Hi Guys
I travelled over to join up with the pilots of the PSSA , on the slopes of the famous 'Great Orme' in north wales. It all started at 5.00am Saturday morning, car packed to the roof, bid farewell to my lovely wife, and off to
the ferry in Dublin. First port of call, was a meeting with Fred at Dublin port, who handed me a very large roll of thin ply, filling the front seat as well, lucky I drive a people carrier.
I arrived in Holyhead around 10.45am and after about an hours drive to Llandudno, I drove along marine drive and up into the tank track car park. I could have arrived at the Orme a lot sooner, however I kept stopping along the route, to take photos of the beautiful scenery. There was quite a gathering by the time I arrived, and after a few introductions by Phil and Simon around the local pilots, I was soon rigged up and taking my first flight of the Orme ( a Great Orme Virgin !).
One of the best photos taken by Phil of my 787 in a low pass.
I flew the 787 dreamliner for my maiden flight, and soon was soaring high up in the strong lift. After about a 15min flight and a few long passes for the cameras, It was the turn of the Mig 29 to take to the air, which didn't go well at the start due to the wrong amount of down elevator trim, sending the model down low over the sea, however I managed to guide the Mig out into the lift zone and slowly regained height, until she was soaring fast along the ridge along with the other jet models and a big pat on the back from Phil!
Another fantastic photo by Phil, this time the Mig 29 in full reheat!
I was starting to enjoy myself now, so I decided that the small B52 was next to fly, and along with Simon flying his larger B52, we flew a series of low beat ups along the slope in, at one stage very close formation passes. After I landed my own B52, Simon handed me the controls of his model, which flew very similiar to my big B52. This model has a set of whistlers installed, which makes a great engine sound on the fast low passes and looked very realistic in the air.
Two B52's on a Bombing run in formation
I had a ball flying the little BD5 in the strong lift, however the f14, which once again, did not fly well and was damaged on landing, even after some input from Matt who has flown the same model.
I took a rest from the flying, and with tea in hand, I sat back and watched Simon,Phil and Matt, perform some very close in formation flying along the slope, then simon took out the big Canberra and flew one of the best flights I have ever scene on the slope, with a very large PSS model, ('boy, can this guy fly a model')
The B52, Shooting Star and a hawk coming in close together on a low pass.
Simon flying his very large Canberra on a very fast low pass.
The light was dropping fast but I still had time for a quick flight with the Quark 2m, which after a quick trim out, was handed to Simon, who give the little model a good workout ( Simon will be doing a review of the Quark 2m in RCME). So last on the slope and last off the slope, I had a great day's flying and enjoyed every minute of it. That night we all met up and went for a meal, a couple of drinks and of course a lot of flying stories.
A group photo of the pilots on Saturday
The next day was the total opposite to Saturday with zero wind, which was a pity, because a bigger crowd of pilots arrived with some fantastic PSS models which included a flying dinosaur, however, all was not lost, with a good collection of electric gliders taking to the air and plenty of chat and craic in the car park among the pilots. I got the chance to meet up with Ray Jones of the Dragon models company, who first sold the kits for the M339 and the Magister which Islandmodels will be adding soon to their range of models. Ray brought along three fine examples of the twomodels which after nearly twenty five years of flying service still looked
amazing and attracted a lot of attention.
Ray Jones (in the middle) and some of the local pilots display four fine examples of the M339 and Magister
I headed back to Holyhead around 6.00pm and got back to Armagh around 1.30am, indeed the journey home was very smooth, except, I got stopped by a lovely young Holyhead port security lady, who stopped the car and asked me to open the boot, then called over to two police constables who started to walk over quicky to the car, however, thinking I was about to get arrested for heaven knows what, the lady looked at me and said " sorry about this sir, but the two constables asked me to stop you because they seen the model planes in the back of your car, and one of them is a keen RC model pilot". Ten mins later and after a good look at the planes I was allowed to proceed.
Overall the weekend was just brillant, great weather, good lift onSaturday, a great sellection of models to view, and most importantly, a great bunch of friendly guys who made me feel very welcome and right at home.
A big thank you to Phil, Simon & Sue, Matt, Tim, Ray and all the local pilots ( sorry guys but to many names to list) who made the weekend so special, hopefully I will be back next year.
If you want any info on PSS flying, checkout the PSSA website:
www.pssaonline.co.ukHere are some more photos from the event :
The Mig29 takes to the air
B52 wingman cleared for take off!
A fantastic p47 from the hanger 9 kit converted for slope soaring
Great way to keep warm :?:
Phil Cooke's Shooting Star on a fast low pass for the cameras
This is the way to fly! Tim takes it easy in very relaxed mode :clap:
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