FxRES March 2025 2m F3L/F5L Monthly Duration Challenge

[martynk]

FxRES Monthly Postal Rules

This is a “for fun” challenge for UK based pilots. Anyone may enter with:

1. a bungee-launched F3L specification glider using the reduced length Hi-Start. The reduced length Hi-Start bungee has a maximum of 10m of 6/4mm surgical tubing and 50m of static line (minimum 30lb breaking strain). Lighter/smaller/shorter bungee rubber may be used.

OR

2. an Electric motor launched F5L specification glider fitted with an Altitude Limiter set to 60m and a maximum motor run time of 20 seconds.

Object: Fly your F3L or F5L glider for as long as possible from a flat field. Each monthly challenge will commence on the 1st day of the Calendar month and  the person who's time is unbeaten at the end of the Calendar Month 'wins' and a new challenge will start. The annual challenge league will end on the 31st December of each year. A new annual challenge league will then commence on the 1st of January.

Rules:

Models must comply with the Model Specification rules for F3L or F5L as appropriate.

You may self-time your own flights

Flight times begin when the tow-line falls from the tow-hook  for F3L or in the case of a F5L glider when the motor stops.

The model must land in the launch field or (if there is no field boundary) within 150m of the launch position for times to count. There is no landing bonus.

If you are using a bungee launch (for this event or any other), then the launch line MUST be secured using a corkscrew dog tether or similar bungee stake to minimise the risk of injury caused by a loose stake.

Scores must be submitted on the relevant monthly postal event posting on the FxRES forum at www.barcs.co.uk/forums/   

Scoring flights must be submitted within 24 hours of the flight taking place.

A flight log graph from the Altitude limiter should also be submitted if entering with a F5-RES glider.

All scoring flights must start with a hand release from Ground Level with (if applicable), the motor running.

No flight information telemetry permitted except for Received signal strength and Receiver battery status.

Submitted scores will be amalgamated into an annual league. Points will be awarded as follows:  1st -25 points, 2nd - 22points, 3rd - 20 points, 4th to 22nd, 19 to 1 point respectively.

You may enter as many times as you wish using as many different models as you wish, but only your longest duration flight will count towards the league position. Separate entries (best flight in each) will be recorded for those who fly both F3L and F5L.

Please enter your best/latest monthly scores below in the following format...

ON THE FIRST LINE OF YOUR POST

Model Name : Class (F3L or F5L) : Date of flight : Time Claimed

Any text or commentary or images please add afterwards.  Thanks  

[Carl]

Magic 2 SL : F5L : 01/03/2025 : 13 mins 27 secs

It was good to see my Magic 2 flying again after yesterdays stupid mistake (flying with a low battery). I managed to squeeze in one of my FrSky S. Port voltage sensors to avoid making the same mistake.

I'm finding the Magic 2 SL flies so much better with some ballast, even when there is just a gentle breeze. So instead of an AUW of 390g, I was flying at approx. 450g. I was going to experiment with more ballast, but the wind was getting stronger by then.

Anyway, only had a short bit of time to fly, down in my local field. Lovely conditions. There were spells of thermals and spells of nothing. So just waited until my streamer indicated a potential thermal and went for it. That's what happened with this flight of 13 mins and 27 secs (about 12:30pm), and was achieved with a lot of work. I was flying in one thermal to then another as my streamer indicated one direction, then another, then another. Half way I was sinking, so started hunting round until finding other light thermals to extend the flight. Then there just wasn't anything else. I do prefer these sort of flights, as it's more of a challenge and builds my skills as apposed to the single boomer that takes you up and up to some ridiculous height (although that is quite thrilling when it happens as well as testing my eyesight).

By 1pm, as usual the afternoon winds starting picking up, and even with more ballast it was clear it was time to call it a day, so packed up and went home. So a nice start to March.

