Planet-Soaring

Towing meeting near Lausanne

2013-06-13T10:07:00.001+02:00

Pascal Tournache went to switzerland, not for fiscal fraud reasons :) but to participate to a towing event near Lausanne by a beautiful saturday of june (which is not so often this year!). Below is his photo album:

2014 French F3F National Team Selection

2013-06-12T17:13:00.002+02:00

F3F french National team for 2014 (World championship in Donovaly) is in progress and consists in taking the best 3 results over 4 contests among

The Pyrenees Cup
2 dedicated selection contests
The french champioship (end of august)

Results of each contest are ponderated by the number of rounds flown. This make the calculation much more tricky because we need to calculate for each pilot all the possible combination to identify the worse result contribution to exclude from the final ranking. Selection contest cannot go above 15 rounds in order to limit their weight against other normal contest with more pilots so less rounds. I know this is a bit complex, but the idea is to be fair.

Anyway, last week end was the first selection contest following the team 2013 training. For weather and autorization reasons, this constest took place in the south alps near Aspres sur Buech. 8 pilots took part to this contest. We have been able to fly 12 rounds the first day. We got lots of crossed wind, but within the FAI limits so we had to do with. The second day unfortunately it rained the whole day so we couldn't complete the 3 extra rounds to reach the 15 rounds. Fast time of the day was 34s. Frederic Hours won the competition followed by Sebastien Lanes (both are in the 2013 team) and myself.

Next selection contest will be mid-July at the col de tende at the border between Italy and France. The following photo Album is from Joël Marin as I was too busy with the competition to take pictures in addition. Thanks Joël

Gadget Google - Diaporama d'un album Google+ - Courtesy of Joël Marin

F3F national team practice

2013-06-11T14:45:00.001+02:00

French National team (from left to right): Sébastien Lanes (Pilot), Frédéric Hours (Pilot), Andreas Fricke (Pilot), in front Laurent Lombardo (Team Manager)

Last thursday and friday, I met with the french national F3F team 2013 for a practice and team building session as it was close to my home place. On Thursday, we went to the north slope of Corps but unfortenately were unable to fly as the wind was absent. For friday, we decided to go to Aspres sur Buech in the south alps, with the hope to get more wind and less thurnderstorms which was almost the case. We got some wind, a bit crossed but still OK, and later in the afternoon we could see some showers here and there around our mountain. The 3 pilots have been able to practice, with the course setted up despite the flying condition were not great... The next session will be end of July near Briançon for a day, preceding the league contest at the same place. Here are some pictures taken these 2 days:

Take Of Ardechois 2013

2013-06-11T10:53:00.000+02:00

Weather continues to disturb the beginning of the F3F season in France. After the snow the previous week, this time was the strong wind. Ardéche is like the south Alps, plenty of nice F3F spot and windy place. Up to now, this competition was missing a good spot for north wind. Yves and I combined our effort to identify a new spot. I worked on google earth and geoportail (detailed maps) to identify a new slope. Yves visited them to validate the spot the week before the contest. Like this, we found a new promising slope, with very little walk. This where all the competitors went on Saturday 1st of June. Problem was the wind reaching 25m/s during gusts, even is the average was within the FAI limits. But this strong wind was creating huge rotors above the landing field. After a long wait, we decided to start the competition, doing 2 rounds in the same flight with a crow start in order to save one landing. We managed like this 2 rounds with very fast time, fatest time around 31s, and almost everybody under 40s. But we also had lot of damages during landing. The landing was totally unpredictable. Hopfully the grass was very high so could smooth the final impact !!!

On Sunday, forecast was saying less wind, bu this is the opposite that happened. this time gusts were reaching 31m/s with an average around 22m/s We waited again, then decided to give a try, at least to validate the contest (48 flights, 12 pilots minimum, this is the rule). But after 2 pilots, the organiser decided to stop the contest because it was obvious that is was too dangerous for the planes during the landing, but even in flight.

In these conditions, I flew my Needle 100 DSL almost full ballast, considering that its empty weight was 2.6kg. It flew great, very fast and stable.

