SCPA & SBSA Discussion Board

So you take the standard 3-axis sailplane and you put two, of what i am going to call, centerboards on it that are attached at the center of gravity (CoG) which fold out after take-off and fold in before landing. What the centerboards do is act like sails and are oriented vertically, perpendicular to the wings themselves, one above the cockpit and one below. Here is what i have accomplished (in my head);

I am flying from point A to point B. I am 3000' AGL above point A, point B is exactly 3000' upwind of point A, the wind is perfect and travels in no other direction other than horizontally and parallel to the line drawn by point B to point A, the earth is perfectly flat. I have discovered that by flying 14 degrees off of directly into the wind from point A to point B, making one tack (/turn) half way from point A to point B of an amount of 28 degrees in the opposite direction of my original heading, while maintaining Vglide, gives me the maximum amount of altitude over point B without sacrificing any more altitude than i have to.

Simon - enough already, you're killin' me...

Hey Dean, just because you commented on my post, I am going to read your article in "Hang Gliding & Paragliding."

This must be terribly embarrasing for all of the aeronautical engineers who, over the last 105 years, missed thinking of this important design.

Seriously though, I've noticed that the better pilots in our community fly "by the seat of their pants" so to speak. They don't over analyze things, nor do they try to equate every aspect of a flight into some geometric algorithm. I hold up Pajama Man as an example, he just goes out and has fun... and always seems to end up way down range.

Cliff Notes: Think less, fly more.

Well call me the Excessively Thoughtful P2 Pilot,

SHORTCUT wrote:P2 Skygod

is a little much. I am sitting in a coffee shop in Fillmore waiting for people to by my coffee, of which is incredible. (Side note: Good article in "Hang Gliding & Paragliding" Dean, stop by Fillmore sometime to shoot the sh*t over a cup of coffee, or tea, and tell me i am ridiculous.) I have too much time on my hands, that is why i like to think about these things. Good thing I did not finish my differential and integral calculus classes, along with physics, otherwise i might be able to prove a point. This is a fun talk.

The next available date to fly Oat is maybe tomorrow, though Balloon vgb and Weather Discussion are not favorable. Kristyn, Mark, and myself are going out of town on Friday, and you all will not have the pleasure of our company until we get back around February 9. Feel free to say nice things about me in the mean time and while i am gone.

Simon, since you've been looking for a nickname, I think I've got one for you. How does "Simon says" sound? You like to talk, you have an opinion, and you're driving us all crazy just like the game does

Having a nickname like Tom Truax jr. commands a lot of respect and carries a big responsibility. I'm sure I speak for many when I say that it takes a unique and very talented pilot to adopt a nickname like that. Tom Truax casts a very large shadow and it may take you quite some time before you can begin to fill it. I'm not saying that you can't, in fact, I hope you do. You certainly have the enthusiasm, and that's a big part of it. For now though, lets give you some shoes that fit you a little better. Baby steps my friend Simon - baby steps...

Hey, I also wanted to give you a little flying advice and I thought I'd do it here so that some others that are new to the sport may benefit too. The other day when we were all flying at the Nuthouse I was paying close attention to your launch and flight. First, you did great, and you worked the scrappy lift well. What I want to focus on was your turning technique while you were low to the terrain. Andy D. and I both noticed you were really exaggerating your weight shift while turning. In fact we both saw you make a left turn 30-40 feet over the terrain with your entire body rolled 90 degrees in the direction of the turn. Plus, you threw both legs way to the left as well. Weight shifting is definitely more efficient and allows you to keep a little more speed while turning, and speed if definitely your friend when you’re low to the terrain. What I’m about to tell you comes from my own personal experience, and believe me, I’ve taken my fair share of lumps along the way. When I’m low to the terrain I prefer to weight shift less and apply a little brake to make up the difference. The reason I don’t weight shift more when I’m low is simply so that I can have some defense options should I take a collapse on the side that I’m turning to. Imagine just for a second what might have happened if you had taken a 40-50% collapse on the inside of your turn while you were that low to the terrain. Having your body weight exaggerated to the collapsed side leaves you without much in the way of collapse counter measures. There’s a good chance your body weight would accelerate the collapsed portion of the wing and slam you into the side of the mountain. If that were to happen we’d have to change your nickname to “pancake”. Your best defense for a collapse low to the deck is your body weight. When I’m cruising close to the terrain I generally weight shift slightly away from the terrain and apply a little brake to the opposite side to offset it. If I get a collapse in this position I’m already in position to easily correct the problem. I’ve adopted this style due to some very close calls that I was lucky enough to fly away from.

This is just something I wanted to pass along to you, take it or leave it. I hope I didn’t offend; I’m just trying to pass on some of my own lessons.

So I do very much over exaggerate my weight shift in my turns. I am flying an Airwave Sport 4 glider and my harness is an Airwave GT2 with the waste strap opened to 1" less than its limit. My question to those of you who are better pilots than me is, how do you decide how much weight shift is enough? How do you do the magic that you do? Brad Gunnuscio taught me how to get twisted and untwisted in the last SIV Clinic i went to. Since then i decided to keep my waste strap open just about as much as possible to be able to feel the wind on my wing and to keep myself from getting stuck in a twist. I also have the leg straps on the GT2 set up as high on my thigh as possible, gives me easy weight shift control since all i have to do is lift one leg above the other.

I will take Dean's advice to heart and not lean as hard as i have been, and if i do lean hard i will only do it in a direction away from terrain. I look forward to taking some more flights from the Nuthouse next time it gets good when I get back from Guatamala. You can call me whatever you want Deano, I am in the shadows of giants here. Peace out.

I can live with offshore winds for a while. And I've gone years without reading your posts, so no problem if you go to Guatemala for a couple weeks as well. But now that I'm hooked on these ideas and designs, having offshore winds AND no posts from you is going to make me one super bored and cranky dude. Can't you take your computer? Seriously...