Phuket Slope Soaring July06

[joe yap]

Not for the faint hearted! Slope soaring at its best! This year, we finally did managed to commit to this trip we've longed for. Budget travel has made trip like this more affordable these days. For every morning of 3 consecutive days, we drove to the southern tip of the island to the Nai Harn view point to do our soaring like we never did before.

Upon reaching the site, the first thing to do is the survey the ground. The large wind turbine looks menacing but poses no threat to our planes as it's quite far behind the flight line. A peek from the top of the slope reveals the gradients and the trecherous terrains. Should we land our planes anywhere there..........

[joe yap]

Picture of some of our planes. I brought my 1.3 metre Salto H101 and 3 metre Duo Discus. Our planes on the slope are, Super Hits, Miraj, Zagi, Mini Weasel, Alula, Eraser and Oriole.

The very first plane to fly is my Salto as I was too tempted to try this beautiful slope soaring. The last picture is my Salto in the most nervous phase of flight; just before touchdown, or crash landing.

[joe yap]

Luckily, the landing is quite easy. Just pick the softest spot and shoot the plane into it. Not a single signof damage to my Salto. Walking on the steep slope of long grass is another story.

[joe yap]

The Eraser in action. Very attractive colours. Perfect for novices.

[YZY]

wahhh nice very nice

[joe yap]

Victor Lim with his Alula. William Foo posts with one of them.

[ammo]

NICE!!!!!

[joe yap]

Where can you find a slope without a Zagi? This design seems to be mandatory for all slope! They are everywhere, and still infesting.

[joe yap]

As usual, Johnny can't go to any slope without his Super Hits. It's super fast and still surviving after years of service. The Salto looks alot like the Super Hits in air.

[joe yap]

And not forgetting, crazy people like us wouldn't travel all the way there without bringing along our bigger glass slippers! My 3 metre Duo Discus begs me to throw it off the slope!

Seeing this plane diving all the way down to the bottom and still gets enough energy to rise above the slope is heart stopping! Some spectators did get panicked when I did that from time to time.

[joe yap]

Our photographer Mok did a very good job in taking all these wonderful pictures. Kudos to him.

The Duo Discus approach for landing. Note the extended spoilers. The fuselage did get damaged during the last landing I did, but damage is small and easily repairable.

[joe yap]

Also the Miraj wanted to jump into the air. This is how you launch a plane without throwing yourself off the cliff. It looks simply so majestic in the air. Johnny Wong poses with the Miraj.

[joe yap]

I got to launch the Miraj, and of course to retrieve it after landing. From these pictures, it seems pretty daunting to go down the slope to retrieve it.

Some of our folks posing for group photo. Mok and Ching are not in the picture.

[joe yap]

Just a funny shot. Guess what the hell is going on in this picture?

It's just Johnny showing off how well he has trimmed the Miraj to fly hands off. Somehow, the angle of the antenna is parallel with the head tilting upwards to face the flying model.

[plug&fly]

Woah

That cliff ,,, ooh its just like in a dream. When will I get to do that? Its already a hassle to get permit to go to Bedok slope. Just like in my dreams. Joe, you lucky boy you and you get to bring your girl too.