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Los Banos - October 22-23 - Unofficial Event

I was anxious to try my Ahi with the 4D Tx set up and it did not disappoint! Wow what a great little airplane.

Red
Hey Red! what setup is this? I'm thinking of getting an Ahi but haven't heard of anything other than their standard setup/
Thanks, Kelly
 
Oh and if you use that Tx, there is a downloadable set up file that makes it really easy.

Red
I bought a Frsky x20 this summer but I'll figure out how to make that work.
Now I really want an Ahi!!! and not just the "ono Sashimi kine Braddah"
I really wanted a Spin or Elf but until I get better at landings I think I need to avoid moldys. just way too rocky at my sights here on Big ISland...for now anyway.

Kelly
 
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I bought a Frsky x20 this summer but I'll figure out how to make that work.
Now I really want an Ahi!!! and not just the "ono Sashimi kine Braddah"
I really wanted a Spin or Elf but until I get better at landings I think I need to avoid moldys. just way too rocky at my sights here on Big ISland...for now anyway.

Kelly
You'll love it they fly awesome!!
 
You'll love it they fly awesome!!
I have the weasel and it flies really nice so this would be a real step up performance wise. I just watched like 4 videos since you posted this lol. I'm a sucker. :ROFLMAO:
Need to get @Wayne to sell them on the site!
Did you see this new plane on Aloft Red? looks crazy
 
Some pictures..
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The main flight line Saturday. Lots of sky and lots of room.
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Some of the guys and cars. Think the ranger said we had about 40 vehicles?
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That was about it for photos I took Saturday. I flew a ton, so not many photos. Thought others were taking photos, but sounds like we were all pretty busy flying.

Later many of us went into town, got a little cleaned up and shared a wonderful meal in town. I think we were all exhausted and slept well Saturday. But we might have made rough plans for a couple of more events for next year. :)

Sunday was a very different day. Rather than all piled into the same slope, many of us adventured around and found our own personal slopes, all with EVEN better lift than Saturday. I tried to show some of the different areas in these photos.

Los Banos is a HUGE area. After trying different slopes on Sunday, I really wish I had done the same on Saturday as I think I may have enjoyed better lift and less wind at some of the the slopes further down. (But it was nice to have everyone closer together to see what all everyone had, greet old and new friends etc.

I spent most of Sunday at the "LA Camp". Most of the guys here were from the Los Angles area. Good hanging out with some of my old slope buddies. These guys are mad slope pilots and have very fast toys.
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Here you get an idea of what the slope is like.. SRTL in full speed mode. You can see the little campground across the lake.
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Jon setting up one of his little PSS ships. These are amazing little planes in Jon's capable hands. They are small, but he flies them like they are a big plane, always a great show. They roll like a mixer on high speed!
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I'll call this slope the NASA camp as Red was staked out at this one. They were off to our right and were flying all sorts of good stuff. They were landing on the front side of their hill where we were landing on the backside of ours. (They were not flying from this position, but up on a hill to the right of this photo, this group was watching a glider recovery.)
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Tried to get some photos that show how much space there is at Banos. LA Camp's landing area, looking towards the slope.
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In this photo LA Camp is the little clump of cars your see on the right. Past the land slide is NASA Camp, and even further is Main Camp, you can just see the cars out there. You might notice this is a huge BOWL from the point of this photo and main camp. ALL OF THIS area had huge lift Sunday. Yes, we even flew from where this photo was taken. This was a much nicer sight as there was less wind in your face, but a little less lift. This made it very friendly for normal gliders. Still tons of lift to play with.
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Jarron throwing out to check the conditions, yeah, it was great!
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When you go to these events, be sure to hang out with folks. You will always meet great people and you will always find some COOL planes and different ideas. I was chatting with Bill, and he opens up the back of his car and I was blown away with his PVC glider rack. It swivels for easy loading. Just had to take some pics and share as it was a new solution to the same problem we all have.
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If you have some pics, please post them up, and if you have video, we would love to get copies as Rafael is going to put together a video.

Thanks all!! You all made it a great time! sharing, helping and flying..Woohoo!
 
The better catch wasn't filmed. https://1drv.ms/u/s!AvdNXPgN8JWD58RNyIjPQ_oGkW-DpQ?e=L7VMkK
On day 2, one of the members of the NASA squad lost something into the gravel pit. I assisted in locating it, but not knowing where it went we ended up basically walking all the way down to the lake. We found it way up the side of the shale slide, so we began the ascent of the Eiger. We had shale slides above us as we went..it was a bit precarious. I did mange to drag along a stick which came in handy as getting to the exact spot it was would have been very difficult. Here is a video of the final ascent to the top. 20221023_190450000_iOS
 
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"quiet" Powered stuff was fine! There was even a glider with an EDF on it and a Virage hotliner ripping it up and my friend sloped an E-flite Turbo Timber. I brought a mix of powered thingies and pure slopers.
 
