The harness makes all the difference (joking)! This was 2 years ago and I only flew it once... I gave a range of what I saw while flying in areas that are often more still. 12:1 probably had a little buoyancy pumping the number up, similarly the falcon would see about 10:1 with that same buoyancy. Obviously I didn't chart a polar curve in calm morning air, so this is the high end for both but the actual glide ratio probably sits in the middle of that range. The take away here is that the Piuma is certainly getting a few points better in glide than the falcon.

It is! And just like in real life my friend is already on the ground with a beer ready.

It's pretty great. You need a VR capable PC, it is still in beta but it is at a point where you can fly cross country and try out different type of landings. Everything feels just about right.

Isn't carbon outer LE an option for it?

It reduces forward velocity by increasing drag *when airspeed increases.* A simplification of drag is half the velocity squared times surface area, so drag increases exponentially the faster you go. This increases the D in L/D, meaning that the more airspeed you add the worse the performance is, you will decrease how fast you move forward and the glide slope becomes steeper, while you are lowering the angle of attack. The stall speed does not go up (I think). Since there is a limit on the surface area and a limit to how much velocity you can reasonably add, the amount of drag is also limited. When you fly near trim speed the drag is minimal, when you add speed the drag increases. The drouge allows you to control the glide path through airspeed and basically turn a higher performance glider into a lower performance glider... Like a falcon. Diving a flacon doesn't make it more likely to stall, it increases drag and prevents it from going forward.

Thinking about this in terms of a polar curve: The left side (lower end of the speed range would stay about the same while the right side would degrade to resemble a lower performance glider. The sink would be much worse at higher speeds than the original curve. Stall speed and min sink should stay about the same but best glide is at a much lower speed.

@@EridanTheEnchanter Thanks for the quick response. So here’s my thoughts (after deleting my ramblings). You are adding parasitic drag (skin and form frag are still present in the wing as well as wing parasitics as normal). I don’t understand the aerodynamics of how parasitics contribute to the drag curve (the L/D polar curve essentially) but you may be changing that and the shape may be a bit weird. From a paragliding standpoint (my new knowledge area) I gather that having a ‘chute and a wing can cause downplaning and rapidly increase sink to a detrimental level. In paragliding we're told to disable the wing if on a ‘chute for this reason. Just wanted to share thoughts for safety reasons.

@@GodzillaGoesGaga @@GodzillaGoesGaga since the surface area of the drouge is small it produces much less drag than a reserve and is limited in how much drag it can produce. At some point you will not be able to add any more airspeed (done by diving) because the drag limits it, and this also limits the amount of drag. Hopefully I cannot reach a point where I am descending so steep the relative airflow comes from below, which would create a high angle of attack and cause a stall. The size of the drouge should not allow those limits to be reached. The shape of this drouge allows air to spill out so that it tracks behind me and should not be creating a noticeable lift vector, so it should not compete with the wing. While it does pull the pilot back slightly it is not strong enough that it causes the wing to get ahead. Since this distance between the pilot and the wing is so short it only changes the pilot position slightly. Interestingly, on the rare occasion a hang glider throws a reserve, the wing is not even a concern and probably won't be flying. Instead it becomes something to take the impact so you don't have to. I've actually seen paragliders use drouges! The guy using it has a high aspect competition wing, but what is cool about his drouge is that he can pull a line to open and close it. My understanding is that paragliders have much less pitch/speed/diving control, so maybe on/off (surface area) is more controllable than velocity.

@@EridanTheEnchanter Thanks - Great explanation. Appreciate you taking your time.

This is a good point. I had a Wills Wing drouge but never used it. The one that Jonathon Dietch uses was recommended by Zac Majors as being stable and powerful. Nobody seems to know who designed it but the pattern was copied from FFE who made a few of them. This is what I made. It was either this day or a similar day that I did this same approach that another pilot did the same turn with the Woody Valley drouge and had to use all of their strength to get out of the turn, he had a minor crash but was visibly shaken. Other pilots with the same drouge agreed to only use it on final.

@@EridanTheEnchanter yeah exactly. I've watch the Moyes designer Gerolf land with a big European drouge once. He turned onto finial with about 100ft already over the end of the landing field. Drouge out and dove down at at leased a 45 degree angle and was landed in 50m. Looked impressive but also something that could be stuffed up pretty easily. Hey if you're ever in Europe come say hi.

I have to ask….. how do you know? 🤔

@@alanaldpal950 well I didn't die but was lucky I tried my Seedwing Drouge already on final. Just sucked me out of the sky getting to the ground with just enough energy to belly land. Was quite the surprise after having used the wills wing one enough that it fell apart. Then I tied a not in it. Was still too efficient. Then I brought one from Aeros comparing it to the scraps of my ww they are very similar. Feel almost the same in landing. The a friend had the same experience with the woodyvally and comparing the Seedwings and woodyvally they are almost the same.

Careful with horses… they have been known to chew on gliders

I was chasing a bird.

@@EridanTheEnchanter 😉👍

Just the Falcon 2 and 3, each version has small changes that make it slightly better than the one before it. The design of the Piuma is different than the Falcon that gives it different handling, and I think it is all around better. The Falcon is very popular though.

Yep!

I grew up there, the only fatal accident there (that I, or anyone who I know who have been flying there for decades, know of) was Richard Zadorozny in 2000. He was in a hurry, did not do any checks, and launched without hooking in. Everyone assumes that these are all memorials to pilots who died there. They are simply memorials placed in a nice spot that people have a connection to. You might get a rush sometimes, but this is not an adrenalin sport... Unless you do aerobatics, which is not common.

@@EridanTheEnchanter Thanks for clarifying that Eridan! That's great info.

No, I'm too lazy to setup more than one camera.

If I could justify spending the money and thought I could sell the Falcon fast enough I probably would. Its really nice, feels slow compared to the Gecko... but now I don't really want to fly the Falcon anymore, my plan was to practice different types of landings on the falcon and maybe beat it up. I don't really want to beat up the Piuma.

​@@EridanTheEnchanter falcon is good for coastal and dunes, or short hikes, if you don't do any of that just sell it and use the gecko. I have a lazy-days Funfex and a T2. Alpha for teaching. Of course I could find ways to justify having 8 or 12 gliders, but 1 or 2 is enough for most

Hi. And your Funfex is a good glider? It flies well? It seems a modern single surface has the same performance? Thanks

This is the insta360 One R

I forgot to! Probably less than half my landings use a full flare. I usually only flare when everything feels smooth and perfect (or I have to, like dropping into that hole in the brush!) and it is the final act when flying is done and I don't need to control the glider anymore. In this case there were a number of corrections just before touching down, after dealing with them my feet were already on the ground and flaring served no purpose. I will often moonwalk, this one was a little heavier though. If I'm a little higher, or there are rocks or bushes or it just feels right, then I will fully flare. Focusing on landing first and flaring last results in many smooth, uneventful, and boring landings. I don't always pull it off and occasionally have unlevel (that last second yaw or roll from a correction a second or two before) or late/weak flares or run outs, but never whacks from a poorly executed flare. The perfect moonwalk and the perfect flare feel equally good to me.

Pretty sure this is from before then.