OK, I've had a couple of nice flights on the beast and thought I'd make a brief pilot report. Wednesday was a blue day with very light wind and decent thermal activity to about 3800. Tow was a bit roudy but easy to handle (this thing follows the tug with very little effort). There was a large gaggle over the field but I really wanted to figure out it's thermalling characteristics before mixing it up with 15 other pilots. So I lost 1000 feet trying to find a thermal of my own before finally giving up and flying into the melee. Not to worry, it handled brilliantly and quickly climbed through the other wings. It DOES have a different feel that takes a while to get used to but it's not even slightly difficult to fly. I logged three and a half hours on that flight (think I had the FOD) and had NO sore muscles to complain about later. I liked that part a lot!
Today, we had fairly strong winds of 10 to 15 and a promising forecast. Several pilots decided to go downwind hoping for a big one. Launch was VERY roudy but once again, I just held on and the glider folllowed the tug like a puppy on a leash. Climbed quckly in choppy lift to 4200 but lost 700 of that waiting on others to get up. Guess I should have just headed out but I wanted some help in finding the lift. Won't bore you with too many details. After 28 miles downwind, I got concerned about possible storms and knowing it might take me forever to break down (I've been keeping it in a hanger all set up so hadn't broken down yet) I decided to try to run back upwind to Quest. Didn't work and I decked it after only 4 miles back. Think I had the second best distance. Ron Gleason kicked my butt flying his ATOS V. Kevin had to relight so decided to go a slightly different route. Think his flight was about the same as mine but I believe he ended his early hoping for some food by landing at Russel Browns home. Alas Lorie wasn't home so no food.
The really amazing thing about the VX is it's glide. Yeah, it climbs well but the glide kinda cleans out your sinuses. I have been climbing with about fifteen to twenty degrees of flaps which yields about 25 to 28 mph at trim. When you go on glide, you release the flap string, take a deep breath and hold on tight while you quickly accellerate to 50 mph at trim speed. With the tail wind today, I was cruising over the turnpike with a ground speed of over 70 mph and passing some of the slower cars. I haven't had the balls to pull in for any more speed yet. As a matter of fact, I usually maintain a bit of push on the bar to keep it down to 45 or so. And the crazy thing is the sink only goes down to about 350!
Bad part is I've been having some trouble landing it but today was good. Think my landing lesson yesterday with Kevin was money well spent.
Sorry, Guess I said I'd keep it short. More info later. Looking forward to seeing some of you for the clinic next week!
Paul
First two soaring flights on the ATOS
Moderator: CHGPA BOD
First two soaring flights on the ATOS
Woo hoo! Thanks for the PIREP. Keep 'em coming. Maybe you'll start a
stiffie movement in the mid-Atlantic area. - Hugh
On 1 Apr 2005, at 21:50, Paul Tjaden wrote:
> OK, I've had a couple of nice flights on the beast and thought I'd
> make a brief pilot report. Wednesday was a blue day with very light
> wind and decent thermal activity to about 3800. Tow was a bit roudy
> but easy to handle (this thing follows the tug with very little
> effort). There was a large gaggle over the field but I really wanted
> to figure out it's thermalling characteristics before mixing it up
> with 15 other pilots. So I lost 1000 feet trying to find a thermal of
> my own before finally giving up and flying into the melee. Not to
> worry, it handled brilliantly and quickly climbed through the other
> wings. It DOES have a different feel that takes a while to get used to
> but it's not even slightly difficult to fly. I logged three and a half
> hours on that flight (think I had the FOD) and had NO sore muscles to
> complain about later. I liked that part a lot!
>
> Today, we had fairly strong winds of 10 to 15 and a promising
> forecast. Several pilots decided to go downwind hoping for a big one.
> Launch was VERY roudy but once again, I just held on and the glider
> folllowed the tug like a puppy on a leash. Climbed quckly in choppy
> lift to 4200 but lost 700 of that waiting on others to get up. Guess I
> should have just headed out but I wanted some help in finding the
> lift. Won't bore you with too many details. After 28 miles downwind, I
> got concerned about possible storms and knowing it might take me
> forever to break down (I've been keeping it in a hanger all set up so
> hadn't broken down yet) I decided to try to run back upwind to Quest.
