The Glide Fast Journal

Commercial spot for the Bruce F3K

Bruce Davidson, star of the new HLG Master Class 1 DVD, is having a F3K contest at his private thermal field at his home in Shelbyville, Kentucky.  Here is a short video we shot to promote the event.  Funny stuff.

Podcast Interview with HLG Pro Bruce Davidson

Want to listen to an hour long interview with one of the world's top HLG pilots?  Sure ya do.

After finishing a grueling 2 days of filming Bruce teaching the Handlaunch Master Class DVD, I sat him down and interviewed for an hour long podcast.  We discuss the latest trends in HLG flying techniques and airplane designs and how they are effecting the sport.  Other subjects include flying without a rudder with his Sirius, his trip to the German Open F3K contest, and how his approach to contests has changed over the years.  Click the link to download the MP3 file to your computer.  Pass it around!

Download Bruce Davidson Podcast

You Can Order The New Handlaunch Master Class 1 Now

You can now pre-order the new Handlaunch Master Class DVD at the Radio Carbon Art website.  The first in a series, the master class taught by national HLG champion Bruce Davidson will show you how to apply the latest techniques to improve your HLG experience.  Just visit the Master Class page at my site for complete info: HLG Master Class Info Page  The DVD will be shipping by July 10th.  This DVD is going to be great.

Dynamic Soaring Speed Record On Wired.com

RC soaring rarely gets any mainstream press coverage. I saw this article on Wired Magazine's website covering the recent dynamic soaring speed record of 396 mph set a few months ago.  I am sure the included video clip will blow some people's minds.  Read the article here.

New Airtronics SD-10G Radio Demo Video

The new 10 channel Airtronics SD-10G 2.4 radio system is about to hit the market and champs Skip Miller & Cody Remington (stars of the Soaring Master Class 2 DVD) show off some of the cool features of the new system.  Some innovative features just for sailplane guys though the lack of onboard model memory is a disappointment. Give this thing a 5 buck 1 Gig card for god sakes!

Soaring Nirvana Found?

I think I have discovered where I want to live someday.  This place has it all.  Good food, surfing, wind and weather, and perhaps the best slope soaring in the world.  Where is this place?

Soaring Master Class 2 Trailer

Finally got the Master Class 2 DVD trailer done and you can watch it here! 

You are going to enjoy learning from these true soaring legends show you how its done. If you go to my YouTube Channel, you watch this trailer in High Quality. Enjoy! When you are done watching, go to the ordering page and get yourself a copy of the Soaring Master Class 2 DVD. 

You Can Now Pre-order the Soaring Master Class 2 DVD

 

My new DVD Soaring Master Class 2 is now on sale on the Radio Carbon Art website. Featured pros are 4-time F3B WC Daryl Perkins, F3J youth WC Cody Remington, soaring masters Skip Miller and Tom Keisling, and returning instructor Mike Smith.  An incredible depth of talent share their tips on sailplane set up, soaring techniques and flying competitions.  For more information on the DVD's content and to order, go to the Radio Carbon Art website at this LINK.

The demand for this new training DVD is huge, so order now. If you liked the Master Class 1, you will love the new DVD. Preview clips and more information will be posted here in the next week.  

Finding Lift with LIDAR

I found this interesting video interview with soaring legend Dick Johnson who discusses the future of soaring and the use of LIDAR to find thermals while aloft.

Follow this link to Kempton Izuno's blog to watch the Quicktime video at this LINK:

(Link is now working)

My Favorite Video of the last 2 years

A non-soaring post, but important non the less.  The most inspiring and hopeful video work I have seen in many years. You can watch the HD version on Vimeo. No need to explain further.  Enjoy.  Peace thru Art.

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

Southwest Classic

Just back from a few days of chillin' & filmin in Phoenix at the Southwest Classic. Nice 75-80 degree days, big old soft thermals, and lots of world-class pilots to chat with.

I was shooting footage for the Master Class 2 DVD which I am already working on. Mike Smith returns sharing some great new soaring tips and guest star/teacher Daryl Perkins allowed me to follow him as he set up his new Icon 2, showing me some great tips on launch set up which will certainly be on the new DVD.  