Overall the area seems very promising and we have already found another North slope, even better with a cliff that we need to validate for next year. But definitvely, this region can become the best place to fly F3F in france. A big thanks to Yves Tirand for organising this event and working hard to find the best spot for us to enjoy !

Below is a video I did in order to give you an idea about how fast is this slope:

TOA 2013 from Pierre Rondel on Vimeo.

Towing meeting in Brignoles

2013-06-09T08:30:00.001+02:00

Despite a crappy weather with up to 100 km/h of wind in the south east of France, surprisingly, in Brignoles near Marseille was only a gentle breeze and a blue sky. Therefore the conditions were perfect to meet for a towing session with friends. Pascal Tournache was there of course and share with us the following photo album:

The White Stork and the Shadow, the video

2013-05-29T19:31:00.002+02:00

Olivier Bruni (Passions Aero) just posted his video, filmed the same day than the picture album posted few days ago. The secret of this story is that Olivier is in charge of the inventory of the white storks in this area.

The video shows very well that birds are not disturbed at all by the RC sailplane. It would be good to show this video to the ecologist-extremists that often (always) claim the opposite !!!

Anyway, thanks Olivier for sharing with us this magic instant !

What a spring season !

2013-05-27T11:13:00.001+02:00

This week end was the local F3F competition, part of the french league (Notre Dame de Vaulx). Despite the very bad weather forecast, some pilots came from far away (Auvergne, Alsace) hoping to fly anyway.

Thing were clearly annoucing very bad, as friday evening when the clouds cleared, we could see from GRenoble the mountain totally white with 5 to 10cm of snow on it. In the night of Friday to Saturday, more snow falled.

Saturday morning, it was impossible to reach the parking at the bottom of the slope, as there was too much snow on the road. The pilot meeting therefore moved to the village below. after some discussion, we finally decided to try another slope close to first one. After a fist attempt on the main slope, we discover that the wind was too crossed to fly, so we continued to walk to a mini summit facing the north, not ideal at all for F3F, but however fliable.

Under a threatening grey sky, we installed the pylons, and flew a first round (best time 40s). We started the second round but quickly had to stop when the snow decided to fall again. Temperatures were freezing. some drop of water went to ice on the wings, while putting back the plane in the bag. OK, we are crazy, I know !!!!

Now the question was, what to do the next day to ensure we could fly more and validate the contest (4 rounds needed, given the 14 pilots presents). We decided to move the contest 60km to the south, near Gap, to retrieve the sun and the wind.

On Sunday, we arrived at the parking around 10:30, climbed the slope and installed everything, then resumed the contest with round 2, under a blue sky, but still freezing temperatures, especially becuase of the strong wind (8 to 13 m/s).

We managed 6 new rounds, in superb conditions, with some thermals. Best time is 34s by Alain Galinet with his Alliaj HM. Lot of sub-40 has been flown. The only drawback of the slope was that the landing area was behind the course, so we had to wait the landing of the pilot before to launch the next pilot.

We finished around 3:00 pm with a total 7 rounds in the pocket. We all had a great day on this slope, that we need for sure insert in the calendar of the french league for next year.

Thanks to the organisers for making this contest finally possible !

The White Stork and the Shadow ...

2013-05-25T09:52:00.000+02:00

This superb and magic pictures from Olivier Bruni has been taken during a shooting session of his E-shadow from NAN models. According to Olivier, White Storks live in his area (south west of France), and it is not unusual for him to fly with some of them.

You can retrieve the entire photo album HERE, with plenty of stunning pictures. Olivier has also a very interesting blog "Passions Aéro" with nice video, articles, and news.

Olivier told me that he is preparing a video of this E-shadow flying session. As soon as the video is released, I will share it with you.

Thanks Olivier for capturing this moment of grace and beauty, and sharing it with us !

