Messages

1

Slope Soaring / Greetings All

« on: April 02, 2014, 16:06:11 PM »

Thanks Fred,
It's been a looooong winter over here in the oil fields of North Dakota. The last Month has been tough, 60 degrees F one day 6 degrees 2 days later with 4 or 5 inches of new snow. Hope all are well has been fun to look in on your forum, I once again misplaced my password and had to have Fred reset it for me.  Haven't done much flying, no time and one of the guys at my facility ran over one of my RC bags with the skidsteer and destroyed my Hitec multicharger. :evil: wasn't paying attention and didn't offer to replace it so haven't had any way to charge my lipo batteries to even fly my Radian.  Hope to replace that soon and get back into the air. Hope you all are well and look forward to posting some pics of some outings soon. Freedom Flyer. Tracy

2

Slope Soaring / New slope sites

« on: May 08, 2013, 02:54:29 AM »

Will do gents, but the wind has to blow first.  This has been so strange not to have the wind blowing, this makes  for 4 days running of dead calm.  Pretty unheard of in this part of the country.  I'll post something as soon as I can, thanks for the interest. Tracy

3

Slope Soaring / New slope sites

« on: May 06, 2013, 10:29:44 AM »

Keith,
       Yes I do believe I'll be able to control myself and get myself to the job when needed.  Ironically, the wind blows here all the time from all directions and after finding these hills to fly on there hasn't been a stitch of wind. Go figure :?  I see the windsock atop our tanks is starting to move some so hopefully tomorrow I'll get some stick time  


Andrew,
       If your guys can be here by noon I should be up and ready to go.  I figure 6 hrs rest after the night shift should be plenty, that will give us about 5 hrs of flying, at least me anyway, you gents can keep on if you'd like.    
 I did mount some LED's in a couple of my planes so when I'm on day shift and the daylight is waning I should be able to keep on going.
That really is the disappointing factor of the whole deal, there isn't anyone to share this with. Unless  my brothers come out this summer for a road trip. :!:  :!:  Oh well I'll have to enjoy it for them. I'll keep you posted. Tracy

4

Slope Soaring / New slope sites

« on: May 05, 2013, 07:15:58 AM »

Hey Gents,
Had a pretty exciting day today, I secured permission to fly on some private property today.  I am working about 800KM from home and have been looking for someplace to fly my sailplanes.  I made a phone call about a month or so ago to a local land owner to see if he would allow access to some buttes on his property.  He said that it sounded okay but he would like to meet me and put a face to a name. I went for a drive today and had an incredible visit with this gentleman.  After explaining exactly what my intentions were and assuring him I wouldn't go on the property unless it was completely dry or frozen solid he granted access to 3 different "hills" or "buttes" on his land.  He said that it really sounded like fun and hoped I would enjoy myself, so..... if the wind is blowing tomorrow which it does almost every day here, I will go give it a try.  The best part is it's only about 10 or so Kilometers from my work place and residence out here, and, he said I can drive to the top as long as I don't tear things up as there is no road going to the top of these buttes.
Tracy

This is one of 3 buttes, this one being the farthest west and showing the south facing side of the hill.

same butte, SW side


Same butte West side, kind of small but would work in a pinch.


Same butte, East side


From atop the Farthest west butte looking East to the middle butte, should be able to fly on slopes facing W, SW, S, SE and East.


This is a hill the locals call Grassy Butte.  You are looking at the North West and North sides.  The right side of the hill is facing NW and is about 100 meters wide, the left side of the hill faces directly North and is about 70 meters wide.


This is the North facing slope of Grasy Butte.


This is the SE fascing slope of Grassy Butte.


Another photo from the SE showing the SE and South facing sides.


This is a photo from atop of Grassy Butte Looking West at the east slope of the Middle butte.


This photo was taken from atop Grassy Butte looking West at the other two buttes, All Three can't be more thatn 2 1/2 to 3 Km from each  other.

5

Slope Soaring / 21st April, a Sunny day with westerly winds

« on: May 02, 2013, 15:02:19 PM »

Nice Photos, maybe one day I'll get out :cry: Never seems to be time when I come home on my days off. I did get permission to fly on some slopes while I'm on my work rotation away from home. Problem is won't be anyone there to take any pics. But I can take some pics of the slopes. Thanks for sharing your outing. Tracy.

6

Slope Soaring / More slope fun

« on: May 02, 2013, 14:55:15 PM »

Beautiful pictures, I especially like the last one, great sunset, Thank You. Freedom Flyer

7

Slope Soaring / 16th + 17th March event

« on: March 25, 2013, 17:10:49 PM »

Keith,

Thanks so much for the clarification of those pictured. As I look back through the pictures it's nice to be able to put the names to the faces. Incidently, Car "tyre" or "tire" is fine, I certainly don't call my vehicle an automobile, I aint that proper  .

