The biggest danger for soaring pilots is when cloud hides the mountain. Learn how to deal with this situation in my gust front video. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-gvUocXbin6U.html
I wish I was proficient in this landing technique. Recently had an accident where I had an unplanned landing on a high ridge , going backwards, and got dragged badly. By some miracle I walked away with a bust helmet and badly torn harness. The helmet and a small boulder saved me as I ended up wedged. It was honking on the ridge that I’d flown to on xc. Even though I know about using the rear risers unfortunately it didn’t come to me in this fast paced situation, landing going backwards. I was at 600m elevation so my brain was not in landing mode at all. I think knowing this technique is very useful also for getting yourself in an unexpected situation but I just wish it was in my muscle memory. Time to practice. Thanks Greg
Great video as always Greg, it's a fresh breeze for me, I can't fly as here in Ukraine it's forbidden during the martial law. Btw. what's the reason for siren screaming at 5:55 for? We are got used for such siren but, GB is not under rocket attack. Thanks :)
sorry stasterle, didn't mean to alarm you! it was just a 'warning signal' I added for a pilot who had just flown into the danger area (the venturi), I was trying to make it plainly obvious that you shouldn't be where I was going to demonstrate the danger.
Great info. If you are looking at something to report on and since you fly a lot of different wings, can you do a video on how to determine min sink for a glider (with and without a flight instrument)? I'm curious if it's 'always' hands at shoulders, etc.
it's almost impossible to do it with a flight instrument, unless you're over the sea on a perfectly calm day, because the everchanging movment of the air will mess with the experiment. But you can get a feeling for it. It's never a set position relative to your body, you have to look up at the wing and you'll see the trailing edge kink a little ... that's 1/4 brake, and usually min sink. It's almost the same sink rate as hands up (trim speed).
Can you give an approximate wind speed at the height you launched, and if there was a wind gradient, what was the max wind speed (excluding the compression areas)
about 20km/h at launch height, 30km/h above the hill, and 36km/h in the venturis here. It gets worse in cold air, and with high pressure weather systems.
yes it's easier without rear riser toggles, just hold the maillons. Toggles usually suggest the wing has the rear risers connected to the B's, which can mess up the rear riser kill sometimes. So it's always best to hold the maillons on any wing. The A's requires more practice and committment, and can be harder to set up because you have to switch over from rear risers or brakes (needed for collapse catching) to the A's in an instant at touchdown. So it's suited to more experienced pilots. I use it when I'm landing backwards and I want complete depower.
