My epic day yesterday started with a VERY BAD launch. I want to share my video with you all, so that this can be a learning opportunity and a reminder to everyone how small the margin for error is with our launches. While I am a still very much a rookie in hang gliding, this is the first bad launch I have ever had and it was DAMN close to ending the day for me.
There are a few things that I did wrong here, one very obvious one, but I will let you comment.
You know, I was talking with Mark trying to figure out what went wrong. I was thinking it might have been a hand transition but couldn't really remember you letting go of the downtube, your launch just didn't seem that bad from the side. You ran hard, had good speed coming off the ramp... but the video tells the story, I'm really glad you were recording. As a relative noob myself, take whatever I say only for what it's worth.
I see 2 big things off the bat, I hope other more experienced pilots and instructors chime in, but I'll give it a go -
1. Your wings weren't level to begin with. Left wing was low and we had a North (right) cross which exacerbated the problem, and quickly. Gotta keep those wings level and be ready for strong lift from the upwind wing.
2. You seem to be running with your head down instead of looking up. I don't think you realized things were getting out of whack until they were almost too far gone. If you'd been looking at the horizon, you would have seen your leading edge getting all crazy.
I also see 2 things you did right which I think saved you from a heap of alumi.... trouble.
1. You ran hard. The fact that you had energy coming off the ramp is what allowed your roll input, albeit late, to count. Without the airspeed your roll wouldn't have meant squat.
2. When you realized you were diving hard to the left, you gave it an immediate, hard right input and flew the glider out of trouble.
I'm glad you posted, I hope I learn something from this discussion also!
It's really hard to tell what went wrong from the video. It looks like you let the glider get ahead of you. It seems to be in front of your arms and body as you are going prone during the run. The glider's control frame should be behind your shoulders. If the glider is out in front of you, then you have no left/right input. You need to run through the control frame to load the glider and have control.
whew! close one. Glad you had clearance to correct the turn and get away from the hill safely.
In the video, look at the amount of sky visible between the horizon and glider as you're standing still and then right as you begin your run. Looks like your nose popped, though it's harder to tell from the keel camera.
I'm not an instructor and I have a peculiar launch style, so I won't try to tell you what to do, but I will say that one aspect of mountain launching that is important to learn well is how and when to let the wing rise and tighten your hang strap without popping the nose at the same time. Wind strength greatly affects this process and that's a big reason why solid launch technique requires practice in varying conditions. If you just let the wind pick up the glider off your shoulders, chances are you'll let the nose up too. It has to be a controlled process.
Smithsburg will hopefully be open soon and is a great training hill to practice higher wind (10-15mph) foot-launch techniques, as long as it's not too cross.
Matt,
First off I applaud you big time for posting a less than stellar launch video and glad that you came out unscathed. It's obvious it could have been much much worse. I will share what happened to me launching in a north cross from the old ramp many years ago. I ran with the glider canted to the right into the north cross. As I flew off of the ramp with good airspeed and angle of attack I hit a sinkhole and descended perilously close to the rocks and bushes with wings level and still a good AOA. A second or two later after buzzing the brush and rocks I hit a wall of air that gave me instantaneously a huge increase in airspeed which I converted to much needed altitude with a mildly aggressive pushout. The point I'm trying to make is that it seems that in a north cross (and probably in a SW cross too) there is a potential for potholes in the airflow below the ramps, and that you seemed to step into a pothole as you flew off of the edge of the ramp with the slight left turn. I agree that your wings weren't completely level when you started, but the bank angle was ever so slight. Your run was strong and aggressive, but as soon as you left the ramp, you stepped into the pothole and the bank angle increased enough to make your heading across the mountain instead of away from the mountain. The loss of altitude put you perilously close to the trees, and you made all the right moves to turn away from the mountain. It also seemed that you may have ran into a wind gradient that can and does exist close to the tree line on a mountain. This gradient could have provided you not only with increased airspeed, enabling the glider to react faster to your control input, but also with some lift, giving you the much needed clearance from the tree line to safely turn away from the mountain and collect yourself.
