A radio-controlled model glider sits on a grass field. The camera position is behind, to the right and slightly above the glider. Its full 5.8 m span is captured within the frame. It is a modern glider seemingly built out of compostive materials. It has a narrow, high aspect ratio wing and T-tail. It is all white with bright red trim on the nose and on the trailing edge of the rudder. On the right side of the fuselage's tail boom the aircraft's registration « HB-4222 » is painted in black, block letters. The letters « AM » are painted in similarly styled letters on the vertical stabiliser. A Swiss flag is also painted on the vertical stabiliser. Appropriately scaled models of the pilots appear to have been placed in the cockpit. Beyond, in the middle distance, is a manicured farmer's field and farm house along with a winding road leading up to it. Beyond that is a lake off which the sun is reflecting. Beyond the lake are snow-covered mountains. Above, the story looking sky is partially broken overcast with a hazy sun. Superimposed on the bottom right corner of the photo there is a grey, BluFly logo consisting of the words « Blu » on one line and then « Fly » on the next line. Both words are contained within a grey box. The former is shaded blue and the latter is shaded white. Below the logo are the words « February, 2025 ». (📸 Alexandre Mittaz)
A radio-controlled 5.8 m span Ceflix/CARF Arcus captured in January, 2025 while overlooking Lac de Gruyères in Fribourg state, Switzerland. (📸 Alexandre Mittaz) 1
February, 2025
« Gliders — sailplanes — they are wonderful flying machines. It’s the closest you can come to being a bird. » — Neil Armstrong 2
By Terence C. Gannon
In The Air

For those who have read at least the first part of my ongoing BACKSTORY 3 series of articles here on BluFly, you already know the defunct New RC Soaring Digest (NRCSD) was one of BluFly's principle progenitors. Given the details of this relationship are already being described in excrutiating detail in this series, I won't repeat them here.

However I can say, without hesitation, one of my favourite ‘chores’ of pumping out a new issue of NRCSD was selecting the cover photo. Every month I was almost overwhelmed with the choices available and always struggled with a few great candidates before making a final selection. The cover photo does a lot of talking over the course of its run so getting it right is really important.

However, for the most part I have purposely avoided the subject of RC sailplanes in BluFly covers to this point — to make a clean break from the old publication to the new. But now I think enough time has gone by to allow one to be used now-and-again, amongst the many other subjects covered in BluFly's cover photos so far and will continue to be featured in the future.

A radio-controlled glider flies in a stormy looking sky in Fribourg state, Switzerland. Below the aircraft is a rural, agricultural landscape. A lake is visible distance as are snow-covered mountains. (📸 Alexandre Mittaz)To this end, I was delighted to find one of NRCSD's most talented cover photograph contributors still actively flying his super-sized RC gliders. Furthermore, Alexandre Mittaz has not skipped a beat capturing them in glorious, zillion-pixel detail and set in his exquisitely beautiful home of Switzerland. I'm delighted to feature one of his recent photographs as this month's BluFly cover photo as well as this equally compelling photo of the aircraft in flight.

To augment the caption for his photo above, Alexandre has provided lots of additional details in the first footnote below. Thanks for the opportunity to feature your exquisite photography, Alexandre. I sincerely hope it's the first of many.

Simultaneously, this underscores what's meant by the part of BluFly's tagline that reads “if made by people and flying up to the Kármán Line you'll find it on BluFly”. RC gliders are very much welcome on BluFly's pages given they meet this criteria in spades. Expect to see them covered in a variety of ways — not just in cover photos, but also full-blown articles I will be soliciting from some of my favourite authors who contributed to NRCSD. 4 Other forms of model aviation — and, please, don't call them drones! — are also welcome and are undoubtedly in BluFly's future somewhere.

Rest assured all those fans of the broad array of aviation-oriented interests covered so far in BluFly — adding a shiny new subject does not come at the expense of any other. There's no budget of column inches parsimoniously assigned out with one hand while clutching the financial purse strings with the other. Besides, our diligent use of Emojitags 5 means you can create your own BluFly feed catering to your specific interests. Therefore, if you have something positive and aviation-oriented to contribute to the mix, I would be truly honoured to hear from you to see if I can help you incorporate it into the humble efforts herein.

A Significant Shift in BluFly’s Social Strategy

If you’re one of those folks who reads footnotes closely, you will notice the boilerplate regarding BluFly's social feeds has changed this month. The headline: Bluesky will continue as a core part of our overall strategy along with LinkedIn playing an important role. That said, the middle of January, BluFly shut down its Instagram, Threads and Medium feeds.

I would be lying if I said the political winds blowing at the moment didn’t play a factor in this decision — in fact, it did — the main reason was the accrued benefit of being on these three platforms simply was a very poor return on investment of precious time. Instagram is increasingly a vessel for Meta's craven commercial interests coupled with a somnambulant audience no longer really paying attention. Threads was a train wreck from day one — a testament to unlimited money coupled with a huge head start not being able to deliver something people actually want. Medium is a better platform, but really didn’t add much, either. BluFly was simply a sharecropper on Medium's plantation.

The good news: by tightening the focus of BluFly's efforts, more value can be delivered on Bluesky and LinkedIn. With some time freed up also affords more time to a bit more chatty on both, as well. That fully supports the philosophy of having an ongoing, two-way conversation with the BluFly community. Some of the freed up time will also allow for a few new things currently in the works. Stay tuned.

***

That’s it from me for now — please let me know what you think of it along with the rest of what BluFly has on offer this month. 6 Until then, thanks for reading and engaging with BluFly's posts — as noted above — on Bluesky and LinkedIn. 7 It's always a delight to hear from each and every one of you.

Fair winds and blue skies.

