In The Air
That was fun, can we do it again?
Welcome to the February, 2021 issue of the NEW R/C Soaring Digest. In last month’s column, my first In The Air, I introduced myself and talked a little bit about RCSD’s history, where things stand today and where I hope to take it in the future — with your help — as each new issue is published.
The time since the January issue was published has been filled with all sorts of exciting developments, some significant challenges and, yes, a few surprises I wasn’t expecting. But mostly, I look back on the past month and my thoughts are about the new things I have learned and in particular the great new people I have met, some of whose work is featured in this issue. Without exception everybody has been very supportive of what it is we’re all trying to achieve with the NEW RCSD. Everybody has been really nice and I’m both proud and thankful to now count them amongst my friends. My heartfelt thanks to you all for that.
The reception the January issue received was, to be frank, a little stunning. The RCSD publishing platform, Medium, provides a ton of fine-grained data which enables some pretty detailed, objective measurement of the performance of the issue. In the back of my mind I had some expectations of how the first issue might do. I’m thrilled to report that January sailed past those more-or-less on the first day. The only downside of having a ‘hit’, I’ve discovered, is you instantly wonder what it is you can do to top that in the next issue. Once all the metrics are thoroughly understood and digested I look forward to presenting at least some of that information to you, the reader. I think you’ll find it very interesting.
In answer to ‘how you top the previous issue’, that question seems to have answered itself, thankfully, at least for this new issue. The articles which have been submitted are simply breathtaking. I’m in utter awe of the creativity, expertise and enthusiasm with which each of them were prepared.
If you want history to come back to life — literally — you will want to check out Vincent de Bode’s article simply entitled The Fokker FG-2. For an analysis of discus launch gliders (DLG) that would not be out of place as a PhD thesis, see Theo Volkers and Tjarko van Empel’s The Aerodynamics of a DLG Unravelled. For an essay which captures the magic we all feel when we have a really good day at the flying field, you simply have to read Jim Carlton’s What a Day for Soaring! We have also engaged the turn-back-time-machine with Rene Wallage’s RC Soaring in Israel. I’m honoured and humbled to have these remarkable authors’ work grace these pages.
To use a familiar metaphor, I feel like I’ve arrived at the slope to discover the sun is warmer than I expected, the wind is blowing from just the right direction and I’m standing there, glider aloft, just drinking in the moment before the fun really begins. I only hope I can impart some of that feeling to you through the selection of articles presented this month and in future issues of the NEW R/C Soaring Digest. As always, thank you so much for reading.
Fair winds and blues skies!
The beautiful cover photo for this issue is by Régis Geledan and was taken above Gez-ez-Angles in the Hautes-Pyrénées, France in 2015. The camera used was a XiaoYi YI taped to the left wing of his Espen Torp RaceM, with an image being captured every three seconds. Régis did a little post-processing on the one image he selected to achieve the beautiful, watercolour-like palette. You may recognize his unique style: Régis also provided the image for The Trailing Edge in last month’s issue. Merci beaucoup, Régis, pour votre excellent travail!
Now, we would be honoured if you read the first article of this issue or go back to the table of contents to see what’s on tap this month. Downloadable PDFs: article issue