Towing meeting near Montpellier

2013-05-24T14:58:00.001+02:00

Another photo album from Pascal Tournache after his participation of the towing meeting of the OMAT club in Montpellier under a blue nd sunny sky, with a friendly atmosphere:

Spring Cup F3F Poland 2013

2013-05-24T14:54:00.003+02:00

A nice video from Adam Bury about the F3F Spring cup in Poland that was organised last week-end. You can also find many pictures at the following URL: http://www.f3f-klif.pl/2013/05/puchar-wiosny-f3f-2013-rozegrany/

Pardines, THE towing event !

2013-05-16T23:25:00.000+02:00

Pardines has becomed one of the biggest towing event in France over years. Organized by Dominique and Madeleine Bely, 2 true RC glider addicts, Pardines is located in the beautiful area in the center of France, the Auvergne. Some figures to give you an idea:

42 pilotes
5 countries (Switzerland, UK, Czeck Republic, Netherland, and France).
12 tow planes
17 gliders in the air simultaneously (and no mid air)
Gliders from 4m to 10.5m wingspan …

Pascal Tournache participated to this meeting and came back with the following photo album:

An afternoon at Puy de Manse

2013-05-16T16:57:00.003+02:00

Spring continues to be very bad in France with lots of rain, water flood here and there, cold temperature. Weather forecast even plan some snow next week-end ! Hopefully, time to time, there is one or 2 consecutive beautiful days. Last saturday was nice, so I decided to drive to the region of Gap to retrieve Serge and Arnaud there and enjoy some super conditions at Puy de Manse.

Serge had his brand new Stinger he maidened, Arnaud was flying his Vampire. I took my Pike Precision, and didn't forgot to take my GoPro3 and also the Keycam #16 V2 lens D to shoot some onboard and ground video.

I had about 30 minutes of onboard video before the battery of the keycam dies, plus some Go Pro sequences, so I edited the 6 minutes video below. Hope you will like it.

Pike Precision at Puy de Manse par Planet-Soaring

Warriors Trophy

2013-05-13T10:50:00.001+02:00

Le Model club du Pays Bellegardien pour sa troisième édition, organise le 15 Juin une rencontre de combats d'ailes volantes en vol de pente (Warriors' Trophy) sur le Grand Colombier dans l'Ain. Le tout agrémenté d'un concours avec "formule spéciale M.C.P.B".

En cas de mauvaise prévision météo pour le 15 juin, la rencontre sera reportée au lendemain ou au week end suivant, le 22 ou le 23 juin (4 dates possibles). Le moment venu cette information sera en ligne à partir du jeudi sur le site Internet du club : http://mcpb-01.blogspot.fr/p/warr.html . Vous y trouverez également le règlement et le déroulement de la rencontre.

Pour participer à cette rencontre, vous devez vous inscrire avant le 13 juin et être licencié FFAM. Cette inscription est gratuite mais obligatoire (voir modalités sur notre site ) , et limitée au 40 premières inscriptions (le 2.4 est donc recommandé).

A bientôt pour une journée de détente et de bonne humeur sur ce site de vol de pente grandiose qui domine les 3 grands lacs des Alpes, le lac Léman, le lac d'Annecy et celui du Bourget.

L'équipe du M.C.P.B

F3F French League: Séderon

2013-05-10T11:28:00.000+02:00

Usually flying in the southern Alps always means sun and wind on great slopes. This year, weather forecast was really optimistic for saturday with some strong north wind (Mistral), and possibly some south west breeze for the sunday. It was also the opportunity to discover a new slope that we have never flown before.

Unfortunately, weather didn't keep its promises. When we arrived on the north slope we had no or very little wind. the slope is very deep and offers a beautiful scenery. We waited until 2pm, discussing, laugthing, but also free flying. I had a very interresting free flight, when after few minutes without thermal, I finished very deep with my Pike Precision hoping for a thermal. It has been a long and scary wait before I found a first thermal very far, almost out of sight. I finnaly found a second then a third thermal, thanks to Matthieu and his Solius (electro glider) who indicated me clearly the lift.