Terence C. Gannon
Managing Editor

Recent Stories from the Feed

Until such time we have the Table of Contents pages up and running, we are providing the most recent posts from the feed:

For the BluFly community, the therapeutic benefit of aviation-related pursuits is an easy case to make. However, in this new article by Treena Hein for Vertical Magazine, the therapy goes beyond what any of us might have imagined. Illustrated with outstanding photographs by Mark Bennett. | 🛩️ 🚁 🥇

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— BluFly 🛩 (@blufly.media) 8 February 2025 at 15:37

Save this date for this fun event on the Sunday after next: « Come and explore our Engineering hangar where you’ll find plenty of keen modellers showcasing their work in the hope of taking home one of the many awards up for grabs. » (📸 ©The Shuttleworth Trust | Stuart Anderton) | 🛩️ 🔍 ⚔️ 📅 📍 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

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— BluFly 🛩 (@blufly.media) 7 February 2025 at 12:08

Sure, we feature drones doing *work* all the time. However, we've been waiting for one to wind up in the hands of an *artist* — and that day has arrived. Check out Joanna Steidle's photos in this mind-blowing article by Adelina Gowdy for 'Our Narratives'. (📸 @hamptonsdrone.bsky.social) | 🛩️ 📡 💺 🎨 🥇

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— BluFly 🛩 (@blufly.media) 7 February 2025 at 08:10

We like to think we're 'au courant' here at the home office but we totally missed this. And it's in its sixth season. 🤦🏻‍♂️ 'Behind The Wings®' « is an Emmy-nominated @pbs.org show, monthly video series, and podcast that covers the most exciting stories in aviation and space. » | 🛩️ 📹 ⚔️ 📍 🇺🇸 🥇

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— BluFly 🛩 (@blufly.media) 6 February 2025 at 08:35

Y'know the thing that floats around the socials about 'bumblebees, in theory, should not be able to fly'? Turns out the reason they can is called « leading-edge vortex » according to this article. Swiss researchers have taken advantage of it with a new, flexible, bat-like wing design. | 🛩️ 📡 🦅 📹 📰 🥇

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— BluFly 🛩 (@blufly.media) 5 February 2025 at 08:24

Continuing the cargo drone theme from yesterday, Pipestrel recently announced: « the successful first hover flight of the Nuuva V300 … designed to carry a 600-pound payload over a range of up to 300 nautical miles and is capable of operating from paved or unimproved surfaces … » | 🛩️ 📡 ⚡️ 🚁 📹 📰 🥇

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— BluFly 🛩 (@blufly.media) 4 February 2025 at 09:26

« Dufour … today announced a major milestone: the completion of its first flight test campaign with a hybrid-electric system designed in-house for its Aero2 drone. The Aero2 flew several test flights in Zurich, with the hybrid system self-charging its batteries in flight … » | 🛩️ 📡 ⚡️ 🚁 📹 📰 🥇

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— BluFly 🛩 (@blufly.media) 3 February 2025 at 11:22

From beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada an interesting, new video from 'Plug In BC': « Electrifying the Sky with Harbour Air » which features an interview with Engineer-in-Training Blago Hristovski about Harbour Air's 'e-Beaver' initiative. Well worth watching. | 🛩️ 🦆 ⚡️ 📹 🥇

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— BluFly 🛩 (@blufly.media) 2 February 2025 at 17:39

What's old is new again in @terencecgannon.com's new 'In The Air' editorial kicking off the month of February, 2025 here at @blufly.media. Also, some significant changes in the social strategy are announced. All that and this exquisite cover photo are in store with the link. | 🛩️ 📡 🪽 📍 🇨🇭 🥇

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— BluFly 🛩 (@blufly.media) 1 February 2025 at 12:09

Note that the embedded posts above are from the Bluesky Custom Feed 8 which is the ‘reference’ feed for BluFly. Check out said feed if you want to see what else we posted about this month.


1  « The plane on both picture is a Ceflix/CARF Arcus with 5.8 m wingspan. It weighs about 13.5 kg, no engine, pure glider. It was quite cold that day, only a couple of degrees centigrade. Fresh southwest wind blowing around 15 - 20 km/h, small slope, generally light conditions, but still the big Arcus was holding on very well, together without much lighter unballasted F3F models. Location is Lac de Gruyères in Fribourg state, Switzerland. Date is January 5th 2025, snow in the mountain above about 1000 m, maybe lower in the northern side, otherwise already melted, as it was on the slope. » Thanks again, Alexandre, for the permission to use your wonderful photos and for this description.

2 I was surprised to find this quote was not from Armstrong's early training days as I had always thought. Rather it's from a 2005 interview with Ed Bradley on CBS News' 60 Minutes. I'm sure I'm not alone when I say I really miss both Neil and Ed.

3 All thirty covers for the New RC Soaing Digest were montaged into the cover photo for the first part of BACKSTORY. This first article also contain links to Part II and III. Which reminds me: there's lots more to say in this series so I had really get busy on them.

4 If you're one of them please get in touch — I would love to hear from you as I would anybody who has an aviation story to tell. A widely diverse set of subjects are all equally qualified for inclusion in BluFly.

5 BluFly has a section of its Guide dedicated to Emojitags along with the current list of those in use.

6 Rather than splitting comments onto multiple channels we are collecting them on the Bluesky post for this article. Please leave your comments as a reply 💬 to this post, where they will get prompt attention. Note, however, that will require you to sign up for Bluesky — not a particularly onerous task and of course, free of charge.

Yes, of course we're on social: here's where you can find us on Bluesky and Linkedin.

BluFly 🛩️ is the Bluesky Custom Feed on which this page is based. For more on this concept, check out First Things First: What's a Bluesky Custom Feed? in our Guide for Followers and Trusted Contributors.