THE HISTORY OF V.A.R.M.S The Annual Diary 1990 - 2009

19
1993 - 94
The Committee
President Greg Hung Secretary Glenn Salisbury
Treasurer Marcus Stent Editor Richard Budge
Committee Member Brian Andrew Publicity, Meetings Jim Robertson
Contest Director Tim Mellor:- Thermal Alan Mayhew
Slope Trevor DeHaan 60' Pylon Glen Salisbury
Fun Fly's Lindsay Henderson Electric Philip Conolly
Scale
Dave Anderson
Aspectivity 248/July contains a reprint from November 1977 of Brian Laging's record-breaking
12 hr flight at Mt. Hollowback on Oct 22nd 1977.
Dawn! October 22 1977
The moment of truth!
Here we were assembling the Foka in a freezing South wind on the top of Mt. Hollowback,
trying not to forget things, such as the wing retaining rubber bands (I nearly did!). The remote
transmitter unit on the car roof, the big battery on the ground near the car door so I could read the
meter during the long hours ahead. Mike shivering in the cold holding the heavy model as I
checked for the last time that Left WAS left etc!
LAUNCH! TIME 5.23 a.m. Feel things out for a few minutes as we gain height for a
range check, plug in the rooftop R.F. unit and re-check range, finally we plug in the 12V battery and
check that current draw is correct. Collapsing the transmitter aerial we retire to the warmth of the
car, trailing leads through the window. A problem is immediately found which will annoy me all
day: the model is hard to see at height without craning my neck. Oh well, so much for forethought
and preparation!
For nine months we have been slowly setting up for this day, firstly seeking a battery of
sufficient capacity with acceptable weight. (Thanks Charlie Wyatt). Finally opting for a Yuasa 6V
9 amp lead acid of 3lbs 10ozs. Leaving the ballast out of the Foka this gives us an all up weight of
14lbs. with a loading of 23 oz.sq.ft. Kraft technician Eric Beilby gave every assistance in adapting
this to suit the receiver. Kraft also modified the transmitter to use a remote 12 V car battery for
power and lastly matched up a second R.F. stage and antenna assembly to my transmitter. This unit
allows the transmitter to be used with the antennae collapsed so it is easy to sit inside the car and
fly. By quickly pulling plugs and raising the antennae the transmitter is back to standard, allowing
full mobility in case the model drops below the hill-top.
The weather over a 12 hour period at Hollowback was interesting. At dawn it was 20-25K
from the S.S.E. with low cloud 6-800 ft. above the hill. Cloud could be seen forming on Mt.
Buninyong on the E. face and streaming off down wind. This was strange as the wind on our hill
was still S.S.E. Quite suddenly the cloud stream from Buninyong curved and was blowing small
clouds our way at about 500 ft. above us. As the morning dragged on this cloud began to lift and
street. We would spend some time slipping the model to lose height and even flying off around to
the side of the hill to get down, then the wind would shift 10 or 15 degrees and we would have to
keep in close to the hill to stay up.
This continued through lunch time with a couple of exciting moments when the lift faded
altogether, but the wind was still blowing. We noticed a tendency to have a 45.deg. total wind shift
as we got through the day. There also appeared to be some type of wave and thermal combination
from the hill in front, as each time the wind changed the lift moved from one end of the hill in front
to the other. Lunch time meant pies (hot, thanks to the wife) and flying with one hand on the left
sticks only, using rudder and elevator. Bob Sellars was here from 11.30 a.m. with his sons and they
put up some models into the good lift. Thermals were still coming through by 1.30 but some very
poor lift periods had us back on the ridge. Some time around this the model started to climb
towards a black cloud and was starting to go up at a fantastic rate, I kept slipping the model to try
and find an area of slower ascent but suddenly lost sight of it at about 45 deg. up in front of the hill.
It was in cloud without spoilers! I started to slip it as steeply as I could and it screamed out the