[LASS Soaring] Why a rc soaring pilot might be interested in a handheld GPS (long).

Wed Sep 26 17:53:41 MDT 2007

My bad everyone for jumping on Gordy’s thread about the winged shadow stuff with information about handheld GPS units.  I meant no disrespect to the G man or to Winged Shadow.  They are a cool company and sell some neat stuff at very reasonable prices.  

I’m a simple poor boy from a rural county in Indiana.  I often try to get the maximum use/value out of stuff I use in this hobby/life and a handheld GPS is no exception.  My wife bought me a handheld GPS (Magellan Platinum to be specific) for our first wedding anniversary in 2003.  The amount she spent on it is actually more than I have ever paid for a RC sailplane (I think many of you all know me pretty well by now after 10 years, but for those of you that don’t I’m cheap when it comes to planes).  These days, a pretty good unit can be had for about $200.       

My point was that a person could use (and has, I have seen folks put smaller Garmin and Magellan units in sailplanes in RCGROUPS threads http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1148221 is an example) a handheld GPS to serve the function of determining speed and altitude in their gliders.  Kind of like a zlog but on steroids.  I think (but don’t know for sure, yet) this information would be useful in evaluating changes made to launch setups/techniques.  I’m probably going to do test some day with my Magellan via strapping it to the top of the Psyko.  Or when (if) I ever complete that Sagitta XC, it will probably fit inside the fuselage to serve as my vario.  

But this is not the real reason I think handheld GPS units are helpful for rc soaring pilots.  It is just an added bonus.  If somebody really thought having a way to measure speeds a rc sailplane hits was the bees knees (da bomb for the younger crowd) the Winged Shadow unit would be a great way to do that.  Another way would be via a GPS and the GPS would also have other uses that do not have anything to do with the actual soaring but are useful to rc soaring pilots.  Since I have had the unit now for 4 years yet I have not yet used it for altitude/speed evaluation that should indicate how much value I put on that…

One reason could be that they are helpful for getting around on this great big dirt ball we live on.  Now I don’t travel quite as much as some people on this list, but my Magellan helps me get to contests that are at fields I have not been to in the past.  Last October I was on a business trip in Rhode Island and as I often do I took a Chinook hand launch with me in my checked or carry on luggage.  I knew I was going to be somewhat near (of all things) a beach and wanted to see if there was any sloping to be had.  I did some research ahead of time and picked a few spots using The Google Earth ™ and then used the GPS to navigate to them. Then I actually found a dune that worked OKish but the wind was not directly towards the beach and I worked the side of a sand dune.  I marked the position in my GPS and shared the experience with others on RCGROUPS.  http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=575585  Gordy I was in Westerly, RI, if you are ever out there…

Another reason is it is handy for measuring XC courses.  I have often wondered how other folks measure them (odometer on their car?).  I used mine to measure the 1K course I used in Carmel, Indiana, the 2K course I attempted at my family farm in Ferdinand, Indiana, and the 2K course I used (successfully!) in Holland Indiana.  

But the real reason is none of this.  The real reason is they are useful for crashing not soaring.  The reason I wanted a handheld GPS in the first place was to find lost models.  I fly a lot of free flight model rocket competition and these little buggers like to go way off in thermals.  Handheld GPS units have increased our ability to recover the rockets.  This is accomplished by watching the rocket until it lands or goes out of sight and then marking a waypoint where you were standing when it went out of sight.  You make a mental note of an object on the horizon that the model went behind (say the dead tree or a certain fence post or shrub).  Then you walk to that object and put in the second waypoint.  This now allows you to have the GPS build a line and you can say drive around a river and get back on the line.  

A real world example of this helping recover a RC plane was had at the model rocket nationals this past August.  Some of you all might know Keith Vineyard.  He is a member of the MVSA and competes in the Gateway Open OVSS contest with his heavily used Icon.  Keith like me started out in model rockets and still competes in them.  He and his sons flew on the US FAI rocketry team last season that was selected at the team selection event I was CD for in 2005.  He was at the rocket nationals this year and was flying an Electron.  The Electron is a ~2.2 meter span “Ava type construction” electric glider.  Light, strong, and a nice ship.  Very good for speed 400 since it comes out at about 19-20 ounces with a geared speed 400 and 7 round cells.  Yes, I know, nobody cares about electric sailplanes or electric sailplane contests, but apparently Keith likes the Electron.  Keith was flying it at about 600 feet high over a mature corn field when all the sudden the plane does the “death dive into the ground” thing.  I was not watching Keith fly at the time but heard the shouting and quickly ran over to him with my GPS (at a rocket contest, it is always in my cargo pants pocket or T-Shirt pocket and turned on).  By this time the model was already in the corn and I asked Keith if he saw where it went in.  He did and we used the above process to mark 2 waypoints and create a virtual line.  Keith, 3 other rocketeers, and I went into the corn.  The other 3 guys wandered around the corn where they thought the model went.  They did not find it. Keith and I used the GPS to stay on the line (going straight in a corn field is tricky, but the GPS tells us how far to the left or the right of the line we are) and walked right up to his plane, about 150-200 feet into the corn.  These days I always bring my Magellan with me to contests, just in case I or another pilot have a fly away.    Given the amount of $$ a lot of folks have invested in these ships, I’m a bit surprised that at least a few don’t own hand held GPS units for insurance on a fly away…  

Ryan

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