The Hong Kong Radio Control Soaring Society is going to hold a
handlaunch glider competition in November, 2002. In order for the
pilots to get some practices before the real competition, a trail
handlaunch event with introduction to bungee launching technique was
arranged on Saturday, 28 September 2002. The flying site was
chosen to be an unused grass field near the river in Nam Sang Wai, Yuen
Long. The location is marked as in the red circle on the map below.
About 20 r/c soarers together with their families participated
in this event. Pilots started to arrive at 2:30pm, most of them have
never been there before so a few of them got lost in the jungle of
roads, but they final made it to the flying field. The recommended
route to go there is the red route shown in the map. This route is
longer and it starts from Lau Fau Shan. In the roundabout there, turn
to Deep Bay Road and then drive on and pass Tsim Bei Tsui Some
pilots have tried to go there by the blue route but unfortunately, this
route is not possible as the gate of the sewage treatment plant was
closed.
Paul Wong, our main organizer for this event, briefed the pilots on the
characteristics of hand launch gliders and the rules of F3K by FAI. He
also introduced the techniques in bungee launch with a successful
demonstration in launching a MiniEllipse. The bungee cord is over
hundred meters long and can be used to launch gliders to hundred meters
high. Many pilots have successfully launched their gilders in turn and
landed safely, although there were some mishaps. Since the sky is
cloudy blocking the sun light and there were wind as well, the thermal
activities were rare and most pilots could only manage a few circles
airborne after launched. It is really challenging to keep the plane
airborne with no thermal lift but wind. Apart from this, we really
enjoy the atmosphere for the friendly exchanges of ideas, what's a
wonderful day!
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"That enough!" said Mr. Ho, "this is my fault to let her slip away for
a swim". "Back up please sweet heart!"
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The happy guys are so excited about discovering the waterborne
capability of this little sailplane while Mr. Ho is hiding behind for
not to be seen
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