F5J Electric Thermal Glider

F5J Electric Thermal Glider

Results F5J Armidale Sailplane Expo Jan 25 2018

I arrived Wednesday afternoon dreading the temperatures since on the drive up most of the towns i drove through were at 40 degrees
but Armidale, being elevated, is a bit less harsh and was in the low thirties, and light-ish wind, but fairly humid, at least for me anyway.
It was a late start Thursday for the f5j, hot again in the low thirties, and calm again, with plenty of lift, and fairly tight scores. Storms rolled in about 3pm and we called it a day, since it rained for at least an hour. Friday and we had a full day of f5j ahead, the temp had dropped to the twenties to everyone’s relief, and the wind stayed light, so a fairly competitive day. The cycles got stronger as the day progressed, and it was interesting to watch the odd heat where everyone struggled, followed by everyone going conservative and taking high launches on the subsequent heat, even though conditions had improved. As we approached the end of the day, and the storms approached, conditions lightened quite a bit, and both Marcus and I struggled to find strong enough lift, and got caught landing out in our last round. We didn’t have a fly-off, so the final standings were:
1st Marcus Stent
2nd Jim Houdalakis
3rd Ross Ginder
regards
Jim H

F5J Electric Glider Vic State Champs 2017 Diggers Rest

Forecast looked great for f5j, light winds and 30 degrees, and arriving at the Diggers Rest field and it was calm but fairly overcast.

First few rounds and the air was buoyant in places with very light lift. The trick was to find the best area, when the effect was very subtle, and not fly out of it.

Anyway with the buyant conditions, launches were getting lower with pilots finding the minimum height they needed to get 10 minute flights.

This continued until around lunch time, when the sun started to peek through the clouds and the gusts picked up a little with stronger lift and sink cycles.

 

We had the usual suspects roll up, plus a couple of new faces. Scott Matthews all the way from the Sale club in eastern Victoria, and who flies a bit of everything, decided to give f5j a go.

Flying a stork, he did well and enjoyed himself in his first f5j glider comp, and I’m sure learned a lot.

The second new face was Ladislav (Laz) Safarik all the way from Newcastle NSW, and probably more familiar to interstate f5j flyers up North.

He was happy to be flying an event, as many had been cancelled up north of late due to inclement weather. Laz was also flying a Stork.

Otherwise is was the usual mix of maxas, avas, pulsars, perfections, and home brews.

Alan had a forgettable day, with a start failure in one heat, and a flat battery in another.

Bob flew fairly consistently, and was good enough to get a placing.

I think score-wise it was pretty much  neck and neck between me and David at the top end, with David doing better than me in the light conditions of the morning.

The afternoon conditions suited my flying style a bit more and my launch heights got lower, and I chased the lift more aggressively, and although I stuffed one flight,

when I couldn’t find a strong core downwind, it didn’t slow me down.

Alternatively David who performed well in the morning, also stuffed up one flight, and then got much more conservative in the afternoon, to the extent that I overtook him in the scores.

 

Placings: 1st Jim Houdalakis, 2nd David Pratley, 3rd Bob Wilson

 

Thanks to Laz and Russ for the photos

regards 

Jim Houdalakis

 

pdf overall results f5j state champs 2017.pdf

pdf flight scores f5j state champs 2017.pdf

pdf height penalty f5j state champs 2017.pdf

pdf landings f5j state champs 2017.pdf

statechampsgroup

Competitors


stork_invasion

Stork Invasion!


statechamps_lunch_break

Lunch

 

zdnek

Zdnek launching

RCGA F5j #5 26 Feb 2017 Diggers Rest

A beautiful, warm, and almost calm morning greeted us for our rescheduled f5j event at Digger's Rest,
a stark contrast to last weekend's rain and hail.

An easterly was forecast for the day,
but first thing in the morning, was blowing westerly, but not an issue when you don't have to worry about winches.
We had 8 turn up for the day, however Graham Norman was still sorting out his electrified shadow,
and Norm Ripp's new plane was damaged on a test fly, so that left 6.
It was good to see Bob and Russell back and competing after each had been unable to attend the last few months.
The first few heats were easy enough with light lift helping most make their time Then the prevailing switched to the forecast easterly,
which made lift a bit patchy at times, especially at lower altitudes. As usual with f5j as the day went on and the lift became stronger,
pilots were taking lower launches. But there were still some patchy lift heats, especially in the afternoon, to catch pilots out.
I remember at least one heat which caught all pilots out some heats with 3 minute flights. 
Of course thats the real trick, knowing when to take a high launch to find lift, when you've gotten away with low launches for a while.
Everyone enjoyed the day, and it looks like we will have some more participants soon,
the more the merrier.
Finally it was congratulations to 

Alan Mayhew 1st
David Pratley  2nd
Jim Houdalakis 3rd

Next one is in Milang, South Australia, and for those that are going, see you there!

regards

Jim Houdalakis 

pdf rcga_f5j_26_feb_2017_flightscores.pdf

pdf rcgaf5j_26_feb_2017_overall_results.pdf

F5J State Championships 15 May 16

F5J State Championship 15 May 2016

Report by Gerry Carter

f5j_group_pic1

Bob Wilson, Norm Ripp, Wrenford Brown, Jim Houdalakis, Gerry Carter, David Milward, Bruce Clapperton, Dave Pratley, Russell Wiltshire (mIssing - Andrew Fenech)

Bruce Clapperton's 'Finezza' model

We were fortunate to have a day of flyable weather in Melbourne after continuous strong winds and some rain for what seemed like weeks.


10 pilots made the trip to Diggers Rest and we flew for as long as the weather remained reasonable. That gave us five rounds with the last flight group dealing with increasing wind strength.

The flight scores tell the story. Some brave attempts at a low launch altitude with only one managing to fly out the working time. Lots and lots of outlandings with zero landing points. The occassional zero score for landing more than 75 metres from the designated landing spot. Some pilots, for various reasons did not fly all of the rounds and that reflects in their scores.

But overall, it was great to get out flying again and I believe that everybody thoroughly enjoyed themselves. I certainly did!

f5j_winners1Here are the top placings -

First place and State Champion - Wrenford Brown
Second place - Russell Wiltshire
Third place - Dave Milward

Click on these links to see the scores-
f5j_overall_results.pdf
f5j_flight_scores.pdf
f5j_height_penalty.pdf
f5j_landing_results.pdf

F5J#4 21FEB16

pilots 

Electric Handlaunch Wins the Day in F5J

7 pilots lined up for a day of electric thermal duration at the Diggers Rest site.

A great day was had for F5J event number four. Conditions were calm to light winds with medium size thermals drifting across the field all day, until the sea breeze hit at 1540Hrs.

Even more so than usual, it became clear it didn't matter really which size model you were flying, the air you flew it in was the biggest factor.

We had 1.5m wingspan "Blasters" head to head with 4 meter "Maxas", showing that F5J is the big leveler. There were a number of launch strategies employed through-out the day with low launch heights generally, but not always, delivering good results.

Well done to Russell Wiltshire for taking out the event on the day with his 1.5m Blaster, just edging ahead of Dave Pratley. And a big "shout out" to Wrenford Brown with a good showing, with his new Kappa 3.6m glider.

 

RESULTS

1 Russell Wiltshire    6547.0
2 David Pratley           6384.5
3 Wrenford Brown     5726.1

overallresults.pdf    flightscores.pdf    heightpenalty.pdf    landingresults.pdf

blaster1
The winning pilot and glider, a Blaster DLG with electric added.

landing
Well set up on landing approach.

bobwilson
Bob Wilson after one of his flights.


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