Thanks everyone for the kind words! Well its been quite a mixed emotional weekend. I've just returned from helping a friend evacuate his home from the fires that are raging here in San Diego county! Some how after the fact it just doesn't feel as good getting excited about the Santa Ana winds that fueled Parker Mnt for our PBs and some amazing DS conditions when they are also continuing to fuel these devastating fires here in SD county! Anyway here are some specifics on the day... Doug Rubin,Jason Lilly and myself decided to head to Parker to see if we could catch some of the Santa Ana wind conditions that were happening in SoCal. We had a new radar gun(A Decatur Prospeed CRK-1) and some fresh DS planes and hopes for some new personel best. We left San Diego at daybreak knowing the winds would probably be good early. There was some smoke and ash in the air and some rumors of a fire that had started up near Ramona when we left town. We arrived at the top about 10:00am. I took a wind speed reading and was getting a steady 40-45mph with one gust reading 52 mph. The first to go up were some regular glass versions of the Opus W . Right away we found the speeds and DS circles were huge and the turbulence not as bad as expected for those wind speeds normally. The glass Opus's started to flutter really bad at the 150-160 mph range typical for these planes. I was still a little apprehensive about tossing my new carbon DS Opus so I decided to toss my Nemesis out to warm up a little more. The energy was amazing. I was dumbstruck at how fast you could build up speed and how much bigger the circles were than normal . The little Nemesis started really moving. I was able to maintain speeds in the 155-165 mph range and then was rewarded with some 170s and then a top speed of 175 mph. After this flight I realized how fast It really was out there. My buzz was slightly deflated when I dorked my landing and blew the tail off my Nemesis. After that Doug got motivated and tossed out his Mach Dart. He was Quickly able to get a 147mph and then his wing ripped of the fuse. The fuselage shot like a torpedo way down and into the side of the hill. After this the wind dropped to 30-40mph and I realized it was time to give the Carbon Opus a try.This was the Opus W with the swept tips full carbon version from RC-Direct. I tossed out the plane and spent about 10 minuites trimming the plane and getting the crow set. Luckily the CG was perfect and the plane felt pretty solid. I then dove to the backside and was amazed at the energy! Speeds of 150 and above were achievable on the first 2 turns! I don't remember the excact sequence of events but I remember some 180s then 190s breaking 200 and then a 220 . The plane at this point felt rock solid and showed no signs of flutter or unhappiness. I popped out and took a quick breather to calm my shaky knees from all the excitement. I then went back in for some more. I think it built up to a 211 then 216 and then 232mph. Doug then after knowing the record was broken yelled stopped reading the radar gun, I then went about 2-3 more circles and then with no warning at all the wing folded and broke right in half. The fusalage kept going full speed way up high and over the hill and probably ended up at Acton somewhere. I ran out front and tried to follow it but it just faded into the distance never to be seen again. I was dumbstruck at that point. I never thought me or the plane was capable of going that fast. Later Doug then decided it was time to give his DS Cohen a try. He was able to get a PB of 183mph but the plane was getting a nasty flutter of some sort at about 175 so he landed it to give it a inspection before anything nasty happened. The wind was starting to settle a little and Jason decided it was time to give his DS Opus a try. He trimmed his plane out on the front side for a while and then started DSng and managed to pull off a PB of 183mph! Pat Bowman had showed up a little earlier and I gun'ed him with his JW in the 120-130mph range.I talked with him for a while and he had also been up t here Fri. & Sat. He said that Saturday was even better and he was able to get a 150mph with his JW! Jason then let me DS his carbon Opus some more. I was able to get some more 200 + speeds but was afraid to push any harder for fear of killing his plane. Jason was also kind enough to let Doug fly his plane.Doug was then able to get a PB of 194mph.Then in his quest to become a 200mph club member found a rotor on the bottom turn and ran out of elevator and augered it in at 180+ completely destroying the plane:( By then the wives were calling and telling us about how badly the fires had spread and we decided to cut our losses and head home. We listened to the radio on the way home and found out how serious and devastating the fires had spread to in San Diego county. That kind of took the wind out of our sails on our Parker high. We all got PBs and had a great time but Parker didn't give it up without taking its toll on some planes. The conditions were optimum and I think any DS pilot could have up'ed his PB a few notches and Iam sure that some of the real good DS guys out there with a good plane might have been even able to go faster than I did:)
Thanks,Gary Legerton ----- Original Message ----- From: "Robert Bingham" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, October 27, 2003 11:51 AM Subject: [F3F] DS record burns to 232mph > Gary Legerton flew his DS Opus to 232mph at Parker Mtn yesterday. > Doug Rubin flew to 194mph and Jason Lilly to 183mph. More at: > > http://www.gliderking.com > > Bob > > > ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> > Rent DVDs from home. > Over 14,500 titles. Free Shipping > & No Late Fees. Try Netflix for FREE! > http://us.click.yahoo.com/ybSovB/hP.FAA/3jkFAA/SyTolB/TM > ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> > > > > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ > > RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off.
