RC Hang Gliding at Beretenkopf near Langenbruck

Since we usually enjoy glorious fall weather every October, we were looking forward to this championship with great anticipation. Unfortunately, half a week before the championship date, a general foehn pattern set in, bringing winds from the S to SW. However, we had scouted an alternate site in case of such a situation, and that would now work to our advantage.

The 39 selected pilots (one was missing for unknown reasons) met on time at the Hauenstein Pass summit. They were immediately guided along a moderately rough dirt road to the flying site. There, the models were assembled and launched into the air. The slope was surveyed, and the light wind blowing from the northwest was observed. After the pilots were briefed, the championship began at 9:30 a.m. with the launch of the first model.

In this first round, it soon became clear that a moderate glide of about 2½ minutes and a flight around three markers was possible, but reaching the altitude marker was out of the question. Incidentally, no competitor managed to clear it during the entire competition; the wind and thermals were simply too weak that Sunday. Given the poor conditions, the pilots were forced to constantly monitor their competitors and adopt tactics tailored to their specific model. As a result, it often happened that a pilot aiming to hit three markers and the landing points ended up with two markers and an out-of-bounds landing—simply because his model’s glide ratio was too poor under the prevailing conditions.

During the second round, the wind slowly shifted to the W/SW, but its strength never exceeded a gentle breeze. In contrast, the sky cleared up somewhat, and weak thermals were observed in some areas. As a result, some pilots were now flying close to the maximum flight time of 4 minutes. Following this round, a half-hour lunch break was taken, as the first two rounds had already been completed after 2½ hours. During this break, the jury decided that a total of four rounds should be flown without any results being discarded, a decision that was met with applause from the participants.

The last two rounds brought no major changes; conditions remained the same as in the second round. One or two pilots now went all in, searching for thermals in unusual spots; they may have found some, but they were too weak to gain the altitude needed to circle the landmark and earn the corresponding high score. Thanks to the pilots’ good discipline and the efforts of our volunteers, the competition was able to conclude shortly after 3:00 p.m. About half an hour later, the results were announced, and Mirian Dabrowski of the MG Illnau-Effretikon was proclaimed the new Swiss RCS Slope Champion. The winner was a pilot who flew very consistently in all four rounds and consistently scored around 1,000 points. It is interesting to note that he won with a “NIM-BUS” equipped with four functions, thereby beating models that were thought to have a better chance of winning under these conditions.

Peter Meier, MG OB