WingNutz Blows (launch)

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WingNutz
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WingNutz Blows (launch)

Post by WingNutz »

I blew my launch yesterday at the Kagel Saddle launch, where the paragliders launch. I think I should have run harder and I should have given greater consideration to the conditions.

I was flying my Wills U-2 160. Even though my ATOS rigid wing (It’s pronounced Ah-Tose by its German designer) is giving me excellent flights, it is way too easy to fly, and I have resolved that I have to take at least every third flight in a flexwing, so I don’t forget how.

I decided to launch the “Saddle� launch at Kagel Mountain because the launch conditions were mild and I wanted to sharpen my shallow slope skills. The wind sock was slack when we arrived at launch, and showed wind blowing in lightly at times. I never saw it show wind blowing down. At the main Kagel launch, the wind was blowing in from zero to three knots. Student Dan, Emily Brown, and Erika Klein had excellent launches, and “Santa Claus� Tom Allen had launched the saddle with his paraglider. I was the last pilot on the hill.

I have launched the Kagel Saddle about ten or twelve times. The Saddle launch has a relatively shallow slope for 30 feet or so, where there is a "lip," at the top of a much steeper downslope. At the Saddle, the wind was blowing straight in at 2-3 knots, although a pilot in the air (Emily Brown) reported that the windsock on top of the mountain, 150 feet away and 40 feet higher, showed light wind blowing down. Erwin McDavid was still at launch, thank goodness, waiting for me to go.

I was very deliberate in starting the launch at a walk, then ran down the shallow slope. I was running pretty fast and thought I had enough airspeed, but before the glider lifted me off, I jumped into the glider. I do not believe that I popped the nose up. The glider mushed and I tried to pull in, but I was too close to the ground to pull in very much. So I had to let the bar out a little, hoping that I could mush away from the slope, but the glider was stalled and couldn’t fly away.

There were skeletons of Manzanita bushes (left after last year's fire) on the slope, and I started to hit them. The control bar went through a small branch, which broke away, but the left leading edge then hit a more substantial branch more than 2/3 of the way out on the wing, which spun me to the left. The glider crashed into a Manzanita skeleton that had many branches only about 1� in diameter, which cushioned the crash. From the time I jumped in the glider to the crash was probably five to six seconds.

I ended up nose uphill into the dirt, about 100 feet downslope from the lip of the Saddle launch, slightly to the right. I was unhurt, so I unhooked to walk out so that people would see that I was okay. The keel was broken forward of the lower wire attachment, and the broken end poked up through the sail. The downtubes are okay as far as I could see. One wire, a flying wire I believe, was broken. The two Inboard top surface ribs were broken about a foot from the aft ends, and I couldn’t remove them because of the jagged ends catching in the batten pockets. I broke down the glider, except that I couldn’t remove the tip wands. One wheel bracket is bent.

Tom Allen, the paraglider pilot, top-landed, and helped me pack up the glider and carry it up the slope. He says that he has blown launches there several times and hit the Manzanita skeletons. I believe that I might have been able to fly away if the Manzanita skeletons had not been there.

I believe that the main cause of the crash was that I did not launch aggressively enough. I should have kept running hard until the glider lifted me. It may be that the conditions contributed to the fact that the glider mushed when I thought it was going fast enough to fly. Greblo speculated that the wind below the lip of that launch may have had a greater vertical component than the air in which I started the run, and that when I hit that updraft, my angle of attack suddenly increased without any control input, stalling the glider. However, I was never aware of any updraft "bump" of lift at the lip. Because it is possible that the conditions contributed to this crash, I will never again try to launch the Saddle on a marginal day, or when the wind is switchy. Nevertheless I still think that a stronger launch would have prevented this accident.
Soar With Prudent Passion

Larry Chamblee
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Don
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Glad to hear you are alright!

Post by Don »

Larry,

Glad to hear you are alright.