The best part was having the top pilots and timers mic'd up during the contest showing you how they work together and the techniques they use for winning contests.  Teams included Mike Smith and Daryl Perkins, Mike and David Hobby, Tom Keisling and Mike Seid, and Skip Miller and junior world champ and SWC winner Cody Remington.

 

A special video for my BLOG fans.  This is a remix of a clip from my full-scale gliding movie Redline Sky.  This epic footage shot by Jonathan Tappan at Torrey Pines captures amazing beach runs and fly-bys by some insane pilots. Music by Dirty Vegas. This clip won't be up for long.  Watch in high quality if you have fast internet, click the right hand player arrow and choose HQ. The Redline Sky DVD info page is at this LINK:

US F3B Team Needs You! Get Your Gear.

 

US soaring pilots have to step up now!  The 09 U.S. F3B team needs to raise $4000.00 by March 15th in order to get a $7000.00 matching donation.   Even if you are not a Yank, you can help out!

You can help in many ways.  First, you can buy raffle tickets online which will get you a chance to win any or all of a long list of great prizes. Second, you can purchase the OFFICIAL F3B t-shirts and other apparel designed by Paul Naton (that's me).  Third, you can make a cash donation which will earn you much soaring karma for the next year. 

 

Go to the official team website and order tickets, buy shirts, give money, and meet your team.  Time is short, help them out now, earn them the matching funds. 

You can visit the team website at http://www.teamusaf3b.com/  Remember, they need $4K more to get the matching funds. Don't wait.  

You can see the team logos after the jump:

Liftzone Reviews Soaring Master Class DVD

The Liftzone has just published an extensive review of my latest DVD, Soaring Master Class 1.   Reviewer George Voss gives a thorough overview of the training video's content and comments on the value of the instruction to pilots of all skill levels.

You can read the full review here at the Liftzone on RC Groups.

Free Vector Art For Gliders

If you are finishing a new scale glider, modern, vintage or PSS, you might want to check out this site which has a ton of vector art files for numbers, logos, and instruments.  The file formats vary, but are in Corel Draw, Illustrator and WMF. Vectors are scalable with out resolution loss and you can print them in any size. Check out the collection at this link on RC-net.de.  Cool Stuff. 

Podcast Interview with design legend Charlie Richardson

I have been saving this special interview until now.  When I was in San Diego filming the Soaring Master Class DVD, I spent an afternoon with my old friend and soaring mentor Charlie Richardson.  Charlie owned CR Aircraft Models and designed and sold some of the most innovative gliders of the 1980's and '90's.  Glider designs like the Renegade, Climmax, Contender, Turbo, and Raider are true classics.

Listen to my hour-long podcast interview in MP3 format (47MB) as we discuss Charlie's start in R/C, his design process, and how his cutting-edge gliders came to be.   Download The CR Podcast  

This podcast can be used freely and copied without restriction.  Please support this and future podcasts by buying a few of my DVDs at www.radiocarbonart.com

Soaring Master Class-Another Preview

Another preview clip from the Soaring Master Class DVD.  Mike talks about flying in wind, and he catches a thermal with his Ceres in 15kt wind at Poway.  Imagine what the rest of the DVD is like!  Enjoy...........

You can watch a higher quality version by clicking this link, then chooisng "watch in high quality" in the YouTube viewer pane.

The Mike Smith Interview Podcast Interview

Mike Smith has been 'on fire' the last couple of years on the competition circuit but many don't know of him. After finishing a weekend of video taping the Soaring Master Class DVD which Mike teaches, I sat him down for an informal interview/Podcast asking him questions about his long soaring career and influences. The Podcast is about 30 minutes, 24 megs, 128k MP3 format file. You may download, copy, and distribute this Podcast as you wish.  Enjoy!

Download the Mike Smith Interview Podcast Here: Download smc_podcasts.mp3

Here is the LINK to the Soaring Master Class DVD Information page.

NEW: Soaring Master Class With Mike Smith

 I've been working really hard to bring you guys the best instructional soaring DVDs on the Planet.  You can now order my latest DVD, Soaring Master Class 1. Here is the LINK to my information page for the DVD. Here is a preview clip from the DVD where Mike talks about elevator centering and it's importance to performance flying. Click on th player window to go to Youtube directly where you can view the high rez version.

What A Cool Week!

