Posted by Bob Grimstead on Monday, December 1, 2008 @ 04:48 AM:
Hiya Fellow Fournier Fans,
Today I’m in a great mood.
Last week I turned sixty, not an age to be proud of, and next week is forty years since HDO’s first flight, so between us we are now one hundred years old. Ugh!
I was pretty depressed about that until Saturday, when we scored top points out of a field of seven in the West Australian Sportsman aerobatic competition. I was actually placed second, because an odd rule in this state comp is that professional pilots or ex-professional pilots get 5% deducted from their score. Not to worry. And the others were flying either a Super Decathlon or a Christen Eagle, both with 200hp and constant-speed propellers. Only two per cent separated the top five places, so it was a tight fight.
What an incredibly capable aeroplane our good friend René designed!
And the really great thing? My fuel bill was less than one fifth of everybody else’s. Yessss!
Here’s the required sequence:
And my sequence card (one of four, depending on the wind direction)
And here’s a tracing from our TV screen of the flight as recorded by the camcorder my kids gave me for my birthday. I went off the screen a bit into wind a couple of times, so the spin, humpty-bump and stall turn are not recorded.
Here’s a tracing from the previous weekend’s practice. You can see how a little critiquing has helped a lot with the shapes.
Yours, Bob
[Edit by Bob Grimstead on Monday, December 1, 2008 @ 04:50 AM]
[Edit by Bob Grimstead on Monday, December 1, 2008 @ 05:12 AM]
[Edit by Bob Grimstead on Monday, December 1, 2008 @ 05:14 AM]
[Edit by Bob Grimstead on Monday, December 1, 2008 @ 05:14 AM]
Posted by Donald on Monday, December 1, 2008 @ 12:28 PM:
Well done Bob, and congratulations on your 60th. Don't forget that when next you return to the UK you now qualify for your bus pass!
Posted by Bob Grimstead on Monday, December 1, 2008 @ 08:13 PM:
Thank you Donald,
I hope you won't mind if you never hear me mention it again!
Yours, Bob
Posted by Bob Grimstead on Tuesday, December 2, 2008 @ 00:06 AM:
By the way, when you draw it out carefully to scale, this is what the flown sequence should look like:
So you can see I've got a very long way to go to achieve perfection!
Bob
[Edit by Bob Grimstead on Tuesday, December 2, 2008 @ 00:07 AM]
Posted by jb92563 on Wednesday, November 25, 2009 @ 07:59 PM:
I wonder if a GPS could keep up with the Aerobatic action and then the .igc file could
be loaded onto Google earth and "Flown" where we could get a pilot view of all the action?
Not sure how Google Earth handles the inverted portion as it likely wants to keep the viewer upright
I would think?
--------------------
Ray
RF4D #4057 N-1771 Rectimo 1400cc
http://picasaweb.google.com/jb92563/FournierRF4D
http://www.touringmotorgliders.org
Posted by Bob Grimstead on Thursday, November 26, 2009 @ 11:13 AM:
Dunno about a GPS, but I do have on-board aerobatic clips on YouTube.
Search for FournierBob.
There are more coming from an in-cockpit camera of some of this summer's displays, but those will have to wait until I get abck to Austrlia and broad-band access in a couple of weeeks.
I know I said 'a couple of weeks' a couple of weeks ago, and a couple of weeks before that, but if I don't get there quick I'll be prevented by the pre-Christmas ruch.
Happy Fournicating, Bob
