Landings

[Jim Rooney]

Yup
That's pretty much it in a nutshell.

I'll see about putting up some specific "landing techniques" later... It's not blown out here just yet.
Like,
The moonwalk or "greblo"
The two step
Trim+1
The crescendo
The zen

All begin with coming in faster than trim.
Period.

Jim

[Jim Rooney]

Some day, I'll get around to videoing all of these.

First thing's first however.
Let's review the cardinal rule of landing a hang glider.
STALL THE TIPS!

A glider is twisted. So the root is always a higher AOA than the tips.
This means that the nose of the glider will stall before the tips.

Once the nose stalls, it's no longer lifting.
If this happens and the tail is still lifting, guess what? You're going to whack.

So, you've got to overpower this.
Since the nose will stall first, you want the tips to stall very quickly after. You've got momentum and sheer weight on your side, but only for a second. After that, if the tips are still flying, they're going to win.

You're trying to get the glider to tailslide.
They are designed to resist this tendency… so you need to work to make it happen.
(You wouldn't want one that likes to tail slide as it would be very unpleasant to fly)

Here's the million dollar question…
When do you flare?

If you can answer that (with confidence), then you will have no problem landing well.
If you only have some wishy washy, abstract answer… you're going to whack.

How many times have I heard "you just feel it"… or my favourite… "when the glider is out of energy".
Excuse me… but just how the hell do you determine that one?
Is there some "energy meter" that I'm unaware of?
I need to send all my gliders in for warrenty, because none of mine came with one.
The real answer is they're guessing. They've maybe gotten good at guessing (mostly not), but they're guessing.

So, let's start with the easiest landing technique.
It's easy because it cheats this question.

The Moonwalk.
Edit... I found the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWLH-U9U_SQ

The moonwalk hinges on the fact that a heavily loaded glider stalls at a higher speed than a lightly loaded glider.
When the glider is supporting your weight, it's more heavily loaded than when it's not.
A glider without you under it can fly at a (much) slower speed than if it's carrying you.
(This is also a huge concept for good takeoffs, but that's an other story)

So when you're landing, as soon as your foot hits the ground, the glider's stall speed drops considerably… because it's not holding you.

Approach the ground faster than trim (as ALWAYS!!!!)
Round out into ground effect.
There are various methods for when to get upright and whatnot but that doesn't matter… All that matters here is that you approach the ground faster than trim and round out into ground effect. I couldn't care less how.

In ground effect, you will naturally start to trade speed for altitude.
In other words, to continue to fly level with the ground, instead of smashing into it, you will be slowing down.

With a glider supporting your weight, you can run faster than humanly possible.
You do this every time you takeoff.
You know that "moonwalk" run at the end of a takeoff run?… That's the same run we're talking about.

When you get to that speed, start moonwalk running.
AS YOU DO THIS!!!!>>>> Start pushing the glider up.

You will immediately start to slow down because your feet are hitting the ground and because you're slowing the glider.
As you slow down, keep pushing up.
The slower you get, the faster you push up.

The glider will "fall off your back" and it will also stop you from running.
It will land on it's keel.
THIS IS CORRECT!

If you allow it to settle onto your shoulders… you have FAILED.
Put it on it's keel!

This is key.
All the other landing techniques rely on understanding this. We are making the glider tailslide!
The glider STOPS US… not the other way around.

Ok… I'll get to the Trim+1 later.
I gotta go do some stuff.

[relate2]

Seriously Jim, you are a legend in this regard. I wish I had read half of your stuff when I was flying inland whacking myself silly.

[Christopher]

When do you flare?

If you can answer that (with confidence), then you will have no problem landing well.
If you only have some wishy washy, abstract answer… you're going to whack.

How many times have I heard "you just feel it"… or my favourite… "when the glider is out of energy".
Excuse me… but just how the hell do you determine that one?
Is there some "energy meter" that I'm unaware of?
I need to send all my gliders in for warrenty, because none of mine came with one.
The real answer is they're guessing. They've maybe gotten good at guessing (mostly not), but they're guessing.

