astrowings.com, or contact Greg Smith for the latest information on accessing the site and staying within the guidelines of the Omega Hills site.

Check out more pics of the outing on the Soar Milwaukee Flickr Group - http://www.flickr.com/groups/soarmilwaukee/ -

Dave’s Soaring USA Spyder

On Saturday, October 6th Mirko, Greg and Tracy made a preliminary venture to the Omega Hills Waste Management site in Germantown, Wisconsin for some test flying of what promises to be a great venue for slope soaring action in Southeast Wisconsin. On this particular day the wind was about as poor a direction (SW) as we could have and we still had many flights of 10-15 minutes. I had on at least 20 minutes. Remember this was in the least favorable wind direction!

For those of you who have been looking forward to flying at Omega hills please mark your calendars for Sunday, October 21st at Noon. We will meet at the Omega Hills gate on County Line Rd. and be given an orientation by the site manager outlining the few rules that we need to be aware of. After that we will be free to fly!

If you will be attending the orientation please RSVP greg@slopeflyer.com. I need to get a head count for the site manager.

Also, please remember, to fly at this site you will need to be an AMA member and an AstroWings of Wisconsin member too. I will have membership applications for AstroWings at the site.

FYI, this has been over 5 years in the making and we are really looking forward to making this relationship work. Your help as responsible pilots and people will be greatly appreciated!

Dave and I arrived at the VAM site at 9am well in advance of the pilot’s meeting at 9:30. The first thing I noticed was that the site had a permanent steel open sided structure built on a concrete pad with brand new picnic tables. Excellent, Dave and I didn’t have to unpack the portable shade tent and chairs we had brought with us. The field was quite large and was set up as a power field. The north, west, and south ends of the field were lined by trees. Sloping the tree-line could be an option if all else failed.

The wind was generally out of the south-southwest for most of the day and was very light for most of the day. Thermals were abundant, but I still had trouble catching any of them for most of the day. I’m pretty sure that the reason I placed as well as I did was not my flying ability as much as it was the height of my launches. Rob Scidmore went from 2nd last at the Madison contest to a first place finish with a perfect score. Rob had modified his Logic DLG by replacing his javelin-style tail group with some DLG-style tail feathers and was launching it within 20 feet of my plane, a marked improvement over his launches at the Madison contest. Every time I looked up at his plane, it was higher than mine! He very much deserved his first place finish.

Dave Kraemer had an excellent run also. I was very impressed with the height of his launches as well.

One thing became very apparent to me by the end of the day: I desperately needed to re-trim my planes. I spent most of the Monday after the contest (Labor Day) re-trimming both of my ships. I think I’m much better able to get into and stay within lift now. We’ll see if I’m right at the next contest.

Top Three:

1. Rob Scidmore - Madison (Perfect Score!)
2. Tracy Brown - West Allis
3. Scott Zastoupil - Waupaca

Greg Smith and Dave Kraemer made the trip from Milwaukee with Steve Meyer making the trip from Racine. I believe the other pilots were from the general Appleton area.

For those flying the series this was a Wisconsin Championship Event with those folks earning points for that competition.

Things went smoothly for the 13 pilots who flew the event. From the pilots meeting at 9:30 to the final flight at about 2:30 it was a pleasure to compete.

The flight tasks we geared towards getting pilots to compete without placing too much demand on them but were still challenging enough for experienced pilots. Tasks were 3, 5, 6, 8 and 10 minute rounds to be flown in any order (no penalty up to 30 sec. over max time; thereafter 1 point/second penalty.)

The landing task was also fairly generous; land within a 50 Ft. Diameter Circle for 25 Points.

The 10-minute round would have been the tie breaker if needed but as it turned out it wasn’t. Both Unlimited winner, Bob Johnson, and RES winner, Steve Meyer, (fresh off a 3rd place in RES at the NATS!) flew perfect scores and in each class 2nd place was only one missed landing away from perfect. Greg Smith had a battery failure in round one of RES and, thanks to a well placed tree, made his 5-minute round fine but missed the landing circle and Lee Murray missed one in Unlimited.