Around 2:30pm, the wind reached 3 to 4 m/s so we could start the F3F contest. Conditions were very variable with some time difference between 10 to15s for the same piloting level. We continued with round 2 and 3 before the wind died slowly at the end of round 3. What is very funny is that at 20km from there, the wind was blowing strongly all the afternoon.

Sunday has been worse has the wind was totally absent, and we got some rain, so the organiser decided to declare the contest end around 1pm. Overall this edition was a bit disappointing, but I'm sure next year will be a great contest, as it has always been in the past.

Below is a video filmed on saturday that will give you a good overview of the contest, the place, and the flying conditions.

Sederon 2013 from Pierre Rondel on Vimeo.

Video: Needle 100, F3F and DS

2013-05-07T10:20:00.000+02:00

Here is a short video while practicing F3F on Laurac Slope B (VKR2010 slopes) and also flying some DS. The Needle was at around 3 kg with ballast. Conditions were very bumpy frontside and very turbulent back side.

Eurotour F3F Pyrenees cup 2013

2013-05-02T15:08:00.002+02:00

The pyrenees cup is organised every 2 years in alternance with the Alpine cup in Briançon. Being end of April, we were expecting the weather to be cooperative, especially because few days before we got sunny weather and very nice temperatures. But unfortunately, a strong depression and rain crossed Europe over the week-end.

I arrived in Laurac on Thursday for some practice. We had the last day of beuatiful weather with Autan wind (south east). We have been able to fly all the afternoon, do some DS, some F3F practice, with the other pilots presents. Wind forecast was tramontane (Noth West) all over the week end with a switching during friday.

for those who don't know this region, there is mainly 2 winds in this part of France: Autan and Tramontane:

The tramontane is created by the difference of pressure between the cold air of a high pressure system over the Atlantic ocean or northwest Europe and a low pressure system over the Gulf of Lion in the Mediterranean. The high-pressure air flows south, gathering speed as moves downhill and is funnelled between the Pyrenees and the Massif Central.

The Autan is caused by high pressure moving NE from the Azores or the Eastern Mediterranean to the Baltic. Starting as a damp maritime wind, the Autan is blowing over the Languedoc into the Aquitaine, channelled and intensified by narrowing of lowlands between the Montagne Noir and Pyrenees and undergoes sudden acceleration between Corbieres and the south of the Massif Central.

Both wind can be strong so are good for F3F :)

Friday, we arrived to St Ferriol slope. Sky was grey, and the wind inexistant. We spent the day discussing, flying electro foamies, or quadricopters. We were also following carefully the evolution of the forecast, and it was not really encouraging for the 2 next day. On Saturday, forecast was saying that the rain would stop at the end of afternoon, but with good wind, and on Sunday we could expect a dry day, but with low and cross wind.

The organisation decided to setup the course to do the first flight of the compeitiont around 10am on Saturday, just in case. In fact we waied until 12:30 and suprisingly, the sky cleared, so we have been able to start the competition around 1pm. In fact we got a 5 hours window with no rain to few drops only, good wind between 8m/s to 15m/s with some gusts reaching 17m/s. All day long we had the company of up to 20 vultures flying in the lift, not disturbed at all by the F3F gliders whistling close to them. We managed 7 rounds before the wind shift to north, so too crossed to continue the competition.

Matthieu Mervelet, in a olympic form took the lead from round 1 and never left it, starting to fly with his Freestyler 4 before to damage it a bit at landing and continuing with his Freestyler 3.

Matthieu Mervelet:

After 2 average rounds, I changed gear and followed Matthieu closely, even winning 2 rounds, and flying the fastest time of the competition in round 6 with a nice 33.14s thanks to my Pike Precision loaded with 1.4kg of ballast. Martin Newham (UK), flew his Fresstyler 4 very well to end in third position. Reto Blummer (Switzerland) was waiting in ambush, and ends in 4th position, and Laurent Lombardo in 5th.

Video of the Fastest time:

Saturday evening, we all finished in Limoux for the banquet, hoping some more rounds on Sunday, despite of the low wind announced. On Sunday, we stayed on the slope, under the ligth, then stronger rain until 1pm, before the organiser decides to end the competition and invit everybody to the price giving in the nearest village hall.

