Southeast Regional Aerotow 2016

[Swiss1]

Snatch and I arrived just after midday and put some planes together, I re-maidened my Discus 2b after a great repair job by Ian after it developed a crack down the seam. Also re-maidened was my Antares after catching a wing tip on launch last year at Wilbur Right and cracking the fuselage from the retract door opening up the side to the canopy, and another brilliant repair job by Ian.
And if you can guess who landed a little long with the Antares today you can post your answer here


Jeremy And Ben
SCCAAA TT TN

[RLake]

Tom McPherson and I will be arriving tomorrow shortly before noon from NW Florida. Tom has a new ASW-20 to maiden also. Make sure the shrimp cocktails are fresh!
Rick Lake

[Slappy]

I should be there tomorrow by lunch. I was planning on being there today, but a family emergency arose. Hopefully the rain will stay away long enough to pitch a tent. Looking forward to meeting you all and enjoying some soaring.

-Bryan

[Dave Forbes]

Maps says 3h 20m from G'ville should be there well before lunch. Tent might end up under the shelter, weather has gotten progressivly wetter since we cancelled our hotel arrangements :-o
Field looks fabulous. We fly in a hayfield here at San Felasco and grass height is already an issue.

See y'all soon
Dave

[Dave Forbes]

Curious as to why this post says "yesterday 11:28PM" when I just posted it less than half an hour ago?

[lenb]

Hi Dave,
That's due to the time differential associated with anti stellar transition indicators.

Looks like 8:48 to me.


Excellent flying today at the field. We started towing about 9 am and stopped about 6:30 because everyone was worn out and had sore necks. Booming lift at times today, nice weather and moderate breeze

Lots of new faces today too. Thanks to Mark Simmons for doing a bunch of towing today as well as Scott. We were able to keep the wait time down to a few minutes with the powerful tugs yanking the gliders aloft
Christian put on a show with his EDF powered ships, pretty darn impressive.
To indicate how the air was changing throughout the day, Pete Goldsmith put up a 1hr 16 min flight on his Weihn , then later could only get a 7min flight.

This plane is a dream to fly sailplanes from, if you've never been here you really should make it a priority.

[Turbine]

Snoopy just made his first more than 1 hour-long flight in 2016! Thank you, Pete for great towing.

[lenb]

Saturday ( Yesterday) was probably the greatest day I've personally every had aerotowing.
Crisp blue sky to start, slight breeze and a huge amount of sailplanes. The day's thermals started building around mid morning and never quit.
Even I logged and hour + flight on the 8m Duo Discus which could have easily been 2 or 3 hours with booming lift. The problem was lunch was called and I had to come down from around 2500 terreapixles ( that's about 398 ft ) with full flap and spoilers with the gear hanging out for extra drag.

There was so much going on yesterday it would take way more time than I have right now to describe. I will say the night ended about 10:00pm ( for me) with night flying, campfire and just plain ol' fun.

I'll post more detail and pictures when return home, now we have to get to the field to do it all over again.

[BStaley]

This is my first post so here goes...
I just wanted to say that I had a great time at SERA. It was great meeting all the great folks there and to say "Thanks" to Mac Hodges for the use of the fabulous facilities. Other than the rain delay we had on Friday we couldn't have asked for much better conditions. We camped out on the grounds and had everything we needed. I came up with my neighbor Mitch Barrack from Casselberry(who had all the camping gear) and Marc Simmons Thursday morning and we left Sat. afternoon. I got some great flights on my 6M Ventus, Reiher, TG-2 and Fox. I also got the first flights on tow plane I have that I converted to electric from glow and was very pleased. My buddy got his first aero-tow flight in also. It was also great seeing my long time Free Flight buddy Nathan Miller.So thanks again to Len, Peter and all the other guys for the great tows, and to Asher, Andy and others who did all the organizing work. I have some pics and some videos and will get them posted in a bit.
Bill Staley

[DB_02]

Hello

Just arrived home a few hours ago after the long drive. The traffic wasn't too bad. Overall we got SUPER lucky with great weather, and everything flew great! Big thanks to Mac for letting us use the field, and well, what a beautiful field it was! Thanks to Len and Pete and Asher... and all those who towed. As well as to Asher for his yummy lunches. Great job to all those who organized, and I m certainly looking forward to next year!

All the best

Dan

[kd4jaz]

What a fantastic event..........Special thanks to Scott and Len when I needed a new axle on my Pawnee! You guys were/are awesome. I'm glad I finally got to meet everyone in person. I had an great time with a fantastic group of people. I'll be back next year if you will have me . Thanks to Asher for being a "cooking machine" and all his efforts to keep the crowd fed. Mac's place is the ideal place to try new towing arrangements due to the wide open area. I was able to test the capabilities of my 25% Super Cub with it's new engine. Even got to do some "Velcro towing" with the smaller/lighter sailplanes. Modifications for next year: Much larger fuel tank for my Pawnee to reduce the number of fill ups and get more people in the air with less delays. This was my first experience with larger (7+ meters sailplanes), with Len's advice/tips and Peter Goldsmith's advice/tips it was a great learning experience for me. Thanks again EVERYONE, especially Mac for allowing us the use of his facility.

