T-33 Tail Chase low over the South West slope in perfect PSS conditons.

One of the great phenomena about the Great Orme is its ability to confound weather forecasts.

Over many years of flying on the mammoth rock we have learned that invariably the wind strength will be substantially greater than the forecast, even after consulting the RAF Valley weather station located just across the water.  The Orme generates its very own 'micro climate' on most occasions and defiantly conflicts with the multi-million pound computer generated Met Office predictions.  On Saturday 11^th June such a scenario unfolded yet again for the second PSSA meeting of 2011 and I am pleased to report that the 'Rock with attitude' worked its magic once more to our advantage. 

Phil Cooke and I were as usual, agonising over the all important weather systems and forecasts to establish whether to run the event and if so which PSS airframes could be selected for the corresponding wind strength.  I have the 6m span Antonov 225 on permanent standby, and I am almost desperate to fly her again, particularly on the Orme for the first time.  It is not the sort of enormous model I would wish to drag up there until the conditions are right and on the main SW slope.  Equally, we all need to select the right models, be they heavy weight for the big winds or conversely then perhaps the lighter loaded machines if it was looking more challenging.

In the end it was a leap of faith whether to go at all.  After all, it is a long trek for most PSS enthusiasts and with the horrendous cost of fuel these days the decision making process is all the more important.  The forecast promised us just a little wind, from the wrong direction and some rain.  Not worth getting out of bed for you might assume and rightly so if you had to execute near on a 200 mile round trip.  But its the unpredictable, defiant and special corner of the North Welsh coast where mysterious forces are at work. Never the less almost every one stayed away save a few hardened believers and a bunch of the local lads. Terry from Hale in Cheshire and John Hey from Rochdale made the pilgrimage with their models to be greeted by a bright and sunny, windless morning on the breathtaking summit of the not so great looking Orme.

Undaunted, we rigged some light weight PSS airframes and prostrated ourselves to the wind Gods.  As this generated no response we then also rigged some elec-trickery models and pronounced our disdain by flying them in the face of adversity.  This provocation did the job as we were then right royally soaked by a series of rain squalls.  Our reward for showing our metal and flying spirit after the precipitation abated was a gentle North-Westerly which was enough to support some light weight sport models.  This gradually picked up in strength and by about 11am we were blessed with a fairly whispy 15mph wind mass onto the Lighthouse Cafe slope.   Phil and I simultaneously launched our T-33 Shooting Stars from the lower promontory where we had a good vantage point to clearly see the lower rocky edge over the sea and along with Tim Mackey flying his SAAB Gripen, the days PSS flying began.

From this moment on the lift was able to support a lively flying event for the remainder of the day.  The lift was at all times adequate - yet not staggeringly awesome as we often enjoy here.  On this slope the lift band is quite narrow but extends the full visual extent of the slope so there was ample space to enjoy the slope energy.  Phil and I almost immediately merged the T-33s into tight(ish) formation flying which improved as the day unfolded.

Steve Howarth and John Hey joined in the group formation fly-bys with their L-39 Albatross and vintage Hawker Hunter and I handed my T-33 to Tim Mackey whilst I piloted the Victor bomber which made the entourage into a squadron, you could say!  Phil hooked up his fuselage side mounted key fob camera on the T-33 to capture our initial hours flying and the edited results of these antics are viewable on the video below, expertly edited after the event by Rez Manzoori.

We had a great deal of fun flying around the back of the slope to line up for Sues’ camera, in doing so flying out of lift and into turbulence on the secondary slope edge where we were stood.  This caused a little consternation on some close in passes but livened up the senses.  On one of the group passes Steve lost his L-39 at the back of the slope in the compression blow back and the model of course found a rock to pounce upon and in the process lost the contest, to the rock, I mean!  The afternoon seemed to simply slip away in next to no time!  It is always surprising how time evaporates when you are absorbed in the flying fun on the slopes. 

Just as everyone had slipped away and Phil and John were soaking up the last flight of the day, the wind changed again and slid in direction onto the most favoured South West slope.  I was vaguely aware of some strange wailing sounds even audible from the car park.  Sue and I were enjoying a coffee break and about to start our de-rig having had our fill of the days flying.  Then we heard 'whooping' sounds which when translated meant that Phil was ripping up the main SW facing slope with his T-33 and was beckoning over vehemently to get up off my posterior and get back in the air!

Never one to miss the chance of 'Big Air' I was armed once more with my trusty T-33, already with two hours of air time under her belt.   The conditions were perfect with a 20mph solid feeling blow heading up the main slope and a dazzling array of brightness emanating from every element surrounding us, as you can see from the outstanding photos that Sue masterfully captured of some of the action.  The lift was by now beautifully smooth and plentiful, the flying arena set up ideally now for some really close perpetual formation flying.  We did manage a number of simultaneous circuits on many occasions which looked simply stunning.  It is a real buzz and most rewarding when it comes together, which we did - come together, literally, with the occasional bump.  Knowing that Phil has just completed a full and comprehensive refurb of his T-33 I did not intend to push the proximity as far as we have in the past which invariably led to a clash and often a tangled crash.

Formation flying like this looks so real when the wings are equally banked in the turns and the speed is in unison at all times, and to maintain this for a number of circuits looks convincingly realistic.  It would be fun to pair up a number of different groups of PSS models of similar speeds and set aside a slot for a “synchro” light hearted contest.  We later tried the same format with Phils’ BAe Hawk and my Victor bomber which proved to be considerably more difficult, but not impossible.

So, till next time we all have to agonise over the forecast weather systems on the computer, happy landings!

Thanks to Tim and the local lads who were great companions as always and to the others mentioned who took the plunge and travelled despite the forecast.  To Sue for being a wonderful supporting partner and also now an excellent photographer and finally to Phil for his unswerving passion for PSS, his nerve and verve in piloting his new masterpiece so close to my old shed of a T-33.

Also it is a fitting juncture and I speak on behalf of all of us, to congratulate Phil and Rez for maintaining the PSSA website and keeping the life blood of the PSSA pumping through all of its activities - and in this process also the memory of our founder Alan Hulmes’ spirit alive.  Good call to you gentlemen, long may we continue to enjoy the unique dimension of relatively silent flight through flying dynamic scale models on the Orme where PSS really comes to life. 

Big Rock, Big Air, Big Fun!  That is after all what we are all about, I hope you all agree.