Dave posted a few pix to the Soar Milwaukee Flickr Pool at:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/soarmilwaukee/

In the end here is how it turned out:

Unlimited
1. Bob Johnson - Topaz XXL
2. Lee Murray - Psycho
3. Steve Meyer - Pike Perfect/Supra

RES
1. Steve Meyer - Topaz
2. Greg Smith - Ava
3. Dave Kraemer - Oly II (proving a 25-plus year old airplane can still do fine.)

This is a Wisconsin Championship Event.

UNLIMITED AND RES CLASSES

WHERE: Anderson Sod Farm, Appleton, WI  (7 miles west of US 41 on Highway BB)
WHEN: Sunday, August 12, 2007       Pilots meeting at 9:30;   First Round by 10 AM
FLIGHT TASK: 3, 5, 6, 8 and 10 minute rounds to be flown in any order(no penalty up to 30 sec. over max time;  thereafter 1 point/second penalty.)
LANDING TASK: Land within a 50 Ft. Diameter Circle for 25 Points
Registration Cost: Free Entry  (Donations for postage accepted)
AMA Membership Required
Contest Director: Lee Murray
E-mail: lmurray002@new.rr.com

Cold Soda will be on sale and provided free to volunteers helping with the contest.

Hosted by the MARCS club the 2007 1.5 m HAND LAUNCH CONTEST was held at Paul’s Turf and Tree Nursery near Marshall, WI.

Tracy Brown and Greg Smith, founding members of MSG, as well as slope convert Michael Davidson made the hour and a half drive to the contest site where they were greeted with nearly perfect weather, a beautiful contest field and 8 other competitors for a total of 11 pilots.

The contest was flown man-on-man by rounds and usually involved activity by all competitors during each round as those not flying were timing for the pilots. We flew 6 rounds with some interesting tasks.

At the end of the day Tracy, with 5 x 1000 point rounds, took top honors with Ben Yahr 2nd and Steve Meyer from Racine, WI taking 3rd.

A few on-lookers came to watch which is interesting considering the out in the boonies nature of the field.

I look forward to it next year.

Complete results (Perfect score 6000):

1    Tracy Brown        5640
2    Ben Yahr        4947
3    Steve Meyer        4902
4    Chris Shubak    4858
5    Scott Zastoupil    4831
6    Greg Smith        4816
7    Steve Yahr        4584
8    David Suttie        3815
9    Brian Andreas    3657
10    Rob Scidmore    3353
11    Michael Davidson    1166

1. Martin Herrig - Germany
2. Andreas Herrig - Germany
3. Fidel Frick- Liechtenstein

Team USA had a great showing against the best in the world with the Team earning a 3rd place and individual placings as follows:

Mike Smith 8th
Tom Keisling 15th
Aaron Valdes 16th

Congrats to the Herrig brothers and Fidel Frick and a big Well done team USA!

Duration - flight time of exactly 10 minutes with landing as close as possible to a marking on the ground.

Distance - passing a flight zone of 150 meters as often as possible within a limited time.

Speed - passing a flight zone of 150 meters two times in both directions as quickly as possible. Speeds reach up to 150 km/h!

Local and National competitions lead up to the F3B Worlds and pit the world’s best model glider pilots who vie for gold, silver and bronze.

The high-tech sailplanes are among the most beautiful in our sport and many are as high-tech in their construction as an F1 car!

Keep up with the official Worlds site at:

http://www.f3b-wm.ch/index.php?show=49

Or view the Team USA site at:

http://www.usrainfo.org/teamusaf3b/5_6/html/index.html

There is even an RCGroups discussion at:

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=708862

If you’ve asked the question “do those things have motors?” in the past and want to know more about radio controlled slope soaring take a look at the slope flying section of this website.