EVENT REPORTS 2008:

(2007 Results can be found here)

(2006 Results can be found here)

(2005 Results can be found here)

 

**Latest Results at top of page - Oldest at bottom**

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Slope Event 16/11/08

Low turn out due to poor forecast and work commitments. Only Bill, Paul, Frank & Jimmy making it. Unfortunately Jimmy had an apparent lock out with his Filip and it went straight in from considerable height. Frank an Paul had better luck with their hand launch models, but Bill was unable to find enough lift to keep his Zagi THL in the air! Paul also had a very nice flight with his (VERY) lightweight, all depron Grunau Baby. There are a couple of pics below of this model.

 

 

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Slope Event 19/10/08

Cancelled as a result of the forecast. Apologies if anyone travelled.

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Slope Event 5/10/08

Run as a fun fly rather than a competitive event as it was the first slope flying for several of the members in many months!

A good turnout with 6 NIMSA members, 1 East Antrim, (2 if we count Sam who I've counted under NIMSA), and the NIAA PRO John Pearson who travelled across from Armagh for the day with his scale DG 100 from the CMPro "kit"

A Northerly breeze put us on a slope which we have used very little and which produced fickle lift. One minute the plane would be climbing like a home sick angel, the next it was dumped in the grass. Paul Freeman seemed to think he was back at work, flying his hand launch model to great heights on several occasions. Sam was flying a nice 60" Filip 400 which fairly whistled across the slope and coped well with the lift. EPP was (as always!) in evidence with 2 Rico-she's (Bill & Frank), an Enigma (Tommy), a Zagi THL (Bill) and an Eppi-soar (Stevie). Louden arrived late afternoon, with an electric zagi which he and his grandsons flew.

A good day out, with surprisingly good weather considering the previous week had been VERY wet.

A few pictures (courtesy 0f John Pearson) here.

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100S Cup & Electric 21/09/08

Great turnout for the final thermal event of the year with 9 flyers in both 100S and Electric. This quickly dropped to 7 after the first round of 100S. Bill's model folding a wing on the winch and Ray hitting the trees in round 2. A very good day started out with lift all over the sky, but as the rounds progressed it became more difficult. After 3 rounds of 100S a 2 man 12 minute fly off decided the winner, with Frank Jackson taking it by 7seconds from Tommy Magee.

Paul Freeman had to leave to go to work after the 100S, but was replaced by Ronnie Armstrong in electric who could only fly 1 round before he had to leave too!

Electric was hard fought with very difficult conditions and still after 3 rounds 2 pilots on the same score! As there was little time (or batteries!) to run a fly off, a tie was declared between Sam Phenix and Paul Taylor.

Full scores were as follows:

100S Cup

Fly Off

 

Electric

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Area Open Thermal Champs 07/09/08:

A low turnout as this clashed with the Northern Ireland Airshow at Portrush. 6 turned out, although only 5 flew, Bill's model being US when he attempted to fly his first round.

5 rounds (with a discard), were flown and then the top 2 scores had a 2 round fly off to decide this years Champion. The air was fairly dead with only occasional thermals coming through. Paul Taylor and Paul Freeman worked this fickle air to their advantage and were the 2 to contest the fly off. Sam Phenix wasn't far behind and only just missed out.

In the fly off, Paul Taylor had a good first flight winning the slot by over a minute. This meant in the second slot he only had to ensure he stayed with Paul F. In the end he had a very good flight and clinched the Championship.

Results Below:

Fly Off Scores:

sorry, no pics. Camera battery flat - Not my day!

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Area Open Thermal Champs 31/08/08:

Cancelled due to high winds and rain   rescheduled for 31/08/08

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Area Open Thermal Champs 10/08/08:

Cancelled due to high winds and rain

rescheduled for 31/08/08

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Open Thermal & Electric 27/07/08:

Numbers were down a little due to holidays and family commitments.6 flew in both Open and Electric. Open was flown as 4 rounds of 8 mins to allow 1 discard. Only 4 pilots managed all 4 rounds. Sam landing out and clipping a tree in round 2, suffering damage which prevented him continuing. Bill also sustained damage in Rd 2. an unexplained dive causing high speed elevator flutter and loss of control. The model was extensively damaged( right wing panel and tail!).

Results follow:

Open Thermal:

 

Mike flew consistently throughout and had good lift in 2 rounds to win this event

 

Electric:

Flown as 3 of 6 minute rounds. Brushless motors had 20 sec motor on. Brushed had 60 secs.

Ronnie wins the electric with all his flights being in good air

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Area Open Championships 29/06/08:

Cancelled due to HIGH winds.

Rescheduled for 10th Aug 2008 (reserve date 31st Aug 2008)

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Open Thermal & Electric 15/06/08

The forecast for this event was very poor, so the CD asked for everyone to get to site as close to 12 as possible to enable the comp to be run before a forecast series of showers at 3pm.

