In a Flap

...and a bit of flying

I managed to get the Walrus up this morning, although the breeze was already starting to pick up by that time.

I had a minor incident this morning when I accidentally launched with flaps deployed. I must have snagged the lever, most likely when setting the throttle for launch. Anyway, it went up fine, as you would expect with the extra lift, but then went very floaty and nose-up, a bit like the Floater Jet flies.

I turned it around  into the wind when I spotted that the flaps were deployed, immediately explaining its strange behaviour, so I just shut off the power and pushed the nose down to bring the Walrus in for an unscheduled landing.

A quick check there were no other issues and the Walrus was back in the air, climbing steeply into the steady breeze then turning into a large bank over the paddock with the cattle enjoying their breakfast. The strong breeze quickly pushed the glider downwind and my efforts to bring it back were making little success.

Trimming the nose down a little helped it push through the breeze more successfully, and I felt most relieved as it again approached the field. As always, losing track of the Walrus' orientation at distance is a constant risk, and I'm sure the odd false input will be evident in the videos!

The final bit of fun was trying to get the Walrus down. Having successfully cleared the fence without collecting either the tree or posts I deployed the flaps to steady things down and hopefully settle the Walrus down with the extra drag. However the clean air-frame, even with the RD32 camera atop, continued to surf the breeze until it was clear I wasn't going to make landfall before I reached the bank, so I powered round in a mini circuit for another go, the flaps making the downwind transition flawless. 

I eventually got it down, next to the almost-empty duck pond, a good end to some challenging  flying in the breeze...