Finally we can say that this competition has been short (5 hours only) but intense and we all had great fun. A big thanks to the organiser (Andreas Fricke) and his team who welcomed us with croissants and coffee on the slope, and ran the competition very smoothly.

Results and evolutive ranking (round results can be found here: http://pyreneescup.blogspot.fr/)

Video: Shark XL electro

2013-05-02T13:53:00.001+02:00

Here is the video I did about the Shark XL. Sorry for the lack of light. Weather was very bad, with dark grey clouds, but hopefully no rain at that moment.

Towing meeting of Brignoles

2013-04-30T23:05:00.001+02:00

This meeting in the south of France was 3 weeks ago. Here is the picasa slide show I received from Pascal Tournache:

Shark XL, the 4.5m electro-F3B/F

2013-04-30T22:48:00.003+02:00

The Shark XL is not really a new item, but remains a reference of the 4-5m fully moulded category. It has been designed few years ago by the Logo Team (Switzerland) who was very active in F3B in years 2000.
Last week-end, I had the opportunity to see the Shark XL belonging to Philippe Lanes. The flight is very impressive. It can climb almost vertical, dive deeply and reach very high speed, always with elegance and class. The perfect plane to fly on large mountain slopes and do thermal hunting, then aerobatic, then speed, all in the smae flight. This is a 4.5 m F3B with amazing perfomances. Its characteristics are the following.

Wingspan: 4500 mm
Area: 97 dm2
Ratio: 21
Section: WO-8D bis G
Lenght: 2050 mm
Weight: 5,3 - 7 kg

Here are some pictures taken at Laurac slope last Thursday. I have some material to prepare a short video about it. So Stay tuned !

Video: Solius at the slope with very light wind

2013-04-30T22:35:00.004+02:00

This short video is taken while flying the Solius at the slope with a very light wind, about 2m/s.

Towing season is ON

2013-04-23T08:12:00.003+02:00

With the spring season starting, towing events take place almost every week-end from South of France to Switzerland, , Alps, etc ... My clubmate & reporter Pascal Tournache participated to 2 of them already (Reyrieux, and Baillargues) and came back with the following nice picasweb albums. An opportunity to see nice to exceptional large gliders, and just dream ...

My article about the 2012 F3F worlds in a paper specialized magazine

2013-04-23T08:06:00.001+02:00

My report about the F3F world championship in Rügen has been published in the paper magazine "Modèle Magazine" (May issue). This may issue of Modèle Magazine includes lots other articles about sailplanes, with both very technical (aerodynamics), reviews (Supra competition, MPX solius) and reports (F3J Eurotour in France, F3F worlds).

TANGENT Modelltechnik is back !

2013-04-22T17:56:00.001+02:00

Following the bankrupcy of Graupner, its liquidation and the creation of a new company named Graupner/SJ, everybody was worried about the futur of Tangent which became part of Graupner few years ago. The good news is that Tangent will survive as an independant entities. The Tangent Modelltechnik crew is composed of some old graupner employees, and also the previous owner of the company. This will allow to restart the production soon, which is critical as stock is now zero everywhere as some of you has noticed, and continue with innovations and new models. Tangent is also planning to open a piloting school. In brief, Tangent is back, which is a good news for everyone !

RC Soaring Digest, May issue has been released

2013-04-19T21:54:00.002+02:00

The May issue of RC Soaring Digest has been released. You can download it at the following address: http://www.rcsoaringdigest.com

Pike Precision onboard video

2013-04-18T17:33:00.003+02:00

Last sunday afternoon, by a beautiful afternoon, I fixed a Keycam #16 V2 Lens D on my Pike Precision to filmed the following video. It was lot of crosswind so I did only sport flying with some light aerobatics, not more. Overall, I'm very happy with this keycam. It is for sure not comparable to the fantastic GoPro 3 black edition, but the Keycam delivers nice videos, and is so light that it can be mount easily almost everywhere.