full size glider lands in full size tree

expanding audience, shrinking brain

That Bastion of all things middle class, the mighty 'The Daily Mail' is ready to fight our corner! With its finger on the pulse of all that is important, it briefly diverts from house price speculation and adulterous celebrities to offer moral support to the down trodden aeromodeller....

"For more than 20 years, members of the Plaster Down Flying Association have been playing with their model aircraft on Dartmoor.

Now they’ve been banned after complaints  from ramblers, who fear being strafed by the planes. I can think of no better use for model aeroplanes than strafing ramblers, who think they own the countryside.

Perhaps this is part of a wider crackdown. The owner of a remote-control plane in Cumbria has been fined £4,340 after breaching a no-fly zone near the submarine factory at Barrow-in-Furness.

Admittedly, the skies are becoming crowded these days, what with Amazon planning drone deliveries and the police scrambling helicopters every five minutes.

In the latest incident, the Met sent up Whirlybird One to tackle a reported ‘gunman’ on Parliament Hill Fields in North London. Turned out he was just practising Tai Chi.

I look forward to dog-fights between model aircraft and police helicopters in the no-fly zone over Hampstead Heath.

Ramblers at six o’clock, Sarge!"

So next time one of our slope sites is at risk, bypass the BMFA and get straight onto Richard Littlejohn (unless you enjoy both rambling and aeromodelling, that is).

Release the Beast!

stand aside please, beast coming through.....

long time no post

The noreasterly was a blow, so off to the 'Peep we did go...

our mighty patch on the mighty 'Peep

(slopehunter photo)

Gary made the mistake of handing Paul his camera for half an hour.

Of the 561 shots, only 3 were of any use.

steam gives way to wind, or to put it another way

steam emanated from hang glider man's ears, whilst

wind erupted from glider pilot's rectum (accompanied by

a steady stream of brown adrenaline)

Simon's beast gets its first hand launch

Training comprised running up and down the garden holding

sack of cement and two scaffold boards over head whilst

making aeroplane noises

(slopehunter photos)

following his departure from Channel 4, John McCririck finds

new employment as chief toy plane launcher

(slopehunter photo)

the beast in its natural element

(slopehunter photo)

'Come out with me and fly planes' Dad said 'it'll be great fun' he said....

Alan and Eric pretend it's summer and reminisce about balsa, DEACs and Galloping Ghosts

mini-beasts in their unnatural element

double bluff with the old 'fore shortening gag'; Gary was

actually standing on the canopy of Simon's monster of a scalie in this photo!

extreme fast pass from Gary's Extreme

there now follows a terribly bad quality photo...

'wow! they could easily be mistaken for full size ones'

the beast creams past

back to the patch; Eric was in traction for eight weeks afterwards



a quick bit of footage of the flight, it appears we had
to stand about 3/4 of a mile away to be in
focus for the new camera's manual infinity setting

On Friday we flew....

Good showing for a Friday. Local dung flies leave the

manure heap at the base of the slope, and congregate around the

stench emanating from the photographer.

Simon squeezes out what he thought would be a silent windy pop,

Jim's fart-o-meter instantly alerts him to the social faux pas and

he gives Simon a thirty second death stare of fatherly disapproval

(insert tired gag about man flying a

very small model)

meanwhile at the summit, the Sherpas take a break

waiting for the wind to drop (again)

 Gary's Mig has sat in a box unflown for Four years....today's the day!

checking the gyro...

meanwhile the Minimoa migrates from the mound

 'no pictures, no pictures!'

vintage glider jousting

Mig away! the rapid flight pattern is made very exciting by gyro induced speed wobbles

flap, flap

no rain down west

Last Sunday in Cornwall the rain stopped

and the sun came out (for about three and a half minutes).

a winter thermal

Momma Goodwind was dishing up the turkey. Meanwhile in da 'hood.....

egg beaters' graveyard

Luckily no casualties resulted from the Middle Wallop sortie, however the outfield was scattered with the remains of several helicopters that had paid the ultimate price for trying to beat the air into submission...(there now follows no gliding or flying shots)

Air Woof or Red Thunder? Firm ID required.

First correct answer wins a signed photograph of James Farentino

that experts have dated as being from his 'Jesus of Nazareth' mini-series era.

legs akimbo

that oh so familiar sight of fractured unidirectional carbon

The Lynx effect

let's investigate further.....

ahhhh! that all too familiar cause of most crashes; 'sudden stoppage'

don't tell the pikies

military cock-up

front side speeds

Fastest time of the day was 147mph by Mark with the RCRCM DG600

I'm sure we can all see how this will soon end in mass model destruction....updates to follow!

WALLOP!

Quite possibly the most impressive scratch built scalie in the UK!

Congratulations Simon!