Hang Gliding - FAQ - What's needed?
At some time, even the best X-C pilot needs to land in a small field. Landing on a target may seem to be a minor part of a great distance flight, but it has a very serious bearing on what you will be doing tomorrow.
The best of pilots can land on a target. This target was once a dinner-plate, but now it's a circle as much as a wingspan in diameter. You could really start to respect the skills of those pilots who can always set both feet down on a target, when some other pilots are usually still making noisy landings.
I can't guarantee that you will land on the target, but I can present you with the tried-and-true aircraft approach technique here. It works. It minimizes surprises. This should sound good to the average pilot; it still sounds good to me.
As a low-time pilot, you should hear that nobody is born as an expert on spot-landings. Of the hundreds of students that I taught, only one could do it well when lessons were done. I still wonder about how much experience that guy had already, when he came to me.
Any person who believes that they can read these (intentionally) vague landing procedures, and then perform an expert-class landing, without an instructor on a radio, is thinking like a fool (and let me be blunt, a very self-destructive fool, at that). We do not need anybody else thinking that they might save a few bucks by dispensing with the instructor, too soon. It always amazes me that people will take huge risks like that, to "save" a hundred dollars, but then spend thousands on trying to repair their needless injuries, to try to get HALF-way back to their original physical abilities. A good instructor can save you some serious money, and a lot of pain. Not every injury can be repaired, as good as new. Visit the local orthopedic clinic, really, if you doubt that. You are NOT unbreakable, sorry to say. This sport has real dangers, just like driving a car does. Did you learn to drive, all on your own? You can not seriously believe that flying *safely* requires less skill and knowledge than driving, can you?
It takes time and experience to develop this level of skill. First thing: I suggest that you choose a big, friendly field for your LZ, and always walk that field before you fly there; this applies to any (and every) LZ for the near future, also. Walk everywhere that you could land there, both long and short of the spot.
Make a target in the best landing place there. Use any powder, of a color that contrasts with the ground; use lime on dark dirt, or powdered coal on pale dirt. As your skills improve, make the target smaller.
Set up double streamers; each is made from two strips of toilet paper, two to four yards (meters) long, on one tall stick. One strip should be at least half a yard (meter) longer than the other strip. These double streamers are easily visible from a mile (1.6 km) away, and usually form a big V that points into the wind. The cheapest toilet paper is the best, being the toughest, and sometimes you may need some TP for the intended purpose anyway. TP picks up in the lightest breezes. Set up more than one streamer pole, at separate ends of the field - I call this "dis-inviting Murphy".
You should have a fair idea of the glide angle that your glider takes to get from any height, straight to the target. If not, then you do not have sufficient experience, and you have no business pursuing this topic, yet. Seek professional HG instruction, AND talk to as many HG pilots as you can find.
Now I suggest that you learn all that you can about the Downwind-Base-Final (or DBF) approach. Most pilots know about DBFs, and should be able to explain the concept to you. The DBF approach uses those glide angles that you have just learned, and it allows for *huge* adjustments "on-the-fly". You mentally construct your DBF landing pattern in reverse, starting at the target spot.
As a low-time pilot, you should start by doing very large DBFs into very large fields, under the instruction of a certified HG instructor with a radio, at first. As you improve and gain experience, you can begin to do smaller DBFs into those same very large fields. When you have a good grasp of the mechanics of the DBF, you can begin to slowly decrease the size of the field and the size of the DBF that you use.
Personally, I would need some serious motivation to perform a DBF that is smaller than one end a football field. In other words, my best DBF is usually not going to fit in one end of a football field. Generally, I would have to be making some rather boneheaded decisions, to leave myself with no option but to land in a very small field. There are very good reasons why HG pilots mark some flying sites as "experts only", while other HG sites can be "everybody welcome". HG sites with small or obstructed landing areas are usually for proven, expert HG pilots only. Anybody who is not completely confident of their experience and ability to land in a small field should never launch where a small landing field is the only option.
I am reminded of an incident from the past; a low-time HG pilot with an unjustified level of confidence took off from a nice HG site, but the landing area was far above his level of skill. All too predictably, he got closely acquainted with a fence. When he was again ready to talk to anybody about it, he asked us what he had done wrong. One local expert HG pilot explained it all in one sentence: "You launched here, about three months too soon."
A low-time pilot can develop part of the skill needed to do a DBF by doing part of a DBF. From a low hill, you might get to the target area much too low to start with a Downwind Leg. You would be flying into the wind to get there, so skip the Downwind leg from a low hill. Glide into the wind to either side of the target, and do the Base Leg and Final Glide parts of the DBF. Then, when you are good (or lucky) enough to arrive at the LZ with enough altitude for a true DBF, you will have most of a DBF in your "experience bag" already. So you can practice and prepare for a DBF by first doing an Upwind, Base, & Final style of approach, on the lower hills.
"The exceptional pilot uses their exceptional judgment to avoid the need for their exceptional skills." -from a HG friend, who also flies for Delta Airlines.
Other tips:
- Always aim for a target, but then forget about the target once you are on Final Glide. Make your normal landing, then observe the results (distance from the target) objectively.
- Never fixate on a target instead of making a nice landing. If you try to stretch a glide for that last five yards (meters), or try to flare too soon, with excess airspeed, because the target is now below you, the results can be anything from unpleasant to unfortunate. A noisy landing, right on the target spot, is still a zero score, pilot. No target spot is a good trade for aluminum or bone.
- If you always aim for a target, at least you will be landing in the right field. If you only aim for a field, you might end up landing in the next field, or in no field, instead. :-)
One last thing; there are pilots who use an approach called "S" turns. They will say that they are never more than a 90-degree turn from the LZ, but that is less than true sometimes, and actual trouble can result when it is true. I know that they would not want to hear this, but really what they are doing is flying a series of Base Legs, back and forth, looking for that right glide path to the target or field. This has several disadvantages, especially to a low-time pilot. You may find yourself at the right altitude to glide to the target, just as you are farthest from a normal glide path, at one end of an S. You could come up short. When doing the S approach, each turn at the end of a Base Leg must be more than a 180-degree turn, or else the glider "advances" toward the target by the diameter of the turn with each Base Leg flown. If an S approach is started from too great a height, or if you find too much lift, this "advancing" can put a small LZ directly below you, and you are still making S's. Inexperienced pilots are prone to just this mistake. Please do not ask me what to do, at that point. You can and probably will see this, at some time. I guarantee an "interesting" experience then, for both pilot and spectator. I do not recommend this for anybody.
The best place to do S's (or circles) is at the high entrance of a Downwind Leg. You can very well use these maneuvers to put yourself in a very good position, and count on the DBF approach to get you from a good starting place, to a great ending place, on the target.
Here are two more new videos, from YouTube.com, which is a fairly accident-ridden website, on average. Student pilots will NOT benefit from watching bad launches and landings, so I suggest that you stick to just these good examples.
Ten Minutes Of Good Landings, Spot Landings, And One Noisy Landing (No Damage).
Last but not least, here we have a nice landing, -and- a fine tandem landing; these are QuickTime movie clips, and well worth their weight. Good landings like these just never show up on the TV's Worst Home Video programs, so we conclude this topic on a great ending. Note: watch the glider shadows, to judge the altitude of gliders as they approach.
That's how! Nice landing! QuickTime clip
Fine tandem landing! QuickTime clip
As a new pilot, you might see some good stuff here. I will warn you, though; the day is coming when (MORE)