Tag Archives: Sailplane

Florida Soaring Society 2016 Wrap-up

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The scores for 2016 were recently posted for the FSS 2016 events. Here are the results for the year: Expert Rank Pilot Contests Flown Scored Points Yearly Average 1 John Kennedy 11 7808 824 2 Mike Naylor 10 7648 830 3 Michael Gardner 9 7483 831 4 Jamie Mercado 8 7460 932 5 Steve Blake 7 6174 882 Masters Rank Pilot Contests Flown Scored Points Yearly Average 1 Raed Elazzaw 14 8668 915 2 Jody Miller 8 7700 962 Wow! 3rd place finish! This is my second year of flying competitively so I’m very pleased. John, Mike, Jamie, and Steve … Continue reading →

Purchasing an Xplorer Mark 3

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Mike and His Xplorer

I finally did it! Six months of saving and a bonus from work allowed me to pull the trigger on an Xplorer Mark 3! This model is out of this world in terms of quality. Everything seams are sealed. There is no molding marks. The tail group! Oh, the tail group! When I picked up the rudder I thought there was something wrong. It was so light! For a 4 meter (154 inches) glider I am amazed at how light it feels. The size really makes this impressive. Here are the weights: Center Panel 591g Right Tip 234g Left Tip 225g … Continue reading →

Florida Soaring Society Contest #3

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I participated in the Florida Soaring Society’s third contest of the year at the Indian River Kontrol Society’s field just west of Cocoa, FL. The contest was well put on by John Graves and his wife Kim. The whole weekend was a blast. I also had my best flying of the year! Continue reading →

Sunbird Electric Glider Build

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Recently I got bit by the building bug. I don’t know why, but I’ve been wanting to build something. There was a thread on RCGroups about building a woodie DLG. I decided that it would be cool to have. It looks like an awesome flying glider. However, I have’t built anything before. A DLG airframe takes a bunch of stress. Building one has to take this into account. You don’t want it to come apart after a few hard throws. I decided that building something cheap like the Sunbird Electric Glider would be best for me to try before I got the … Continue reading →