Another thing I noticed is that there was no streamer on the right side of the ramp. A streamer there may have indicated that the airflow at the time you chose to launch may have been somewhat cross, although the streamer on the other side of the ramp didn't seem to indicate any major cross at the time you launched. One thing I pointed out to Felix and Charlie before they launched from the old ramp was to use my spinner windsocks at the edge of the pad to see if the airflow up the chute was straight in and most importantly to use the two streamers we had on the old ramp to show the direction of the airflow that your glider is seeing.
Bacil
Last edited by XCanytime on Mon Sep 24, 2012 11:56 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Matt,
Nice save. As for technique I agree with Matthew that it looks like you let the glider get in front of you and were running to catch up, i.e. not owning your launch. You can also see in the video you don't have tension in your hang strap until you go almost (what looks like in the video) heads down then you appear to somewhat fall into the glider which had already started to turn before you left the ramp. If you had been pulled in more and had the glider higher it wouldn't have got in front of you; in which case you likely would have had more role and pitch authority to correct the turn before leaving the ramp.
When you pick the glider up to launch lift it as high as you can so the hang strap is full tight, then run hard pulling in, use the grapevine ("i think that's what its called") so you can fly the glider on the ramp.
jyoder111 wrote:but I will say that one aspect of mountain launching that is important to learn well is how and when to let the wing rise and tighten your hang strap without popping the nose at the same time
Jesse disagree with your comment 100%. Your hang strap should be full tight before you start your run, the nose won't pop if you own your launch. The wing should never rise or pop based on launch technique (thermals & gusts perhaps); it should fly and you should be controlling both pitch and role before you take your first step.
My concern, along with Bacil, is running into a pothole. Wind seems to be straight and right wing is a little lifted, but once off the end he drops and turns. I tried to see if the "bottom" sock is still there but cannot make it out. For me, that sock gives me the wind in the next 15 seconds and really adds go/no go lauch info.
Kudos for posting and good decisive piloting to keep airborne.
I watched it before reading the posts, and had the same observations of that the wings were not level at the start and it appeared that your head went down during the last few steps on the ramp. It is hard to tell exactly what you can see from the video, but you pull your head up quite a bit after launch.
While you were pulling in the lifting side during the run, it was not enough to compensate. You may have felt the glider lifting uneasily, and I am postulating that if you had your wings in your periphial vision you would have compensated more and had a better exit from the ramp.
I am not sure if I bought the glider getting away from you or not, hard to tell from this angle, but that may have made you lean forward to maintain glider control and bring your eyes down.
I was not sold on the discussions on the hang strap tightness.
Was it a big surprse moment going off the ramp, or did it start feeling bad to you while you started your sequence?
My observations. What I’m seeing is that
1) your first step is backwards (left foot),
2) then you look down,
3) the nose pops a bit,
4) You begin the run and transition to weigh up the glider but pushing out,
5) but the nose drops as you leave the ramp (see nose attitude on horizon) as the glider goes through a mild stall recovery
6) and you push out more deepening the stall condition and accentuating the glider’s lack of responsiveness (hiked out to the right while the stalled left wing continues to drop.)
Inevitably when people’s launch initiates with a backward step, they will pop the nose. Looking down is not a good thing either as it eliminates the visual sense of glider attitude(pitch and roll) relative to the horizon. While you can push out of a mushed launch if you have enough ground clearance (happens all of the time at HR) it will bite you when there is not so much ground clearance.
On another note, your VG looks to be full loose. I like keeping the VG about 1/3 tight on launching and landing as it gives me a more positive and connected feel.
Just something to think about; thanks for posting.
Dam this forum. I just wrote up a long reply and it got lost when I was prompted for my password.
Matt, My hats off to you for posting this video and exposing yourself to criticisms and the personal agendas of your peers. I will keep it brief partly because I am bitter that my multipage response got trashed, partly because I can be an opinionated ass.
