:PoleCat Aeroplane Works

We here at Polecat Aeroplane Works want to school you! We’ve gather some of the best videos and articles on thermal soaring and handlaunch soaring in general and have created a new feature on the Polecat site - Handlaunch University.

The first lesson? 2008 Polecat Challenge Sportsman-class Champ Chris Lee captured Team Polecat Pilot Bruce Davidson’s Friday Handlaunch Clinic from the 2008 Polecat Challenge and has provided it to us for safe-keeping. Check out the 1/2-hour long video on the Handlaunch University page. It’s chock full of great information on how to survive your first handlaunch contest.

RadioCarbonArt’s Paul Naton also captured some video clips from the 2008 Challenge and has popped ‘em into the YouTubes for all to enjoy. See Bruce demostrating during the clinic! See 2008 Polecat Champ Paul Anderson “Gripit and Ripit” and “Thread the Needle”. Great information from some of the top F3K pilots in the world!

And for further reading, we’ve got some really excellent articles on handlaunch and thermal soaring from Denny, Mark Drela and Bruce. Study up and get ready for the 2009 Polecat Challenge, handlaunchers!

Hola Dudes - we’ve posted the final scores, raffle winners and some desktop background images of Saturday morning’s “Group Shot” over on the 2008 Polecat Challenge page. Hop on over and download Excel sheets of the scores and beautify your sad desktop with a bunch of dudes with DLGs!

Check it all out here: 2008 Polecat Challenge

Also - thanks to everyone for making the 2008 Polecat Challenge a real success! See you in 2009!

The 2008 Polecat Challenge starts in earnest tomorrow AM! We’ve got some 90+ registered pilots and already, there are a couple dozen pilots in town and set up at the Carlisle Aeromodeler’s field. Tomorrow starts with an informal warm-up, a DLG clinic by “Dr.” Bruce Davidson, and then at the 2nd Annual Polecat Pro/Am in the afternoon. Saturday the Challenge really starts with a two-day overall contest, pig roast, huge soaring raffle and a final flyoff with the top Sportsmen and Experts together to culminate the weekend.

You can catch all the action as we can bring it to you by keeping an eye on the LIVE FEED:

http://www.polecataero.com/polecat-challenge-2008/live-feed.

We’ll be updating it with news, photos and scores as we have them!