FilmBuff Posted August 12, 2013 Share Posted August 12, 2013 I recently refurbished a 30 old Algebra 2.5 M glider. Used the old Dick Edmonds glass fuz and some own design wings that were originally built in 1982 but re-covered a few weeks ago. So, with a good forecast on Sunday morning I got there early at around 08:00 to give the old girl a whirl. Absolutely delightful performance! Whilst maybe not in the "modern mouldie" bracket for performance, it really destroyed my recent foamie gliders in terms of soar-ability, penetration and lift spotting. It made the most of the light early morning thermals - and an hour just flew by (ha ha) before I thought about landing. I even manged a bit of cross country, walking from (for those who know the site) the main slope, along the top of the bowl to the gate - and then back again. Love gliding. Love slope soaring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FilmBuff Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 Amazing "light wind and not the best direction" session this afternoon at Honey Hill with the 2.5M Algebra. Wind was NNW and never more than 4 mph. Those who fly the site will know that this requires a bit of nerve to launch towards two large trees in the most unhelpful direction for the site. Never enough pure slope lift to sustain prolonged flight, but if you held your nerve and launched when the air was almost flat calm it was usually an indicator of thermal lift passing through. Even then it was very scratchy - got a couple of flights of 10 minutes or so before I managed to get some decent lift to spec it out. On one flight I got very low over the moto cross circuit but picked up a very light lift bubble to get back across the North face with around 30 feet of altitude. It was this scrape that enabled me to push out NNW and pick up the boomer that let me climb very quickly. Simply awesome session! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Kettle 1 Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 Film Buff where about's is Honey Hill in Northants? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FilmBuff Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 Posted by Mark Kettle 1 on 21/07/2014 18:17:05: Film Buff where about's is Honey Hill in Northants? Look at Michael Hickman's posting on page 2 - he gives GPS co-ordinates. It's near Cold Ashby Golf Club in Northants - just of the A5199 Welford Road. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Kettle 1 Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 Cheers film buff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave!!!! Posted November 6, 2014 Share Posted November 6, 2014 there are three of us that fly up there most Saturdays and we hardly meet anyone else up there , we mostly fly in sw to w wind directions , I just cant believe that anyone would launch in anything northerly with the trees in that direction lol maybe bump into you guys soon then dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Theakstone Posted November 7, 2014 Share Posted November 7, 2014 Posted by dave!!!! on 06/11/2014 21:43:28: there are three of us that fly up there most Saturdays and we hardly meet anyone else up there , we mostly fly in sw to w wind directions , I just cant believe that anyone would launch in anything northerly with the trees in that direction lol maybe bump into you guys soon the dave No Dave two of us fly the other spends his time climbing trees ! That's when he's not crashing into others. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave!!!! Posted November 7, 2014 Share Posted November 7, 2014 ive never seen Neil up a tree ? lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FilmBuff Posted July 31, 2016 Share Posted July 31, 2016 Perfect way to de-stress from a 70 hour working week. An early session from 0830 to 1000. 3mph NW, but electric assist and some gentle thermal lift gave a flight of over 75 mins. Awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FilmBuff Posted August 13, 2017 Share Posted August 13, 2017 Well, eventful afternoon today. Pretty much calm winds, so packed an electric glider and my very old 100 S floater. First problem was noticing that the plug on the port wing aileron servo was missing. A quick check in the fuselage showed a male plug still in the Y lead. I thought that was a bit tight to remove last time... Quick dash back to the workshop to solder on a new plug. Saw a couple of cars by the entrance to the bridal path, so thought I may have some flying company. Not so. At the top of the slope, I clearly stumbled across some form of "dogging" gathering. Ooops! I feigned complete disinterest and got the gliders set up. Not sure who was more embarrassed. Despite the flat calm, I threw the Algebra out a few times. The first two were a simple circuit and landing, but the third time saw contact with lift that I was able to work for around 20 minutes getting to around 250 metres or so. It was a reminder of how totally absorbing pure soaring can be. The electric Easy Glider was despatched and a 10 second motor run immediately put it into strong lift. Over the next 40 minutes, I managed to unpack the camping chair, get the iced coffee out and munch a sandwich. When it was becoming a bit too high, even full up and full rudder and aileron did not bring it down. A long inverted dive did the trick, but it still took another 45 mins before I landed. At this point, some local lads appeared in camo gear with terriers to do a spot of rabbiting. I despatched the Easy Glider again, and the flight pretty much echoed the first. Great afternoon of flat calm slope soaring. Now browsing for a small in runner to put in the Algebra's nose. Edited By FilmBuff on 13/08/2017 18:31:22 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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