Marc

[Swiss1]

Well, what can I say? The weather for starters was perfect from Wednesday through Sunday but for one heavy rain shower that conveniently came at midday Friday which meant just a longer lunch Break. There were only 2 major incidents (Crashes) and those were brought to you by Team Alabama! (ROLL TIDE).........that's the first time I have ever typed that Snatch started the entertainment by jettisoning both wings of his ASW 20 shortly after releasing from tow. He planted the Fuselage in a nice grassy area in the wooded area (Bullseye) it took 2 trips 2 trash bags and tools to excavate the Lead Ballast and debris.

The wings landed perfectly side by side in the pond and will be OK once we install the bilge pumps


That brings us to my incident, it was the first outing for my Discus 2b after repair from a previous accident, I guess the wing repair was not good enough. I had flown the plane for 2 days with no incidents until I did a dive test and the right wing fractured at the repair point, shortly after that the other wing departed and the fuselage made an impressive thud when hitting terra firma.
As you can see Gunther the pilot has no head for hights.

Jeremy and Ben
SCCAAA TT TN

[Swiss1]

Some did not get the sail part memo...........................
When you have 2 of something it becomes competition!, a fun lunch break.
To sum it up it was a great weekend meeting new people and the regulars, to many names to remember, but a big thank's to Asher and Andy for doing the daily things that need to be done at one of these events, and Mac for the use of his great facility. To all the tow pilots, even if a Turbine Porter only has enough fuel for 5 tows. Len did get to check off a box by towing Tom Harper's Hemple Ka-8 with the Turbine and Andy just had fun to fly it!

This one gets the SCC of approval

Jeremy and Ben
SCCAAA TT TN

[BCarter]

I wanted to take a moment to encourage anyone who has not been to an aerotow to give it a try. Don't let a lack of previous experience or, as in my case, even a respectable scale glider prevent you from going out and participating.

I'd never aerotowed before arriving, and didn't even have a towhook on my 2.5M mostly foam ASW28. No worries, add a patch of velcro under the nose and up we went. Rather than scoff people were glad to see one more person hooked by the experience.

You often hear people say we'll be glad to help or you will be welcome but this is a group whose actions speak louder than their words. Everyone at the event was relaxed, friendly and approachable. They are not only willing to help they overtly make that known and do everything possible to help you succeed. They gave generously of their time, talent, parts and tools. Tow pilots and those assisting with the gear work non stop to make sure everyone gets to fly as much as they want.

You can sense that these are people doing something for the love of it and they want more people to discover it. Everything from world class fliers to rank amateurs like myself all in one place enjoying some amazing conditions at a venue that would be difficult to improve on.

I stood by as Peter flew a vintage scale sailplane for 65 minutes while participating in the pilot's meeting from the comfort of his lawn chair. The pleasure he experienced was tangible.

Len and Christian did some impromptu low level formation aerobatics with beautiful modern ships like it was just another day at the local field. I think they may have been discussing the weather as they flew by.

Tom arrived Saturday morning, proceeded to assemble about a half dozen large gliders and a tow plane and I'm sure he flew each of them, some several times, before packing up Saturday night. These are not hanger pilots. He still had time to visit with anyone who stopped by.

Caroline, the one female pilot in attendance seemed to be almost continuously in the air. Scale aerotow might have an advantage in appealing to a males and females as the sometimes unfortunate aspect that can come from men in competition was notably absent. There is much more a feeling of a shared passion for gliders old and new and the challenge of keeping a heavier than air craft floating using only the available air currents.

Machines ranged from inexpensive 2 meter foam scale gliders to 6 plus meter wingspan works of art costing several thousand dollars. How many places are you going to go and have someone hand you the transmitter of a high end scale plane so you can see what it feels like for yourself?

I had a friend who used to say some things you do for bucks and some for yucks. Scale aerotow people are definitely doing the latter. They are trying to share the message one pilot at a time. As a result the people who are converted are true enthusiasts. There can't be many better ways to build a niche hobby than that.

Do yourself a favor and attend an aerotow in the near future. The people and the planes are both going to exceed your expectations.

I know I'm determined to be prepared for the next event I can make it to. Hopefully I'll be as successful at passing on the enthusiasm as the group I met this weekend at the Southeast Regional Aerotow.

[Slappy]

I just wanted to add my sentiment to what BCarter said. This event was a fantastic experience for a new guy like me. Everyone I met was welcoming and more than willing to take the time to answer questions and share their passion for RC aerotowing and sailplanes. Len, Dan, and Jeremy, thank you so much for giving me a little stick time on your fantastic models. You guys sure know how to bait a hook!

I'm so glad I made the time to come to this event, and I highly encourage everyone who has never been to an aerotow to do the same. You will see some of the most incredible model aircraft in existence, meet some of the friendliest people around, learn from a group of very talented and passionate RC enthusiasts, and have some awesome fun. My only regret is that I could not stay for the entire event. I'll fix that next year.

Thank you to everyone who helped organize and run this event. It was an absolute pleasure to meet everyone. I hope to see you all again at another aerotow.

-Bryan