If your plane is dogging around you most likely need to make
a ballast adjustment - assuming that the plane is balanced properly.
If your plane is floating around and won't penetrate ... you
need more ballast.
If your plane is a low and struggling (after ten passes) ...
you need less ballast. Or, if you can't get the plane started,
and you are hitting spots and flying smoothly, take out a chunk.
These are gross simplifications, but will get you started
in the right direction. Spend some time getting hooked up with
your plane. Learn what it likes and dislikes. Recognise when
your plane is a Happy Plane. The controls will feel crisp and
the plane is effortlessly carving around.
Understand that not all planes respond to ballasting the same,
and ballsting won't make up for flying the wrong plane for the
conditions. I've arrived at slope to see two foamies hovering
straight into the wind and the pilots discussing how the hill
gets "blown out" went the wind gets that high. Needless
to say the place was not blown out. They were flying the wrong
planes for the conditions and the ballasting was not effective.
Get to know your planes by taking the time to fly them a different
ballasted weighs. You should know when your plane is over ballasted,
and the only way to do this is to overballast it the next time
you go out. You will surprize yourself with how much weight a
plane can carry before it starts to struggle.
Starting and Landing a Max Ballasted Plane
There will be a threshold that you will want to shoot for
where your plane struggles for the first few laps before getting
on step. Getting through this section of the flight is key to
flying a max load of ballast and will yield much higher speeds
than the pilots who can't get through this transition.. If your
plane has an adequate TVC (tail volume coefficient) you can manipulate
the trailing edge to add camber or mix elevator/flapperon to
get things rolling. If not, you should launch with a mighty heave,
stay in the lift band and fly smoothly until you get rolling.
Landing a loaded plane can be a problem, especially if the
wind craps out while you are in the air. Using the elevator/flapperon
mix will help hold the plane up on approach, then switch to spoilerons
to put it down.
Ballasting for DS
Ballasting for DS is more for tuning your plane for the size
circle you want to fly. The more ballast the larger the circle
and more carry on the puchout. Top speeds for DS are gained through
technique and sencible ballasting more than the macho ballasting
at occurs at the coast. You need to know how to do both.
