Dave Prentice is hosting an SIV Clinic November 11,12,13 in Sebring, FL. I'm planning to go and so is Petr. Dave needs 2
others to fill up the clinic. Anyone else interested?
Matt
Fall SIV
Moderator: CHGPA BOD
Re: Fall SIV
Petr and I just completed and SIV in Sebring, Florida with Dave Prentice and a lot of really great pilots. It was 3 days of really fantastic tows close to 3k feet and great instruction. Petr impressed everyone by bouncing back from exploratory surgery only 3 weeks ago! The scar is wicked! He took it slow, but by the last day even the pros were impressed with the intense spirals he was doing.
Friday was blown out in the morning so we started with ground school and watched some videos, which was more than Dave usually does at his clinics which was fortunate for us. I started with small asymmetric collapses, leaning away from the bad side first and keeping a straight heading. Then a frontal and more asymmetric collapses. These were nice and easy and built my confidence.
Second flight started with a B-line stall. Really nice, benign descent technique. Then deeper asymmetric collapses - this time leaning to the bad side, pulling the collapse and holding it so that you induce a turn. To recover you release and lean more into the bad side and pull a little brake on the bad side which adds pressure and quickly recovers the collapse, but it's intense because it puts you in a spiral which you use to dissipate the energy gradually. It was scary because my exits were too abrupt and I was thinking, "What the hell am I doing here?" But after reviewing video and talking with Dave and watching others I was able to exit more smoothly on my third flight. The spiral energy was building, but Dave was right there explaining how to quickly lean opposite with a little opposite brake and then leaning back into the spiral to slow it down. Nice! Repetition really pays off.
Fourth flight was more repetition and more confidence building. We practiced stabilo line pulls. First just with one hand, then by handing the line off to the other hand and pulling even more stabilo line. That sucker is really hard to pull down! But you need it for learning how to clear cravats.
We finished the day as a group at the Blue Lagoon Saloon.
Fifth flight was time for full stalls! I watched everyone else try it and repeated the maneuver in my head several times so when it was my turn I was ready. I did two of them and my recoveries were pretty smooth. Everyone who tried them felt more confident afterwards. Dave is a great coach.
Sixth flight was time for spins! My first one was ugly. I didn't catch the surge which was way in front of me and caused my lines to go slack. I ended up with a cravat and had to pull stabilo to clear it, but that damn stabilo cut through the pinky of my weak bicycle gloves and cut through my skin. Time for better gloves! Dave coached me through another spin and this time I was able to control the surge and exit more smoothly. Nice! I still had plenty of altitude so I started some nice gentle spirals, exiting slowly. Ah! Starting to feel good! Next some gentle wing-overs that were barely wing-overs, but it felt clean and good.
Seven tows in all. The group was fantastic. Lots of discussion about maneuvers and kiting tips and beers. I could have done more if I'd been more aggressive, but I didn't want to push it. I learned a lot and am really happy to finally get some instruction after two years of flying. I should have done it sooner - it would have helped prevent my accident at Tater this summer. I realize I was just slowed my glider down too much and stalled it and didn't realize it. I was inspecting my harness today hoping to check out the airbag to see if it had any damage from my crash landing, but haven't been able to access it. Instead I found that my carbon fiber seat board is cracked down the middle! Apparently it saved my butt and needs to be replaced incase I need it again.
I'm heading to Colombia in a month and really needed this course to build my confidence. I'm still a little apprehensive about landing out in the wrong place, but I'll take it slow and learn where the friendly places are.
Dave is a fantastic pilot and a great instructor. You can go at your own pace and ask as many questions as you need to. He's really great a towing too and I'm planning to come back to Florida for his Spring Fling next year as were all of the pilots at this clinic. Super fun!
Matt
Friday was blown out in the morning so we started with ground school and watched some videos, which was more than Dave usually does at his clinics which was fortunate for us. I started with small asymmetric collapses, leaning away from the bad side first and keeping a straight heading. Then a frontal and more asymmetric collapses. These were nice and easy and built my confidence.
Second flight started with a B-line stall. Really nice, benign descent technique. Then deeper asymmetric collapses - this time leaning to the bad side, pulling the collapse and holding it so that you induce a turn. To recover you release and lean more into the bad side and pull a little brake on the bad side which adds pressure and quickly recovers the collapse, but it's intense because it puts you in a spiral which you use to dissipate the energy gradually. It was scary because my exits were too abrupt and I was thinking, "What the hell am I doing here?" But after reviewing video and talking with Dave and watching others I was able to exit more smoothly on my third flight. The spiral energy was building, but Dave was right there explaining how to quickly lean opposite with a little opposite brake and then leaning back into the spiral to slow it down. Nice! Repetition really pays off.
