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Frequently Asked Questions
Why ?
When is it ?
Why go
on a Tuesday ?
How
much does it cost ?
Why go all the way to the Long Mynd ?
What
should I take ?
Fly as long as you like. The wind blows all day. The only reason to land is to have a break, or fly something else, or go home, provided your Tx and Rx cells are up to it.
Gliding has to be 1 of the purest forms of flight. There are no trim changes as fuel is used up, no torque reaction, no wheels etc. Once you trim the aircraft, it stays trimmed. You learn about the importance of airspeed - there is no motor to drag you out of trouble. You should find that your powered flight improves too.
Even if you don't fly anything, you can
still look at the Shropshire scenery. No, seriously - people do.
Tuesday after the 1st Monday of the month.
Meet at the Peugeot social club car park at 09:00
for a 09:30 departure. Return about 17:30.
We used to go on a Sunday, but Tuesday has many advantages.
The Monday club meeting of the night before
allows us to assess the weather, and the numbers wanting to go -
occasionally we call it off, although that is quite rare.
Many people are incredibly busy at the weekend, going shopping,
cutting the grass etc.
Also, there tend to be local people flying at the weekend, and
lots of walkers, day trippers driving along the single track
roads.
Have you ever tried to go M6 south past Birmingham on a late
Sunday afternoon ?
We get the Peugeot minibus for free - just have to replace the fuel. This usually works out about £4 - £6 depending on numbers. If the minibus overflows, we take a car or 2 as well, which is clearly a bit more.
LMSA membership is £3 for the year. I think this is technically voluntary, but they do a valuable job of interfacing the aeromodelling community to the National Trust.
The ticket for the Church Stretton Co-op
car park is 30p if the attendant catches us.
Why go all the way to the Long Mynd ?
I clocked it at 85 miles.
You may have tried slope soaring at Burton Dassett
or Edge Hill - see the SMSA. There is no comparison. At the Long Mynd
there are BIG clean hills, with BIG clean air,
and BIG clear landing areas. Also there is a suitable hill for
every wind direction. You should look at the journey as an
opportunity for a chat (or a nap). Actually, Once you get past
IKEA it's quite a pretty drive down the M54.
Everyone should have a zagi, or at least something in EPP (expanded polypropylene). For £40 and a couple of servos that you probably weren't going to use again anyway, you can have a virtually indestructible aircraft that is great, stress free, fun. OK, you need an Rx, a battery pack and some sort of mixer too. Beware - there are variants of zagis - light and floaty, or heavy and strong.
You should try to have a light aircraft available for the days when the wind is not so strong.
If nothing else, you could adapt a power thing by removing the prop (refit the spinner). Any visible props are banned - even electric.
You should be transmitting on a Tx even frequency, although we don't enforce this. We normally don't even use a peg board or scanner as we often have the slope to ourselves and can negotiate frequencies in the minibus.
Spare Tx/Rx packs may be useful, especially if something gets accidentally turned on during the journey.
You have got your name and address on the aircraft, haven't you ?
Take some extra clothes. A hat. The wind chill effect can be surprising, even in summer. Wind breaks are not allowed. A change of boots is a good idea. Waterproofs stop the wind, even if it isn't raining.
A vacuum flask of hot drink.
You can take food if you like, but we do stop at the co-op in Church Stretton to buy something for lunch.
Some money is useful for lunch and the to pay for the fuel
You may need some tools to rig the aircraft.
A back pack is useful for carrying Tx and lunch etc. when you have 2 arms full of aircraft.
A camera allows events to be recorded for posterity.
A mobile phone. is useful
if you need to arrange to be picked up after as the return time
is a little bit variable. Also for finding us on the hill, if you
travel separately.
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