 

Carl

[MikevE]

Encanto F5L : 01-03-2025 : 65m8s

Secret flying location, epic thermal weather just like yesterday when I was flying F5J and did a 9:59, 38m launch, 50 point landing. Confidence inspiring weather at the beginning of the season and very good for practice.

 

[Pete in Northiam]

PuRES : F3L  : 01-Mar-25 : 4 m 42 s (282 s)

Nice start Carl and Mike!  I got out this morning, too, but did less well with finding - and staying in - lift.  Pevensey Levels in a northeasterly means air coming from Kent instead of the Channel.  Got there just as the fog cleared and I was in the air as the first wisps of cumulus started in otherwise blue sky trying to find lift.  Unfortunately the forecast proved correct with wind speeds climbing beyond not-worth-it by noon.  This was the best of the couple of hours.  

Three unstable bobbles of air offering some support but none of which I could properly centre in.  The vertical speed graph shows me climbing and diving each turn.  Still, it's a time on the board for myself to beat  

Then after the (surface) winds picked up and just I was packing up and reeling in the bungee, I hear the cry of many rooks.  Sure enough, there were something like 40 rooks above me in a big fat thermal, the leaders already at 200+feet and laughing loudly as they climbed in order to teach me a lesson in thermaling (I should be so lucky!).  I watched them get to maybe 1500' where I could barely see them but they looked pretty close the the cloud base. 

I got some great lessons from watching that gang climb.  The first was the laggards, too, were struggling to get "into" the low-level lift.  But soon I was amazed at how wide the lift patch became.  I'd estimate 75 m wide at 100 m altitude and they were just stooging around in it, not asiduously circling.  And, oddly, as they climbed I'm pretty sure they were moving downwind less quickly than at lower levels.  So maybe I can be braver heading up downwind?  

And then the gang broke up.  Two groups went off cross wind.  The remainders mostly broke into pairs and dog-fighted they way down, literally tumbling about and playing for 1000 feet of descent.  I took a video near the top of their flight but the file is way is too big for this forum.  I'll see if I can upload it to Facebook but even on that when I had zoomed in 4 times they are tiny, so if FB dgrades the quality it will just look like blue sky and clouds [edit: that's what happened].  So here's screen shot from my monitor.  If you open the image and zoom in you can make our about 20 of them almost directly above me.  

Edited March 3 by Pete in Northiam
Facebook video fail

[Pete in Northiam]

4 minutes ago, MikevE said:

Encanto F5L : 01-03-2025 : 65m8s

Secret flying location, epic thermal weather just like yesterday when I was flying F5J and did a 9:59, 38m launch, 50 point landing. Confidence inspiring weather at the beginning of the season and very good for practice.

 

Jeez!  Boom! But how did you even see it at 750m?!

[MikevE]

Only 675m or so. I was having trouble, for sure.

[Richard Newsham]

4 minutes ago, MikevE said:

Only 675m or so. I was having trouble, for sure.

No sneezing and if a random dog decides to pee on your leg it a matter of just letting it! No taking your eyes off that dot in the sky.

[Matthew]

Red Eagle | F5L | 1st March | 6 min 21 sec

Another lovely day for flying, warm and still air. For lots of flights I'd find lift but wouldn't manage to get away (~4 minute flights), had one where I managed to eek it out a little longer before coming back.

I did properly catch one later on and almost made it up to 300m, (I've no idea how you see it and fly it at over twice that height, but well done @MikevE) however I don't think I properly cut my motor after the initial launch so am not claiming this time:

Maybe tomorrow will bring something better.

[cirrusRC]

F5Res | Purito | 1st March | 52 mins 28 seconds.

What a lovely spring like St David's Day.

A little breezier today, no clouds, poor seeing and weaker lift but warm and smooth thermals. 

3 flights over 40 mins but couldn't chain them.  Best was my very first flight.   Lots of feathered friends.

Well done @MikevE great flight.

[MikevE]

Thanks @cirrusRC! My longest model thermal flight by far.

