“If you'd have gone up to Big L today, you'd certainly had a big surprise” (A slight take on an English nursery song.) :roll:
Newbie (to gliding) Rob finally managed to find an opportunity to fly his AR-1 which he had purchased more than two years ago at a Wings & Wheels bring and buy sale. I'm sure he wont mind if I tell you all that he paid just £20 for it.
Wind was almost straight on to the West slope at around 25 gusting 40 kph. He'd bought some ballast with him in the form of stick on lead blocks but in fact the Ar-1 didn't need them. I don't remember Rob saying she needed any trim either, she just flew straight out into the lift.
I have to say she penetrates very well and was soon zooming around the slope. Rob had been warned that he should keep her speed up in the turns but in fact that warning seemed unnecessary. She was found to be able to turn at no higher speed than most other gliders of her size.
Knowing very little about AR-1's one of the first thing Rob discovered was that she is not an aerobatic type of model. He found it almost impossible to roll, and bearing in mind that she has no rudder he concluded that she is really just for sailing about on the lift. She certainly nipped through the air at a good rate of knots.
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As for the flaps, which have this rather strange motion of deploying partly above as well as below the trailing edge of the wing, he found that they certainly slowed the model down, and made it gain height during deployment but didn't make the nose pitch up.
And so it came to the first landing. Mindful of the infamous trees behind most of the Landing Zone Rob chose to land from the south side of the west slope, (with only the large hill further back behind the LZ.)
First attempt found him a little too high on the down wind leg so he aborted the attempt and flew back out into the lift. Second attempt saw him deploy the flaps a little too soon as he turned onto his final approach and the AR-1 failed to penetrate forward towards the L.Z. preferring to simply gain height over the road way and indeed blow back a little over our parked cars. Reduction of the flaps allowed the plane to come forward over the L.Z. And as if Rob had been doing it all his life he sat the model down on the ground with the most gentle of landings! (I was quite envious.)
What do you mean you don't believe it! :shock: Here's the proof, a picture of the glider immediately after it's first landing, flaps still deployed,...........( Should have returned them to flight position just before touch down really Rob, otherwise they can get damaged. Gliders of this size don't normally have undercarriage's so any control surface that's deployed downward at the moment of landing is likely to get damaged .)
As a passing shower deposited some of its contents we sat in Robs car and exchanged the usual exited banter that always follows a successful first flight.
A second flight went just as well although an aileron hinge became dislodged on landing. All in all a good couple of hours flying.
Rob is on the hunt for something a little more aerobatic now. A Vagabond foamy I think he said he wanted. Anyone have any words of wisdom about such a model? I think Fred has one, don't you Fred? What are they like? :?:
Keith
