Ever sacrifice a glider?
I've had my eye on a very steep rocky slope near my house with no LZ for more than a year ...waiting for an opportunity to fly it. When a southeast wind kicked up, I couldn't wait any longer. My converted chuck glider/plank doesn't fly all that well and its radio gear is going into a real kit soon. So why not? When I got up to the spot where I intended to launch I could hear the wind howling in the Pines on the Ridge higher up and the wind was swirling, coming in lots of directions, even some downdrafts.
There's not a 3 foot patch of grass anywhere, just boulders as far as the eye can see. The wind was gusting regularly from 10 to 25 mph and I was standing at the top of 150 feet of 50° slope about 500 feet total above my car. I was nervous because I knew my glider could not handle those gusts and the only way down was crashing. But I was ready to make the sacrifice, so I tossed it! The lift was huge and wonderful as I expected!
I gave it enough down elevator to keep it penetrating and it was moving up quickly... I was thrilled for a moment. But, I was also so nervous my hand was shaky and I needed to sit down but couldn't exactly find the rock behind me that I intended to sit on. I made a few extreme turns to bleed off a little altitude but quickly found myself too high too far out losing my orientation a lot. I turned towards the slope. Then there was a lull and suddenly the glider was 75 feet below me.
Because the glider is made of EPS and the airfoil is very slow, when the wind and lift is strong it needs a lot less reflex, and then when there's a lull, it sinks like a rock if I don't re-apply more reflex. But if I apply too much, it stalls easily. So I was porpoiseing around. Thinking I would try to land in a small grassy spot far below.
But I was able to work my way back up a bit when suddenly a gust came along and I lost control of the plane heading towards the mountain fairly close to the slope. It disappeared out of view below me and I thought "crap!! now I don't have to worry about flying that glider anymore". I was still a ball of nerves hiking down. I started thinking that if the crash was as violent as I expected, even my servos might be ruined. Then I started worrying that the glider might be out of reach in a difficult spot that could involve a precarious recovery.
As I rounded the corner, I saw a little bit of red color in an easy to reach place and was relieved that it would be easy to get to. When I got close enough, I was stunned to find the plane sitting level in the middle of a circle of grass just big enough to contain the glider. It was facing the slope with nothing askew and entirely completely unharmed without a single scratch -- as if it had just alighted there like a helicopter would.
Later, I noticed the nose was slightly flatter than before. So I suspect it hit a rock dead on and bounced back onto the grassy spot... anyway, my disbelief was so complete I was pinching myself for the rest of the day!
I felt so lucky, I thought 'everything's gonna be all right!', not just my glider, but everything, if you know what I mean - everything.
There's not a 3 foot patch of grass anywhere, just boulders as far as the eye can see. The wind was gusting regularly from 10 to 25 mph and I was standing at the top of 150 feet of 50° slope about 500 feet total above my car. I was nervous because I knew my glider could not handle those gusts and the only way down was crashing. But I was ready to make the sacrifice, so I tossed it! The lift was huge and wonderful as I expected!
I gave it enough down elevator to keep it penetrating and it was moving up quickly... I was thrilled for a moment. But, I was also so nervous my hand was shaky and I needed to sit down but couldn't exactly find the rock behind me that I intended to sit on. I made a few extreme turns to bleed off a little altitude but quickly found myself too high too far out losing my orientation a lot. I turned towards the slope. Then there was a lull and suddenly the glider was 75 feet below me.
Because the glider is made of EPS and the airfoil is very slow, when the wind and lift is strong it needs a lot less reflex, and then when there's a lull, it sinks like a rock if I don't re-apply more reflex. But if I apply too much, it stalls easily. So I was porpoiseing around. Thinking I would try to land in a small grassy spot far below.
But I was able to work my way back up a bit when suddenly a gust came along and I lost control of the plane heading towards the mountain fairly close to the slope. It disappeared out of view below me and I thought "crap!! now I don't have to worry about flying that glider anymore". I was still a ball of nerves hiking down. I started thinking that if the crash was as violent as I expected, even my servos might be ruined. Then I started worrying that the glider might be out of reach in a difficult spot that could involve a precarious recovery.
As I rounded the corner, I saw a little bit of red color in an easy to reach place and was relieved that it would be easy to get to. When I got close enough, I was stunned to find the plane sitting level in the middle of a circle of grass just big enough to contain the glider. It was facing the slope with nothing askew and entirely completely unharmed without a single scratch -- as if it had just alighted there like a helicopter would.
Later, I noticed the nose was slightly flatter than before. So I suspect it hit a rock dead on and bounced back onto the grassy spot... anyway, my disbelief was so complete I was pinching myself for the rest of the day!
I felt so lucky, I thought 'everything's gonna be all right!', not just my glider, but everything, if you know what I mean - everything.
Tags: crash landings
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Dumorian on -
Well, not intentionally... but.... it seems that me and an Easy Glider have a short relationship. 'Night Glider' was a big hit at Joe Nall. I flew it upon arrival at like 1am, then each night after that. Seems every time people gathered to find out what it was. It even inspired my flying friend to put lights on his quarter scale Cub, which actually became the demise of Night Glider. You see, he flew his, and after that I decided to fly Night Glider again. Well, the Cub attracted even more attention and after the flight it sat on the flight line all lit up. And the lights were VERY bright! So bright that I had to fly over in one direction, which just so happened to be downwind.... Mistake number one. All was well, and I just kept working higher... Then I guess the wind was pretty darned strong. Suddenly I was very high and orientation was very tough. The Cub lights got shut off and we worked very hard and very long to get her back. For those of you that know Joe Nall, we were flying from the 3d line....
