The Trailing Edge
Bottoms up.
We lamented in the last edition of The Trailing Edge the looming onslaught of holiday advertising which descends on the unsuspecting public at the stroke of midnight on November 1st. If we’re lucky. On cue — actually, slightly before — the pumpkin spice was put away and the candy cane sprinkles were unboxed at Starbucks everywhere. Christmas music began to emenate from, well, every nook and cranny so far as we can tell. We have to admit that the first time we hear Do They Know It’s Christmas, we still kinda like it. But by mid-month we’re sure we’ll be seeking an ‘Xmas Free Zone’ as we think Virgin Records used to call it. Back in The Before Times, in the days when we went to a downtown office, at least there was offically sanctioned during-working-hours consumption of alcohol, even if it was only a small tot of rum in the morning coffee. Bottoms up.
That cheery salute (the social equivalent of “drivers, start your engines!”) made us think of something we think is worthy of closer inspection. That is what lies at the bottom of each article in a typical edition of the New RC Soaring Digest. There are a few things there of which you will want to avail yourself, if you haven’t already:
- Resources In pursuit of a pristine, undistracted reading experience, we consciously avoid hyperlinks in the text of articles we present on our pages. There were considerable time and effort allocated to getting readers to the article in the first place, so we’re in no hurry to see them leave down some hyperlink, never to return. That said, there is almost always something to reference. That’s the role of Resources. You’re almost guaranteed to find some nuggets in there.
- The Standard Footer To make a digital-first publication like RCSD more magazine-like, we put links at the bottom of each article which take you forward one article, backward one article or back to the table of contents. For those who read RCSD cover-to-cover in a linear fashion the moment it arrives, these links are particularly handy.
- Responses Every article has an opportunity for you to comment, ask questions or generally kibbitz about the subject matter. Take advantage of it by using Responses. We think you’ll find most authors are delighted to hear from readers. Or give them a few Claps to let them know you care.
If you weren’t aware of these features, problem solved. Yet another good reason you’ll want to scroll to the bottom of each article in each issue of RCSD.
The Illusive Sunset Photo
As you now likely know, the key photo (the one above the title) in each edition of the The Trailing Edge features a sunset or some sort of end-of-the-flying-day photo. Turns out they’re not as plentiful as you might think. So you can imagine our delight when we were contacted by Leo Horta who hails from Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brasil. Leo has a treasure trove of such photos! With certainty, we’ll will be featuring them in future TTE rambles. Leo is the point man for a very active flying group there and we hope to bring additional coverage of their activities in future issues. We’ll admit to being woefully ignorant of this part of the world — Leo’s photos reveal its breathtaking beauty. And, get this, some of their flying sites are so remote as to require a hank of climbing rope in the toolkit. Truly another place on our must-see-and-fly list for the future.
Of course, if like Leo you have a magnificent flying-at-sunset photo you would like to headline The Trailing Edge, by all means, please let us know!
New in the RCSD Shop
We are proud to announce that through an exclusive arrangement with Bob and Sandy Dodgson, we are now offering The Dodgson Designs Licensed Logo T-Shirt. If you have ever built or flown one of Bob’s classic designs, or even if you’re just a fan of his work, this is one item you will want to add to your collection. It’s through your support of the RCSD Shop that we manage to provide all this great, commercial-free content. We are so thankful to Bob and Sandy for their level of commitment to RCSD’s success.
Of course, we still have our highly sought after RCSD Cover Photo T-Shirts. This collection now includes July, 2021 which features the out-of-this-world (literally) cover photo is of Stratodynamics’ F5J-based HiDRON™ high altitude research platform as it cruises around the New Mexico desert at over 80,000 feet. It’s an amazing, unique photo.
We manufacture and ship worldwide. Be the first kid at the field or slope to have one. And, our comments above notwithstanding, it’s never too early to order for the holidays!
Make Sure You Don’t Miss the New Issue
If you want to be absolutely sure you don’t miss the December issue of the New RC Soaring Digest make sure you subscribe to our Groups.io mailing list or connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or LinkedIn.
That’s it for this month. Thanks to all of our contributors in this issue and above all, thank you, the RCSD reader — without you, we’re nothing.
Now get out there and fly!
Read the previous article or go to the table of contents. A PDF version of this article, or the entire issue, is available upon request.
