Flying on a windy day - slope 'soaring' in a scenic valley
For a long time I’ve wanted to fly an Aerobird Challenger on a windy hill to get some ridge lift. This is an old airplane with slow servos and horrible tip stalls, so it’s obviously an adequate platform. Nonetheless, not being one swayed by such minor details, I’ve had this fascination with flying the model through some scenic mountains.
I tried this before and it ended about as one would expect. All seemed well at first when the model flew into the wind, but as soon as it turned, down went a wing and I walked away with a pipe of scrap. Well, at least it hit some pavement to really cement itself as a straight flyer (hahaha, what a great joke). Having not learned my lesson, I gave it another try, but this time I came “prepared”. What this really meant was giving the wing some washout and hoping that it would eliminate the tip stalls. Much to my surprise it did (at least with little wind), so I went back to the mountains with as much confidence as a chicken running across water.
Super pretty mountains, no?
Needless to say, the slope I chose as my site of sacrifice was pretty windy, but it was also a fairly steady wind. The best way I can describe it is like being in front of a very smooth fan. Since I was atop a big-ass mountain, I spent a few seconds preparing myself mentally to have to walk a few kilometers down a gulch to pick this thing up. With less courage than before, I strapped the aerobird together with some rubber hands, held my transmitter close, and threw it into the air:
It flew! and quite straight at that!
The flight was interesting to say the least. For one, the model didn’t crash, which was a major success, and my palms weren’t too sweaty after it landed. The washout definately did its job and eliminated the death-inducing tip stalls. This was essential as without this degree of stability, the aircraft would have flipped over given how aggressively the wind was causing it to bank.
It was an exhilarating flight but I wouldn’t call it enjoyable. Fulfilling, yes! But enjoyable? Not really. It was stressful as it felt that even a small mistake would let the airplane fly off in the distance and suddenly enter an unrecoverable dive. Moreover, the wind wasn’t really keeping the model aloft. It still needed a small amount of throttle to maintain altitude so it wasn’t really soaring. I’ll definitely try this again but in calmer conditions with a stronger updraft.
The sunset was really nice on the way back