[MikevE]

Epic weather again today. I went and did a little practice, but TBH I won't be trying to beat my personal record from yesterday.

[AnthonyB]

Please excuse this.

If you are an “expert” just move along.

If you are not getting past 5mins, then I am trying to help.

My first thermal aid is my local Kestrel. If it is sat in a tree in my garden, it is pointless even trying – There is NO lift.

But look how well it blends into its tree. It was cold this morning, so its feathers are puffed up.

The other thing is Gulls. I have hundreds pass over each day. Get used to your plane such that you can leave it gliding away whilst you look all round for signs. Also learn the “body language” of the gulls (and crows). If there is little or no lift, they “trudge” - they flap at a constant rate in a determined way. If there is light lift, they continue to flap, but with a lower beat rate, but not constant. As we all know they will all gather in a good thermal – but that is the easy one.

If I am circling (and going up) Gulls will join me. You know they will have a go because they will stop flapping. Mostly they will leave, because their wing loading is far higher than mine and they don't go up. Sometimes they stay, circle and flap, they gain more easy height in that spot.

We also have Buzzards. I only see them when the lift is good over my fields. They don't care if it is one kind of thermal or another, wave lift or slope lift. They just use whatever there is.

I used to have lots of Swallows, which feed off insects. When I first moved here I removed the open cesspits, where the insects bred, no insects – no Swallows.

Insects probably only rise to about 4m, if they are higher, it is because a thermal has lifted them. Swallows feeding above 20m are in a thermal.

If I am having a real session, I put out between 2 and 6 seven foot canes with a bunch of tinsel on the top. I put them along a fence line a good 100m up wind from where I will fly. If you just look along the line, they will point to where the best rising air is. Not only that, they will lift well above horizontal if the lift is close. A good 100 yards away, because if it is close to you, you are down wind before you start. If the model is over your head or you are down wind, by the time you are getting near the indicators, the lift has moved closer to you.

I prefer very low wind days, these indicators really do mark out the air movement.

They will move very freely, even when an anemometer does not even register.

In that case I can also fly very light models – My preferred research recently.

[StraightEdge]

Medina - F5L - 02 Mar 2025 - 13mins 42secs

Following Carl's recent example, I nearly lost my own model today due to an extremely low battery... but for a very different reason!

Beautiful blue skies, constant sunshine, little ambient wind strength, some gentle thermal cycles etc - from midday onwards had lots of floaty flights of a few minutes each but couldn't catch anything proper.

Then the flight below.  Nothing exciting happened at first... except that I made a brief silly mistake 30secs after the Altis cut the motor at 60m by knocking the 3-way throttle switch on but hit it immediately off again!  It couldn't have been active for more than half a second or so at the half-throttle position (see the "Throttle Out" spike below), so I didn't think it would really disqualify me, and anyway I wasn't expecting anything different to the several unspectacular flights which had preceded it.

But then, about a minute later the model came properly alive and started ascending, and I was joined by a red kite for the first time!  At about 5mins it was at good height (200m on the log below).  It was at this point that I made the same mistake in knocking the damned switch on again... but this time I couldn't hear the motor (and don't have a sound alert on the Tx) so remained unaware!  The kite and the model continued circling in what was clearly, finally (and anyway) a very good, well-developed thermal.  But nearing ten minutes the kite peeled off and as the model was getting very small indeed and impossible to see its orientation (or at all sometimes) deployed the spoiler.

When the model was down below 100m but still a way downwind, I couldn't work out why it wasn't responding normally, so finally glanced at the Tx screen and realised that the flight battery was only showing about 8 volts!... urgh!... the damned switch again!.. hit it off as needed every last bit of juice for the controls, and brought the model in to land close by.  One parrot-dead lipo of course - and a terrible waste of a superb thermal - but thankfully a safe model!

  

 

I've now got rid of the three way shoulder-switch and returned to the slider on the side as much safer, but the question is why does one really need the "Emergency Motor ON" box ticked?... never had that option with bungee-launch!

