I'm watching these videos and I keep wondering why the number of people who learn hanggliding is declining. It looks to be so much more fun compared to paragliding. The way you fly with a wing on your back instead of being suspended in a chair, the way you move your body to control the wing, it's so cool.
Thank you :-) I think the main issue is that paragliding is more portable and easier to learn. Although Hanggliding is faster, has better performance and is much more like flying like a bird. I mean... did you dream of flying in an armchair (paraglider) or facing forward with your arms out like a bird... (Hangglider)
paragliders are more versatile, you can land them in many more places than you can a hang glider hang gliding seems like it would be easier to learn since ground handling isn't nearly as difficult
@@michal5642 Hang gliding is a lot harder to learn. The biggest problem why people dont choose it is weight, 35kg+ with helmet and harness. You try carrying that up a hill. You need a roof rack. If you land away from the hill xc you cant order a taxi to pick you up. Or get on a bus, train or thumb a lift. Its a real hassle to fly abroad with it. Cant store it inside your house. The comp paragliders now are getting as fast as hang gliders. They are easier to land as no ground effect that can sometimes make a very long field a very short field. At 65 I moved to paragliding 10 years ago, no more creaky neck or bad back. Its wonderful in the air and now I'm still up there sat in my armchair trying to go as high and as far as I can safe that I can land in tight spaces and ring a mate to pick me up. Its also nice being in with fellow flyers rather than being the only hang glider on the hill. Even top pilots who started in hang gliding now fly paragliders all the time. HG is way behind PG and will never recover to the numbers of the late 70s early 80s when I first started. I used to fly Parlick when on a good day 30-40 hang gliders would be in the air. Now its like seeing a nearly extinct bird of prey.
Well flown Darren. You flew further than me that day (not by much)...but I beat you! That's because I went downwind to start with while most other people went upwind (and you went sort of up/crosswind). So I did the outward leg faster, which meant I got the lead points for the outward leg and probably some for the return leg as well, and that was enough to overtake you in the final results. Something to remember next time we do a race-to-anywhere-and-back. (Not that my route choice was deliberate...I nearly bottom landed, and by the time I got back up I was well to the north and so I carried on in that direction.)
I adopted the theory that in sod all thermals, it's best to go crosswind to improve your chances of finding a thermal. It's based on thermals just move downwind.
Yeah - Bradwell WAS a tough flight... I went over the back only 600ft above the top and was amazed when I eventually climbed out over Hathersage. Really good fun though! T3 review coming up when I get my GoPro going properly again.
Nice one Darren , I have been enjoying following your flights. I have a question about your choice of VG use - at around 12:40 you are low and have found a thermal and are trying to get a climb established - how come you have just added VG ? In this situation I would have released the VG to let the glider help me feel for the best lift and fly as slow and manoeuvre easy as possible ??
Thanks Sean! I'm not sure actually what I did with the VG actually - I tend to choose different VG settings depending on the thermal. For landing I had the VG at 1/4 - that is my standard setting. I think I probably just pulled on a little more to give the glider a little more responsiveness in the thermal whilst I was trying to centre it. With a WillsWing if you take the VG completely off, it makes it easier to push the bar out and thermal tightly once you are established, however it comes at the cost of being able to make small, quick adjustments because of the lower speed. So if I'm trying to get that core and haven't quite managed to centre it, I will usually fly with a little extra VG until I do. Also in a big wide thermal I will pull on more and more VG in order to make the glider as efficient as possible - the wider the thermal, the more VG. Near cloud base thermals tend to get wider and weaker, so as I get higher I'm often pulling on more and more VG.
Thank you! Well next to a road is always the best option, though if there is a safer yet further away field I generally go for that. With this one, it's not obvious on the video, but there is a drivable track at the end of the field I landed in that leads to the farm. I was about 50yds from it when I landed.
Yeah sorry about that - I have been experiencing GoPro problems and have had a few landings that cut out. Always seems to be just before I touch down - genuine issue and not just trying to hide bad landings!
What do you typically do when hit a sink in a light wind day: turn 45, or just speed up and keep going straight through it? The reason I’m asking, I found myself zigzagging in a sink before, loosing precious altitude.
It depends where I am and what I'm doing. On a hill / mountain I may carry along the ridge to try and find the next thermal. On an XC over flatlands, like this one, I point in the direction of where I think the next thermal will be and fly straight to it. It also depends on how high you are. Close to the ground I'm heading to every thermal marker I can find, in a desperate attempt to get up again. High up - I'll just carry along the course towards that next thermal marker. Zigzagging in sink maximises your time in that sink so is not a good idea, unless you are zigzagging to where you think there is a thermal. I hope that makes sense...
@@MooSurfer Is it easier to find thermals in a hand glider or in a paraglider? ie, if there are few to no thermals on a particular day, is a hand glider or paraglider likely to stay in the air longest?
My biggest issue lately, is a proper flare when landingmy Wills Wing U2-160. I've been flying for over 44 years, and lately, I haven't been up high enough on my flares.
My issue with flaring is that I usually leave it too late, especially when it's light / nil wind. When you say not high enough up - do you mean your hands are not high enough on the downtimes?
@@MooSurfer yes.... also not pushing out and up on the downtubes. I saw a lady at my local club site (Crestline Soaring Society/Andy Jackson Airpark) in California, USA, flare too early with a bit too much speed and she climbed up about 15' and fell to the ground. Luckly she didnt break anything. But ever since, I've been afraid to flare too early.
Sorry Pieter - I didn't skip it intentionally, but the GoPro died at the wrong moment! Genuinely, I would have shown it if I had it... as you will see from one of my upcoming videos where I did a TERRIBLE landing!
@@MooSurfer No sorry needed Darren! I have trouble with some of my landings, but I am going to change the cosmic harnas, its sometimes to difficult to get up. But in this landing, it looked like the ground was coming down really fast, like there was no ground effect? Speeds seemed okee. I don' t know what you did wrong if anything.. Keep up the good work! Great stuff, also because you say what you think! Greets, Pieter
@@MooSurfer After looking at you're landing for the 10 + time, I think I have the answer! I can not see late or not enough flaring BUT: On Final , speed is good,just after the turn, but when you grab the uprights (31: 48), glider goes up a bit and the horizontal speed deminishes ( you can also hear it because less windsound), vertical speed increases (31:52), no ground effect, BOEM. Then again, i fly a RX 2, 2 weeks a year and you participate succesfully in worldchampionships😂
@@pietervanschaik3420 you're probably right - it is a mistake I make too frequently, I often let the bar come out when I go onto the uprights and then have to pull it back in again.
