Come on out and join us, we're not crazy, really.

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".