Typically, it plays out like this, right?:

Landing cosmetics have been illustrated for the student; they've seen the classic flare-profile pictures of early, late, and 'perfect' flares, as well as pushing out vs up. The instructor's fear of an early flare becomes the students terror. At first, the student is taught to flare late and timidly - usually 'moonwalking', in Jim's parlance. From there, they tentatively seek to find a combination of speed and flare aggression that will stop the glider, by incrementally increasing either - with inevitably mixed results. A balloon and tepid flare later, they have become satisfied with running out landings on a floaty glider, or other deficiencies, such as the glider settling to shoulder, the 2 step, etc. When they step up to a faster wing with narrower tolerances and no charity for compromise, the causes and consequence of their malformed technique are magnified.

A struggling pilot who is informed and grows in self possession with experience may be able to develop sound technique on a wing with energy retention; for those who continue to struggle, they are best served by flying a floater until they own no-step, tail-keel-to-the-ground landing, in a range of conditions.

As to judging the flare window, students are typically advised to fly the glider to trim, then sample the energy in the wing by testing either bar pressure or altitude gain in response to a minor pitch up; this would be the 'energy meter' that students look to for determining flare timing. However, problems with that method arise when confronted with unstable conditions, or a glider with markedly less pitch pressure and a stall precipice instead of a stall window. Especially when landing in unstable air, the pilot must respond to the wing directly with understanding and decision - rather than obey a regimen or truism. In the fraction of a second allotted, there is much a pilot intimate with their craft can perceive - including by feel - to inform landing demands. I surmise that when you, Jim, take issue with assertions of feel or perceptions of energy, that you are contesting those statements due to an inability of the pilot to elucidate cause for believing as they did - that they were unable to demonstrate an apprehension that would make the difference between guessing and knowing; is that the case?

I was fortunate: after much reading previous to my first training hill flights, I was convinced that if I wanted to live I needed 1) sufficient energy in the wing to stop the glider, 2) proper flare posture, 3) a strong flare, and, in the event of misjudgment, that I must 4) hold the flare. The result is that on my first flight I performed a no-step keel sticker (terrifying the instructor), and on second ballooned up, held, and 'parachuted' down (again, terrifying the instructor). Perhaps it would have been less of a risk to creep up on the full flare - but (unless pared with an attentive, capable instructor) I might have been locked into faithless run out landings.

[Jim Rooney]

Hi Christopher,
In short... Yes and No.

One of the biggest problems I see is that training hills are horrible places to learn to land. At your typical training hill, you can't pull in for landing speed as you'll contact the earth. It's also bloody hard work to get any sort of repetition in.

This is where scooter towing becomes so valuable.
I've not seen, nor can I think of a better landing instruction tool.

As for student progression... most I've seen are taught to approach the earth at trim, then when it gets close to flare.
They're at the level where they can just barely not smash into the earth anyway, so filling their minds with more things to do doesn't really work out all that well.

When they do progress to the point where they can mentally handle more, then yeah, the "ballooning up" problem arises. It's a hard one because once they encounter it, they become more timid... which is exactly the opposite to what they need to do to not balloon up. The cycle gets worse and worse till they just give up and go back to what they know, which is approaching the earth at trim and running it out. It's not perfect to them, but it sure beats smashing into the earth.

Too right... holding the flare if you balloon up is critical.
It's also intimidating as hell.

The full "show stopper" flare (as I call it) is a hell of a big step to ask a student to take.
Some make it.
MOST do not.

Most students btw, are not taught to make the glider climb.
Students do not have a middle switch... things are "ON" or "OFF"... subtlety comes later.
So you'll be hard pressed to find an instructor that's comfortable telling a student to do something that can worsen their situation. When you tell a student "Climb a little", what actually makes it across is "Climb". Not good.

Most students are taught to "feel the glider kick back".
Keep a loose grip and when it bucks, flare.

Holy god is this a horrible way.
That "buck" is the nose stalling. Now, you HAVE to have good body position and a strong flare to make it work.
This is why everyone is so focused on body position for flaring.
And it's just how to fix a late flare.
The better way is to not flare late.

