it appears a number of new hang IIIs have been released on the world, so heres two cents.
flashback: it's a pretty mild day at fisher road, i've flown there a lot, i'm on final after an enjoyable but uneventful flight.
i'm now solidly into my hang-III-dom. launches and landings pretty solid, trying to acquire and apply as many flying nuggets from the more experienced pilots as i can pry loose, working on figuring out the air, figuring out thermaling techniques, staying above christy and marc - you know, having fun, enjoying a place i'd worked so hard to get to.
so there i am on final, floating on down the field thinking about all these things, when from somewhere inside my head i hear - Hey! you're on final you doofus! where you been! you see that tree line up there! you've run out of field and if you keep this up you're going right into it!
long story shortened - i'm flying a sensor and i haven't preprogammed it for this scenario. i get one turn in to the right but don't have the speed (or the room or the altitude to get it) to get it to turn away from the woods on the right that i'm now headed for. let's see, flair into the tree right? whoops! i smoothly roll right up over it and stall/dive down the other side. it was a lucky year - i wedged straight down between some limbless saplings with my toes just touching the ground, the glider only getting some deep scufffs.
intermediate syndrome!
i'd apparently been several levels deep into it. at least, what i percieve it to be. it's not about cockiness or hubris or arrogance. it's simply a result of the way the brain works.
you've spent your hang I-II time trying to grasp all the things you need to learn and then integrate them sufficiently that your brain will allow you to jump off a mountain and accept that you may indeed survive.
at hang III your brain has gotten pretty comfortable with some of these things and starts to reorganize. it starts moving some things from the 'stuff i'm learning' area of your brain over to the 'stuff i've learned' area.
if i've been paying enough attention to those pbs science/biology programs, i think that this is actually a physical phenomena.
thus, just about the time you trust that you've been paying attention to and keeping track of things appropriately, your brain goes and shuffles stuff around. sort of like when someone else comes in and decides to do you a favor by straightening up your desk or your workshop ( you know "just a bit" - "they'll never notice", they say to themself!). the stuff is all still there, but doesn't come directly to your attention when you walk in the room or doesn't come immediately to hand when you need it.
or how about this -sort of like being a project manager.
research dept stuggles mightily and excitedly to understand things and put together a cohesive understanding of something - hang I.
development dept. gets things to work well, refines things and shows that this thing can realistically be done - hang II.
production dept. gets things up and running and the company can start realizing some of the benefits from the time and money spent on r&d - hang !!!
now, as the project manager, you trust that that production line will be humming along just fine, which it does for the most part. you might start paying attention to other stuff that's put in front of you or to that new sexy secretary (thermalling efficiently, getting higher and flying longer than your buddies, cross country) - intermediate syndrome.
and That's where the quality control dept. becomes Very Important and you need to visit with That department head on a regular basis. otherwise those guys on the production line start to get in a groove and start sneaking out to the loading ramp to suck down a quick smoke or going out by the loading ramp for a toke (things can get boring on the line, ya know), with unforseen results.
and for goodness sake, don't go 'falling off a cliff' and getting into real trouble by joining them out there and getting sucked off on the ramp!
something to talk about
Moderator: CHGPA BOD
sure. it's just the natural course of events.
i remember asking billy bennet, on a day it was really cooking at the pulpit, why he wasn't showing any indications of launching, when us hang IIIs were rushing to set up and chomping at the bit to fly.
he said something like, you guys are all hungry and still consider going up there and getting your ass kicked around to be fun, i'll wait and see how things develop.
sure enough, i went up, spent the whole time with my heart in my mouth, thanked the gods that i got on the ground safely. and had fun(i think)!
garyD
i remember asking billy bennet, on a day it was really cooking at the pulpit, why he wasn't showing any indications of launching, when us hang IIIs were rushing to set up and chomping at the bit to fly.
he said something like, you guys are all hungry and still consider going up there and getting your ass kicked around to be fun, i'll wait and see how things develop.
sure enough, i went up, spent the whole time with my heart in my mouth, thanked the gods that i got on the ground safely. and had fun(i think)!
garyD
I would not neccessarily agree with this. According to hang gliding guru Dennis Pagen there are syndroms at every stage in a hang gliding career, starting with H1. If I think of all the accidents that have happened this and last year I can't help but notice that they were mostly caused by very experienced pilots. Calling it bad jugdment or a know-it-all syndrom I think falls too short of a fair evaluation. I think the accidents I read on or remember have what Mike Meier describes in his great article (http://www.willswing.com/Articles/Artic ... leOnSafety) in common. It's the development of a false sense of safety by the fact that we get away with mistakes 99 out of 100 times and don't even notice them. This, I think, is largely related to how close to the edge we operate on every flight, rather than the rank we have or what our attitude is, at least in my opinion.brianvh wrote:Sunny has noted that new H3 pilots are the most dangerous ones out there.
