Austria

May saw Hilary and I in Austria for a week, staying in the well known ski resort of Kitzbuhel.

Although there was still some snow to be seen the ski season was well and truly finished and spring was underway. As in England spring meant mixed weather, sometimes warm and sunny, others heavy rain, hail and quite cool.

A good example of the changeable weather came on our first day when we walked from the town down to Schwarzsee lake in brilliant sunshine. Glorious T shirt weather right up until the time we arrived back at Kitzbuhelthought when there were some clouds starting to draw in. The photograph above was taken at that time and our hotel was just a short distance away from the nearest church on the left. Oddly, so we thought, the church bells were ringing however we soon learned why, it was weather warning. By the time we reached the hotel it was just starting to rain and by the time we reached our room there was a torrential hail storm with hail the size of golf balls, thunder and lightning. The next day we found out that several cars had been damaged as a result.

 

The evenings were often calm, so a late stroll around the town was very pleasant after our delicious and large evening meals. We made the most of these and we laso set ourselves up well with a nourishing breakfast to set us up for the day.

An advanatage of the evening strolls was the shops being closed as they presented less of strain on my wallet.

 

As we walked around we kept seeing signs about a classic car rally but didn't realise that the over night stopping place was Kitzbuhel itself and that the finishing line was just a short distance from our hotel.

 

Despite the changeable weather we were able to get out and about a lot, sometimes having to deal with a little rain however most of the the time managed keep dry even if the sky rather grey. We took two trips out away from Kitzbuhel, the first being to Krimml waterfalls. These waterfalls are in three stages amounting to around 1250 feet of plunging water. There is a track alongside which can be followed all the way to the top. We didn't have time to go to the top (or the energy!) but we did manage about a third of it.

The second trip out was into the mountains of Bavaria to Hitler's "Eagles Nest" which sits on a mountain peak high above Berchtesgaden. It was a 50th birthday present from the SS. Some of the building remians and the red marble fireplace that Mussolini gave to Hitler is still there. 

Contray to information I've seen elsewhere we were told that Hitler wasn't that enamoured with the place and only visited it 17 times, however Eva Braun often entertained her own friends and family there.

Getting up to the building is quite an arduous climb but that can be relieved by walking from the bus park (cars aren't allowed), down a long tunnel to an ornate lift to ascend more than 400 feet to the Kehlsteinhaus or "Eagles Nest".

Venturing outside the existing building there is a path that leads up to a higher point and when the weather is clear the views are spectacular for a full 360 degrees and providing an eye level panarama of the Alps. When the weather isn't so clear, the clouds close in, as on the day we visited and it seems quite eerie, which for an "Eagle's Nest" is quite fitting.

After a brief spell when the clouds cleared a little they closed in again and then the rain came.

We made our way back through the building, down the lisft to rejoin the bus which the took us to nearby Salzburg. We stopped off for a coffee and some dissapointingly soggy apfelstrudel, which it seems is quite common, so if you ever try it, find out what you are going to get before you order.

On a more pleasing note, it stopped raining after that and we enjoyed a very pleasant walk indeed. The walk took in a visit to the Mirabell Palace and gardens which I believe is where some of the 'Sound of Music' was filmed.

The rest of the holiday was a mix of relaxing, walking and riding hired electric bikes. All of which took us through scenic countryside dotted with the typical chalet style farm houses of the area. One day we walked to St. Johan which was really too far to contemplate walking back, so we decided to catch a train back. On arrival at the station we were just in time to miss one train and had to wait an hour for the next, oh well.

One extra little note. We stayed at the hotel Tiefenbrunner, where we were made most welcome by the friendly staff and owners. The food was excellent and the room, nothing special but very comfortable.

A Relaxing Slope Soaring Session

I arrived at Elkstone to find one other member had just arrived too, so we both tried a few launches but the lift was too poor for anything more than a worrying minute in the air and my friend departed. So I sat down, ate a sandwich and sucked a Callad & Bowser as I admired the view. 

After that the lift had improved a little. Helped by some thermals blowing through it was then possible to have more prolonged flights at leisurely pace and it turned into a very pleasant afternoon's flying. I was later joined by another LMMGA flyer and continued to fly until the flight battery checker indicated it was time to pack up.

Bosley Minn Re-Visited

Last Saturday a favourable weather forecast and an exchange of emails saw Martyn Kinder and myself at Bosley Minn, a L&MMGA permitted slope in the Peak District. When I arrived I found Martyn already in friendly conversation with the farmer, in fact Martyn was assisting him in setting a new gate in position. This pretty much set the atmosphere for the day; good weather & good company.

We then set-up on the nearby slope over looking a georgous view towards Wincle. We had brought a variety of models and flew them all at some point, though my Eurofighter proved to be too heavy for the available lift so it's flight was quite brief. No great harm done though.

Martyn's models needed more preparation than my one piece SAS Fusion so I was in the air first. I like to use this model for the first flight because it's dependable and tough so whatever the lift turns out to be it will cope. As it turned out it was less than we expected but still enough for us to fly.

Martyn was next up with his own design Glass Slipper, there's lots of information about this lovely model in his blog "Martyn's Aeromodelling Diary", which incidently also has his own story about this day.

 

Martyn let me have a fly of his Glass Slipper, which I greatly enjoyed because it really does fly as good as it looks and this also gave Martyn chance to get a take a few photos. In fact we exchanged cameras and photographic duties many times so all the photos on this page are a joint effort. This is how the afternoon continued with us taking it turns to fly, photograph and discuss the merits (or otherwise) of our models and flights.

The lift decayed as the afternoon progressed, fortunately I had my Wicked Wing with me which I have kept fairly light for just such an occasion.

