I thought today was going to be a total blowout when I looked at the
weather report last night. (the temperature was in the high 40's and had melted
all the snow which is amazing for January in Chicago) I stopped by Rich's house
today around noon and his wife Debbie said he had just left to go to the sod
farm. So I high tailed it over there and saw him buzzing around the field with
his electric "Razor" flying wing. He also had brought his Espada but it was
still in the box. It was windy (15-20mph) but not raining and I said I was
going to Buffalo Rock since it was pretty much a South wind. I finally
convinced him to go since he could fly the razor there and even turn on the
motor if he got low on the slope or the lift got light. I had called Steve
Stohr while I was out driving earlier and he was game for some slope adventure.
On the way to Steve's house Rich operated on his battery pack for his plane and
then swapped in a JR receiver to replace the Futaba Rx that was in my Zagi. We
soldered and taped up some connections in Steve's driveway and all jumped in my
van and headed for the Rock. We did see the two large Buffalo by the parking
lot and said to each other "I wonder how strong that fence really is?" After
the short quarter mile hike to the Illinois River we were at the slope and the
wind was blowing nice and steady. Steve was the first there and quickly turned
on and threw the Sophisticated Lady 2 meter off the cliff. It rose gracefully
up like a bird and he flew all over the slope and out away sometimes partly
over the water. I turned on my Tx and nothing happened because the fuse somehow
blew. Rich happened to have a short wire with already stripped ends in his
pocket from his previous battery operation. I managed to finally get it
maneuvered into the cramped quarters of the fuse holder and put the blown fuse
back in to hold the wire and make the connection. It worked! Rich had already
flung his Razor into the air and was zipping back and forth when all of a
sudden it tip stalled. It looked like somebody shot a duck with shotgun and it
just kinda fell out of the sky and bounced/crashed halfway down the slope(rocky
cliff). We went to look for it but could not see it. Steve had the Tx and
bumped the throttle stick and we heard the prop buzzing. I ventured all the way
to the edge and finally saw it in a bush right at the bottom. There just
happened to be a huge mudslide right in the middle of the two cliffs and it
looked like it might be possible to climb down. Rich and I carefully made our
way over to the mud. there was chocolate mud, tan mud, and gray mud... We
quickly found out the gray mud was like quick sand and Rich sunk in to his knee
with one leg and was stuck! He finally freed it after a couple of minutes of
struggle. Meanwhile I continued to climb/slide/slop/ my way down. I finally
made it all the way and recovered the plane. It was rather difficult to get
back up but we stayed in the brown mud and clumps of dead grass. I finally got
to fly my Zagi and it was great. You could fly as long as you want, high or low
on the slope, but I was cautious not to go to low. The coolest part of the trip
was seeing two beautiful Bald Eagles slope soaring very close to where we were
flying. One time while Steve was flying the one Eagle came over and joined him
for a minute and kind of turned and flew in formation with him for awhile.
I grabbed Steve's camera and snapped a shot but I had the camera on the wrong
setting or menu so it did not take a picture. We will always have that vivid
memory in our minds though. Steve Stohr posted a couple pics on RC groups in
the slope soaring section.
Karl Miller
SOAR
Plainfield,IL
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