[Video] MPX Cockpit SX 7/9

Video only in german for the moment.

[Scoop] Multiplex new SX 7/9 middle class transmitter

Breaking news !  Next friday, Multiplex is going to announce/release a new 2.4 GHz M-LINK middle class transmitter COCKPIT SX 7/9 for thumbs flyers. With a weight of 846g, it features a 3.5 inches large TFT color touch screen with telemetry display and day / night switching, allowing easy programming like on a smartphone.

Some other features:

• Intelligent Speech (D, E, F) via speaker or earphone jack
• Model Wizard: Predefined templates for nearly all common wing and helicopter models
• IOAT antenna - integrated emission optimized antenna technology with extremely high range
• High precision stick units from the PROFI TX, 4 ballraces
• MSB / SRXL DVR technology BUS integration of sensors and servos
• long battery life
• Future-proof thanks to an upgradable software!

Prices:

• Cockpit SX 7 Sender only - EUR 379,90
• Cockpit SX 7 Set / TX + Receiver RX 7 DR - EUR 399,90
• Cockpit SX 9 Sender Only EUR - 439,90
• Cockpit SX 9 Set / TX + Receiver RX 9 DR - EUR 479,90

Now let's wait Faszination Modellbau :) !!!

[Video] Font d'Urle 2015

Probably the best video I did this season. It was at Font D'urle, during the french league contest. I used my GoPro in rotating timelaspe and my Lumix FZ 1000 Bridge which has 120 images/seconds 1080p slowmotion capabilities. Few hours of editing and this is the result. Hope you will like it !

Angle of incidence calculation

This spreadsheet developped by Attila Laczko in 2003 is on planet-soaring server for a while. I have translated it in english so everybody can use it. It allows to calculate the angle of incidence between the wing and the tail. You just need a ruler !

http://rcsoaringpictures.free.fr/incidence.xls

Staufenbiel Mini Epsilon review in Modèle Magazine

My review of the Mini epsilon from Staufenbiel has been published in the November issue of Modèle Magazine. As a guest star in this article, my friend Alfio Origlio, a famous jazz pianist (http://alfioorigliopro.wix.com/alfio-origlio) who love Slope Soaring during his free time. He is an excellent pilot and it has been a pleasure to give him my transmitter while I was shooting with my DSLR.

and at the same time, one of my pictures taken this summer has been published in Aufwind in the Pictorial pages:

[Video] Flying the EPP Swift from Hacker Model

Video of the Swift from Hacker Model, filmed last Saturday at the col de Faisses, with excellent conditions :

Flying with vultures !

Yesterday, while flying at Col de Faisses, some vultures came to visit us. They arrived from the other side of the valley, and using thermals and wind transited to the Obiou summit. I was flying with my Jedi, using the Mobius on the excellent mount/pod printed by Thomas Delarbre. I suceeded to fly very close and got these 3 pictures.

Too close ?!!!

Maybe a bit too close with the Vagabond XL ....

Well, the truth is that I've been destabilized, I falled on the grass, but kept piloting and recovered hopefully !

Lot's of fun for this picture and video session with the Vagabon XL and the Swift from Hacker Model. More to come !

My Eurotour F3F 2015

This is now official and published, I'm the happy and proud winner of the Eurotour F3F 2015 !

It was my secret objective of the year, because it was the first time I was participating to 4 eurotour contests in the season, giving me the possibility to have a Joker. But there is always a part of chance, unexpected event, etc ...

But this year, everything went well: After winning the 20th edition of La Muela (Spain), I finished third at Col de Tende, then won the first RC-Network open of Vosgen and ended the season with again a third place at the Pyrénées's cup, taking the lead. I couldn't participate to the last Eurotour contest in Denmark, so followed it on F3Xvault with the worry that my friend Inaki Elizondo or Radovan Plch who were both still in position to win the Eurotour could make enough points and beat me at the very last contest. Hopefully for me, it didn't happen. My teammates Philippe Lanes finished 6th and Matthieu Mervelet 8th, so we are 3 frenchies in the top 8, a very good result overall !

Personnaly, I would like to warmly thanks my sponsor MKS, who believes in me since 2010, and has been very supportive from the beginning ! The new HV servo HBL6625, HBL6625mini and DS6125HV are just monsters of precision and speed, and combined with LDS are from my point of view the only possible choice for a competition plane. So thanks MKS for your constant innovation and great products you design and manufacture !

As you know, beginning of the year, I switched to the Taranis X9D running OpenTX. It was clearly a kind of bet to rely on an Open source firmware, but being able to do in flight tuning and ajustment ( and much more) is really a plus, and I want to thanks all the people involved in this nice OpenTx sucesstory ! OpenTx just rocks !!! I'm therefore dedicating this eurotour 2015 victory to the Open TX development team, and to celebrate it, I did a second donation to them !!! (http://www.open-tx.org/donations.html)

Pyrenees's cup

(25th to 27th of September)

Nice weather during all week-end, but we didn't get the massive wind we like on this slope. Consequently, It has been a very challenging competition with very variable conditions with crossed wind from the right. Every round was a fight to gain altitude, then to manage the lift and crossed wind, especially at base B. Arnaud Leger came from the bottom of the ranking and took the lead few rounds before the end to brillantly win the contest, followed by Aubry Gabanon (991 pts). I finished 3rd with 989 points. Many thanks to the small organising team who operated 3 days long at the bases, safety plan or chronometer !

