Flying Techniques

[John Wallis]

At last nights meeting Gordon brought up a good topic about active flying, wing feed back "The how do you know question"

Maybe the more experienced can offer their own valuable input to low airtime pilots "How do you do your own active flying" What do you look listen for when your wing is about to go AWOL and what feed back are you looking for.

I never see the top pilots in the club throwing their wings around but what I do see is their wing always above their heads and rarely do I see a collapse?

Cheers

JW

[brian day]

To be perfectly honest,,,,,I don't know!
I think it's a natural feel and instinct and probably if you're having to think out loud, you'd probably be to late with your reaction anyway.
I know I do it, because on a couple of occasions I've felt myself get tired and sit back, the wing has then gone awol, 2 frontal collapses last year at Rushop edge for example, I was tired and bored with the flying.
Now I think about it, Asymmetric control is done with weight shift and asymmetric brake pressure, always hold a little pressure in each brake, if it goes slack add a bit more, if the tension gets more, release a bit. Pitch control, as mentioned, keep a bit of brake pressure, not a lot, just a feeling, when a gust hits, the wing goes back, release a bit, be ready to dampen the surge when it returns. Practice using your bar at the coast to have the same effect.
When I first got the Alpina I experienced some roll instability in turbulence and struggled to understand how to control it. I don't know what I do, but seems to have gone, maybe I've just got used to it, any suggestions on that would be useful in case it returns.
Hope this has been helpful, just remember, we're all out there juggling with our wings in an attempt to keep them over our heads, in thermic conditions, if that's how you feel, you're probably active flying. Just get out there and do it some more.

[RonDon]

Yes, good stuff, Brian

[John Wallis]

C'Mon guys important topic

Ali Guthrie Chief Paragliding coach
Gary Stenhouse
Ron Freeman - Thank You
Bill Scott - Thank You
Gordie Oliver
Steve Giles
Chris Forster - Thank You
Brian Rowe - Thank You
Henry - Thank You
Neil Smith
Ron Don
lloyd
Andrew Maltby
Chris Little
Jan Little
Ed Cleasby
Brian Day - Thank You

Just to mention a few.

[bill-scott]

To me its a bit like balancing a broom on the end of your middle finger you could never explain how you do it u just do

[Henry]

If you're not feeling too in touch with your wing and especially if getting a fair bit of roll and pitch then tightening your chest strap (to bring the risers closer together) can work wonders..

[berow]

Thanks for the poke John. Active flying becomes more relevant when upgrading to a higher end wing. So practice it now and your step up wont be as traumatic as it might be. There is a school of thought that you should be able to stop all collapses. I know this to be not true due to a personal experience but that is for another day. However, that statement interested and intrigued me. Active flying is important for the good days as you will get so much more out of the day. Its also mega important for the bad days when you launch and you wish you hadn't! Think of this....You go light in your harness. Look up. There is a good chance your glider will have a collapse. How you stop this is touched on earlier. Its all about feeling but a very simplified way to look at it is if you go light in your harness your arms come down. How far and if at all depends on so many factors but there is some food for thought and discussion from me. See you on the hill.

[ron freeman]

Good subject and I think the most important aspect of flying a paraglider safely ! Good positive active control will also lead to a long flying career.

Active flying is all about doing what you need to do to keep the wing over your head without losing touch or feel of the wing.

To do this you first need to get to know your wing.. all wings have there own behaviour and reactions to turbulence so you must practice in smooth air and take one step at time. Check out the pitch reaction first, speed up then slow down and then let the glider fly over you head (just a bit) then stop it with the brakes, you will soon learn the reaction time and get a feeling of what is needed to be in tune with your wing.

Practise Big ears and see how quickly you can pull one side in then take it out, again you will soon learn the reaction time of your wing + your own reaction time which is very important.

I always try to get my students to have there own wing for the CP course
so they have full confidence with their own ability and their wing.

[chrisfozz]

If you want to improve your active flying skills - practice Groundhandling!

[brian day]

The rock n roll appeared again yesterday, I was on a long glide, relaxing looking at the views, I think I was hands off too, as I hit a little turbulence, the wing started rolling side to side. I got hold of the brakes, small imput and it stopped immediately, I thought about this post, but can I heck analyse what I did to stop it,,,,strange really!!!

[John Wallis]

Sounds like a bit of YAW Brian. We would often get this on some of the high performance hang gliders at speed. Once you gently eased the bar our out to reduce the speed the yawing stopped similar to pulling the brakes? The Alpina is towards the top end (Sport) so it's a possibility.