> Didn't work and I decked it after only 4 miles back. Think I had the
> second best distance. Ron Gleason kicked my butt flying his ATOS V.
> Kevin had to relight so decided to go a slightly different route.
> Think his flight was about the same as mine but I believe he ended his
> early hoping for some food by landing at Russel Browns home. Alas
> Lorie wasn't home so no food.
>
> The really amazing thing about the VX is it's glide. Yeah, it climbs
> well but the glide kinda cleans out your sinuses. I have been climbing
> with about fifteen to twenty degrees of flaps which yields about 25 to
> 28 mph at trim. When you go on glide, you release the flap string,
> take a deep breath and hold on tight while you quickly accellerate to
> 50 mph at trim speed. With the tail wind today, I was cruising over
> the turnpike with a ground speed of over 70 mph and passing some of
> the slower cars. I haven't had the balls to pull in for any more speed
> yet. As a matter of fact, I usually maintain a bit of push on the bar
> to keep it down to 45 or so. And the crazy thing is the sink only goes
> down to about 350!
>
> Bad part is I've been having some trouble landing it but today was
> good. Think my landing lesson yesterday with Kevin was money well
> spent.
>
> Sorry, Guess I said I'd keep it short. More info later. Looking
> forward to seeing some of you for the clinic next week!
>
> Paul
>
>
>
>
>
stiffie movement in the mid-Atlantic area. - Hugh
On 1 Apr 2005, at 21:50, Paul Tjaden wrote:
> OK, I've had a couple of nice flights on the beast and thought I'd
> make a brief pilot report. Wednesday was a blue day with very light
> wind and decent thermal activity to about 3800. Tow was a bit roudy
> but easy to handle (this thing follows the tug with very little
> effort). There was a large gaggle over the field but I really wanted
> to figure out it's thermalling characteristics before mixing it up
> with 15 other pilots. So I lost 1000 feet trying to find a thermal of
> my own before finally giving up and flying into the melee. Not to
> worry, it handled brilliantly and quickly climbed through the other
> wings. It DOES have a different feel that takes a while to get used to
> but it's not even slightly difficult to fly. I logged three and a half
> hours on that flight (think I had the FOD) and had NO sore muscles to
> complain about later. I liked that part a lot!
>
> Today, we had fairly strong winds of 10 to 15 and a promising
> forecast. Several pilots decided to go downwind hoping for a big one.
> Launch was VERY roudy but once again, I just held on and the glider
> folllowed the tug like a puppy on a leash. Climbed quckly in choppy
> lift to 4200 but lost 700 of that waiting on others to get up. Guess I
> should have just headed out but I wanted some help in finding the
> lift. Won't bore you with too many details. After 28 miles downwind, I
> got concerned about possible storms and knowing it might take me
> forever to break down (I've been keeping it in a hanger all set up so
> hadn't broken down yet) I decided to try to run back upwind to Quest.
> Didn't work and I decked it after only 4 miles back. Think I had the
> second best distance. Ron Gleason kicked my butt flying his ATOS V.
> Kevin had to relight so decided to go a slightly different route.
> Think his flight was about the same as mine but I believe he ended his
> early hoping for some food by landing at Russel Browns home. Alas
> Lorie wasn't home so no food.
>
> The really amazing thing about the VX is it's glide. Yeah, it climbs
> well but the glide kinda cleans out your sinuses. I have been climbing
> with about fifteen to twenty degrees of flaps which yields about 25 to
> 28 mph at trim. When you go on glide, you release the flap string,
> take a deep breath and hold on tight while you quickly accellerate to
> 50 mph at trim speed. With the tail wind today, I was cruising over
> the turnpike with a ground speed of over 70 mph and passing some of
> the slower cars. I haven't had the balls to pull in for any more speed
> yet. As a matter of fact, I usually maintain a bit of push on the bar
> to keep it down to 45 or so. And the crazy thing is the sink only goes
> down to about 350!
>
> Bad part is I've been having some trouble landing it but today was
> good. Think my landing lesson yesterday with Kevin was money well
> spent.
>
> Sorry, Guess I said I'd keep it short. More info later. Looking
> forward to seeing some of you for the clinic next week!
>
> Paul
>
>
>
>
>