First Coastal Flight!

[SilentPilot]

Finally got some spare time while we were over Filey way to get the models out!

I didn’t think the wind was strong enough for my Sunbird and cliffs were steep so I went for my trusty e-Sunbird. 

First flight was alright on the climb out under power but got squirrelly once gliding. I got low and so reapplied the power to climb away but things took a turn for the worse... The torque roll really upset it and made things worse. I didn’t want to lose sight of it under the edge so turned in, added more power and tried to climb away. Bad move. I lost sight and I t came down high up the cliff/slope. 

Second flight was the same but I was ready for the twitchyness. 

Not good. I needed to land pronto. I brought it round and lined up for a nice crow landing when it flicked about 5’ up and crashed in. Luckily no damage. 

This was when we checked the CG. 

50% chord  I thought it was a handful at Baildon but I guess even Baildon is laminar compared to this site!

I moved the battery ‘from where I always have it’ to as far forward as it would go. Now roughly 1/3 chord and it behaved MUCH better. 

I’d have loved to fly more but my confidence was shot and more models were turning up. 

One guy had a great session with an Alula. Wish I’d brought mine, I’d have flown it from the bottom of the cliffs while at the beach  

 

So... Lesson learnt. Never mind where you usually have the CG, check it’s in the ballpark before taking to challenging sites  

 

Tony

[Biggles]

Tony,

Look after the Sunbird - I'm still looking for one to fit in my TR4A. I made an offer for one recently from a friend on our slope. He almost bit, then had a flight and snapped it in half. He wishes he had accepted my offer.

I also had a coastal experience in some cracking easterlies down in Cornwall. In my opinion these sites are the best, and in shorts and tee shirt, not often seen on my local slopes.

See you on the slope.

[SilentPilot]

Yes, Sir!

Sunbirds are amazing little gliders. So versatile.
The only thing I’d do differently if I had another would be to leave room for access to a ballast tube. It’s no biggie though, if the wind is strong enough then I fly my MiniVec  

There was one occasion though when both my Willow and Pike picked up damage in transit to an F3F Winter League meet so the Sunbird came out for a race. Could certainly have done with some ballast in it that day  

Tony