Sylmar Hang Gliding Association

Here's the landing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoZpoYGOXtg.of my 1st launch from the750, 1st landing out in the brush, 1st shallow slope launch in light wind, 1st landing at AJAP. I learned a lot today ,but mainly always plan your approach carefully,& in hot weather carry plenty of water with you ,It didn't help me having 3 gallons on the truck while I was in the middle of the 104 degree dusty and brushy field.Thanks to kathy for bringing me some water I was dieing out there and to Richard Shaw & Don Banas for carrying the glider out for me thanks guys.

Oscar,
Nice flare out and landing Oscar. It's not unusual for thermals (or sink) to come right off the deck at Andy Jackson and cause overshoots or short landings. S-turns in such thermic conditions to bleed altitude can be risky as well, so it's better to land in the scrub and hike out.
Jonathan

Um, were your hands on the downtubes the whole flight? Even while not in the prone position?

I don't know if Joe Greblo has seen this video yet, but you may want him to see the whole video and see what he was to say about the hand positions on the downtubes. Your hand positions can make a big difference.

Also, have you ever tried having one hand on the downtube and one hand on the base tube at the same time while trying to get your Falcon to descend as fast as possible? It really seems to help. Andy and Joe told me about it and showed the proper hand positions as well. It really helps especially if you're tired. That way, you'll always have your hand on the downtube in the proper position while landing.

I noticed that one time in the video you had the palms of your hands in front of the downtubes while trying to descend rapidly while trying to land. That could possible get you into trouble when you go to switch hand positions again to get the palms of your hands behind the downtubes again when landing. (Just my thoughts though.)

Like I suggested, ask Joe to look at your hand positions especially during the approach to landing portion of the whole video.

Allen

Hi Allen .my hands were not on the down tubes the entire flight I move them ,sometimes I'm on the base tube or rear wires when I'm just floating around.But when I'm entering the pattern their on the down tubes.and yes I've tried the one hand on the base tube one on down tube technique it works fine I use it sometimes.Your are right about hand placement getting you in trouble ,mainly if you happen to let go while you have a lot of pressure on the tube you could find yourself zooming up on final -ouch .I change hand positions when there is no pressure on my palms and quickly to keep from being turned by turbulence.I was way to high when I turned to final for the conditions,the air was hot very buoyant and a lot of ground effect.on a cool day I could have pulled it off.

OSCAR wrote:Hi Allen .my hands were not on the down tubes the entire flight I move them ,sometimes I'm on the base tube or rear wires when I'm just floating around.But when I'm entering the pattern their on the down tubes.and yes I've tried the one hand on the base tube one on down tube technique it works fine I use it sometimes.Your are right about hand placement getting you in trouble ,mainly if you happen to let go while you have a lot of pressure on the tube you could find yourself zooming up on final -ouch .I change hand positions when there is no pressure on my palms and quickly to keep from being turned by turbulence.I was way to high when I turned to final for the conditions,the air was hot very buoyant and a lot of ground effect.on a cool day I could have pulled it off.

The part of the video that concerned me was when you had your hands on the downtubes, palms facing forward as Joe and Andy teach us, and then when you realize that you need to dive you switch your hand positions on the downtubes with your hands in front of the downtubes, palms facing rearward. I don't think that Joe or Andy would like that very much because it means that you'll have to take your hands totally off the downtubes to switch back to hands behind the downtubes sometime just before landing. That could cause you to flare and if you happen to get hit by something (thermal or turbulence) while switching, it could get you into a lot of trouble. That's the purpose of one hand on the basetube and one hand on the downtube; you will always have on hand on a downtube allowing you better control if suddenly hit by some 'outside force'.

Just a concern on my part and it might be good to talk to Joe or Andy about it. They helped me sooooo much when I was learning to fly and could always give excellant reasons for hand positions on the downtubes and basetubes.

Just a thought.

Allen

Thanks Allen for your advice

Hi Oscar,

from a hang gliding videography perspective, it's very cool how your shadow stays right in the view of the camera for so long.

Nice flight. Look forward to flying with you at Sylmar.

Cheers,
Chad

Hi Oscar,

from a hang gliding videography perspective, it's very cool how your shadow stays right in the view of the camera for so long.

Nice flight. Look forward to flying with you at Sylmar.

Cheers,
Chad

Hi Chad,

I agree sometimes I get lucky and line the camera up just right,see you at Sylmar .and Thanks for watching .don't forget to rate the video.

Great decision not to do a 360.

Good landing.

Andy Jackson has a designated overshoot below parking lot. I know, I've hit it. It looks like you landed to the left of it.

In my case, like you, my hands were on the downtubes through the whole pattern and I couldn't get any more speed/sink out of my falcon and I took a high approach and thermal pop right over the LZ.

Shortly after that, I learned to keep at least one hand on the basetube until I was in ground effect.

If you want to watch a lot of landings for learning purposes, many of them in the AJ LZ, here you go:

Part 7 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFqlnZox ... 9706193955

Part 6 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3xe9B3P ... 8eaa2100cc

Part 5 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5avvijF7 ... 457f9d0394

Part 4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbLLPszj ... 3757f06e78

Part 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9JWr1Vo ... 53d082c6f4

Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfXc1uVe ... 5ec3c8da25

Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouxXus87 ... f64c519738

fly in 1 part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Na5PK_nR ... eaf4421113

fly in 1 part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xN-87bRK ... 6cf66ca4f3

fly in 1 part 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WeHuaNZ ... 8d25436dde

fly in 1 part 4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wuRYSnt ... fee47213b6

fly in 2 part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyEjPgHY ... fc08a9c20d

fly in 2 part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLb7QZ5L ... 17ce537c58

fly in 2 part 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUXij7FQ ... 7459f82ca0

[quote]
Great decision not to do a 360.

Good landing.

Andy Jackson has a designated overshoot below parking lot. I know, I've hit it. It looks like you landed to the left of it


Thanks Bro,I enjoyed watching the videos ,lots of good stuff in there.I had a great flight today launched from Marshall in the morning and I kept it going 4.15 hours,I Love this site I also joined the club today,Thanks again for the info.

oscar

knumbknuts wrote:....Shortly after that, I learned to keep at least one hand on the basetube until I was in ground effect. ......

That's a good technique. You can also keep your hands very low on the down tubes instead. That works also.

Personally, I prefer the one-up-one-down, except that it means you have to move a hand. That invites a "pop-up". The low-hands-on-the-downtubes feels more awkward, but works just as well, and doesn't require a hand-release, just a hand-slide. That's a good thing. Either one is good (and both are better than getting-upright-and-moving-both-hands-at-the-last-minute, or doing-the-approach-with-hand-high-on-the-downtubes.)