Martyn hadn't tried his Bubble Dancer on a slope before so during a calm spell he gave it a try and up it went! This model needs very little lift to fly and it turned out that it was also somewhat over elevated for slope flying. This made for an "interesting landing" as the model just didn't want to come down, a challange but not to much of a challenge for Martyn and after a few go-arounds he brought down without any harm.

By the time we packed up we had flown everything that we had brought with us and we were well and truly satisfied that we had made the best the opportunity to get out on the slope.

Blanik L-13 Review

I wanted a scale glider of a reasonable size but they are expensive and my slope skills don't yet extend to getting landings right most of the time, especially at sites like the Great Orme which is merciless if the model gets caught up in the 'rotor' effect on a good windy day. I needed something to practice with that wouldn't cost hundreds of pounds to buy or to repair. After quite some searching and hesitation I ended up buying a HobbyKing Blanik L-13 glider which has a very off scale electric motor in the nose but it does provide a means of getting to altitude.

The thing is that it has a 7' wing span and is supplied with everything either fitted or just some minor assembly required and claims to have a good aerobatic performance. All this for a few pence over £85; was this too cheap or a bargain I wondered?

Well the maiden flight has taken place and several more since. A few niggles in the assembly and the shedding of the folding propeller are, I suppose, what you get with a cheap model but it flys well and it looks good too, though silver isn't the best colour against grey clouds! On the whole I would say that I'm pleasantly surprised with the handling and I look forward to trying out as a slope soarer before too long. As for robustness and providing a means for me to get my practice in, only time will tell.

Review

RC AeroBase Official Launch

Today sees the official launch of a problem solving internet database for Radio Control modellers, RC Aerobase.

It came about due to the frustration at having to search through many websites to try and seek solutions when if there was a single place to find concise, relevant and authoritative answers life would be so much easier. This website was started in Autumn 2015 and sufficient articles added by 16th March 2016 to go for an official launch. The intention is that it will grow as more volunteer contributors come forward either to enhance existing articles or add new articles.

The originator of this idea is fellow South Cheshire Radio Control Society (SCRCS), Bob Hynes and following much discussion we formulated the framework and production of RC Aerobase website.

The majority of articles have three main features that are present.

1. The article title is a brief description of the problem as perceived when it occurs.
2. The body of the article contains the potential cause(s) and
3. the potential fix(es).

The website is aimed at everyone, regardless of experience or degree of knowledge; all can use it to problem solve or contribute to help others. Indeed we are looking for knowledgeable authors to add their specialist knowledge to a wide scope of subjects.

Vampire Flying

Following on from enjoying the hand launched Fizza I decided to bring out another old friend from a long sleep, my Vampire. This model will be 10 years old next month so it's doing very well indeed, do vampires live forever?

It's what we call stand off scale, if you stand back it looks like the full size version, well stand right back and you don't even see the propeller on the font. Anyway I like twin boom aircraft, they look so right somehow and the performance is outstanding. Fast or slow, it's great fun.

Ravenair Simulator

Landing a Boeing 747

A Christmas present from my wife was to visit Ravenair flight training and air charter at  Liverpool John Lennon Airport for a simulator flight. We took another couple with us so it was a shared experience we all enjoyed. I decided to be a little adventurous had the simulator setup as a Panavia Tornado as used by the RAF, it was quite sensitive on the controls but I did alright until it came to landing - always the painful bit!  I did land on the runway, the last ten feet of it, then through the perimeter fence and followed that with a nice drive through a wooded area. My wife opted for a more gentle Boeing 747 which she enjoyed and landed on the runway without overshooting. Oh well! 

It was great fun but whilst waiting for out turn I couldn't help looking out of the window at all of the real aeroplanes and thinking "If only...."

 

Model Flying, Great To Be At The Field Again

Wind, rain, a boggy field and a dodgy knee has reduced the amount of model flying I have been able to enjoy this winter. Thankfully there's been an improvement in all of these aspects recently, some sunshine even but the flying strip was still too wet to cut the grass so some suitable models had to be chosen. My hand launch Fizza was built from scratch by me 10 years ago and despite sending 6 weeks smashed up in a tree some years ago still fly's well (after repair of course). 

I'd forgotten what fun a simple model like this can be, it's just a sheet wing with elevator, ailerons and throttle being the only controls. Power is from an Enya 15 BB engine making it quite nippy, yet it glides well - which just as well as it needs gliding down and belly landing at low speed.

I haven't flown a helicopter for months and so I'm pleased to have succeeded flying it and taking home piece. Power for this 450 size helicopter comes from a LiPo battery which provides a flight time of around 6 minutes, it's a good idea to land before that time is up though!

Loch Rannoch

February 2015 we were in Scotland at Loch Rannock. Our timing couldn't have been better as there was enough snow to be picturesque but not enough to cause any travel problems. Some days were really sunny and one day was really wet but whatever the weather sent we were able to enjoy ourselves.

We were able to abandon the car on the better days and go for walks. Having had a dodgy knee for quite some time it was a bit of a concern and not entirely painless but I was lucky. My brother, his wife and my wife were all on this holiday and went down with heavy colds. Somehow I didn't; I'm guessing it was somekind of flu and having had my flu jab last October I was protected.

Other days we travelled by car to tour the area and on one day, the rainy day, we went to Fort William by train from Rannock station. The weather for journey was good, but we got soaked while we were there, just the excuse we needed to spend an hour in front of an open fire in a pub to dry off.

As well as getting around we had a whisky tasting, a painting session and a haggis supper. The Haggis supper was at Kynachan Hall, an annual fund raising event for the local community hall. We were made very welcome even though the majority of people there were locals and it was the most enjoyable evening out of the holiday.