Cliff Soaring

I have been thinking I really should try to take my Multiplex Easy Star over to Table Rock and try and do some cliff/slope soaring with it. Well, I had my replacement Hitec Mini 6S (yeah...more about that later) that they sent me that still needed trying out, and it was too windy to do any 3D flying with the Piaget, and my Typhoon 3D wings were not being held in by the small plastic tabs that screw together (it had split out last time I flew it), so why not. Plus, it was sunny and the kids might like the drive and hike.

Well, we got up there, and the last mile of the road was closed to keep the mud and ruts from getting too bad, so we hiked. It was really breezy/gusty up on the edge, but got my helmet cam mounted finally and everything ready. Did the hand launch with much concern (those wings catch a LOT of air, and it was pretty breezy). Anyway, the stupid glitching in the Rx was aparent almost immediately, but I just delt with it. I was a little worried about how easy it was going to be to bring it back in and land, because there are about a million power/radio towers and lines up there (more about that later too...sigh)...



Anyway, with this much wind, I could probably have flown for 3 hours if I babied the power, since it was pretty easy to catch thermals and just slope soar all over, even with the weight of the battery, motor and helmet cam. Imagine what a true glider would do. Grin. I spent a lot of time doing rolls and loops and bringing it back in close to the cliff edge and lots of people were watching. Did more soaring down the face a ways, but it made me nervous because it was hard to judge distance from the ground when it is that far off down below you, and the Rx was really getting glitchy very far off. Finally, just brought it around the base of the cliff and glided it into the slope and went down and changed the battery and took off the camera.

Should have swapped out the Rx to the Corona 6ch DC synthesized that I got and brought with me, just in case, but I didn't. Flew a long time this round, and had probably only used about 1/5th of the 3300mAh 3S1P from all the soaring (it was even better without the camera, despite the heavier battery), and I went way out upwind (with a bunch of radio towers and transmission lines between me and the plane..yeah). Well, it went into a death spiral and it wasn't just a quick glitch this time. It went below the rim where I could see it and I was like...hummm. Walked over to the edge and spotted it (and a couple other pieces of white foam near it). Got down there and the whole front was busted off and the motor had ripped free of the motor housing (took the whole thing off). And the back body was split/cracked in half from the force of the auger-in. Probably could reglue it, but it wouldn't be true anymore, and it has been getting worse and worse on loops for how it flies. Probably just get a new kit if I can find one.

I'm officially DONE with the mini 6s Rx, however. I'll try to sell this one to someone that might not have as much trouble (maybe another channel works better or something is weak with my Tx). Either way, I've seen glitching now on at least 4 different single conversion Rx's and not even so much as a whimper on my DC Neutron 6s Rxs. I'll see how the dual conversion synthesized Corona does...but that will be the final judge.

I really want one of the Matt Chapman Eagle 580's. ;)

Cliff Soaring WMV [129MB]