Meanwhile, up near the entrance was another friend and his crew camping. They saw it and he recognized that it was my model. But they knew we were flying from the 3d line and an argument ensued. The discussion was something like they don't have control... yes they do.. no they don't, yes they do. We were doing loops, rolls and lots of acrobatics trying to figure out the direction. Had it coming to us, away, to the side... but it slowly drifted downwind. I flew it, my buddy flew it... each trying to figure it out. Of course, this was not helped that much by night time and just the LEDs providing the glow of lighting. I didn't light it for orientation... I lit it to not look like anything normal in the sky... mostly blue and white LEDs.
Meanwhile my friend at the other end of the site was trying to call me, but as cell coverage comes and goes... of course at that time it had gone. He was going to talk it back to us. Oh well.... finally, after a lot of flying we finally lost it. I guess it might have been a loss of signal as it seemed sudden. My friend was flying it at the time, so he gets credit for crashing my plane! :)
Anyway, we start walking.... and walking.... and then my phone rings! Of course it works now. The voice on the other end is my friend. He asks if I lost something? Of all things, the model was in the front yard of a house across 221 from Joe Nall!!!!! This was around 2 miles away! When we lost it, it went in immediately, so we were still flying it out at two miles! And of all things, that neighbor brought the model to my buddy at the other end. Of all the people there, they took it to his campsite!
So, I got my model back. Not pretty at all. But none of the electronics are ruined except I have a dent on the Lipo but it reads good, so I'll have to be careful with that one or retire it. No chance of a repair to the plane, but we do have a story to tell. I guess I also hold the longest distant night flight at Joe Nall... as long as recovery in one piece is not a requirement. And small world seems to kick in here as well. How in the world does it land in a front yard 2 miles away and then get returned to the only other person at Joe Nall that knew whose plane it was and where I was and how to get it back to me? I guess truth is stranger than fiction is alive and well for me!
I think if I do another one, I'll do green in one wing, red in the other and white in the tail or something that makes it easier to keep up with. Also, I think I'll wait until the Cub lights are off before I begin my flight!
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Permalink Reply by Eric on -
You're back J, what a story - that's a real adventure! Very sorry you lost her though... I have a hard time with orientation during the day when it gets cloudy, lol.
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Permalink Reply by Dumorian on
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Well, it was tough dealing with the lost hours of putting those lights in. Wow.... I soldered and soldered and soldered. Took forever! But, really, I lost the time and the little over $100 for the glider kit. The story? Priceless and will live and be retold forever at future Joe Nall events! I wonder if it might be embellished over the years? ;)
As for orientation. Yup... can be tough. When I did my Cularis I painted the wings. I did mostly dark blue on the undersides and mostly yellow on the top. I really don't have anything to tell left from right but the tail is just the foam white. The model is trimmed so that if I just quit trying to fly it, it's upright and in level flight. When I make a turn I can see the yellow clearly. Since the bottom is normally in the shadow, doing dark just helps with it being more dark. I've really never had an issue of top or bottom and have not lost the tail or direction. I have had it up as high as 2200' AGL. Now, at that level, one cannot take their eyes off the model as it's such a small spec that just seeing it is a task.... but as long as I can see it, I know what it's doing.
I guess this might be flirting with disaster though?
I have a smaller model that is aerobatic as crap. It's easy to loose orientation on that one just because it's changing so fast. I put two very broad black stripes under the left wing. This made all the difference in keeping up with it.
Either way, dark bottoms and light tops on gliders seems to be the way to go. Also, very large graphics. Smaller patterns/graphics at a distance just blend together. I did some smaller work on my Cularis, but it's more for looks. There is a huge amount of solid yellow on top and solid dark blue on the bottom.
To me, I just have to be careful about gliding down wind. This can be a problem in a couple of ways. First, if the wind picks up it can be hard to overcome it. Also, higher up most of the time equals higher wind speeds. Further up is normally not an issue, but further away... distance by ground not altitude makes it hard to see to get back. There's a point where to get it back it's flying almost straight at you and the profile of the model in that orientation is like invisible in the best of conditions. I think the best recovery method for this is really to try to fly it around you in a big circle to get upwind... still, very hard.... or angle it back to one side... something besides straight to home.
All that said... I just lost my Night Glider! So who am I to talk about this?
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Permalink Reply by Eric on
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I love your attitude- you got it right. It's an amazing story and something you shared with a bunch of other people, very cool.
I might be going against the grain here but I love the color red so I put it on the bottoms of the wings (which I am looking at more often than the tops) and I have blue or black on top. It seems to work well. I want to try doing a glider your way, dark on bottom right on top, but I'm afraid I might get confused since I have so many hours in already training my mind the other way, lol.
Next time I will probably try red on bottom yellow on top, or blue on bottom yellow on top. I have seen a glider flying nearby that uses red yellow and it seems to work well at great distances.
so, how about that blizzard? got it flying?
-- Eric
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