What is RC Soaring?

So you think you want to try out RC Soaring. What is RC Soaring? When I decided to try out the sport I had a lot of past experience with model aircraft (35 years ago) but almost none with radio controlled models. I did a quick search and found that a friend of mine, Doug Adams a WMSS club member that I flew with years ago, was active in the sport so I contacted him. He brought me out to the field, put up a sailplane and put the radio in my hands. After fumbling around some I managed to land his Big Bird in a tree and bust off the wingtip. Not an aupisious start, but it did get me interested. Another old aquaintence (Dan DeVries) was flying too and he had a foamie 1-26 that he gave to me. It was a beater (just what I needed) but it flew fine. After tumlbling it a couple of times, I got the hang of it and manage to land it somewhat near where I intended. Then came the big breakthrough, " Thermalling". I launched into a hot rising column of air called a thermal. The RC Soaring pilots call this "Lift". Basically, your glider rises without power and with some finessing you can ride these rising currents of air and fly longer and higher than you could without lift, sometimes very long. Lift can also be caused by wind hitting objects like trees, hills and buildings causing a shockwave of rising air currents. This is "Wave Lift". Many glider pilots live in areas where large ground features like hills, cliffs, dams, mountains, sand dunes and other large ground structures are perfect for flying waves of rising wind. This is known as "Sloap Soaring".

This is what RC Soaring is about for me, using my skill as an RC Soaring pilot and the rising air currents to gain altitude and fly a long time, sometimes over an hour. At times the glider is so high you can barely see it. This is known as "Specked Out", the plane is so high it looks like a speck in the sky. My longest flight was about an hour and a half, and my personal best altitude was over 3,600 feet. Some of our club members have flown over eight hours in a single flight, remember, this is without powered assistance of any kind. Just the pilot, his RC Sailplane and the air.

What you get out of flying is up to you. You can fly for fun as many do and just enjoy the freedom rc soaring gives you, or fly in competition. The sport of RC Soaring competition is a great way to hone your skills as a pilot. The WMSS hosts several competitions during the year for it's club members and larger contests for other clubs to attend.