Marc Humphries Posted June 2, 2008 Share Posted June 2, 2008 Hi folks. The very calm evenings we've had over the last few days in Northampton has meant lots of airtime for my Electric Easy Glider.To make things a bit more interesting, I've taken to going for little cross country jaunts. Last night I did a mile and half out and back at Pitsford Reservoir. Here's a Google Earth view of the route.Great fun and all achieved in around 40 trouble free minutes. Even manged to get some very gentle slope lift that slowed descent.Landed back at the picnic area and even got some "Hey man - that was so cool" comments from the young turks who had gathered for late evening barbeque and beers.With a bigger battery and some daytime lift - the whole seven miles or so might be possible!By the way - do you share my view that EG is fast becoming a modern day design classic? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Ashby - Moderator Posted June 2, 2008 Share Posted June 2, 2008 Definately a classic model Marc, but then Multiplex have a habit of producing good designs - Twin Star, Easy Star to name but two. Do you walk and fly at the same time, I know I'd be going base over apex if I tried! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Humphries Posted June 2, 2008 Author Share Posted June 2, 2008 Yes - I can walk and fly at the same time - but then I forget my name....I remember Steve Dorling saying he took the EG for a walk down the lane near his house in a review for another mag. Try it - it's great fun - and you have Cularis - it's big brother. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Former Member Posted June 2, 2008 Share Posted June 2, 2008 [This posting has been removed] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Humphries Posted June 2, 2008 Author Share Posted June 2, 2008 You're right Eric - but doing it on a slope is easy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Former Member Posted June 3, 2008 Share Posted June 3, 2008 [This posting has been removed] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Humphries Posted August 11, 2008 Author Share Posted August 11, 2008 Last Friday evening prompted another bash at some flat field cross country at Pitsford reservoir (see first post) as it was almost flat calm, warm but very overcast.The M6 and A14 on the way back home from work in Birmingham meant I didn't get to the picnic area until 7.00 pm. This meant that only a few dog walkers were at the site - although a young Polish couple were using the nearly deserted carpark to let her have her first few attempts at learning to drive. Casting my mind back over 20 years it was reassuring to see that teaching your girlfriend to drive always results in flared tempers - no matter what the language!My EG uses a stock motor and I put in the 2S 2200 pack. At around 7.15 pm the throttle was opened and the EG pushed into the air. It quickly settled into a gentle climb. With the 2S pack and set for glide trim - the climb is always just on the verge of a stall. Gentle forward stick stops this - or using the old free flight and single channel trick - I like to use rudder to kill the stall. I climbed for about a minute and then cut the motor. I set off on the footpath, following the gentle slope that took me down to the water's edge. The first 15 or 20 minutes were completley uneventful. There then followed the first tricky part of the flight. The footpath dips steeply and is flanked by a high cutting to the left and tall trees near the bank. This required the EG to be flown high and tight in line - otherwise it easily dissapeared from view. At this stage I heard and saw a weight-shift microlight skimming across the water heading straight for me at around 100 feet or so. Mmm... I'll bring the EG down low and keep it close to me. Pushing the nose down it built up speed and I brought it inline with the footpath. However, speed in a glider nearly always gets converted back into height - and this is what happened. It climbed up over the steep embankment and disappeared from view. The only good news was that the microlight had spotted me and turned away. So what to do now? Well, on the footpath I'm in effect at the bottom of a gentle slope. I had to get some height, or the EG will eventually drift into this slope. Still unsighted, I gave around 25% throttle, held in a little left stick and scrambled to a gap in the hedgrow. As I was doing this, the EG gently came back into view. Checking the sky was clear I pushed the throttle open and got as much height as I could in a two minute climb. This enabled me to easily get to the mile point and begin my trip back to the picnic area. It was now around 7.45pm and getting increasingly murky.The trip back was trouble free - only having to stop and chat to a group of dog walkers who had been watching the EG's antics for the last 15 minutes. I was back at the picnic area at 8.00pm. As I flew over the tarmac carpark, I saw the EG raise its nose and "bobble" about a bit. Mmm.. surley not? A couple of gentle turns confirmed that not only had the EG stopped descending - it actually gained a few metres in altitude. A one minute power on climb gained far more height than normal and the next 10 minutes were spent gently working the very weak lift from the carpark. It was now approaching 8.30pm and getting quite dark...I decided to let the EG have it's last climb of the evening and promised to land at the conclusion of that glide. As it slid to a halt at my feet (honest) my watch said it was 8.45pm. Yup - the flight had lasted just over 90 minutes. How can anything beat that experience? 