1. It's not a coincidence that your best landing took place when you transitoned to the uprights earlier. I developed the same switch-late-and-flare habit early on when I did nearly all of my flying in strong winds...made for many a whack in the mountains.
2. Great work on improving your final approach speed...waiting to flare too late means you don't have enough oomph to rotate and you made great strides. Less grass stains -> good.
3. Find whoever told you to slide your hands up further and buy them a beer. It's great advice for people with short arms (like me) and another reason to transition earlier in the process (but only on final...I've never been a big fan of big turns from an upright position). More leverage from up high on the downtubes gives you more opportunities to make adjustments and really crank the flare.
4. Something to consider trying (but only after discussing it with your instructor, please). I saved quite a few landings that had been either poorly planned or changed for me by conditions (okay...usually poorly planned) by flaring from the tail wires. My short arms weren't an issue and you can get the nose WAY up into the "sky plow" position with very little air speed (due to the aforementioned poor planning). One word of warning: once you stop, don't just let go of the wires. Mr. Glider will smack you in the head.
Thanks for sharing your progress, it's really fun to live this stuff again through your eyes (from...yikes...25 years ago?). _________________ Suppose you were an idiot.
And suppose you were a member of congress.
But I repeat myself.
- Mark Twain
Definately looks better when you go to the downtubes earlier. _________________ Life's too short not to have fun every day
Falcon 3, 170, Sport II, H3, AT
down tubes earlier for the win. secondly you are stretchig very high on the tubes the reason this works is it gets you upright. the main thing here is hips forward body upright.
you can infact keep your hands at head hight, as long as you make a mental note to keep the hips forward body upright.
the flare is forward then upward (i think jim R has a good video explaining this) remember a windy day is different to a nill winder.
love the progression though as i was shouting hands higher at the screen you did it. great stuff and im sure i heard the odd squeal when you nailed it. lol _________________ fly2 tandem (aerowtow training)
falcon 2 and 3 195
aeros Target 16
wills wing eagle 180
Airwave Sportster (L)158
Other favourites flown but not owened
Airwave Xtreme (topless), aeros discuss
The vid is a good tool for someone just starting out to see how technique affects outcome.
One suggestion: Try to get more upright, earlier. Your harness may be preventing you from going upright and/or you leg loops are too loose. You seem to have to really reach for the top of the bars and when you flare & you run out of arm length. That's why at a full flare you still have to run it out. Just my 2 cents.
Great improvement in technique. Thanks for sharing. _________________ T2C
The vid is a good tool for someone just starting out to see how technique affects outcome.
One suggestion: Try to get more upright, earlier. Your harness may be preventing you from going upright and/or you leg loops are too loose. You seem to have to really reach for the top of the bars and when you flare & you run out of arm length. That's why at a full flare you still have to run it out. Just my 2 cents.
Great improvement in technique. Thanks for sharing.
i agree thats why i said arms at head hight but get them hips forward. this way you will still have authority to flare. _________________ fly2 tandem (aerowtow training)
falcon 2 and 3 195
aeros Target 16
wills wing eagle 180
Airwave Sportster (L)158
Other favourites flown but not owened
Airwave Xtreme (topless), aeros discuss
Great video, LW. Thanks so much for sharing. If you don't mind I'm going to include this in my list of videos to show some guys that I'm currently helping to learn to fly. This is a great example of improvement and technique changes that have real, measurable effects.
Here's wishing 2011 keeps bringing the good times.
Please feel free to use the video with your training programs. I would also encourage your students or hang 2 pilots to use a camera to help them assess their progress and see their mishaps.
Landing on my feet was a mystery to me. Positioning the camera on my keel was very insightful in providing me feedback to improve my landings. I could clearly see that my hands were not high enough most of the time that I rolled in. Once I got my hands up high, I was able to land on my feet a little better.
Anyhow, I know that the wind conditions in the landing zone is another dynamic that I am still trying to understand. I realize that running is usually necessary when there is no wind and that you can glide further.
Thanks for all the comments. The collection of observations that I have gotten from this forum has been helpful. _________________ -LittleWing
Great progression, LittleWing. Thank you for sharing. I hope to be up there sometime soon- hopefully when a tad warmer. _________________ Sting 2, 154XC
H2
AT FL CL FSL
Your videos are inspiring and fun, keep posting.Have you
considered modifying the control frame? _________________ MK4,eurosport 167,enterprise combat 152,
laminar st 14. H2.
Thanks for sharing, LW. Your infectious enthusiam and joy of flight have been
an encouragement for all of us beginners. You've improved alot in the last year. _________________ Freedom 170 FR
Thanks for sharing your vid and congrats on your excellent progress.
You got me thinking about foot landings. I am a new H2 AT out of Quest. I have been trying to determine what is a best option for me to learn FL. I was thinking hill training at LMFP. It is about a 10 hour drive and I have learned from this site and some phone calls that the hills close down early in the day. I have been hesitant to commit that much driving time and effort for a short window of training each day. But now that I see your vid, I am thinking maybe I can learn by practice with my large wheels. I have heard of practice at altitude first and then when ready start trying with the big wheels.
