Glider trainer

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AndrewS
Posts: 838
Joined: Thu Oct 02, 2008 8:23 am
Location: Bedford, Nova Scotia

Glider trainer

Unread post by AndrewS » Thu Nov 21, 2013 10:19 pm

Hi all
As announced at our AGM on Nov 20, HEFA has a new glider trainer, a Parkzone Radian.

Many thanks to Forest Haven Inn, and Walter and Heike Hacker from Tatamagouche who
are sponsoring our new aircraft. The sponsorship is to try and encourage new people to get involved in soaring.
Several of our members have visited Walter and his wife at their home and they have a wonderful spot for soaring. He gets some amazing thermals there, I had my Pulsar up to 1000' in just a couple of minutes when I was there in August...a bit nerve racking , but fun none the less.
Check out Forest Haven Inn at http://www.foresthaveninn.com/
to see his place.

Thermal soaring is very enjoyable... some of you guys have seen John O'Sullivan and I with our Pulsars slowly circling over Shannon at around 200' with both of us barely touching the sticks and having them do this for 15 minutes. Most flights are more in the range of 5-7 mins. My record flight at SP is just over 34min, from one initial climb to 150m, circling in rising warm air over Shannon Park Elementary School. I didn't gain much above the start of 150m but the sailplane didn't really come down much til I got tired of looking up(sore neck).

Anyone interested in trying soaring?
Please feel free to contact me by private message through the website or by email,( aj.smith@ns.sympatico.ca ).
We can setup a time and make sure I have the Radian with me. Although I will normally have it and at least one of my own sailplanes in the car. The Radian is setup to be buddy boxed using my DX9 and my Jr 9303.

I'm nowhere near being an expert but will try and pass on what I have learned from my own flying, watching Tom Foote, John O'Sullivan, and Walter Hacker and watching videos by Paul Naton at Radio Carbon Arts at http://www.radiocarbonart.com/.

Andrew Smith
Last edited by AndrewS on Fri Aug 12, 2016 11:53 am, edited 4 times in total.
Andrew Smith,
HEFA 3
MAAC 76250

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JohnOSullivan
Posts: 1219
Joined: Wed Oct 01, 2008 9:50 pm
Location: Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
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Re: Glider trainer

Unread post by JohnOSullivan » Fri Nov 22, 2013 2:26 pm

This is a very generous donation from Walter. The Elio he offered earlier would have been too much of a chore to manage for newcomers and hopefully the Radian can be a learning tool for many. Although I have not flown a Radian, it is an excellent training sailplane which can stand up to the training errors of beginners.
Sailplane flying is a whole new experience for power fliers and is a relaxing way of learning aerodynamic skills and careful use of control inputs, which in turn can add appreciably to more precise control of powered planes.
John
MAAC #5401 L
MACI (Ireland) IRL#26

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