Thermal Soaring the B.O.T.

Kim Thu Sep 05, 2013 8:31 pm

Keeping the promise I made to myself, I hauled out the Bird of Time for some relatively simple thermal flying this morning. No multiple engines, camera booms or servos, just some foam and scotch tape to hold the GoPro to the B.O.T.'s wingtip, and the faithful Medallion .15 to do the hauling.

Tried to get up early, but this evening shift plays havoc with my sleep, and so got a late start, with a cloud layer moving in, and only time for a couple flights before heading to the airport. I'm starting to seriously consider semi-retirement !

The last couple of minutes have the B.O.T. finding a decent thermal and spiraling up to as high as I care to take it. I edited out several "every other" laps to help give a sense of the height it had gained. A victory loop and rapid descent follow, with a landing in the cow lot due to the northerly breeze.

Maybe again tomorrow...

**Cribbs74** Thu Sep 05, 2013 10:30 pm

Man Kim,

You really got some altitude. Looks like you have had a good bit of rain this year too. Lots of green!

How do you see it when it's up that high?

Ron

Kim Fri Sep 06, 2013 8:04 am

Cribbs74 wrote:Man Kim,

You really got some altitude. Looks like you have had a good bit of rain this year too. Lots of green!

How do you see it when it's up that high?

Ron

Sometimes I almost don't ! The 3 Meter B.O.T. is the easier of the two to see with it's white wing against the blue sky and flying level, but when either of them turn up high, they can disappear for a second or so.

It's hard to let loose of a thermal once you punch into a strong one, especially if you've been missing them all day. I think the contest guys call it being "Soar Drunk" when you stare at the plane, holding it in a tight circle, and not realizing it's becoming a speck in the sky as it rides a boomer to the stratosphere !

Yeah, it HAS been a good year for rain, up until the last couple of weeks. I think the farmers are ready for some more now though. Looks like we're supposed to get some this Sunday.

andrew Fri Sep 06, 2013 8:42 am

Kim wrote:

I think the contest guys call it being "Soar Drunk" when you stare at the plane, holding it in a tight circle, and not realizing it's becoming a speck in the sky as it rides a boomer to the stratosphere !
...........

I think it has reached the stratosphere in the picture --- you can see the curvature of the earth!!!!!

Kim Fri Sep 06, 2013 8:45 am

If only the sky would turn dark and stars appear !!!!

Kim Fri Sep 06, 2013 9:11 am

Last year, I very nearly lost the 2 Meter B.O.T. when it got REAL high on a hazy day. Some kids and their bottle rockets had burned a lot over in the subdivision, and I decided to get some video frames of it.

It was a hot day, and I figured that the .051 would need plenty of time to get the plane up to altitude, so I topped off the one ounce tank. Right after launch, the B.O.T. cored a thermal, and I just let it ride the thing.

Very shortly though, it became a speck in the haze and I started looping it inverted to kill the engine...which was determined NOT to croak. By the time the engine died, I'd nearly lost the plane, and STILL had to make it fight it's way back down to the front yard.

Think I may have posted these before...if so, please forgive the redundancy...

bullit132 Fri Sep 06, 2013 10:29 am

wow,i hope the glider im building now flies that well,nice video RC Plane

Kim Fri Sep 06, 2013 10:44 am

bullit132 wrote:wow,i hope the glider im building now flies that well,nice video

Thanks ! Glad to hear of another glide project ! The 2 Meter size is great, don't know if that's your's span.

The only bit of advice I might convey, beside all the regular stuff is : balance, Balance, BALANCE !!!! Fore and aft, left and right !!! If you got to load plutonium in it's snout to get your CG where it's supposed to be, do it!

Sailplanes love to come out tail-heavy, and their long wings just do not tolerate low-level hammerheads very well !

I've started using little ziplock bags and lead bird shot for ballast. They conform to the interior of the glider's nose, and can be easily sctoch-taped to the wing to counter balance a camera on the other.

Please post a project report if you feel like it !

**RknRusty** Fri Sep 06, 2013 11:09 am

Nice! I made a screen shot into a new entry for my desktop background slide show.

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