R/C Flying in
by
David A. Weber 3/17/02
Those of you who have to travel as
part of your job know the pro’s and con’s involved
with business travel. The con’s almost always include long lines for long flights, the
horrible restaurant food, and the mystery hotel accommodations. Despite this you do get to go to some great
locations around the world. Usually time
does not permit you to “vacation” during your visit (which is what everybody
else thinks you get to do). But every so
often, the place is so special that you just have to find some way to enjoy
it. I have just returned from such a
trip.
When I first heard that the company
was going to send me half way around the world to
Well, the days before the trip went
faster than had been planned and soon the day came to leave for my 10 day
business trip to
As usual, I was so busy the first
few days after arriving in
The first flying site we visited overlooks the four main beaches and what is called the 12 Apostles mountain
peaks.
So at
The second site (Signal Hill) had en
even more spectacular view, overlooking the
Excitement, thrilling, and gripping
are just a few things that come to mind when describing what it is like to fly
at this site. These guys are
SPOILED! They don’t want to admit it,
but they are. The great part was that after
several minutes in the sky, a couple other planes were getting uncomfortably
close to the plane I was flying.
I soon found out that they knew exactly
what they were doing. Cries of “Kill the
Yank” could be heard as plane after plane took aim at me. I was having a blast! It was all in good fun,
but not a one of them managed to knock me out of the sky and I’ll brag about
that! I did manage to break away from
the pack to see how far up the hillside and Lions Head I could fly… and I did
so with great success. The wind was
getting good enough now that you could go just about anywhere you wanted and
manage to stay out of trouble. After
several more minutes I decided it was time to land and watch some of the real
experts fly this slope. The types of
planes were all over the spectrum from jet fighters to speed demon sail
planes. I was privileged to watch some
of the best slope flying I’ve ever seen.
These guys were good and had the terrain to prove it. I saw high speed passes that went right
behind the hill (what the locals called the “Star Wars” pass) - to slow rolls
just barely off the deck. Steve was
showing off the combat capabilities of his Foamie,
twisting and rolling all over the hill while diving down on his temporary
opponent. Several times I saw planes
fall from the sky after a good “kill” was made, but it was always followed by
laughs and the occasional jab about who was the “Jedi Master”. Unfortunately time was running out on us and
we had just enough time to get in a few final photo’s of
all of the guys on the hill that day.
Thanks guys, each one of you gave me
some great memories of that day. I
helped Steve pack up the planes and we headed back to the Hotel. Later on that evening I meet up with Steve
again to enjoy a great meal at his home with his very lovely wife and
family. We had a great night of talking
shop and looking at Steve’s collection of airplanes.
The next day, my
colleague and I drove out to one of the local powered R/C flying fields Cape Radio Flyers (powered club) to meet
up with a gentleman everyone called “Doc”.
Just a few miles out of town, we came across the field where we met Doc,
Tienie, Ben and few other local fliers. Unfortunately, like the day before the wind
was blowing pretty good, I mean really good - nothing
like what we see here in the
So I just kept talking shop with the
other fella’s until someone finally gave in and
offered to let me take their plane up for a few laps around the field. Although
the wind was not letting up, it was a very steady wind, which would make it
pretty easy to navigate, I hoped. Tienie started up the engine to his plane and I let him
take it off to trim it out before he handed it over to me. After a few laps around the pattern I decided
it was time for a little play, so I tried a hammer head just to get a feel for
what the wind would do to the plane after the engine was cut. Pulling straight up the plane must have gone
30 yards downwind before I was able to kick in the rudder and point it down to
complete the maneuver. Another 30 yards
downwind and I pulled the nose to straight and level to continue the
flight. This plane was really moving in
this wind especially on the downwind leg.
There was hardly anytime to do anything before I had to turn to fight my
way back upwind. I knew that I would
have to land soon, but there was time to try some inverted flight before I had
to start thinking about setting up for landing, or so I thought. I turned the plane over on its back and flew
the length of the field inverted before going vertical at the end of the
run. A simple little hammer head and
half roll would finish of the flight before I had to land. But the engine went
dead when I got to the top! I then quickly
came to realize how hard it was to turn in this wind with no motor throwing
wind across those ailerons. The plane
was over halfway down the field before I got the nose to drop into the wind (which
I had hoped would bring the plane safely back to the runway). Unfortunately that damn wind just kept
pushing that plane further away from the tarmac. A landing was made well beyond (or short - depending
on your perspective) of the threshold, but the wings were kept level and the
plane was in fine condition after the walk of shame to retrieve it.
My time was short,
so after some quick good-byes, we were off to the hotel to pack for my return
trip home. I couldn’t help but be torn
between my desire to stay in
Thanks for the fun
guys!
Dave
Photos from the trip