Hi Start Gliders

[Dohrman Crawford]

Several years ago, I witnessed the flight of a small towline glider at the Nats. It was, (and is), a produced kit by Retro RC. Mark, the owner, was kind enough to tell me about the plane. It was very impressive, and flew quite well.
Fast forward to now. Here in Georgia, our TTOMA club has a number of guys who like to fly tow line gliders. Sadly, we are all getting older, and it is more and more difficult to run in the GA heat and get a glider to the top of the line.
I decided to try the Retro RC kit, the Gnome, and see how it worked on a high start.
Yesterday I tested the glider out at our July contest. It adjusted easily, and went straight up the line like I had hoped. Unfortunately, I had difficulty getting a release due to the auto rudder release pin. It kept hanging up. It turns out I did a poor job of making it, and it just needs a small adjustment to work as it should.
The Hi-Start is 100′ of line, with a 50′ section of 1/16″ rubber to haul the plane up. Trust me, the 1/16″ rubber is all you need. It goes steadily up and right over the launch site. (Because I was trimming the glider, I did not use a stake. I had a guy hold the rubber, with instructions to just let go if the plane did something crazy.)
1/16″ rubber is plenty strong enough to kite the plane up, with very little stress on the wings.
I think using a Hi-Start will rejuvenate the glider flying in our club. Give it a try, it is quite amazing to see the glider kite all the way up to the top.

The Retro RC kit is laser cut, and a fine kit. The instructions are good, and you should have no trouble with it.

[Dohrman Crawford]

Hmmm, things are not working well. Another attempt.

[Dohrman Crawford]

One more time.

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