F3A World Championships 2013 Blog - Meyerton, South Africa.

Started by Matt Hoyland, 09, August 2013, 11:47:51 PM

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Matt Hoyland

T minus 12 hours to departure

Well here we go again...

The 78kg off luggage is packed including both Citrins safely packed in the transport case.  We'll head to Heathrow late tomorrow morning for our 19.10 flight to Johannesburg which arrives subject to our 4 Rolls-Royce RB211-524H's performing 10 hours 45 minutes later early on Sunday morning. Unfortunately we're 6 months early for the BA A380 which will be on the Jo'burg route from February. This will give us a day to assemble the models and find our bearings.

Last practise was on Wednesday with everything still performing well, fingers crossed nothing will change for the next flight.

The weather has looked good in Jo'burg for the last few weeks with 20 deg C temperatures and sun all day.  It has got windy in the last few days but looks to be calming down by the time we get there.  There will be no evening practise sessions this year with sun setting shortly before 6pm in the evening but no doubt we will see a few African sun rises.

Looking forward to seeing the new models and we've already arranged to meet up with the US team for dinner next week so will be good to catch up with them.

Any info, photos or gossip required then just let me know and we'll aim to find out for you.  Hopefully the next update will be from Heathrow prior to lift off.

can773

See you there Matt :)  We are off to London tomorrow arriving Sunday morning, then a long layover before the flight to Jo'burg.


Chad

Bob Rowland


Matt Hoyland

We're through check in and waved goodbye to the models. I lost a spanner through security but otherwise going smoothly so far!

Andy Prime

Best of British guys, go easy on the brai's, early to bed, early to rise. Above all, enjoy!

Ashley, ISO 400, AP, F8-F11, great horizons!

Kevin Caton

We got here fine, apart from Steve's box getting sent off to cargo at Johannesburg airport which lost us 2 hours. My hire car is a 10 seat minibus with no folding seats instead of the 8 sweater I ordered and is completely useless as a model carrier. It's cold....brrr..... Flying starts in the morning!


brandon ransley

All this travel to the worlds inspired me to get the oxalys out (for the first time since July 2011) and have a couple of flights. Lipos seemed ok.


Have a great time and as you all know, concentrate on the details.


Still interested to know who is flying what, how, engines, models, speed, distance out etc. so do your best to keep us updated but not to the detriment of your performances.


Bests...


Brandon

Kevin Caton

The bus has now been exchanged for a proper VW Transporter with folding seats... Hope the temperature increases and the wind decreases tomorrow. Watch here for updates.

Matt Hoyland

#8
Day 1

Not quite sure when day 1 started or finished but it seems to have been going for over 36 hours as that's the last time I can remember sleeping properly. Anyway we're all here and now have all 6 models after more than a 3 hour wait at the airport while they found Steves model. Steve and I have assembled our models this evening and are ready for practise to begin tomorrow. Kevin had to go and swap his hire car for one with collapsible seats so his models will be assembled tomorrow.

We've found our practise site less than 5 minutes from the guest house where we had the use of a garage to assemble to models but don't ask Peter how to use the electronic gate especially when he's half in half out. The club has a secure parking area with 'The Doctor' on 24 hour security and will clean the BBQ if we wish to use it. Loads of covered pits area with toilets etc.

Quite a stressful long first day with nothing going quite as smoothly as we might have hoped but we're here which is the main thing.

Good to hear the Oxalys is flying Brandon, still time to enter the Nats?

Matt

peter brett

Any rumours that I trapped the minibus in the security gate whilst closing the garage door are completely false!
And don't ask Ashley when he started to get a strong liking for Old Oak Sherry either?


Peter

Matt Hoyland

Quote from: peter brett on 11, August 2013, 09:29:00 PM
And don't ask Ashley when he started to get a strong liking for Old Oak Sherry either?

And here is the evidence.  When we arrived the bottle was almost full and when we left it was almost empty.  The team can nether confirm or deny any rumours about how much the TM (and Sally) drank.

Our practise site for today, it was quite windy yesterday but hopefully it'll be a little calmer today.

You can follow Team Canada here - http://teamcanf3a2013.blogspot.com/

Bill Michie

Hi Matt, hope you all have a great ( & successful!) time.............. ;)
Which sites are you practising at/ visiting? Just asking as I've flown at many around the Jhb/ Pretoria area.
Once again please pass on my regards to all the UK Team & the SA Team members & Bob Skinner when you see them.
Best regards, Bill

Kevin Caton

Bill,


We're flying at Rand Model Aeronautic Club which is only 3 miles away from our guest house. We've just got back from a very successful practice day. It was pretty windy this morning but it eased off later in the afternoon. Everything is working ok so far!


Kevin

Matt Hoyland

#13
Day 2

Awesome first day proper.  We've all flown and everything is working.  It was quite windy this morning probably around 15-17mph but straight down the runway and settled down this afternoon to almost nothing.  There was a cool breeze in the morning but for me the temperature was perfect in the afternoon.  Flying at altitude is pretty much the same as flying at home, if I didn't know and I wasn't looking for changes I probably wouldn't have noticed any difference and is just the same when conditions differ at home.  I have tweaked (increased) the elevator in my spins and Steve reduced his aileron throw a little.  Kevin is trimming his Citrin so has no comparison to make at this stage but I think he likes it!  Seems to take a little more throttle and rudder to go round the square on corner and we're all using much less battery power.  I landed with 39% (put 2700mAh back in) left this afternoon and had more than 27% left in the wind this morning.  I'm happy with the prop I'm using (21.5x13), down line braking feels the same and no change to the power output.  I managed 8 flights with Kevin and Steve having 6.  I need to fly Citrin no. 2 tomorrow but other than that can't wait to get going!!

The Guest house is excellent, a maze with lots of different buildings but great hospitality with breakfast where they will cook anything we want.  We've visited the Italian across the road again this evening and caught the end of the cricket so we are looking forward to catching up with the Aussies when we find them  ;D .

Looks like most teams are now here or at least on there way so news of other teams may be imminent.  We're heading out earlier tomorrow and then going to visit a local model shop in Johannesburg.

Bill Michie

Great stuff, keep it coming!
Very interesting any differences you find (or not..............) to trimming. Of course you also don't have any/much difference in thrust, unlike an i/c setup where on the Reef, you're about 17% down on power.......................
RMAC is a great venue, I've flown there many times in the past. The shop you're going to, is it Dean Grobbelaar's one, Aerial Concepts?
Now you know why I miss the "all-year-round" flying conditions!
Enjoy, not the least the SA hospitality.

Bill