Lassogeier Luftzirkus 2015 Niederkassel Rheidt, Germany.
FLYING REPORT & RESULTS FLICKR PHOTO ALBUM (Thanks to Claudia Kehnen)
Here’s a very personal report on the Niederkassel meeting in Germany from Max Uttien. It will surely resonate with many C/L fliers, reporting a mixture of triumph and disaster, but with the overall flavour of a rather enjoyable weekend! Over to Max, with my grateful thanks:
“I left on Saturday at five o’clock in the morning because I had quite a large program to complete, I wanted to arrive at 8 o’clock. The objective was ;
1. Making the competition flights
2. Making test flights number 5, 6, 7, on the AMA Class1 with line slider
3. Getting to know the Jett .40. and make a couple of test flights with it
When I was within 100 km of Niederkassel, all the red lights on the Renault Megane’s dahboard went on red AGAIN, and the speed went down to 80 km / h.
(As two months ago on the way to Karken Germany, I had the same problem) – that is not nice thing to happen on the Teutonic autobahn, where permitted speeds of 200km/h+ are no exception.
Looking in the rear view mirrors and with heart rate of 200 b/m+ and waiting for the crash I managed to reach a parking area. After I telephoned the leasing company, I was towed back, after waiting two hours, all the way to the NETHERLANDS (What the f.**k was going on?!) In Venlo, Netherlands I had to wait two / three hours for a replacement car, Then I had to transfer all my flying stuff, and after a drive of two hours I was in Niederkassel, at last. seven hours late. I was not too happy!
OK; Now the contest;
The weather was perfect, cloudy and almost no wind. Again well organized by Axel Junherz and Robert Schulze. Many thanks to them. Food and drinks were also provided with original Kölsch Weiss beer and there was a lot of flyers.
Classes flown included Oldtime Stunt, F2B Beginners, Mini Teamrace 1,5 cc, Mini Combat 1,5 cc, Semi scale, Basic Carrier Deck, Indy15 and 30. Normally I would have taken some pictures and written a report about the contest, but not this time – too busy! Also, I’m hoping that Robert will report on the night flying.
First my competition flights.
I had a flight on Saturday with 204 points, a flight with 209 points on Sunday, with my old model, gray P51 – I have finally beaten the sound barrier of 200 points. a bright spot in all Renault misery. Then the AMA Class1 with line slider and ASP .28 engine (Ed: Max’s Class 1 test-bed) I put all settings to a more conservative level, and the 60 degrees hangs are impressive and well controllable with the line slider working predictably and controllable. Many thanks for this success are due to Eric Conley (USA Carrier master) who helped me with plans, technical advice and coaching, and that all Transatlantic! Now it’s “just” a matter of practicing as much as possible. In the high speed portion a slow but controllable oscillation showed itself, but after reducing speed a little the oscillation disappeared – I will try to put the balance point a little to the nose.
Next, the Jett .40;
The engine started ridiculously easy, but did not respond well to the needle.With higher rpm I noticed air bubbles in the fuel line, so I think the clunk went into resonation and/or the fuel foamed due to vibration, so I stopped testing with the Jett, to prevent damage. – this winter I will build another tank without a clunk, and put a little silicone oil in the fuel to reduce foaming.
Finally, on the return journey home, this time the car (a Volvo V70, NOT a renault!) kept running – thank goodness!”
I’ve also just received another short report from Robert Schulze on the night flying at Niederkassel – he writes:
“Night Rating: those who did not fly at night, he or she has lost a result. I can tell you that it is almost easier at night – there’s very little wind, the pilots can place the center circle better than by day, so when their foot feels this before landing, they will land on the deck. Stephan has LED position lights which (thanks to a 2.4GHz controller) he can turn on when on the final approach, to great acclaim from the spectators! Klaus had a LED string around the wing, while others used a chemical snap light with tape affixed to check around 30 degrees. After 11 scoring flights at night, and a very long day, we fell into our sleeping bags at 23:00 – exhausted! Unfortunately I haven’t any photos – I must again speak with Claudia, but it’s not so easy to photograph without light”
My thanks go once again to Max and Robert Schulze, who also sent me a beautiful PDF file of the final results – perfect! I have also included a link to a FLICKR album of pix taken at the meeting by Claudia Kehnen – enjoy!