It looks like your singular focus in this launch is to get maximum energy into the system. Normally lots of energy is great, but in this case, it might be blinding you from perceiving and reacting to other important factors. It almost looks like a nervous flat slope no wind launch. I watched the video before reading comments and I think Danny nailed it noticing the step backward. It reinforces the focus I perceive.
Issue #1 is the turn that starts before the video even leaves introduction. I am guessing around seconds :06 or :07 but the video doesn't start until :09. A subtle unevenness is not uncommon but it should always be detected the moment it generates asymmetric forces or is perceived by the hands and eyes. It looks to me like it was detected in the first, indirect way (asymetric forces). The head down might delay conventional detection (hands/eyes)
Which brings issue #2 The glider is following a flight path that is different from the Uber-Run you are charging into. It is very subtle but it looks like you respond with a head turn right, drive of the right shoulder, and most significant, a rotation of your hips and legs to direct your energy to counteract this left tracking tendency of the glider. It is good that you noticed the tracking, but the reaction is very bad. Directing the path of the control frame anywhere but to the left is going to strengthen the turn. This is the point that the situation becomes very serious because if this observation is correct, the response is exacerbating the situation. Equally important it seems at this point you might not be aware of the turn yet. I don't think awareness happens until you are in the air, at that instant when you look up (and see the horizon?) That is where the first turn correction is initiated, and in my opinion what might be the first time wing attitude receives your attention/active piloting. Not trying to be a d__K, just direct so you can evaluate honestly how much attention was being applied to actively piloting the glider up to this point. It is an important question in how you address the solution. Is it a perception issue, skills issue, or priorities issue?
#3 The turn correction is too little and represents the first point when the texture of the air could actually be considered. Not for its influence, but rather its potential influence. Sitting in a turn is when you are the most vulnerable to gusts. Especially taking into account potential wind gradient, no altitude buffer, etc. That first turn correction should have been held until you were pointed away from the hill, not till you were across it, because it leaves your flank so vulnerable. You responded immediately with a second input, which addresses that vulnerability.
So my agenda, exposed. I don't think the texture of the air had any real effect since there seem to be pilot events that unfold this scenario. Active piloting is the answer. Active piloting should be more then adequate to execute a perfect launch under those circumstances. It should be what we all aspire to. That glider is your bitch and you need to own it, ALWAYS!
Matt, I don't have much context on your flying but you seem to be on a great track. Keep rocking it and keep making great decisions and investments in your future.
So enough about you, now about me. My ground skills suck. I don't feel like the master of my wing either on the ground or returning to it (or in the air but that is another story). I can't wait for Smithsburg to open and just go crazy with launch and landing practice. I had an idea the other day when theorizing about my fellow pilots. I used to love running up the hill and flying down over and over. It is great training for runners but I have no interest in improving my running speed and I am getting old an lazy. Less the 5 cycles in a day can barely be considered practice but I don't have the motivation to go for the 20 plus per day where you get the big benefits.
How about a fund raiser for a local Cross Country team? Per hour, or per carry. Like lift served snow skiing, except for flying. We could make a big day of it with contests for various skills or off-nominal situations. Or relays pitting teams against each other for max laps. My philosophy is a product of the fixed costs. The personal time, gas, and commitment to get out and fly should be maximized. Just one mountain sled or a couple trips on the training hill isn't the most efficient use of the opportunity. My motivation is to train to be a ninja on the mandatory skills (don't die...No matter what goes wrong) so that I can focus more attention on seizing the day when the opportunity presents.
But Kevin, I say that carrying your glider up a hill and around on the ground is part of ingraining the ground skills that you seek.
When I was actively instructing, if it was blown out or too cross to actually fly I would break out the gliders strictly for ground handling practice. Maybe that’s old school (or maybe we had nothing better to do back then) but I found it helpful to establish and reinforce muscle memory for when it came to actually launching and flying.
I think the paraglider pilots got that part right... when they practice "kiting". I equate that to HG ground handling with no real intention of leaving the ground.