I just spent the last week in sunny San Diego with soaring hot shot Mike Smith. Mike is US champ, 3 time F3B team member, and the hottest pilot in the US. How much could YOU learn flying with Mike for a few days?  Well, you will soon find out.  I had the video camera rolling as he 'brain dumped' his years of soaring knowledge and you will be able to see what he taught me soon, very soon.

The Liftzone Reviews HiPerf Thermal Soaring

Reviewer George Voss has written a detailed review of my latest DVD, High Performance Thermal Soaring, on the Liftzone at RC Groups.  George is a very detail-oriented reviewer and does more than just watch the DVD once.  He finds things in the film that I didn't know were there.  Read the review at this link:  DVD Review

Free-Flight Slope Soaring? Yes . . .

Would you throw your sloper off a hill without turning on the radio?  It might fly a while, but the ending will not be a happy one.  

There are guys who fly slope, free flight.  The official class is called F1E, and it is flown as a world championship event, though there might be 5 guys who fly these planes in America.  I had heard about this class years ago, and recently stumbled on F1E while searching my favorite channel, YouTube.

Get The RCA Newsletter: New Products and Special Deals

I send out an e-mail based newsletter every month with special deal offers, coupons, as well as new product announcements and updates.  I invite you to join our newsletter list with 2800 other Radio Carbon Art fans around the world.

It's super fast to sign up, confidential, and you can unsubscribe anytime. You just might get that special deal you are looking for right away!  Join up now on our e-mail list sign up page HERE.

The David Hobby Interview Podcast

A first for the blog and Radio Carbon Art, a podcast!  When David Hobby was at my house for his guest-starring role as instructor for the High Performance Thermal Soaring DVD, (this is a DVD every pilot should own) I sat him down and for an informal interview on the subject of the recent F3J world championships held in Turkey.  Dave talks about the contest action, the latest design trends, and other glider gossip.  Just click the MP3 link to activate and/or download the interview. This 25 minute interview is about 17 megs.  Its a great listen, and a rare opportunity to hear a 2-time world champ talk about soaring.

Download david_hobby_podcast.mp3

New Preview For High-Perf Thermal Soaring DVD

I finally got the preview trailer together for my latest training DVD, High Performance Thermal Soaring.   It's a 3 minute preview which shows the great educational content and high quality of this production.  If you want to take your thermal soaring skills beyond what they are now, then buy this DVD now. It has a 30 day guarantee, what can you loose?  I have posted the trailer in a variety of formats and sizes, the links after the jump, but here is the lower quality YouTube version:

2008 Viking Race F3F

The 08 Viking Race, the unofficial F3F slope racing worlds, is starting shortly and you can track the results online.  The event is at Donovaly, a great hill in Slovakia.  If they get wind, its a world class hill, and times can be fast.  There is not much on the web site yet, but there are some good photos of the site here:  Viking Race Page.   Update: Here is a nice collection of photos from Race Day 1

Next Gen 2 Meter

Its been a while since an all wood thermal plane got me excited.  There is a new 2 meter plane called the Miles, and its a much needed higher tech replacement of the Gentle Lady class glider.  Drela foils, HLG roots, and good looks.  The kits have not hit America yet, but a few of the usual companies will carry them soon. They won't be 35 buck kits, but its no old school plane either.  Check out the Miles website: Fineworx

Part Glider, Part Land Yacht

This is the coolest thing I have seen in a while.  Green Bird is a land yacht trying to break the land sailing speed record of 116 mph.  Engineer Richard Jenkins and his team of 0 emissions designers came up with this unique wind powered land cruiser that looks like a Mantis sailplane crashed into it.  Check out the website for yourself, they are in Australia waiting to go for the record. Wow! Wow!  http://www.greenbird.co.uk/index.html

My Latest DVD Goes On Sale Today!

 

This new DVD, High Performance Thermal Soaring, has been in the works for sometime, a sequel of sorts to the Secrets of Thermal Soaring how-to.

High Performance Thermal Soaring was well into production when something AMAZING happened. . . . . . . . . . . .

If you fly enough, you are going to have emergency situations arise, just like if you were flying a real aircraft. While full-scale pilots practice for inflight emergencies, most RC pilots don't, and when stuff happens, they panic and crash.