I have a question concerning the little ASW that Richard was flying, our local hobby shop is selling those things and I've been curious as to what wind conditions they will handle.

Is that Orange and Yellow plane a Gentle Lady sitting in that bush? They are just a good ole' stand by.

You guys look like a great bunch of people, and that a great time was had.  We could only be so lucky to have a group like yours to fly socialize with. And hats off to the sweet ladies taking care of you gentlemen while you're out flying, that's pretty cool to see some wives involved with the group. Keep the pics coming, I'm going to make sure to share these with my brothers. Tracy (FF)

8

The French Corner / irlande en avril

« on: March 24, 2013, 14:54:25 PM »

Lorsque le vent est bon, il est vaut le l'entraînement

9

The French Corner / irlande en avril

« on: March 24, 2013, 03:32:39 AM »

Oui, nous sommes très gâtés quand le vent coopère

10

The French Corner / irlande en avril

« on: March 23, 2013, 19:46:12 PM »

Il ne fonctionne pas très bien désolé

11

The French Corner / irlande en avril

« on: March 23, 2013, 19:29:27 PM »

J'ai pensé que je pourrais essayer quelque chose d'un peu différent. Je ne parle pas français, mais pensé que je pourrais laisser l'ordinateur le faire pour moi. Un peu plus de travail pour moi, mais peut être utile de donner à ceci un essai de rencontrer plus de patrons de base à travers l'étang. Voici quelques photos de notre piste favorite, Une regarder du Nord. Nous sommes capables de voler avec des vents du sud-ouest sur ​​une pente qui se trouve sur la face arrière. c'est notre rôle au favori de cette butte de voler sur que c'est seulement 30-35 mètres de haut. Il fonctionne, mais pas notre préféré et parfois nous ne sommes pas prêts à faire le 50km de voler. Comme la colline s'enroule autour du sud au nord et plus à l'Est, il devient plus grand et plus lisse au visage.
  On peut voler avec des vents de l'Ouest, du Nord-Ouest, Nord, Nord-Est et de l'Est. Voici quelques premières photos du bas vers le sud, puis à partir de là-haut regarder d'abord vers l'ouest, puis le nord, puis vers l'est puis vers le sud. Les photos des avions sont quelques-uns de mes frères et de mes avions.

12

Slope Soaring / 16th + 17th March event

« on: March 23, 2013, 12:26:29 PM »

Any way one of you guys could sort out who's who in the pics so I could put a faces to names? FF

13

Slope Soaring / 16th + 17th March event

« on: March 19, 2013, 14:08:33 PM »

John,

Thanks for posting all of those wonderful picutres, Looks like that was a great time was had.  Wish we had that kind of commitment from a group of guys here!
With the population of our state and the sailplane fliers per capita, we'd be lucky to get half that many guys to show up. Well done guys :clap:  :clap: FF

14

Slope Soaring / only fools and horses

« on: March 14, 2013, 14:25:00 PM »

I remember that plane, there were a couple of guys that around here that had them, they seemed to be pretty decent little planes.  Get that thing fixed and back in the air , sometimes it's fun to just have a old everyday cruiser.  I've got an old Hobby Lobby Senior Telemaster I just put around the sky with once in a while, just flying at 1/4 throttle I can get almost 20 minutes of floating around. I've got some lights in it and it's fun to just cruise around at night. FF

15

Slope Soaring / only fools and horses

« on: March 13, 2013, 17:44:27 PM »

Richard,

I have hopes of them someday joining the hobby, just not their interest right now, both are basketball players and that seems to be their focus for now which is okay. I really enjoy watching them play and seeing not only their physical growth but their leadership growth as well.  My Oldest just got back from a mission trip to Nicaragua lastnight, heard very good reports from chaparones of his work ethic and leadership, always good to hear about your kids.  
Any way hope that one day they will join me in this wonderful hobby and when I'm 81 they'll be taking me out  :lol:. I was after my 3 brothers for over 20 years before 2 of them caught the bug and they were in their 40's and 50's, they both have said they've never enjoyed a hobby this much so there's always hope for my boys.

selleri,
Yeah, I have a lot of fun with the covering on that plane, it's chrome so I use my wing to reflect the sun into my brothers eyes while they're flying  :clap: There are times it really plays with my mind depending on the time of day and sky condtions. gettting pretty scratched up by now.  That's the second covering job for that old plane, it's the first kit I ever built back in 1982, Old Carl Goldberg Gentle Lady, I've never had a major crash with it, more hangar rash than anything, even with all the little minor repairs it still flys as well as it did when I first built it.  It's one I always take with me when I hit the slope. I'm working on a project off and on right now of a Giant Gentle Lady, I ran out of wood and need to make a list of needed materials to finish and get on order.  It will be about 4 meters when finished, I'm sure it will fly well but more of a conversation piece than anything. We'll see could be kinda fun. FF