I was looking back at my progress in dynamic soaring for one year. This was from the same small slope, which works for south or north winds. The north facing side is higher creating more lift on the front side but the wind is more commonly from the south. Most common is south-southwest which works with a more efficient glider. The very first time I had any success with DS here was using a RC discus launch glider, Art Hobby’s Hyper DL. This is also the glider I have used to get my largest number of consecutive laps which is almost 50. As I also use this glider for thermal flying, I have been hesitant to fly DS with it.
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| Diving just barely over peak of hill with Dart |
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| Foam Super Scooter |
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| Hyper DL |
Most of my DS attempts this year have been with a foam Super Scooter which is no longer available. Even though this glider did not stay up too well trying to DS on this small hill, I became more comfortable diving to the backside and turning towards the hill. There were a lot of crashes but only minor repairs were needed. I practiced flying as smooth as possible; if I pulled too hard on the elevator it would start to stall.
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| Starting turn on bottom |
Towards the end of the season I had my Multiplex Dart flying which was an old RC hand launch glider. I added ailerons and stiffened the wing with carbon and covered with Monocote. This glider will stay up for most conditions and flies fairly fast. In fact when flying on the front side it must be kept flying fairly fast or the wing will start wiggling and then it can stall. On my last flying session a friend took many pictures of it flying DS circuits.
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| Coming up from backside |
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| Back to Front Side |
After a year of flying DS from this small hill, I have improved but feel I have a ways to go. In watching videos of really good DS it looks like their glider is on a track making an almost perfectly consistent path lap after lap. There are times when I feel my pattern must have been good as the glider will start to accelerate quickly but I don’t seem to keep this going.
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| Circling the Front Side |
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| Over Peak to Back Side |
This has really been fun and the number of repairs required has been diminishing. With another season I have a 2 meter glider that I want to take to the back side.
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| Too High on Backside |
Bill Kuhl
Previous Blog Posts on Dynamic Soaring
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