Tuesday I had landing lessons with Kevin here at Quest. I took out my Sport instead of my Litespeed, so I could experiment without fear. Angel (my Litespeed) has far more opinions than Griffin (my Sport) about how she prefers to be flown and landed.
In retrospect, I should have worked on my landings long ago. I just didn't know that they needed work. Literally, in 60 or 70 landings, I would maybe have one beak or set down the control frame. I would just usually run a few steps, unless it was windy. My keel never slammed into the ground; my glider never performed a full stall, but I had safe, consistent landings.
Angel pointed out the flaws in my technique. About half the time, I would manage a decent landing. The other half, I would whack. My legs are covered with bruises from various flights. This was hint that it might be time to fix the flaws.
Kevin pointed out that I needed to flare at the BEGINNING of the flare window, not the end. I was also forgetting to stare at the horizon. This was my main focus for Tuesday. All my landings were -- as usual on beloved my Griffin -- "acceptable". I never set down the frame, much less beaked.
I started to figure out the timing Kevin wanted a little by the end. Bo, Awesome Bob, Steve Kroop, and Paul all had fun yelling things at me, as well as Kevin. So many chiefs, too bad there was only one Indian.
Kevin maintained a good attitude, even when I swore violently at him. (He decided the way to make me flare when he wanted me to was to run in front of me, though I solved the problem by turning as we wove our way down the runway).
Yesterday I ventured out to Quest again and set up, but Quest is supposed to be closed on Wednesday and all the tow pilots hid when they saw me. Kevin is pretty amazing, because he came up with an exercise anyhow. He tied bungees around my downtubes where he wanted my hands to be (Ralph's idea). Then we ran the Sport on the flat and I got to practice feeling exactly when the stall began at the root of the glider.
But today I got to actually fly again. I flew 5 patterns in extremely hard conditions. The wind was light and all over the place. I was SO much better, I mean, than I have EVER been, much less on Tuesday. All the landings were much crisper and a couple were "rock star". Woohoo woohoo I am learning! I mean you should have seen that glider stop! I have never been so happy. Of course I need to go out and work tomorrow morning and get my new feel solidified.
I flew the Sport this afternoon so I didn't have to set up Angel -- it was supposed to storm early. I sure love Griffin but she doesn't climb or glide like Angel. I guess you can't have it both ways. Paul (Russell lent him some wheels for his Rigid since he is still gimping) and Kevin were still up when I left after bombing out. And my landing was just OK again -- though pretty soon I will have them all the time.
Sorry for much ado about nothing, but I was so stoked I had to tell someone!
Lauren
yeehaw I am getting it!
Moderator: CHGPA BOD
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Paul Tjaden
- Posts: 398
- Joined: Tue Feb 08, 2005 10:28 pm
yeehaw I am getting it!
Brian....you should have seen it (and heard it). I've got it on video. Lauren is weaving all over the place trying to miss Kevin and He is slashing back and forth like a cutting horse trying to stay in front of her. All the time Lauren is yelling for him to get out of the way and that he is scaring her. I dunno, maybe you had to be there.
?
Paul
?
Paul
yeehaw I am getting it!
I was trying to catch her.
Kev C
--- Tjadenhors@aol.com wrote:
>
> Brian....you should have seen it (and heard it).
> I've got it on video. Lauren is weaving all over
> the place trying to miss Kevin and He is slashing
> back and forth like a cutting horse trying to stay
> in front of her. All the time Lauren is yelling for
> him to get out of the way and that he is scaring
> her. I dunno, maybe you had to be there.
>
> Paul
>
Kev C
--- Tjadenhors@aol.com wrote:
>
> Brian....you should have seen it (and heard it).
> I've got it on video. Lauren is weaving all over
> the place trying to miss Kevin and He is slashing
> back and forth like a cutting horse trying to stay
> in front of her. All the time Lauren is yelling for
> him to get out of the way and that he is scaring
> her. I dunno, maybe you had to be there.
>
> Paul
>
Lauren,
I'm always looking to perfect my landings, I'd like to be able to do a no stepper on every landing mostly because you can't run in soft plowed fields, bean fields, high wheat, etc. Not that those are my preferred choices but it's nice to feel confident if that's your only option when landing out.
What type of landing style are you striving for? I know one individual on a topless who I have never seen whack but runs the hell out of his landings every single time. I was wondering where you usually have your VG set when landing and have you been given any advice about were to set it for your Litespeed?
