Session #21

Date: May 10, 2019

Cummulative flights to date: 30

Site: Dog Mtn

Vertical to LZ: 1500 ft

Conditions: 7:00PM launch, 5-8 NNW (not consistent) 70F

Harness configuration: shoulder lifters, chest chute and step.

Assistance: none

Launch: Launched from North side

The flights: 1

Video/Photos: Two videos from other pilots from the LZ of my base, final and crash

Landing: After diving down with some rudder brake I popped up then dropped down and did not flare or slow down. Hit the nose hard then right wing last.

Narrative: The launch felt very controlled. Felt I could have soared but noticed fairly soon into the flight I was hanging by my arm pits and was getting tired. I did not feel comfortable engaging the hammock so just toughed it out. Tried to adjust my position to achieve a slower airspeed but couldn’t really get below 25 on my Dwyer. Noticed later that Brian’s position in those old videos had his feet inside the cage leading edge, not stuck out over the leading edge. I think I did one 360 and then started to set up my approach. I deliberately set up high so as not to run out of altitude like last fall. As soon as I realized I was going to overshoot at about 300 ft I shifted forward adding rudder brake to descend. I dropped at about what felt like 3:1 and over corrected at about 6ft popping back up to maybe 15 ft and then gliding right into the ground with no flare.

Take aways: I believe what happened was that my reflex reverted to my Rogallo technique and I held pressure on the twist grips (well forward of cg) and just pushed forward thinking I needed to push out. The glider responded as predicted by continuing it’s ground skim with a slight descent which caused me to nose in since I did not attempt to run it on (going too fast anyway). Throwing my legs forward in anticipation of the impending crash just exaggerated the problem. It is apparent I need to learn how to flare before attempting landings in no wind.

Post-flight note:

I noticed no detectable change to the wing joiner alignment when I set up the next day and the negative wire attach tension seemed unchanged as well. The only thing I could see was the right wing joiner top gusset was bent a bit more than before. Set it up again on Monday to create the ballistic chute template and had the same observations about potential damage. Bottom line is I plan to fly it as is especially since I need to learn how to flare and stop in calm conditions, if I am smart I will do this at the beach site where the ground is a bit less hard.

Session #20

Date: April 12, 2019

Cummulative flights to date: 29

Site: Cape Kiwanda

Vertical to LZ: 80 ft

Conditions: 2:00PM launch, 5-8 W-NW (not consistent) 60F

Harness configuration: shoulder lifters and step.

Assistance: none

Launch: Launched from about ¾ point. OK, but felt challenged to keep up with what felt like changes in direction that made keeping the wings level difficult. Maybe two steps max as I was very near the lip and it is steep this year. Waited for a lull where things straightened out. This is not really a slope launch because it is so steep. I only get a step or two in before being lifted off the ground.

The flights: 1

Video/Photos: None

Landing: Found myself headed right for a big log and made the mistake of fixating on it. I was able to slow down and glide over it but it was close. I made a point of slowing down but did not really execute a flare. There was at least a 5-6mph breeze right on the beach so it should have been a one step landing. I believe what I’m doing is tensing up too much as I approach the ground and reacting by holding pressure on the twist grips (far forward of neutral CG) thus keeping the ship from flaring. Probably a habit from landing my Rogallo where pushing out is how I execute a flare.

Narrative: This was the trial flight after re-rigging after last fall’s hard landing where I tweaked the airframe. I didn’t notice any adversed flight characteristics. Made a conscious move to relax the twist grips to neutral right after getting up into the cage. I was very hesitant about making the right turn and ended up doing it late and then not enough and landed at least 10 yards toward the water from my set up. Right after launch I found myself too far forward and diving so moved back a bit and then stepped up onto the leading edge which was just as easy as the Dog launch last fall. I still find this site a challenge in that right after launch you have to execute a turn to line up parallel to the beach while trimming your speed and stepping into the glider. At Dog Mtn, you can take your time and only need to concentrate on keeping the wings level after launch since it is wide open air in front. Only after getting stable do I need to then think about stepping up onto the leading edge.

Take aways: I neglected to change bolt lengths for the quick connect positions where I re-rigged with the thick custom bushings so could not insert the safety pins and had to remove a washer to make enough room. Forgot to zip the gap cover closed and flew it with no nose cone either. I was not able to tell any difference in the way it flew without the gap cover.The wing joiners are still quite far off of coming together parallel (I think I tried to jerk-bend them when I did the re-rig and had no luck)