I dont think im normal

[colin keightley]

Well today I had the experience that most find frightening but i rather enjoyed it.

Decidied to go to tailbridge after watching a few scratches and landings at cross fell, boy was i in for a suprise, first flight went without a hitch bit bumpy but lifty in places but second takeoff was a whole different story, when launching i had to break into a run to get of the ground then all of a sudden it yanked me off my feet and climbed rapidly with the wing falling behind then all of a sudden the wing shot forward like a bullet by the time i had tried to stop it it had gone full frontal at this point I was in total disorientationand chose to look for the ground as I sensed i was going to hit down hard by the time the wing poped open I was 90deg to the hill and actually a softish landing with my wing landing upside down as by this point the wing had gone full 180. Had I been a little higher it may have been a worse outcome as I hadnt swung back under the wing yet if I had of been even 5ft higher i would have started the forward swing and into the hill. This all happened in the space of about 5 seconds from initiating takeoff to touching down. Now the reason I dont think im normal is I actually quite liked it. Although it did make me a little edgy when it got bumpy and give me tip deflations later on on my next 2 flights.

[Stuart Bertram]

Colin
As you probably know you ran with the air being sucked into he thermal and then into the thermal itself which is why it pitched back. Without breaking the subsequent dive it will often collapse. SIV here I come!

I have I have a friend who did this on Piedrahetra and it did not collapse, (or he controlled the collapse) so he swung back under the glider and clipped the ground with his foot. He then flew 87K before landing and realised he had broken his ankle.

I do not know which is the worse scenareo but the interesting thing is that you often get a buzz when this happens if you get away with it. Not so much of a buzz if you don't. Not something to get addicted to but glad you were lucky today.

Stuart

[Fingers]

MMmm, you have been very lucky Colin, but you know that already.

[colin keightley]

I know it just brings to light collapses dont just happen when your up there still a rush though

[ron freeman]

Hi Colin, pleased to read that you are OK ! this will make you a better pilot.

Also will make you realise even more so that its so important to spend lots of time on the edge of a hill (out of harness) in thermic conditions and try to make a mental note on how regular the thermals are coming through, it takes time to learn but well worth it !


Happy flips

[gary stenhouse]

the begginers invicable syndrome and overconfidence, these things happen and oftern we are lucky and get away wiyh it. the main thing is you learn from it and prevent i the next time. peventing collapses is always better than dealing with

cheers gary

[Stuart Bertram]

Note that Ali suffered a similar deflation today but was not as lucky.
He did not seem to be enjoying the buzz when they winched him up onto the helicopter.

It is unbelievable when you see people take off and immediately let go of their brakes to shove their arses into their harness

Stuart

[GlennP]

It was a case of thermals buzzing through the site like that all day. That's why the wings were being dragged about on TO, with or without pilots in the harness.

Colin was lucky he was not sat in his harness already or another few feet further out or the outcome may have been worse.

I think that 'buzz' may have been relief.

[Peter]

Yes I was there and it was impossible at times to keep your wing steady on the ground. Just after sorting my lines out another thermal came through and ended up messing them up again ( very frustrating! ). Sat for twenty mins waiting for it to calm down so I could sort things out again.

I didnt see Colin take off but apparently it was quite spectacular looking like an acro move near ground level.

The air was a lot calmer right near the front of take off, lots of people were taking off well away from this point and struggling to walk forward with their glider for what seemed like ages! Good day though and when you were up it was very smooth especially later in the day ( bit cold tho! ) .