Scienceguyorg Ramblings: Dynomite, Jetstream, Retro Gnome, and CO2 Nats 2017

Thursday, August 10, 2017

Dynomite, Jetstream, Retro Gnome, and CO2 Nats 2017

I am finishing up with brief descriptions of flying these planes at 2017 Nats. The start of the hand launch event started with drizzle and rain. This year I had barely flown my Dynomite DLG at all, concentrating mainly on flying e36 planes at home. I did a few test flights before the event but that was about it, there was a small repair to do before contest flights. I wanted to fly even in drizzle in case it was an all-day rain, which it wasn’t. On the two official launches I released too late and had bad height with the glider down in 20 seconds. I tried another launch and the glider came apart in the air, it was way beyond a field repair.

Dynomite Blew Up

Paul Bradley and Don DeLoach launched my Jetstream glider for me a few times and after adjusting the turn it appears to tow well and transition into a glide. If the glider went left in the glide it seems to tighten up in the turn. More work is needed but I really need a launching stooge so I can spend more time launching without having to take another flier away from their flying. Classic Towline was held on Friday and I left that day so did not fly it in competition. I really need more time working with the glider before contest flights.

Jetstream After Completition

On a couple of days I flew my hi-start Retro Gnome glider, at least I could fly this without assistance from anyone. The tall grass was a pain with snagging the line but it made for softer crashes. It appears you really need to launch straight into the wind because if the glider gets a little crosswind the hi-start will pull it into the ground. One flight it flew for a fair amount of time and landed in a crushed rock parking lot. Somehow I spaced out when the contest was held and never entered.

Retro Gnome Hi-start Glider

I brought along the CO2 powered plane I had been flying this year in hopes I could talk to people with some experience in CO2. The problem I am having is filling the tank to get a consistent run; I usually get one flight out of cartridge and waste the rest. Saturday evening I had a couple of fair flights but not anywhere as long as some flights I have had. I talked to Ralph Bradley about CO2 and learned much, such as there are cartridge holders for the longer CO2 cartridges.