[rcsoaringdigest] The New RC Soaring Digest | September, 2022 | Vol. 37, No. 9

This month's gorgeous cover photo is by Laurent Ducros and was taken at Cap d'Erquy in February, 2021. It features a couple of the gliders of the aerobatic team based nearby on the northwest coast of France. The four meter span Air 100 gliders in Hamilton livery are all built by Eric Poulain who is also one of the team pilots.

September, 2022
Volume 37, No. 9


We have another great crop of articles for you this month—we encourage you to click any of the stories below to go straight to that article and start reading...

The Launch Zone
In The Air
It's the most wonderful time of the year.
Terence C. Gannon
Aug 31 ·6 min read
"There's a classic TV ad for the Staples stationery store chain which ran back in 1996. I remember the theme music as the big, brassy Andy Williams arrangement of the Christmas classic It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year. But it wasn't in the fall to support Black Friday or Christmas sales, but rather starting in mid-summer, to support that other annual spend-o-rama: 'back to school' in September..."
Silent Arrow® Production Ramps Up
An update on the story we have been covering since February, 2021.
The NEW RC Soaring Digest Staff
Aug 30 ·2 min read
"Chip Yates, the founder and CEO of Silent Arrow, recently told the New RC Soaring Digest that another production run of 15 GD-2000 autonomous cargo gliders had been completed and shipped. Units from this most recently completed production run are being deployed...in the Middle East, the United Kingdom, Serbia and Germany directly from Silent Arrow's Calfornia-based manufacturing facilities..."
Letters to the Editor
Around the world with stops in Portugal, India, the United States, the United Kingdom and Poland.
The NEW RC Soaring Digest Staff
Sep 1 ·5 min read
"First of all congratulations on the magazine, it is fantastic. Just saw the article on Martin Simons and would like to inform you and the article's author that other books by Martin Simons are available new in English, directly from the German publisher EQIP — they are super friendly. You can have the three book set or each book individually. I have all three and they are amazing..."
Cool New Stuff
Our monthly round-up of exciting, must-have merch.
The NEW RC Soaring Digest Staff
Sep 1 ·3 min read
"This story goes back at least 40 years to — well — 'back in the day' they say. In this case 'the day' was when one of the loves of James Hammond's life; the droolingly lovely Multiplex Alpina seduced him into the thrills of slope soaring. He was lost from the moment he saw her. To misquote a pretty good Meryl Streep movie..."

Looking to jazz up the flight line at your next event? If so, then New RCSD Logo Events Flag is just the product for which you have been looking. Also, if you fly it near your slope or field, it will tell you which direction the wind is blowing—no extra charge! RCSD Shop   Sponsored

Features
The Slingsby King Kite
Part III: The Fuselage
Vincent de Bode
Aug 27 ·6 min read
"I drew the fuselage with DevFus (see Resources, below). After a lot of messing around on the screen with terms I'd never heard of, I got familiar with it! Unfortunately, sometimes drawings were suddenly (perhaps magically?) put in a different folder and I could no longer open them in the drawing program (stop laughing!) That's why I drew the hull about three times. Practice makes perfect they say..."
Contest Performance Improvement Process
Part III: Determine the best investment to make towards your contest improvement goal.
Ryan Woebkenberg
Aug 28 ·5 min read
"A competitor may have the temptation to try to work to improve in every scored area of competition. However, that might not be the most realistic path of improvement or the best investment from a time, financial, or opportunity cost perspective. For example, take the F5J raw scoring formula..."
Rediscovering Martin Simons
Part II: Curated selections from Simon's classic work 'Slingsby Sailplanes: A Comprehensive History of All Designs'
Peter Scott
Aug 29 ·15 min read
"Having achieved his A and B gliding certificates, Fred Slingsby was anxious to make progress. For early soaring attempts beginners needed a mild-mannered sailplane that would not respond too sharply to clumsy handling, yet had a sufficiently low rate of sink to allow sustained flight in slope lift. Günther Groenhoff, a young German pilot already establishing a high reputation..."
SOGGI's Classic Line Launching Event
The Southern Ontario Gliding Group Inc. celebrates time-tested designs in a fun fly format.
Lyle Jeakins
Aug 28 ·4 min read
"During the winter months, our executive was approached by Blake Moran, an avid RC enthusiast from Eastern Ontario. Blake mentioned that his club consists primarily of pilots who fly gas-powered land planes. He prefers to fly sailplanes, especially the ones we now consider classics. He came up with the idea of having a day in July where we would hold a special Classic Line Launching Event..."
La Dolce Vita
I dream of living in a place where olives and lemons grow.
Terence C. Gannon
Aug 31 ·5 min read
"All things Italiano instantly catch my eye and strike my fancy. However, many of them are apparently made of unobtanium, and thus remain tantalisingly out of reach. But I stand by my statement that if I win the Mega Millions lottery...before the sun sets over the Dolomites I am going to buy a Riva Aquarama, a couple of Vespas and a Ferrari California. These accoutrements and a summer place on Lake Como to keep them all..."

