December 2005 — Vol. 22, No. 12 - RC Soaring - RCSoaring.com

The Grob 103 on tow.
Since Bill was busy, I teamed up with
member Keith Colmer, a commercial rated
glider pilot, Air Force test pilot and new
member to LVVSA. He had compassion on
me and agreed to take me up for the
customary charges for a visiting pilot.
The lift had been pretty weak and other
pilots had been coming back down
without any altitude gain after release. I
believe we had the honor of being the first
to work some lift from the face of the
highest hill that can be seen over the nose
of the Grob in the shot with Keith and me.
We don’t know how much of the lift was
slope lift and how much was from
thermals off the side of the hill facing the
sun, but we worked ~6 knot lift for a while.
Without much stick time, I was clumsy
and didn’t get as much as Keith could have
gotten out of that thermal, but the point is
that I got to thermal the beautiful ’glass
ship, mix with glider pilots, and got the
feel of being a member of a glider club.
So my recommendation to you, an RC
sailplane enthusiast, is to try full size
soaring.
Jim and his Speed Astir.
November 2005 25