Off Patch News

By | February 11, 2019

10/02/19. Keith tried a new discipline, slope soaring! He had bought a Soar Ahead Sailplanes “Wildthing 60”  a kind of flying wing arrangement made out of strong durable epp foam. He went to Garway Hill. The winds were in perfect direction and blowing a mean speed of 17-20mph the down side was it was only 3.5 degrees. He was rather nervous being used to light winds, and power flying. To offer a plane into such strong winds went against the grain. He tried a glide on the lee side of the hill and it was ok. So he went for it, at the edge of the slope offering the plane into wind it was straining to rip out of his hand. He threw/let go of it and wow off it went perfect, straight and gently lifted. Turning it along the slope and back he began to find out why it was called “Wildthing” it gathered speed quite quickly but was very manoeuvrable. After getting it up thoughts quickly turned to getting it down. He had watched a number of Utube videos and read up so gave it a go. All went well and it was down. Three more flights ensued and all was well at the end. He can confirm that the EPP foam is robust as a couple of the landings were not very graceful! He gave up as the wind did get more gusty but mainly because of the cold was getting through the multi layers.