Turnout was good: 8 in Open thermal & 7 in Electric

In order to get the comp through as soon as possible we ran 3 rounds of 10mins in Open Thermal and 3 rounds of 8mins in electric. In electric, brushless motors were allowed a 20 second motor run and brushed 60 seconds. Mike Leonard was flying the only brushed model, a geared 400. The air was very variable, with some flights having excellent air and others massive sink. Picking your time to launch was very important.

Results are below:

Open Thermal:

 

Electric:

The forecast showers never arrived and flying continued until after 4pm with no adverse weather:

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100S Boyce Trophy, 1/6/08:

What started as a bright sunny deteriorated quickly to a breezy, cool day, 10 fliers turned out to compete for the Boyce Trophy for RES 100" models. Lift was difficult to find and only a few flights got near to the 6 minute flight time. Several fliers started out with lightweight models as the air was very still, at the end of round 1 several heavier models were rapidly assembled to cope with the changing conditions. 4 rounds were flown, which allowed 1 discard.

Full results and a couple of pictures below:

discard  round in RED

Paul Freeman wins the Boyce Trophy with an almost perfect score.

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We haven't managed to run a single thermal event this year! Mainly down to high winds, frequently 15mph+ on comp days. This is far too high for the type of light construction model most of the club fly. 15mph would be the absolute max, including gusts.

The comp on the 18th suffered from low turnout, a couple of members were on holiday, some at the North West 200 and a few unable to attend due to family commitments. 4 of us met at the field and had a pleasant afternoon of sport flying. Below are a couple of pics.

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Open Thermal & Electric 20/04/08

The morning was breezy, but no decision was made until we got to the field. Jimmy and Bill arrived first and determined that the wind was blowing about 12 -15mph and gusting significantly more this. The wind was also blowing directly across the field, the worst direction for laying the winch out. By 1215 only 4 people had turned up, Bill, Jimmy, Tommy and Ronnie. A decision was made not to run the comp and instead Bill and Tommy headed for the Bowl to fly on the slope.

About fifteen minutes after they arrived, Louden arrived with his 4.2m Twin Astir. Later Jimmy and David Orr came up.

Bill had problems with a new model and after extensive alterations Jimmys' Bedlam was made to fly in a reasonable manner. The wind throughout the afternoon had been a little fickle, with the lift coming and going. About 4.30 we packed up and headed for home.

 

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The slope event on the 23rd March and the 100S Cup on the 6th April were both cancelled due to high winds and rain

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Slope Event 09/03/08

The forecast for this was horrendous as the Met office had issued a severe weather warning for the whole of the UK from 12 noon on Sunday! As a result only 4 of us turned up. Tommy, Bill, Paul Freeman & Howard (Stevie) Stephenson. Stevie only had his Eppi-soar and the wind was far to strong for it, so it spent the afternoon in the car. Paul and Tommy got away well with Zagi and Enigma respectively.

The wind was blowing due west gusting between 22 and 30 mph. Windchill factor was  -8C

Bill was having problems with a new Predator Bat, unable to get it away from the hill. Looks like a CG problem. He also broke one of the  tails on his Rico-she on launch, so all in all not a great day for him!

Paul, then proceeded to fly a small aileron/elevator model built from plans from one of the mags. This small, light model flew exceptionally well in very blustery conditions. Flying was interrupted a couple of times due to squally showers blowing through, but a good few hours flying were well worth the effort to get out of the house. As we wee getting ready to leave, Louden appeared on the hill, having seen us as he was driving past. He helped in getting some of the kit off of the hill.

Photos can be found here

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Slope Event 24/02/08

A poor weather forecast, illness and work, reduced the turnout at this event to just 2, Tommy & Frank.

Tommy tells me they had good wind, but it was VERY cold and they only had a couple of flights each before calling it a day.

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Slope Event 10/02/08

When we arrived at the car park, visibility was about 30 feet! Low cloud was sitting in the bowl and didn't look as if it was going to shift. By 1215 we had one of the best turnouts for a while, with 9 fliers including John Pearson (NIAA Public Relations Officer) and Lawrence, an ex member returning to gliding.

At about 1230 the cloud started to lift and a light breeze started from the South. Paul Freeman tried flying his light lift model from next to the car park, but was very quickly back on the ground and decided he would climb the North shoulder to see if the lift was any better. About 10 mins later he phoned down to say the lift was much better and he was going to try it. The rest of us trooped up and sorted our gear to get in the air. The lift was excellent, but fitful and one minute you were climbing as if in a lift and the next you were scraping for the smallest bit.

The models were varied, Pauls' lightweight, a couple of "zagis", Ricoshe, enigma, Ridge Racer and John Pearson had a biggish scale Discus  . After a false start when he couldn't get out through the turbulence at the slope edge, this model flew very well and really looked the part in the air.

The wind was blowing at about 12mph and this made it very cold, but a good afternoon was had by all, with several pilots showing over an hours flying on their transmitters!

A good day for the first event of the year

 

Photos can be found here