Tuesday 13 September 2016

PSSA at the Great Orme - September 2016

We arrived on the rock late Friday night, and stayed over on the top in the camper van in very blustery conditions, with a fair amount of rain too.  By about 2.30a.m. the wind and rain had stopped, so we slept soundly until day break.





There was a 6mph WSW at 7am when walking the dogs, so I thought we were in for a good days' flying with such a reasonable start.  Unfortunately, the wind dropped further, and moved around to WNW, but by lunch time had come up to 10mph or so.  Easy pickings for my Pike WR, which was specking out in the slope and thermal lift coming off the sea.  This soon got boring though, so some long dog walks ensued.

As usual though, the Orme has the last laugh and by 6pm a decent 16mph SW was coming straight into the main bowl.  Result!  This allowed some fantastic PSS'ing to take place over the sea with the sunset producing a lovely golden light to illuminate our models.  I had a great session then with the Hawk, Horten, and the big Vulcan - photos to follow for that bit!

The next day, the wind was right up early in the morning but around the WSW mark again.  Some people scratched around a bit in the SW bowl, but Pete Garsden and I set off over to the bigger WSW slope and bowl, about an 8 minute hike from the main car park.  We couldn't believe our luck, as the wind here was 22mph gusting 30, with near limitless, smooth lift.  The Hawk needed a fair amount of down trim in to stay in sight, and PEte had a blast with his Vulcan and new A4.

Soon, we were joined by a flock of fliers as they could see the huge vertical pumps we were managing, and the skies filled with all sorts of gliders, but mainly A4's getting their maidens.









I even managed to get the Flanker away quite well, although she needs a bit of the noseweight removing I think, as she didn't really get "in the groove" and a dive test soon resulted in her soaring up for the clouds!  


So what else..ah yes - the A10 :D  Her 4th flight and probably the longest as well, as she was launched from the SW bowl and I walked up to the WSW whilst flying her.  Yes, cross-country with a 38lb A10 - lovely :)









Great fun!  She even survived a mid-air with a little EPP Vulcan, which she brushed aside whilst the poor Avro spun in, in bits, to terra firma.  Oops!  Sorry Tom.  My landing was less then stellar, probably ranking 3rd out of all 4 I have done.  Minor damage but annoying nonetheless as I deployed the brakes a bit too soon on finals.

The SHM Vulcan continues to perform very well, and always gets admirers due to her faithful shape reproduction and sheer size.




4 lovely landings with this one - she just greases in gently.  All in all a great weekend with lots of A4's on the slope, with not too much carnage.  I didn't get around to flying mine properly, though I may just strip the servos from her and hang it form the ceiling in the workshop.


We'll have to see how October goes, I'm not 100% we will be going due to other commitments, but that was great weather and great aircraft flown with a load of great guys!




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