I think the majority of whacks are due to late flares rather than early ones (beaks and slamming the control bar down), probably due to the fear of ballooning up high if you flare hard too early, and slow approaches . I like the technique of going to trim, testing your energy by softly pushing out, holding your position, then as the glider starts to settle push out hard. I have a hard time looking at the horizon, I tend to look ahead about the distance you would while driving a car.
Be nice to be able to go up on a high performance tandem with side by side harness with the experts.
Keep us posted on your progress, and we will all learn something.
I'm always looking to perfect my landings, I'd like to be able to do a no stepper on every landing mostly because you can't run in soft plowed fields, bean fields, high wheat, etc. Not that those are my preferred choices but it's nice to feel confident if that's your only option when landing out.
What type of landing style are you striving for? I know one individual on a topless who I have never seen whack but runs the hell out of his landings every single time. I was wondering where you usually have your VG set when landing and have you been given any advice about were to set it for your Litespeed?
I think the majority of whacks are due to late flares rather than early ones (beaks and slamming the control bar down), probably due to the fear of ballooning up high if you flare hard too early, and slow approaches . I like the technique of going to trim, testing your energy by softly pushing out, holding your position, then as the glider starts to settle push out hard. I have a hard time looking at the horizon, I tend to look ahead about the distance you would while driving a car.
Be nice to be able to go up on a high performance tandem with side by side harness with the experts.
Keep us posted on your progress, and we will all learn something.
Paul Adamez
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Lauren Tjaden
- Posts: 371
- Joined: Tue Mar 01, 2005 6:27 pm
yeehaw I am getting it!
padamez <padamez@comcast.net> wrote:
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Lauren,
What type of landing style are you striving for?
?
(Lauren) One where I don't whack. It hurts.
Seriously, if I could reliably run out my landings on the Litespeed, I would probably not be so inspired to change them. But I must be slower than the pilot you talked about, who runs out his landings on his topless. I can't stay in front of?the glider?all the time.
What I am aiming at doing now is committing to muscle memory a landing where the glider has enough energy left to have its nose climb, and to be able to use the glider as a full air brake -- I mean, to absolutely STOP it when I choose. I guess you would consider it a 2 step landing still, where I allow the glider to climb a tiny bit before finishing?the landing?at the beginning of the flare window.
I would add that the difference in my landings in 3 days of work is unbelievable to watch on video; like the best thing?I have ever done. I am not quite 100% but very much improved. If someone like me can learn how to do this, ANYONE can. There is really no excuse for consistently poor landings. For me, a whack wrecks the whole flight. And it is dangerous.
?
(Paul) I was wondering where you usually have your VG set when landing and have you been given any advice about were to set it for your Litespeed?
?
(Lauren) I currently have the VG set (on my Litespeed) at about 1/4, which is what the factory recommends. Both Kevin Carter and Mike Barber say to experiment with the VG tighter. Obviously I need to be able to control the glider, and the size of the field can be a factor. But Mike usually lands his Litespeed with 1/2 VG (he is the Moyes rep in this area, and currently the leading pilot in the US). Both Mike and Kevin say that the glider will stall/flare much better with higher VG settings. I have been instructed to pull on 1 inch at a time past 1/4 to find the optimum spot. The Litespeed has an enormous VG range and a small pull can make a big difference.
(Paul) I think the majority of whacks are due to late flares rather than early ones (beaks and slamming the control bar down), probably due to the fear of ballooning up high if you flare hard too early, and slow approaches . I like the technique of going to trim, testing your energy by softly pushing out, holding your position, then as the glider starts to settle push out hard. I have a hard time looking at the horizon, I tend to look ahead about the distance you would while driving a car.
?
(Lauren) What I have been told about using the horizon is that what my eyes tell me may ultimately be my most important input. This is because when?I transition harnesses I will have to work harder to climb the downtubes, and this tends to destroy the light feel and sensitivity in the hands.
(Paul) Be nice to be able to go up on a high performance tandem with side by side harness with the experts.
?
(Lauren) Yeah, the Exxstacy is supposed to be fairly decent (though my Paul thinks she is a pig). I am going to fly her with Kevin sometime -- I have never been in a rigid. Ha, Kevin suggested that I fly his Falcon tandem with him yesterday. When I figured out that we were going to foot land it?I decided to fly my own glider, instead! But really?I should have done it. It would have been more great landing practice.
I am very glad to hear you all have had booming days at Highland! Say hi to our great friends there for us.
Lauren
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