 

Not a lot to say about this slightly later one - the 13mins 42secs I'm posting - except that it mostly all took place below 100m and was very pleasant.

 

[cirrusRC]

Jon. Add function, to sound warning when Rx voltage goes below certain amount.  This protects you against such scenarios and also if a cell suddenly goes bad. 

I use 3 position switch, you need to add some arming logic which prevents restart unless you go through arming process.  I have to pull momentary switch for 2 seconds to arm motor,   it disarms when timer starts.      

[cirrusRC]

F3L | Purito | 2nd March 2025 | 1 hour 14 mins 22 seconds

The Spring equinox certainly delivered.   What a fabulous spring days flying we had yesterday.   Zero wind,  warmish, silky smooth static lift in abundance up high.   Only negative -  lack of clouds made visibility a little tricky.   

In an effort to represent the F3L category,   I retrimmed the model and it's now flying much better.     Was quite surprised to get away from a hand launch in March.     Took my recliner along for maximum comfort.

After the initial excitement,  it was a very straight forward hour flight.   I spent as much time trying to lose height as gaining.     After the hour mark,  a cool breeze blew through and killed the entire sky of lift.

 

[Pete in Northiam]

18 hours ago, AnthonyB said:

...  If I am having a real session, I put out between 2 and 6 seven foot canes with a bunch of tinsel on the top. ...

Excellent tips Anthony. On wind indicators in particular, I'm lucky at Pevensey as the Levels' ditches are full of tall reeds - natural tinsel! But I plan making a set like yours for the Invicta MF field which has tightly-cut hedging

[Pete in Northiam]

Not the equinox until March 21 or 22 @cirrusRC Think you mean the Ides? Not that that went well for some...

[mikef]

41 minutes ago, cirrusRC said:

F3L | Purito | 2nd March 2025 | 1 hour 14 mins 22 seconds

The Spring equinox certainly delivered.    ……….. 

The Spring Equinox isn't until March 20th at 0901 - it was your flying skills that delivered (again) …

Pete was typing at the same time.  The Ides of March is the 15th.  The magic yesterday was in the air and the flyer.

[StraightEdge]

2 hours ago, cirrusRC said:

Jon. Add function, to sound warning when Rx voltage goes below certain amount.  This protects you against such scenarios and also if a cell suddenly goes bad. 

I use 3 position switch, you need to add some arming logic which prevents restart unless you go through arming process.  I have to pull momentary switch for 2 seconds to arm motor,   it disarms when timer starts.      

David, I've had exactly this voltage warning programmed in since I first set up the Medina.  But I've just had a look and discovered going through my past backups that sometime at the end of 2023 the A2 (voltage value) fields in the Tx logical switches and special functions menus were all mysteriously corrupted to become something calling itself FO10 (nonsense value)!  So I've just now re-done the original programming.

Re re-arming I've always relied on the Altis settings to prevent this, but I think what happened yesterday was that my first momentary mistake engaged the 'emergency re-start' after which it then remained open for the later more critical mistake to happen!

The reason for returning to the side slider for throttle however is that that it can never be confused with any other switches!

Still mulling over whether to untick the Emergency Re-Start in the Altis settings...?

 

PS - superb flight, well done, and great video too!   What time were you out?

[AnthonyB]

1 hour ago, Pete in Northiam said:

Excellent tips Anthony. On wind indicators in particular, I'm lucky at Pevensey as the Levels' ditches are full of tall reeds - natural tinsel! But I plan making a set like yours for the Invicta MF field which has tightly-cut hedging

I have trees / bushes all round and they will indicate disturbances, signalling that there is activity.

BUT when tinsel lifts above horizontal and points, it is far better.

We have always had a wheely bin full of canes and the tinsel is for door openings (??) and costs pennies.

There are various ways it blows and goes, but after a short while you can read it like a big red neon sign.

Also, try it in various places, after a while you will see that round your fields you have hot spots.