But that's easier said then done.
Remember, students are not subtle. And they don't process subtle either.
They've also not got a "feel" for ANYTHING yet.
They're barely flying, let alone noticing subtleties like glider "energy".

You need a timing cue the size of a building.

That's technique #2
Trim+1

I start with the moonwalk so they have an easy landing style that works every time.
So if they're caught out, they can always fall back on it without worry.

Trim+1 in a second.
Jim

[Jim Rooney]

Ok, one note before I get to Trim+1

A fully stalled glider can not climb.
This is a very important landing concept. If you climb, you have not stalled the glider.

So many people only think they're flaring their gliders.
They think they're flaring hard enough.
They think they're flaring fast enough.
They're very much wrong.

The correct action when you do mess up and climb of course is to hold your insufficient flare... but realize that your "flare" was wrong.

Jim

[Jim Rooney]

Trim +1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjHqdmUAAFo

This works on any stock glider.
This doesn't work well if you've messed with the trim of your glider.
If you find issue with this, please ask yourself why you're trying to learn a basic landing technique on a tweaked glider.

So.
Approach the earth faster than trim (as ALWAYS).
Round out into ground effect.
You will naturally slow the glider as you pay off speed to maintain altitude.

The glider will eventually hit trim speed.
You will know this because there will be no forward pressure on the uprights.
Before you were holding them back to have speed.
Now that speed has washed away and they are no longer begging to go forward... they are loose in your hands.

I demonstrate this in my videos by fully letting them go.
I am at trim.
There is absolutely no doubt about this.

I do not recommend that people let go. I do this simply to make things extremely clear.

After I hit trim, I wait ONE second.
One, not two.

And FLARE like I mean it.
This is easy to do because I KNOW the glider will fully stall... root and tips.
I know this because this works with every single stock glider.

The glider stalls and falls off my back.

This is an exceptionally easy and effective landing technique.
I very seldom find need to use any other technique.

I teach the moonwalk first as this one introduces something new... the ability to screw up.
With the moonwalk, you might wind up belly flopping and rolling on your wheels... BFD.

With this, if you rush things and give a decent, but not quite enough flare... you can balloon up.
If you don't hold it, you're going to whack and you're going to whack hard.

Even if you don't rush things, you can give a weak flare and balloon up. Oddly enough, this is harder to do than with a late flare... that extra energy you're carrying actually makes getting the flare right easier.
But you can still muck it up if you try hard enough.

If you wait too long and give a weak flare, you need your running shoes on.
If you're experienced with the moonwalk however, you already know how to recover from this problem.

Jim

[Jim Rooney]

Something I hear pretty commonly is "Yeah, that works fine on an easy glider, but I fly a topless".

Here's me doing Trim+1 with a Stealth KPL 12
(yes, the itty bitty one)

Which btw, I'm over the upper weight limit on (65kg... I'm 72kg without my harness).
http://www.delta-club-82.com/bible/195- ... th-kpl.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DlROB5B-rY

[Jim Rooney]

Ok, these last couple techniques have ups and downs.

Their big plus is they are more universal.
They work all the time, every time.
It doesn't matter what glider you're flying or how someone's tweaked it.

Their downside is they're easier to mess up and the penalty for messing up is often very high.

The "Two Step".

Approach the ground faster than trim (yes, you know it... AS ALWAYS!).
Round out into ground effect.

Before you hit trim... make the glider climb.
This takes a subtle hand.
You want it to climb, but just a little.

Once it's climbing... wait.
Once it stops climbing, flare.

It is out of energy and it will fall off your back.
As always, flare like you mean it.

Obviously, doing the test climb too aggressively can put you a bit higher than comfortable.
Proceed with caution.

Jim

[Jim Rooney]

The Crescendo

This is essentially the same as the Two Step.
Except with the Two Step, you start the glider climbing and freeze... then finish the flare once it stops climbing.

With the Crescendo, you start it climbing and continue to push, more rapidly as you go.

I'm not a huge fan of this one as it is again a "touchy feely" one.
How much do you push and how fast do you speed up the push?... "Ya just feeeeeel it man!"

Jim