Sun burn tingling from a great day's flying

 Days when sunshine and breeze combine on the Bwlch don't come along very often but when they do- make the most of them.  The confidence I have in the Harrier is such a bonus and meant that I was happy to have her over 4.2kg for all of the day.  The variation in the trough out the day kept on increasing but the joy of sport flying rather than racing is that you can hang around waiting for that thermal to come through- and when it did- wow!

  This only increased, with everyone else dropping ballast down steadily I kept gambling.  Only the thermal flap kept the Harrier going until that last thermal but it wasn't half worth it!  Now for landing, light to no wind and over 4kg of model- she's going to keep on coming.  With nothing more than some mud to wipe off I was getting less nervous about the landings.

  A great day with excellent company, if only the races were like this.

Blasting the crest

 A race weekend on the crest!  Pitty the race was scheduled for whitesheet. 

First flight blasting the Harrier round, now relax

Time to go heavy!

   After a few trips flying my Falcons I decided it was time to get the Harrier out and load in the Tungsten.  Whitesheet is a great place to fly and chat with some good friends but it can be baffling to fly there.

  The wind was strong enough to see foamies being blown behind the hill and I wanted to play with the Harrier ballasted up to over 4kg.  From Pitbulls, Freestylers to Harriers when the air cycled through as poor we carved around and covered the air at a good pace.

  But when the thermals came on and the air got as good as it looked- wow!  Up turns, reversals huge open loops you can do them all faster and bigger than I've done in a while.  Not a day for setting up but having a huge smile on your face when the lift did come through.  When you're heading back without a scratch with a model you have such confidence in, you have to love it!

You Know you're obsessed when...

    Yep the weather has been wet but when you have a new model like the Falcon it seems perfectly sane to sit in the car during the rain and dash out during the odd glimpse of sun shine.

  Even slope dog kept looking at me in a confused way but I loved the afternoon's flying.  From scratching around to the tail picking up and scooting round, a good moldie is the best model for those conditions too.

A morning by the sea

   Weather and opportunity came together today and I was away to Beer Head cliff. This can be an amazing site, 400ft vertical cliff but a smooth air landing area with grass trimmed by the local sheep. 

  I've had a couple of light air outings with the Falcon lately but nothing to test the settings. I've become comfortable with a Cg of 95mm and around 5mm elevator.  I have 2 settings for snap flap 4mm and 2mm. Each one has the snap coming in much later in the stick, this provides some exponential in the elevator effect. 

   Flying the falcon is much more of an adrenaline buzz than the Harrier. With more snap the Falcon certainly bounces rather than carves the turns. I must be getting used to the settings because it feels equally fast with each setting- for sports flying without a clock. 

  Flying today the Falcon felt on rails, smooth air gave me the chance to fly to play with different turns. I had 900g ballast in again today. It's resistance to being up-set reminds me of the old wiz, but the Harrier just feels more slippery and responsive, a little like the first Freestyler I flew.

  I've long given up worrying about the Falcon or Harrier bending in the air, these are strong excellent models and giving me so much fun. Time to put number 2 together I'll publish some build notes as I go.  Safe to say model 2 slipped together with no sanding.