90 Minutes in the air and only 15 minutes of non flying time during the visit. Awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Former Member Posted August 11, 2008 Share Posted August 11, 2008 [This posting has been removed] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Foreman Posted August 11, 2008 Share Posted August 11, 2008 Cool, wish I still had my EZ glider. Its current replacement, a 1.5M span Guppy Warmliner, is far too fast and slippery to take your eyes off for a fraction of a moment. It is easy to loose sight of on the climb as it has a very slim profile. Have added white stripes to the underneath of the wing, but marginal improvement. Well done with the 90 min flight off one battery, I never managed longer than 30 minutes when I had an EZGE, although the Guppy will do 45 minutes, it is a lot lighter at 600g and is over powered at 100W per lb. Still it climbs to about 400ft in 30 secs. The furthest walk I manage with it is walking from one end of a football field to the other end Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Humphries Posted August 11, 2008 Author Share Posted August 11, 2008 Hi Tom,In calm evening air the EG with a 2S 2200 pack will nearly always return at least 45-60 mins. What extended this flight was the gentle lift being released by the carpark. With a stock motor - you get quite gentle climbs - not a problem in still air.In the daytime - you can of course hit very strong lift - but you also get the sink. I tend to use a 3S 1300 pack in these conditions - get up to height quickly to pick up the lift.Marc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Stanley Posted September 1, 2008 Share Posted September 1, 2008 This is my fave site, If the wind is from the south I can amble a couple of miles in either direction and find lift enough, if the wind is at too much of an angle there are tricky choke points with dodgy LZs that mean I need a lot of height to make the move across the dead zone. I've just got a Pike Brio and and electro fuse for it (and one for my Bird 60) so it should be a bit more practical now. Trouble is that this close to the sea thermals have scant chance to really form. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Humphries Posted September 2, 2008 Author Share Posted September 2, 2008 Nice one!I share your concern about water. My fave flatfield x country site is my local reservoir and as discussed I use an electric glider - as there will be no thermals coming from the water.Where is your site? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Former Member Posted September 3, 2008 Share Posted September 3, 2008 [This posting has been removed] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Humphries Posted September 9, 2008 Author Share Posted September 9, 2008 Eric - that is an amazing! Where did you stumble across that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Former Member Posted September 13, 2008 Share Posted September 13, 2008 [This posting has been removed] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Mullins Posted October 15, 2008 Share Posted October 15, 2008 Is that the Bloke from MASH? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Posted October 16, 2008 Share Posted October 16, 2008 You can walk for miles up here.(It's Hay Bluff) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sloper Posted October 16, 2008 Share Posted October 16, 2008 Ben Mullins wrote (seeIs that the Bloke from MASH?Yep.. Alan Alda. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Lloyd Posted November 20, 2008 Share Posted November 20, 2008 Oh, Adrian - that pic of Hay bluff is just fabulous! I see it when I drive down to Brecon - is much of a hike up to the top?What model is that? It looks like something that I aspire to - a fair few quids' worth! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 You can park at the top of the Gospel Pass and then walk along, so it is not much of a hike at all unless you want it to be. The model is a Mini Graphite E from hyperflight.The satellite view shows the car park in the bottom centre and the spot where the photo was taken is on the crest of the ridge in the upper right.http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&t=h&ll=52.011197,-3.114914&spn=0.005699,0.008508&z=17 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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