ORIGINAL: Slo-V Flyer
Hey thanks for the informative reply!
I knew mostly what a thermal was, as in a rising column of air, just not too much in detail. But, as I said, I gotta find one, and with the weather as hot as it is going to be the next few days, I am hoping to find some..... only problem is... at higher altitudes, it's harder to tell within a small amount of time if Im rising of descending. So even if I do come across a thermal...., I guess practice makes perfect. Oh and one more thing, how high (the lower, the safer for my cheap RTR electronics...) can R/C-able
thermals possibly exist? Is 100 to 200 ft possible? Or do they only occur higher? Like I said, if the plane gets beyond a certain height, I just can't tell if its gaining/losing altitude, let alone what attitude its nose is at (pointing below or above horizon and stalling) which is actually another issue that comes with flying high for me I guess.
I know what you mean by windy. I was in Arlington last month and the calmest it got was about 8 mph.
The best way to watch your plane for themal activity is to have it out in front of you. It is very hard to tell what it is doing if it is nearly overhead. It is also easier to tell if the plane is crossing, rather than coming at you or heading away.
Of courese you need to do your thermal hunting with the motor off, otherwise you will just fly throught them and never even notice.
As the links show, thermals start on the ground. you can pick up a thermal at 20 feet. I have seen it done by skilled pilots flying 60" hand launched gliders and 3 Meter ( aobut 10 feet ) gliders. But it is harder because they tend to be smaller and narrow at the ground. As you go up they get wider so it is easier to find them and "define" the edges.
For your plane, I would say above 100 feet, about double tree height in your area, is OK, and higher is better. If you catch one, don't let the plane get too high or you can lose it against the sky. We call this specking out, when the plane becomes so small you can hardly see it.
In addition, the Sky Fly only has a 500 foot range so you could lose radio contact before you lose sight.
You Slo-V will actually thermal better than the Sky Fly because of its lighter wig loading and its radio has a longer range.
Have fun, learn to glide your planes and you will find those thermals. And when you do .........so cool! Then you will want to get an Easy Glider electric and your own radio and do some real thermal hunting.