Pulpit Fly-In 2011 : Now Scheduled For June 18-19

[mcelrah]

Hi Ann,

Good seeing you too - and glad you got flights in at Bill's! Ain't that a gorgeous site!

Back on Pulpit launch, I've been thinking about our short discussion of how you would land. John was quite correct about landing diagonally uphill toward the little barn in the dead conditions. Question is how to set up for it. Here's my take (others chime in) and apologies if this is all too obvious to you:

I would loiter at the uphill side of the field, right above the power lines (in a glider, it's hard to hit something directly below you) taking care NOT to get stuck on the wrong side of the lines. (Even then, it's not a disaster as there is a nice landable field uphill of the powerlines.) With about 300 feet AGL/3 times the height of the trees, start a fast downwind along the north treeline, BUT don't go all the way to the corner. Instead, cut the corner with a 60 degree left turn and then another oblique (less that 90 degree) turn to final. Why? It's easier/safer to make two oblique turns - with a moment to assess altitude/position in between - close to the ground, than one acute (more than 90 degree) turn. It would be better to have a long base leg, but you want to stay inside the tree line. You coud run the pattern the other way (making right turns after following the west treeline) - but that would take you farther away from the entry point for final (start with 400 feet in that case). My 2 cents worth.

- Hugh

[jyoder111]

Here's what not to do.

[dbodner]

So, what happened? It appears you really did start all the way from the trees, with one wing over the field. It's hard to see with the wide-angle lens, but were you simply too high?

[jyoder111]

I think I was going too fast and didn't dive down steep enough at the start of my final. With both hands on the uprights early I didn't have the pitch authority to get it down quickly and bleed off energy. Instead, I made a shallow final and didn't really get into my round out until I was near the crest of the hill. Might have had a bit of tailwind too, though the streamer doesn't show much.

[XCanytime]

The final glide was downhill most of the way. Bacil

[John Dullahan]

Jessie,

Did you receive my PM?

[pink_albatross]

Somebody once told me to try to make as short of a final as possible - good practice for going XC, where you might have to put it into a teensy little field...

-- ellis
p.s. fixed what Matthew was referring to. sorry gotta proofread in future.

[Matthew]

ONCE

Matthew

[Matthew]

I saw the approach from launch-- you can also see this in the video. You didn't do a base leg along the North treeline. You turned onto final at the mountainside North corner of the field and went on final diagonally across the field-- which is mostly downhill as noted by Bacil. You just needed to add the base leg along the North treeline.

Matthew

[Dan T]

There is a pretty good shot of the streamers at time stamp 1:07. It looks to me like you landed downwind in about 3 mph. That would explain the seemingly high ground speed. If this flight was on Saturday, I think the prevailing winds were from the north for the most part.

Dan

[dbodner]

I saw the approach from launch-- you can also see this in the video. You didn't do a base leg along the North treeline. You turned onto final at the mountainside North corner of the field and went on final diagonally across the field-- which is mostly downhill as noted by Bacil. You just needed to add the base leg along the North treeline.

Matthew

OK, after looking at the satellite shot, I can see it now. I thought his video at 54 seconds showed Jesse at the North-roadside corner, giving him a North to South final. But he actually came in from the North-East, with his back toward launch.

I saw his final 30 feet or so from the LZ, and that was consistent with a final coming from the NE. I think that's the culprit.

[jyoder111]

well, on the bright side, I got some more landing downhill practice. Definitely something I'm going to be thinking about while planning my approach in the future.

[Matthew]

Hey Jesse,

Pulling off a downhill downwind landing is pretty impressive-- you kept your cool, flew the glider and landed it.

Matthew

[davidtheamazing1]

Jesse, props to you for posting this video and asking for feedback.

From my vantage point, right next to where you landed, it looked to me like you popped up a bit, perhaps thinking of an early flare, then pulled in followed by a big, possibly still early, flare. You settled down with a thud about 50 ft from the edge of the field.

One other option to consider also is flying into the ground, rolling in on the wheels. It seems like you made a good call regarding the flare.

The Pulpit secondary, with a small size and slope is one of our hardest LZs to land in, and while you came in a bit high, you made it in. You'll get better the more you practice your approaches.

[brianvh]

So why did you choose to come in diagonal? Looks to me like you threw in one turn too many before starting your approach, after which you sensed if you tried to make the normal pattern you'd be turning too low onto final. Is that what happened?

btw, there's no such thing as too fast on approach in a falcon, unless you lose too much altitude to make final from a good location.