Some pictures of the contest:


First RC-Network F3F open of Vosgen

(28th to 30th of August)

2 days of flying over 3 days, 43 pilots and friends coming from all over Europe, 8 rounds in very variable and challenging conditions, lots of laugth during the free flight day. After a slow start, I also got my luck with some thermals and managed to climb in the ranking from the 36th position after round 1 to the first position at round 8, finally beating Markus Meissner by 4 small points over 7000 pts !!! I'm pretty happy with this second win on the Eurotour F3F after La muela in Spring.



Col de Tende / Limoncello cup

(17th to19th of July)

Maybe the best competition for this year with 26 rounds over 3 days, 30 Pilots from all over Europe, an epic battle for the lead, the fastest time of the Eurotour by my friend and teammate Matthieu Mervelet.

Some pictures here:


La Muela (Spain)

http://planet-soaring.blogspot.fr/2015/04/la-muela-2015-20th-anniversary.html

Innovation: Flexing wing trailing edge

Jaro Muller, the weel known manufacturer of the Ellipse family is currently experimenting a new technology of flexing trailing edges replacing the traditional control surface with hinges. A first video has been released. We cannot see well in details, but it seems to work.



Does it use a kind of Fish Bone Active Camber Morphing Concept (http://www.rc-network.de/forum/attachment.php…) ?
No idea.

Vagabond XL update

And as we are in the updates, I maidened the Vagabond XL yesterday afternoon. Being alone on the slope I couldn't do any pictures despite the weather was OK and the scenery great. So, instead, I used a tripod, my Gopro and my Lumix FZ1000 to film my maiden flight.

Update on the Swift from Hacker Model

I apology for being late on my reviews. I have maiden the Swift first this summer. A gentle glider, capable of aerobatics, with a great presence in the air. To wait the complete review, here are the pictures of the maiden flight session. We had lot of fun, despite it was a bit too breezy for the Swift.

A nice pod for the mobius cam

Thomas Delarbre created this nice 3D printed Mobius pod with the objective to tape it at a wing tip or at the middle of the fuselage and provide nice view angle video. The overall weight including the cam is about 60g. The cam can be secured with a strap, and the cam head can rotate horizontally to ajust the angle. It is designed for a 8mm carbone tube. thomas will make available the file online for those having a 3D printer, but for others, will propose the lower and upper support, including the 2 screws for 8 euros only (shipping excluded), a very good deal.

For a better fixation, I recommend to glue a very thin and larger epoxy plate that will increase the contact surface of the lower support, and will also take the shape of the airfoil when taped. I know that Thomas is doing some attempt to create a larger base, and more flexible to suppress the need of this epoxy plate.

Finnaly, I use duct tape for the fixation on the wing, whatever the material used, composite or elapor/EPP, it gives good results.

contact: delarbre.thomas (at ) free.fr




What kind of video you can do with such pod:

Weasel TREK in approach !!!

After releasing the Alula TREK, Dreamflight (Michael Richter and George Rodriguez) is currently evaluating the very first prototype of the new and awaited Weasel TREK. From the pictures we can see, the shape is very similar and it use the same skid than the Alula TREK, so we can guess it will feature a canopy for quick and easy access to the radio.

The Weasel EVO has been like a revelation for me few years ago because of its wide flying enveloppe from thermal flying to strong wind flying thanks to the possibility to ballast in the joiner. Its agility, stability is a joy for slope flyers. I still enjoy my Weasel Black Edition !

If the improvement between the Weasel EVO and TREK is about the same than between the Alula EVO and TREK, we can expect something brillant !

Release Countdown started !

Courtesy of DreamFlight.com

Baudis Jedi onboard video

Onboard video with the Baudis Jedi, at Puy de Manse near Gap:

Pioupiou, a fully autonomous and connected anemometer

A very smart and fully autonomous anemometer that can be useful for our hobby. It features a compass and GPS, and connects automatically to a global cellular signalling network dedicated for the internet of things. This technology is developped by a french company located in Toulouse and called Sigfox (http://sigfox.com/en/). 

It uses UNB (Ultra Narrow Band) based radio technology and requires a very low energy consumption. The SigFox network currently covers France and Spain, but I understand that some new countries are developping the network. The "Pioupiou", name of this connected anemometer (pioupiou.fr), has been designed and developped in Grenoble by a paraglider pilot. It costs 325 Euros and includes the life subscription (40 euros) to the signalling network. Once installed, it calibrates and then connect to the network and start to talk over the network. Its battery can last 3 to 4 years before to be replaced. From any internet browser, it is easy to reach its dedicated web page and get the wind direction and force with a history of 2 hours. Our club invested in one unit that has been installed today on our local slope. I can now know the wind on the slope before to devide to go there !