Anybody get updated information on group camping or if powered flight is allowed?

@thenated0g ,

here is a short :ROFLMAO: Camping info: I was hoping to take delivery on our new camper before Los Banos (did not happen) so I made reservations and although unable to use the 'spot' myself, John the pilot with the truck camper, was able to stay on the hill overnight instead of me. Here is what I did:
  • called Los Banos Creek Reservoir - 209.826.6393 - talked to Maria - told her what I was trying to do. She said call San Luis Reservoir State Recreation Area to get permission/details.
  • called San Luis Reservoir State Recreation Area - 209-826-1196 - talked to Sheri (in finance department) explained to her what I was trying to do again. Basically told her that a few of us were planning to fly Saturday and Sunday at Los Banos and that I would like to stay, overnight, on the hill next to the slope. She put me on hold talked to someone else in the office. Came back and asked if my camper was self contained (It is). She told me to go ahead and make overnight reservations on the Reserve California website for one of the campsites at Los Banos Creek. I did - there are only 14 spots so plan accordingly. I asked her for instructions how to explain my camping spot to the person at the kiosk where you check in. She said basically to use her name and also 'Chris Joe' (the guy that she talked to to get the permission)
  • My camper did not make it before the October 22, so when I got to the kiosk I asked them for a day pass using my camping reservation. No problem so far.. Later in the day while bench flying I found out that John (Truck camper pilot from Sunset) did not have overnight reservations. We drove out to the kiosk to see if switching vehicles is doable. It was, since John's camper is also self contained, and after the attendant called the office to find out what is going on - they are not used to people staying on the hill behind a closed gate. BTW, she was given instructions from the main office NOT to close the gate to the flying area for the night.. (The campground closes the main entry gate for the night - it has a combination lock so people camping can leave in an emergency. The flying area has a second gate, with key lock, that they close for the night and only open when someone is flying or staying overnight on the hill)
BTW, if you end going to the campground across the lake to check it out, don't drive in a low sports car - you have to driver thru a creek, my Audi would have been in the water up to the bottom of the door!o_O
 
A really good time this weekend guys! Thanks to all who attended. Like Wayne said, I think most people were too busy flying, to take many pictures, myself included. :D Thanks to Wayne and the rest of you for the motivation in getting this "unofficial, inaugural, preliminary" event going! :D I'm sure it will happen again!
Fabio and I left OC at 3am Saturday and rolled into town a little after 7:30. We grabbed some breakfast at Eddie's cafe and the wind was already blowing the trees around. We headed right to the reservoir and flew most all the slopers we brought. We flew planks, Twisties, moldies, PSS planes and we remaidened our Ka-6s, that we rehabbed. We left the lighter stuff that we did bring, in the truck. We also didn't bother bringing motor assist gliders after seeing the forecast for the weekend. Our gamble payed off because the wind gods were generous! No carnage for either of us, all our planes survived. :D After a great day of flying, some of us met at the Woolgrowers restaurant for dinner and some good conversations. Like Wayne also mentioned, some future gatherings were discussed.
A group of us met for breakfast at Eddies on Sunday, then headed back to the slope. On Saturday, we all flew from one slope, on Sunday, the wind was from a different direction, we were able to fly three different slopes at the same time. I brought two 4M scale ships with me. Fabio and I flew them both Sunday morning, in a big bowl that we had to ourselves. There aren't many opportunities to fly them by us and it was a treat to get them in the sky again. Fabio also maidened a PSS ME109 he scratch built, and it flew great! We flew until around 2:00 and hit the road about 2:30. We stopped for dinner and got home around 8. What a much needed, fun, weekend of flying! Great seeing you all! Hope to see you guys soon.
Tom
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We remaidened our rehabbed DAW Ka-6s
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Saturday, we all flew from this slope.
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Fabio Marin aka Slope addict, maidening a self designed P-40 PSS plane.
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Not too shabby of a view, beautiful place!
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Some guys were smart enough to sit back out of the wind to fly.
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Big slope, plenty of space
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We don't see this kind of stuff where we live, it was a treat for us. :D
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Ready for Fabio to launch my Duo Discus
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I scored this cool commemorative plane cradle from Wayne! :D
 
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