Oct - Rcsoaring.com

spin and managed to fly the plane backto the field! Mike Lee was downwindin the trees looking for someone else’splane when he heard the collision andspotted the falling wing tip panel. Eventhough Mike got a great spot on wherethe wing tip fell, it took eight of us, armspan apart and trying to “swim” throughweeds and corn taller than us before wefound it. Without Mike’s spot, the wing tipwould still be in Turkey.The damaged leading edge was cutaway and a replacement section fromthe leading edge of a Supra was cut tofit and glued in place. Some carbon towimpregnated with epoxy was applied tothe fuselage and the whole area wrappedin thick Mylar. After allowing the epoxyto cure, the next morning the plane wasairworthy.Also in Round 2, a plane on launchtouched the underside of Rich Burnoski’sSupra. The plane next to him sufferedsome wing tip damage and Rich’s planeappeared undamaged.Dave Kalamen and Kelly Johnson, themonster towmen for the USA JuniorTeam were also towing for Team NewZealand. These two managed to blow upa carbon Pike Perfect on Launch. Theplane was repaired with carbon cloth, CAand finishing resin. The plane flew again.Kelly and Dave changed their towingtechnique at the request of DaveBeardsley, John Walter and BobThe Friday before the fly-offs, Mustafa Toc, from Team Turkey, brought inhis helicopter to help search for lost planes. Even eyes-in-the-sky wereunsuccessful, and none of the missing planes were found.McGowan (all Junior team dads) andJoe Wurts at the request of the Kiwis.In higher wind they would let the glidersstop them, but not give ground. Theyalso started briefing pilots before eachflight on what the towers were goingto do for the conditions and directedthe pilots to watch their flex and fly thelaunch, because the towers cannot seewhat is going on.I hope you are beginning to understanda monofilament launch with big towmenand a great launcher in a big headwind isway more powerful than anything you willever see from a Thermal Duration launch.These launches were downright violent!On a Thermal Duration winch, if you overload the winch, the winch just slowsdown. It is impossible for a typical TDwinch to put the forces on a plane thattwo monster towmen can do in windyconditions.Radio issues struck Jeffery Walter inRound 5. Jeffery was using one radio,but like everyone else was taking twoplanes to the launch area. Confusedelectrons made his primary plane unflyable.He switched models in his radioto the backup plane and another caseof confused electrons. Jeff was forcedto retire from the round. Back in the pits,Jeffery successfully bound his planesto his backup radio and finished thecompetition.October 2008 23