Matt- First off thanks for posting this video. It helps us all to think about what we are doing and in that way helps the entire community. The glider started to turn left, and you attempted to correct but it looks like you did this by locking your left arm and pulling the right downtube in. The problems with this tactic: 1) you are pushing out, thereby pitching the wing up slightly and agravating the turn. 2) you are concentrating so much on pulling in the high right wing that you are moving your body that way which is pulling the control frame to the right, also agravating the turn. Running to the right causes the right wing to 'see' faster air, the opposite of what you want.
Launch control is slightly different than flying control. In flight, all you can do is move your weight under the high wing to level things. During launch you have the ability to affect yaw. If the glider is turning, or skidding to the left during your launch you should be trying to yaw the glider, keep the nose down, and run towards the low wing while putting your weight under the high wing. Basically, drive the control frame towards the low wing. These things will all add up to speeding up the low wing. In general, speed is your friend, don't get into the habit of pushing out to correct a launch turn.
Thanks again for posting, and it was great flying with you Sunday. You did awesome.
God that was CLOSE! Thank you for posting the video. In my opinion I think the major contributing factors are: (1) left wing low and wind crossing some from the right contributing to it turning you left; (2) nose popped a little slowing your launch energy; (3) head down position effecting your peripheral vision so not noticing what was going on as fast; (4) glider getting ahead of you as you get toward the end of the ramp effecting airspeed and corrective actions; (5) vg not set correctly (it should be 1/3 to 1/2 on for launching) which would affect the handling and control; and (6) perhaps dead air space that you launched into not providing the lift expected. It's interesting how none of those things were EXTREME but how the combination of all of them almost caused a disaster.
Thank you all for your time and consideration in sharing your feedback on this BAD launch. I have no ego when it comes to my flying and I value all of the feedback. With such a dynamic sequence of events captured on video, it seemed pretty selfish not to share this learning opportunity with the community. I have received a lot of feedback on this video since posting it on a couple forums and have received some amazing responses, some very condescending responses, and some responses that hardly seem like they could have been watching the same video. While some of the feedback may not necessarily apply directly to this launch, most all of it is well intended and I appreciate the consideration, especially that of my CHGPA friends.
>But Kevin, I say that carrying your glider up a hill and around on the ground is part of ingraining the ground skills that you seek.
Danny, I agree, but only partly. Carrying the glider around is important but carrying a glider uphill comes at a very high metabolic cost. There are only so many matches in the book and some pilots have less then others. Burn the matches you have lugging the glider around , but if you only have a few matches to burn then use them sparingly and burn them on flat or descending terrain. Challenging gravity transporting an extra 80 pounds or so is guaranteed to be anaerobic whereas managing a glider while not trying to overcome gravity is all aerobic with an emphasis on coordination, upper body strength, and core stability. Anytime you move around with the glider you are getting good practice but at what cost? Anaerobic is like afterburners, it is going to drain the tank REALLY fast. If you did it at least once a week it would contribute to your baseline fitness level but if you only do that workout a couple times a year it is more masochistic then anything else.
Matt, can you post some links to the other discussions. This is wayyyy more interesting then facebook.
something i noticed that i havent seen anyone comment on is the fact that your feet are trying to enter the harness way to early imo i like to get away from the mtn some establish airspeed get prone before putting my feet in thx for sharing matt young
After reviewing it over and over, I am thinking you had your nose angle too low and the glider got in front of you causing it to dive and because the left wing was low and the cross from the right made it go left. Usually when this happens you have very little control of the glider. As you were correcting once off of the ramp the nose came up enough for it to pull up. At that point the right down tube is at your head position and your weight is back causing the nose to come up. You have a strong run leaning forward and are laying down toward the end of the ramp. I have seen similar with students launching with the nose being too low and the glider gets in front of them and commonly they lay down and the wheels hit the ground and bounce and sometimes they get flying then or they just roll to a stop. I tell them if they ever feel the glider shooting in front they have to raise the nose for them to catch up. Also, it appears you are putting your feet in the boot a little early as mentioned by someone else.