(or's that me 
)-
hepcat1989
- Posts: 684
- Joined: Thu Jan 06, 2005 11:15 pm
on my second ever flight on that sensor-b (known far and wide as a 'pounder' ), coming off of my first and only other glider - one of my peers gleefully asked that i hold off my launch (a sure sled) til they could get down to the lz with their camera, so they could document what was sure to be a dramatic, pound-in-landing.
(a sensor flare window was like a small town in kansas - Think about blinking and you missed it)
so, of course, i was determined to stick that landing! and i did.
pilots are rooting for and hoping to help each other and it can take a lot of different forms.
garyD
(a sensor flare window was like a small town in kansas - Think about blinking and you missed it)
so, of course, i was determined to stick that landing! and i did.
pilots are rooting for and hoping to help each other and it can take a lot of different forms.
garyD
Focus is important. You nailed the Sensor landing because you knew people would be watching, so you concentrated. The approach down the Potomac to Washington National is decidedly non-standard, with several right turns at low level, but the safety record for National is actually quite good - the "interesting" approach keeps the pilots on their toes. Ditto dramatic approaches at San Diego and the old Hong Kong airport. - Hugh
hugh,
yeah - sometimes, if a person wonders/worries that you might be a wild-ass, crazy muhfuher...?
and they come forward and tell you, "hey, i think you might be a wild-ass, crazy muhfuher - you know, with this thing you're doing now/here "
to your face...?
...sometimes it'll work to have you ask yourself, "might i, indeed, BE a wild-ass, crazy muhfuher...?
and you answer yourself, "No, but i'm just gonna make sure i pay close attention - so i prove myself right - to myself"
this wasn't actually the case (being a wild-ass, crazy muhfuher) in this instance, because i had the confidence and approval of one of my mentor-type-dudes.
but...? i'm guessing/hoping that it's not exactly this type of conversation, that takes place in the cockpits - on those approaches - while the rest of us are back in coach - enjoying the view... (?)(!)
ya know, don't bother answering that...i'm comfortable believing what i'm comfortable believing on that point (!)
yeah - sometimes, if a person wonders/worries that you might be a wild-ass, crazy muhfuher...?
and they come forward and tell you, "hey, i think you might be a wild-ass, crazy muhfuher - you know, with this thing you're doing now/here "
to your face...?
...sometimes it'll work to have you ask yourself, "might i, indeed, BE a wild-ass, crazy muhfuher...?
and you answer yourself, "No, but i'm just gonna make sure i pay close attention - so i prove myself right - to myself"
this wasn't actually the case (being a wild-ass, crazy muhfuher) in this instance, because i had the confidence and approval of one of my mentor-type-dudes.
but...? i'm guessing/hoping that it's not exactly this type of conversation, that takes place in the cockpits - on those approaches - while the rest of us are back in coach - enjoying the view... (?)(!)
ya know, don't bother answering that...i'm comfortable believing what i'm comfortable believing on that point (!)
garyDevan
When I was taking the check ride and oral exam for weight-shift control (trike) last week, the examiner told me he flunked a current air transport pilot flying heavy iron who didn't know what class B airspace was - he flew in and out of it all the time in all weather, but since all those classes of airspace are there to keep mosquitoes like us out of his way, he never had to know about them... - Hugh
here's one more two(3?) sense, to sort of wrap up.
that mentor thing? it doesn't necessarily have to be something formalized or spoken of as such.
if you want to keep your technique tight? if you want to edge your own talents a bit closer to some of those people who you think 'got it' ?
instead of just getting a crew together and getting up in the air as soon as you can, ask those people to give you a 'look at' when you're launching. pay attention to things - that they're still around by the time you launch, maybe they'll even make it a point of waiting, if you've been there early enough and are ready to go in reasonable fashion. tell them you'd appreciate them putting an eye on you if they happen to be in the lz when you're coming in, and maybe make a point of landing after them.
then - let them run the ensueing discussion. (remember to say thanks if they slap you in the head
)
you'll get a sense of when this may no longer be as beneficial to you, as it once was - when you find people making such requests of you...
[hey, preachers seem to be dropping left and right on the national scene - i was worried there might be a shortage of sermonizing ]
that mentor thing? it doesn't necessarily have to be something formalized or spoken of as such.
if you want to keep your technique tight? if you want to edge your own talents a bit closer to some of those people who you think 'got it' ?
instead of just getting a crew together and getting up in the air as soon as you can, ask those people to give you a 'look at' when you're launching. pay attention to things - that they're still around by the time you launch, maybe they'll even make it a point of waiting, if you've been there early enough and are ready to go in reasonable fashion. tell them you'd appreciate them putting an eye on you if they happen to be in the lz when you're coming in, and maybe make a point of landing after them.
then - let them run the ensueing discussion. (remember to say thanks if they slap you in the head
)you'll get a sense of when this may no longer be as beneficial to you, as it once was - when you find people making such requests of you...
[hey, preachers seem to be dropping left and right on the national scene - i was worried there might be a shortage of sermonizing ]
garyDevan