South Cotswold Soaring
Association Beginners Page
So you've decided you want to take up flying model
gliders, but where do you start?
Step 1:
(and probably the most important step)
Get in touch with your local model club. Either, ask
anyone you see flying models, ask at the local model
shops or look on the
BMFA
website for your local club. Your local club
will be able to give you advice on the models that
are suitable for the local conditions. There's no
point buying a heavy slope soaring model if you live
miles away from any hills! (although sea cliff's can
make good soaring sites)
Members of the SCSA fly at various times during the
week, but probably the best time to come along as a
beginner is on a Sunday morning (please note that on
some Sundays a club competition will be taking
place). Look on the home page of this web site to
check the wind direction, See
Facebook for the latest news. then come along
to the appropriate slope. The club has a number of
people who can help you get started, plus buddy box
leads to connect certain types of radio control sets
so that they act in a similar way to dual controls
when learning to drive.
Do not attempt to learn to fly on your own....you'll
just end up crashing every time and get fed up very
quickly.
Step 2:
; insurance: it's highly
advisable to take out 3rd party insurance before you
go out flying. You can usually do this by joining
your local club, or by joining the BMFA (British
Model Flying Association.
Categories of model gliders:
there are generally (very generally!) 2 categories
of gliders.
Flat field:
or thermal soaring gliders
These are intended for flying off flat fields
and are launched either by a "bungee" (a great
big elastic band), a towline see
video (a man or woman running with a long
length of fishing line attached to your model)
and now more popular self launching using an
electric motor fitted to the model, the motor
runs for a short while and the pilot then looks
for thermal lift. They tend to be 2 metres or
greater in wingspan.
Slope soaring gliders:
: a slope soaring glider is one which you take
to the top of a suitable hill and chuck it off
over the side. The model then "soars" (flies) in
the lift generated by the wind hitting the hill,
then being forced up and over the hill (slope).
Hence the term "slope soaring".
What's the best model to learn to fly on?
What
the best radio control set to buy and how does it
work?
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