Bwlch session today.

The weather played nice today and we managed to get a great flying session in on both the Westerly and normal faces of Mickey's slopes.
 
Arrived at 1030 after a nice relaxing drive and met Rog in the parking area. Loaded my gear onto my back and started the long trudge walk to Mickey's West. "Wotcha flyin today?" asked Rog, "the Skorp and Wasa...... just the Skorpion, the Wasabi is still on the bench" was my sheepish reply.

We were greeted at the slope by three keen flyers making the most of the smooth, substantial lift in the form of local boyo Mark and two Whitesheeters Graeme and Tony. Quite an impressive assortment of planes between them.
A crew from London parked themselves along the slope a little and kept to themselves for the day, although I did have a quick chat at the carpark later.
Andy arrived, said hello and then Roger and Mark were feeling a little bit clostrophobic so they upped sticks and moved to a different part of the Bwlch to steer clear of the rest of us. I don't think And's personal hygeine had anything to do with the exodus, but my nose isn't as sensitive as it used to be, so you never know.

I started to rig the Skorpion and then realised that I had left my transmitter at home, sitting next to the Wasabi on the bench!! What a div!!
I walked back to the car, drove home, grabbed the Tx and Wasabi, drove back and walked back to the slope. That took about 1.5 hours, which I would have preferred to have spent flying and chatting.

I finally got to have a few flights of the Skorpion and Wasabi. Landing on the Westerly Slope of Mickeys is soooo nice, I love the amount of room and smooth wind. Even landing the Wasabi was simple as it was possible to fly a figure of 8 until the airspeed was low enough to land safely.

While flying the Skorpion, I kept analysing it's flight, thinking that I should play with the differential and snap-flap as it doesn't quite seem right. I didn't do anything about it and kept putting it off. I am the king of procrastinators.

We ended up shifting to Mickey's at about 2pm as the wind had shifted sufficiently to the south west to make the flying uncomfortable and the rewards for moving were substantial (if you like compressed air!).

Our numbers slowly dwindled until just Andy and I were left flying and I finally decided to tackle the Snap-flap and Aileron Differential. It only took me an hour and about 4 or 5 flights, but I am MUCH happier with the way the Skorpion is flying and am now relishing the thought of competing at the Welsh open.

Andy took a quick clip of one of my flights this afternoon.
I carried my camera, a tripod and my video and didn't use them at all.

Here is the clip Andy took.




I am well worn out tonight but very pleased to have had a full day of flying with my mates.

Bring on the next session!