Fourth flight was more repetition and more confidence building. We practiced stabilo line pulls. First just with one hand, then by handing the line off to the other hand and pulling even more stabilo line. That sucker is really hard to pull down! But you need it for learning how to clear cravats.
We finished the day as a group at the Blue Lagoon Saloon.
Fifth flight was time for full stalls! I watched everyone else try it and repeated the maneuver in my head several times so when it was my turn I was ready. I did two of them and my recoveries were pretty smooth. Everyone who tried them felt more confident afterwards. Dave is a great coach.
Sixth flight was time for spins! My first one was ugly. I didn't catch the surge which was way in front of me and caused my lines to go slack. I ended up with a cravat and had to pull stabilo to clear it, but that damn stabilo cut through the pinky of my weak bicycle gloves and cut through my skin. Time for better gloves! Dave coached me through another spin and this time I was able to control the surge and exit more smoothly. Nice! I still had plenty of altitude so I started some nice gentle spirals, exiting slowly. Ah! Starting to feel good! Next some gentle wing-overs that were barely wing-overs, but it felt clean and good.
Seven tows in all. The group was fantastic. Lots of discussion about maneuvers and kiting tips and beers. I could have done more if I'd been more aggressive, but I didn't want to push it. I learned a lot and am really happy to finally get some instruction after two years of flying. I should have done it sooner - it would have helped prevent my accident at Tater this summer. I realize I was just slowed my glider down too much and stalled it and didn't realize it. I was inspecting my harness today hoping to check out the airbag to see if it had any damage from my crash landing, but haven't been able to access it. Instead I found that my carbon fiber seat board is cracked down the middle! Apparently it saved my butt and needs to be replaced incase I need it again.
I'm heading to Colombia in a month and really needed this course to build my confidence. I'm still a little apprehensive about landing out in the wrong place, but I'll take it slow and learn where the friendly places are.
Dave is a fantastic pilot and a great instructor. You can go at your own pace and ask as many questions as you need to. He's really great a towing too and I'm planning to come back to Florida for his Spring Fling next year as were all of the pilots at this clinic. Super fun!
Matt
Re: Fall SIV
way to go, Matt! All that mumbo jumbo PG stuff sounds intense. Way to take it to the next level. 
Jesse
Jesse
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guy didier
- Posts: 37
- Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2011 7:11 am
Re: Fall SIV/ when
How soon do you think a pilot should do this course? While being a P2, or waiting for more flying time, and being a P3?
Re: Fall SIV
SIV is scary. I was questioning myself after the collapses on the first day. I wasn't sure I was *that* hungry for flying. You really have to be motivated. You will only learn as much as you're comfortable with. I spent time learning how to thermal first, but after I had an accident trying to thermal too close to the ground I realized I was overdue for an SIV. What type of flying do you hunger for?
Matt
Matt
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pink_albatross
- Posts: 599
- Joined: Fri Jan 07, 2005 12:20 pm
- Location: Ellis from Arlington
Re: Fall SIV
Thanks for the write up, Matt!
As to Guy's questions, MHO: ideally you want to take several SIVs over the course of your PG career. Your first SIV course (and IMHO the most important) would be to take one while you're still a P2. This would be SIV-lite, practicing all manner of wing tip collapses (small, large, with speed bar, without speedbar, leaning into direction of collapse, away from direction of collapse), and then progressing to frontals and maybe even full stalls and learning techniques such as big ears, b-line stalls and spiral dives.
You can use subsequent SIV courses to solidify your emergency responses and/or to practice fun aerobatic maneuvers such as spins, wing overs, SATs, etc.
Taking an SIV course while you're still a P2 will hopefully introduce you to wing tip collapses under controlled circumstances rather than while learning how to thermal. You will also gain a good feel for your wing and will probably learn to recognize when your wing goes soft allowing you to fly more pro-actively.
-- ellis
As to Guy's questions, MHO: ideally you want to take several SIVs over the course of your PG career. Your first SIV course (and IMHO the most important) would be to take one while you're still a P2. This would be SIV-lite, practicing all manner of wing tip collapses (small, large, with speed bar, without speedbar, leaning into direction of collapse, away from direction of collapse), and then progressing to frontals and maybe even full stalls and learning techniques such as big ears, b-line stalls and spiral dives.
You can use subsequent SIV courses to solidify your emergency responses and/or to practice fun aerobatic maneuvers such as spins, wing overs, SATs, etc.
Taking an SIV course while you're still a P2 will hopefully introduce you to wing tip collapses under controlled circumstances rather than while learning how to thermal. You will also gain a good feel for your wing and will probably learn to recognize when your wing goes soft allowing you to fly more pro-actively.
-- ellis
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guy didier
- Posts: 37
- Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2011 7:11 am
Re: Fall SIV
Thank you for your answers. I had a complete right side collapse while flying in the Alps last year, and reacted well, but the speed at which the ground came closer got me thinking...Will definitely do an SIV in 2012.