Combine style and class with this cotton polo shirt. It features the beautifully stitched logo reminiscent of the early RCSD logo created by the late Robert 'Bob' Rondeau. It first appeared on the cover of the January, 1985 issue. Comes in five great colours. RCSD Shop   Sponsored

Ongoing Series
Electricity for Model Flyers
Part X: Light Emitting Diodes and Resistors
Peter Scott
Aug 29 ·8 min read
"Whether you are building a scale model and want navigation lights or you plan a night-time flying session, light emitting diodes (LEDs) are the way to go. They are cheap and can be had in a wide range of colours and brightnesses. They are robust and are very efficient so use little electricity..."
Soaring the Sky Podcast
E107: Nixus Fly-By-Wire Project and Long Cross Country Flights with Zach Yamauchi
Chuck Fulton
Aug 29 ·2 min read
"Our guest today is Zach Yamauchi, a twenty-three-year-old glider pilot and aerospace engineer currently working for a company focused on unmanned aircraft. Zach learned how to fly gliders while attending Cal Poly. He also had the oppertunity to work on the Nixus Project, the first general aviation project using a 28m glider wing employing fly-by-wire technology..."
A Soft Spot for My Sailplanes
Waffles aren't just for breakfast any more.
Tom Broeski
Aug 30 ·2 min read
"About 15 years ago, I ran across some hospital mattresses at a local surplus depot. I couldn't have designed a better item for preventing bench rash. Over the years I've kept an eye out and occasionally pick some up. The ones I've found come in 33" to 36" x 72" and 2" to 4" thick. The dang things are convoluted — and that's what they're called — Convoluted Foam Bed Pads..."

This stylish, 80s-90s nostalgia bucket hat features a beautifully stitched motif reminiscent of the original RCSD logo. It is a combination of timeless practicality and vintage style. Perfect for slope, field or cockpit. Comes in three great colours. RCSD Shop   Sponsored

Retrospectives
Stamps That Tell a Story
Celebrating Swedish aviation then and now, and in particular a record setting 'Weihe'.
Simine Short
Aug 28 ·4 min read
"One of these stamps shows a bright cream and red Swedish built Weihe, with the emblem of the Kungliche Svenska Aeroklubben KSAK. In the background is a yellow image of a SAAB 91 Safir and a white image of a Malmö Aviation Industry MFI-9, later known as a Bölkow Junior. The main design, the Weihe sailplane SE-SCN, is probably the most famous of all Weihe sailplanes ever built, and it has many interesting stories to tell..."
Glider Patents
US 821,393: Flying Machine
The NEW RC Soaring Digest Staff
Aug 29 ·26 min read
"The relative movements of the air and aeroplane may be derived from the motion of the air in the form of wind blowing in the direction opposite to that in which the apparatus is traveling or by a combined downward and forward movement of the machine, as...in either case the operation is that of a soaring-machine, while power applied to the machine to propel it positively forward will cause the air to support the machine in a similar manner..."
That's a Wrap!
The Trailing Edge
Summer's end.
The NEW RC Soaring Digest Staff
Aug 31 ·4 min read
"We're always a little surprised when we're asked about the little details of our office setup and working conditions. Mostly these come through Twitter which makes us wonder if it's SkyBot — or worse yet Elon Musk — simply gathering information for some nefarious purpose. That notwithstanding, the subject of what music we have on in the office came up..."
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