So, if you were in flat country like me and a H2 AT, what would your plan be to learn FL?
Kevin, welcome to the Org. Go ahead and make the trek. The instruction you will receive is worth the drive. It's a rare day that the training hills aren't open. They shut down for the morning when the breezes get switchy. The small hill can be flown over roughly a 180 degree sweep. The big hill is much more dependant on wind direction. It's a 10 hour drive for me too so I know how you feel but there are some excellent instructors at the training hills. It's well worth it. _________________ Freedom 170 FR
- What I really liked is the not-giving-up attitude. There are those that would get frustrated after that much work on landing elements, so congrats to you for that alone!
- And like others have mentioned, having your hands as high as possible and being upright clearly helped.
- The only thing I would add is that even some with the hands held high did not work out too well. One of the reasons for this is that there is no power in your flare in a lot of these shots. You almost appear tentative.
See if you can put more all-at-once power over a shorter duration in the flare and I think you would see a lot of the marginal landings turn into full no-steppers because your body position looks good.
- I think you will also find that you are running out the ones you did land on your feet less with a more aggressive flare.
- It's probably important you get a really aggressive flare down pat because you might find yourself in a true downwinder and you may want to pull a strong and sudden flare out of your back pocket in that event.
Cornell, thank you for your observations and feedback. You are correct, I do tend to be tentative with my flare. It's almost an effort to avoid zooming at all costs. Anyhow, I think if I was caught in a downwind situation, I would prefer to land on my wheels, if possible.
KevinK wrote:
Thanks for sharing your vid and congrats on your excellent progress.
You got me thinking about foot landings. I am a new H2 AT out of Quest. I have been trying to determine what is a best option for me to learn FL. I was thinking hill training at LMFP. It is about a 10 hour drive and I have learned from this site and some phone calls that the hills close down early in the day. I have been hesitant to commit that much driving time and effort for a short window of training each day. But now that I see your vid, I am thinking maybe I can learn by practice with my large wheels. I have heard of practice at altitude first and then when ready start trying with the big wheels.
So, if you were in flat country like me and a H2 AT, what would your plan be to learn FL?
Thanks and Happy New Year!
Kevin
Kevin, like Bob stated, it is worth the trip to LMFP. The training hills predominately are open in the mornings. However, during the summer months, there are double sessions at the training hills on Fridays and Saturdays. On Fridays and Saturdays during June, July and August the hills are open in the morning and evening. Plus, you could look into private lessons to possible get time on the training hills that is more conducive to your schedule.
Good luck, hope to see you at Lookout sometime in the future. Happy New Year. _________________ -LittleWing
I think you're still looking down at the ground right before you flare....
(IMO one of the hardest things for new pilots NOT to do)
That being said you're landings are getting much better
EDIT: FYI for other newer pilots: If you look down at the ground right before you flare it is very easy to confuse ground speed with airspeed, and the result will usually be a late flare......
(don't worry you're pheriphial vison will keep you from flying the glider into the ground)] _________________ Help preserve Hang Gliding at Torrey Pines
Join the Torrey Hawks (its free)
Cornell, thank you for your observations and feedback. You are correct, I do tend to be tentative with my flare. It's almost an effort to avoid zooming at all costs.
A couple of suggestions:
Don't know if you are practicing this, but it's a very good idea to slow the glider to near-stall while at altitude, in the upright position - just like landing. A lot of people do not practice this, which is one of the reasons why there are so many whacks in the world - even among the highly experienced folks out there. This is the way it is taught in General Aviation incidentally. You must be totally keyed into the slow-flight characteristics of your aircraft.
In terms of zooming avoidance, there is a point where a wing is just about done flying - and you can feel it after practicing away from terra firma. During slow flight, upright at altitude is also the place to try making small roll corrections to help understand how the glider responds at these slower speeds. It's not an exact duplication of landing approaches because of the lack of ground effect, but it does get you comfortable in finding the "zone."
It is this place, where the wing is just about done flying, where one has to consistently be able to key into to make consistent landings in a variety of conditions. And if you know where that place is, what it feels like, and what it sounds like, then your fear of zooming will dissipate and you'll feel more confident about going for it.
Quote:
Anyhow, I think if I was caught in a downwind situation, I would prefer to land on my wheels, if possible.
True, but there may a circumstance that you do not want to roll. Perhaps the ground is muddy and you sense your wheels will grab or sink instead of roll, or there are rocks, or there is a fence fast approaching and you'd still like to do a flare to get some braking into the mix.
It is always a good idea to have a well-rehearsed, seriously aggressive, fast flaring action as an alternative to a roll-on to pull out a Hail Mary in an unexpected situation.
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Definately looks better when you go to the downtubes earlier.
