F3B - Multi-Task Soaring RCGA F3B #2 22 March 15
RCGA F3B #2 22 March 15
Andrew, Jim and David (Gerry behind the camera) at the Diggers Rest field.
It was a great day to try out our rather rusty F3B skills. Fine weather and a good breeze.
As the day progressed
- the conditions improved (except for the sun moving to exactly the wrong place for a while)
- the model setups were gradually, sometimes radically, tweaked
- we became more accustomed to flying the course
and this led to a significant improvement in our performances and some respectable speed times.
Dave Pratley, flying his Shinto on the course for the first time managed three runs in the 17sec range and, by his consistency and good times, took first place.
Gerry was second flying his Freestyler 3 to good effect and had both the quickest and slowest times for the day. He had perfect conditions for two of his runs. On the first occasion he flew two extremely quick laps and then managed to completely muck it up. But he got it together a bit better the second time and whizzed through the course in 14.6secs.
Jim Houdalakis was third (flying his Fosa). He was the most consistent in his times with his fastest run (18.22secs) being the slowest 'fast' time , and his slowest run (23.24secs) being the fastest 'slow' time.
Andrew Fenech (Shinto) was fourth, flying his first F3B speed for over 10 years. He managed to break 20 seconds on his first run! He improved greatly as the day progressed. His best for the day was 17.57secs (there was also 17.30secs with a cut) so that's a fantastic achievement.
By working together we managed to get in 12 rounds including a good break for lunch. The only incidents during the day were a flap servo (damaged on landing) and a lost parachute.
Overall, a great day and a lot of fun.
The next F3B will be on 17 May in Ballarat.