My new RaceM F3B

Miro brought my RaceM F3B with him from Slovakia. Finally I have two models for this season and that is good since it is now it all begins....
This one is made with balsa as sandwich and C-93 carbon. This model is mostly made for F3F as this is the main event for me this year (Viking Race in Scotland)

Roundtrip, Lysebotn

I planned a little trip to Lysebotn so Miro could get to see some of the scenery in my area. My father gave me the idea to take the ferry from Stavanger to Lysebotn and drive home. What a success! The day started with rather overcast weather but as we entered the famous Lysefjord. The ferry was more like a cruise with the captain acting as the guide. So instead of going straight to Lysebotn we took small detours all the way. Pictures will follow soon......

Lift Ticket, the Directors cut!

Check out Dave Reese's newly updated webpage and look for the new DVD Lift Ticket, the Directors cut. There is also a updated trailer of the Lift Ticket to Norway which now has a release date in December 2006. http://www.reeseproductions.com/

Quiet for a while!

Last 4 weeks have been very busy. After my two F3B trips I went to Trondheim to help Peregrine Dynamics with the Maia UAV. This is a twin electric small UAV than can be used for many purposes. There is pictures of this on www.et-air.com under the UAV section. I got to demonstrate the UAV in rather windy and turbulent conditions. Peregrine Dynamics will use this UAV for a testbed for their avionics. The Maia have an estimated endurance of 2 hours.
(I will fill in some pictures later)

Just home from Trondheim I headed to Tromsoe together with Miro for a meeting with Norut IT regarding the bigger UAV, CryoWing. http://projects.itek.norut.no/UAV/index.htm
They want to continue our cooperation and we discussed the next generation CryoWing.
Finally I got to see some of Tromsoe also. We took the gondola lift to the nearby mountain and this of course gave us a perfect view over the city. Next day our meetings continued but there was time for some more fun. Kjell Sture (AKA Speedmaster) had a new small little flying machine that needed to be tested. Maybe he will post some pictures on his blog : http://ksjohansen.blogspot.com/ Why he calls himself Speedmaster is a mystery to me :-)
Pictures will come......

Roger Waters concert!

The picture above is taken by me from a microlight aircraft and show the Hinna Park area. Viking Stadion and the training field for Viking football club can be seen on the left. Finally the club has a state of the art stadium! And they have also used the facilities to arrange concerts with some big names. Bryan Adams, REM and others have been there so far. This year they brought in Roger Waters and his band. The sound was incredible and so was the concert. I hope there will be made a DVD from this tour some day. The concert was held on Monday the 26th of June.

Fullsize airliners

They are doing an upgrade on the landing system at Sola Airport in Stavanger. This means all planes must land and takeoff on the east-west runway. This gave me good opportunity to take some nice photos from a different angle than normal. The pictures was one thing but the Vortex sound and the fact that they hit just close to where I stood was simply amazing!

Well here are the pics:

F3B again, Spydeberg Norway

After the last contest I decided to go to the F3B contest in Spydeberg at the east side of South Norway. The event is held by Cirrus RCK, Norways biggest RC-sailplane club. They have a nice field which they share with a Microlight club. They have their own little clubhouse with most facilities.
I could not bear the thought of driving again so I decided to take the train. What a boring trip! I hoped I would be able to see Norway from the rails but no! Tunnels, threes and mostly cutaway rock is what you get. At least the trip itself was pretty cheap. Luckily I had a deal with my father to travel with him back from Spydeberg in his car as he was returning from holiday.
Erik picked me up in Kongsberg and next day we went to Spydeberg to fly the Speed contest.
6 rounds with speed was excellent for me as practice. I did not do any major mistakes and won the contest with an average of 17.16. Not so good because the weather was pretty good so I guess the HotShots would have blasted through here. Well I am getting more and more happy with my RaceM F3F and in a couple of weeks I will get my F3B version.
Next day we had the normal F3B contest with all tasks. 2 rounds was all we did but that was enough for use in the National league. There are now several who are fighting for the next years World Championship. That is good! We need competition to get better here up North.
Erik won the comp. With me in second place and JoJo (The F3J guy) in third. Best distance, Erik with 25 laps and best speed, me with 16.56 seconds. Thanks to Cirrus RCK for hosting this and especially a great thanks to the Nordskogen family for being there as helpers for 2 days in a row! Without you there would not be a contest!
Check out www.f3x.no for more about the comp. Check out http://www.seaxx.net/index.html for info about Gjermund Westad's Seax.