Interesting and informative description of the incident. I haven't even tried to launch the saddle - will definitely be thinking of your narrative if/when I try.

Don
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Post by OSCAR »

I'm sorry to hear about the accident Larry ,glad you weren't injured ,I hope your gliders not to badly damaged.
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JD
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Post by JD »

Gosh Larry,
Glad you weren't hurt. Mike must have jinxed you by retelling his Elsinore blown launch story at El Chap. At least you didn't need a hillside rescue. I doubt that I could have safely launched a U2 160 from the PG launch in no wind even with my relative youth and ballast advantages. Marshall Peak in San Berdoo is a pretty safe place to practice shallow slope launches. Any time you want to work on it together just let me know.
JS
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Rome Dodson
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PARA LAUNCH

Post by Rome Dodson »

WHEN I RAN THE 22.000 # FRONT LOADER(THAT WE GOT FROM THE ILLEGAL DUMPERS) I BUILT UP THE CENTER SECTION OF PARA LAUNCH, BUT RUSS HAS KICKED SO MUCH DIRT UP THAT IT IS NOW LOWER.WHEN WE WORK ON OUR RAMP,WE SHOULD BUILD UP THE CENTER SECTION.(FOR NORMAL SIZED PEOPLE (SHORT) THIER WINGS ARE ALMOST TOUCHING EACH SIDE. ROME
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Rome Dodson
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PARA LAUNCH

Post by Rome Dodson »

WHEN I RAN THE 22.000 # FRONT LOADER(THAT WE GOT FROM THE ILLEGAL DUMPERS) I BUILT UP THE CENTER SECTION OF PARA LAUNCH, BUT RUSS HAS KICKED SO MUCH DIRT UP THAT IT IS NOW LOWER.WHEN WE WORK ON OUR RAMP,WE SHOULD BUILD UP THE CENTER SECTION.(FOR NORMAL SIZED PEOPLE (SHORT) THIER WINGS ARE ALMOST TOUCHING EACH SIDE. ROME
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stebbins
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Post by stebbins »

I am glad that you are OK, Larry. Sorry to hear about the ground impaction.
Fly High; Fly Far; Fly Safe -- George
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WingNutz
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Post by WingNutz »

That's impactification, George.

By the way, folks, I misquoted Joe Greblo, although I thought that my version of what he said was way scientific and aerodynamic - you know - about the updraft at the lip of the Saddle launch changing the angle of attack

Joe says: "I didn't suggest a different direction of wind below the slope, due to the changing slope angle. In fact, the wind need not be considered here.
My statement was that your flight path suddenly got steeper at the moment you loaded your glider with your weight. That sudden, steeper, flight path directly resulted in a "relative wind" (not a true wind) direction that met the glider's chord line at a steeper angle. This sudden, steeper angle between the relative wind and the chord line likely exceeded the stall angle of attack."

My apologies to Joe.

Sore with prune mint pastry.
Soar With Prudent Passion

Larry Chamblee
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Christian
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Post by Christian »

Sorry to hear glider broken but at least you are not.

However, the ghost of me is very angry with you, Larry Chamblee Esq., for posting a useful and thoroughly realized accident/incident in the General Forum instead of the category where it actually belongs, and where properly located it might stand like a beacon of light in shallow-slope launch technique for generations to come instead of lost forever in the fluff blender of nonspecific categorization.

I remain, your conscience,
Christian
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WingNutz
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Post by WingNutz »

Christian lives ! Nice to hear from you.

Thanks for your kind words on the report.

I apologize for my lapse of consciousness on the genius of the forum design. Of course, this report should be in the accidents section of the forum.

I will duplicate-post it in the proper place.

Roar with rodent bashin'
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Larry Chamblee
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stebbins
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Post by stebbins »

WingNutz wrote:That's impactification, George.
.....
I stand corrected.

Thank you, Your Impactifferousness.
Fly High; Fly Far; Fly Safe -- George
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