Webcam replaced!

I've replaced the webcam at Harris Hill with the new Microsoft Lifecam VX5000.  Using the pinhole camera trick, I modified it into an outdoor camera and built a small enclosure with plexiglass on either end of a pvc pipe.  The cam is mounted inside and hangs from the overhang by the porch at the flight center.

It looks a lot like the cantenna I made for the WiFi connection.

Time will tell if this camera is worth it or not, but so far, the pictures are sharper and cleaner than the previous webcam.  The webcam has proven to be the most popular feature of the weather station install.  Everybody checks in on it to see what's going on up there.

Upgrading the web cam at Harris Hill

The web camera I put up on Harris Hill works great and I've had lots of comments about how helpful it is to have a camera so people can see what is going on.

However, the quality is poor (if this image doesn't look too bad it means I've replaced the camera).

  

I had a replacement camera of better quality - the Microsoft Lifecam VX5000.  However, that camera had AWFUL quality when placed outdoors.  Turns out this is a common problem and I found a fix for it on instructables.com.

It seems the aperture is set wide for webcams so they look good indoors.  This causes them to have way too wide an aperture when used outdoors.  The instructables site told me that fixing this was as simple as taking the camera apart and placing a piece of cardboard with a pinhole aperture over the lens opening.

It worked!  Incredibly, when I did that, the camera became suitable for outdoor use.  A little adjustment with the image controls gave me acceptable -and better, image quality.

I plan on replacing the existing camera in a weatherproof enclosure this weekend when I'm up at Harris Hill for my monthly duty cycle.  Hopefully, the little piece of plastic I used will remain in place with the airplane glue I use to bond it to the lens surrounding.

Plopping it in

Okay, I've officially gone from one side of the spectrum to the other.  Instead of bouncing when landing, I'm now firmly attacking the ground with a 'PLOP'! in crosswinds.

This is actually good news.  I've over corrected in the opposite direction.  Which means the answer lies somewhere in between.  I'm determined to find it.  My landings, while safe and acceptable, are kind of embarrassing.

I've seen this before with my flying.  I've got quite a few flights in on the ASK-21 now and I can handle it pretty well.  So, I've got enough experience with it that I OUGHT to know better but there's some kind of mental block associated with crosswind landings.

It's worth noting that I'm expanding the envelope of flying in the 21, also.  I've carefully expanded my crosswind experience by flying in stronger crosswinds in it, a few knots at a time.  So, the situation I'm referring to is one where the winds are higher or gusty and not blowing down the runway.  So it is a little more challenging to begin with, but I'd like to make it smoother.

Landing hot

Twice in the last couple of flights I've had slight directional control issues when landing the ASK-21 in a crosswind.

Each time, it has been a good touchdown but then a sudden swerve to one side and a not so pretty rollout.  Nothing to worry too much about, but it reeks of sloppy technique.

The complicating factor is the crosswind, of course, but after some analysis, I think it goes beyond that.  I think I've been landing hot -that is, too fast.  The right speed to fly when coming down final, barring gusty conditions, is right around 55 knots.  The ASK-21 stalls at considerably below that speed, perhaps 37 knots or even less.

Both times I've swerved, I've been right on the approach speed.  Problem is, I think, is that I'm touching down at that speed.  Touching down too fast means you have too much energy in the glider and it makes it easy to bounce.  In both cases, I've bounced.  Once because I didn't flare quite enough, the other time because I crossed the taxiway which is a slight mound, and bounced into the air briefly.  Each time, the crosswind swung me a bit and I touched down in a crab and swerved.

I've been touching down too fast because I was not happy with getting too slow on landing in previous attempts.  Those touchdowns were all quite good but I thought I was slowing too much in the flare.  I need to re-evaluate that.  Previously, I was flaring at just the right altitude and slowing to touch down, just a bit low with the tail first.  But recently, I've been touching down faster in that crosswind, probably because I'm worried about getting blown sideways as I touchdown.

Also, I may still be carrying a bit too much altitude into the landing.  I'm using full spoilers to get to the point I want to touch down on and I'm still going 55 knots when I get there.  In the ASK-21, if you do that, you can get a rather quick settling of the glider if you let it slow up too high and that requires you to put the spoilers in a little bit and pick that speed back up.  An unstable approach leads to a poor landing.  I'm going to work on trying to prevent that from happening.

It's a delicate balance between floating in that flare too long and touching down with too much energy.  I'm going to redouble my efforts to try and put the airplane down where I want to and stop where I intend to, all at the right speeds and numbers.

Flying the ridge

One of the great things about soaring is discovering that other people are just as much in love with it as you are.  Today I went out to Harris Hill to give some support to the members who are in training.  Turns out there weren't that many students there and the tow pilot was only good for another 1/2 hour or so.

BUT.  The wind was practically straight out of the north at about 12 knots.  That means RIDGE flying, boys and girls!  I grabbed a glider and just before I got into it, one of our members, Graham Hall, joined me for what turned out to be a delightful flight!

After we cleared the edge of the ridge on takeoff, the expected elevator-o-lift kicked in and we were climbing out with the vertical speed indicator pegged at 10 knots!  The whole tow to 2,000 feet took just one circle.  Graham was flying and we cut loose and headed for the nearby ridge.

The lift was there, just as expected.

When wind blows against a tall hill, and particularly a ridge, it will strike the ridge and continue upward.  As long as the wind continues to blow, the lift from that ridge will continue upward.  If your glider descends at 200 feet per minute and the wind blows upward at greater than 200 fpm, you will go UP.

That's where we found ourselves on this particular day.  We shared the ride along Harris Hill and the ridge with a 1-34 and a Duo Discus as we flew back and forth along the ridge.  Graham flew some, then I flew some.  Graham found some lift at one edge of the ridge and circled in it, at one point getting us up to 3,500 feet - just 200 feet below where we let off to begin with.

The setting sun was beautiful, the day was crisp and clear, and we could see the all the way down to Mansfield, PA where the windmill farm is.  It was just gorgeous.  Landing was uneventful and was a perfect end to a perfect flight.  Best flight of the year, I'd say!

Here, Graham's expression sums it all up as he maneuvers us into the lift: