Cloud Flying but not so much fun

A discussion restricted to the topic of hang gliding.
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The Oz Report
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Cloud Flying but not so much fun

Post by The Oz Report »

<div id="1606482718"><i>Finding the bad sink</i><br><p>This two person glider is sailing along in ridge or wave lift in New Zealand (lots of wave lift there), when the pilot makes a wrong move and gets out of the lift instantly. Hilarity ensues.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8djWfNmJlKo"><img border="0" src="../pub/images/nzsailplane.JPG" width="640" height="361"></a></p><p class="BN">1:00 = You can clearly see the valley on your right. No clouds, and no mountain ridge on that side. They also find a lot of lift here.<br> 1:20 = Error1: They turn in Left, right into the clouds.<br> 2:40 = Zero visibility starts here. From this point it's impossible to have any clue what the directing of the sailplane is.<br> 2:41 = Error2: The nose is starting to pitch down, the speed is increasing rapidly from 40 to 90 knots. Nobody corrects the pitch.<br> 2:54 = They suddenly see the ground, still nose down with a bank angle of 30-40 degrees.<br> 2:55 = Error 3: They turn right, straight towards the higher mountain ridge instead of the lower valley.<br> 2:57 = Error 4: Tom much left rudder! The Plain starts to 'spin' for the first time<br> 3:01 = The spin results in a nose down position.<br> 3:05 = They recover nose down at high speed, pulling +- 6G's, the Max is 7G for this plane. The camera mount breaks.<br> 4:39 = Error 5: Again spin! Normally you never spin as long you keep the c in the middle.</p><p class="BN">Lesson learned:<br> 1. Never turn into the clouds<br> 2. If you get into a cloud, control your airspeed, check you altitude meter<br> 3. Never ever let the nose go down!<br> 4. When your get out of the cloud never turn towards a ridge or high ground.<br> 5. Make clean turns, never ever let the yaw string point to the inside of your turn = Spins are deadly.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="http://gliding.co.nz/news/latest-news"> ... </a></p><p class="BN">In mid-November a shortened version of a video of a gliding incident in New Zealand started circulating on the internet without the permission of the video owner.</p><p class="BN">This non-consented circulation means the video is now being viewed and commented on without full context or understanding of the circumstances that lead to the track disorientation and inadvertent IMC and without the opportunity for all the lessons to be appropriately conveyed.</p><p class="BN">Important points to note are:</p><p class="BN">Following the narrow escape after exiting cloud, the glider was out landed safely and both pilots were physically unharmed.<br> The aircraft was thoroughly inspected by a rated engineer using protocols provided by the manufacturer and was found to be undamaged.<br> A pilot debriefing and GNZ investigation of the incident was undertaken.<br> The incident was reported using both GNZ OPS 10 and CAA 005 forms.<br> A summary of the incident was circulated to all CFI's in NZ along with other incidents from the prior month as per the usual way all incidents are communicated.<br> Following the investigation and recognising the value of the full video as a training resource and wishing to be respectful of the welfare of the pilots involved, GNZ is in the process of seeking permission from the video owner to create a relevant resource that fully conveys all the lessons to be learned, noting that these lessons are more extensive than what can be seen from the shortened version of the video.</p></div>
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David Williamson
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Loads of G

Post by David Williamson »

I think that the tell-tale on the G-meter registered a maximum of at least 8 g.
Paragliding.........it's almost like flying.
Jay Z
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Post by Jay Z »

"...GNZ is in the process of seeking permission from the video owner to create a relevant resource that fully conveys all the lessons to be learned..."

Lessons to be learned? Uh, it's pretty basic, especially by the time one gets to this level of flying: DON'T FLY INTO CLOUDS, DUMMY!
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Davis
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Post by Davis »

We are extremely lucky here in Florida to have very benign cumulus clouds October through April. In the summer they are deadly.

Like today, you can circle right up to cloud base and very easily fly below the cloud to the edges. The cu's are small and not particularly deep. I don't recall ever being able to climb up above cloud base on the sides of the clouds, as the sides really aren't that well formed.

For the most part the cu's form quickly and stay working for quite a while.
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Tormod
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Post by Tormod »

Are they in violation of local rules? At least here in Norway you're required to stay 1,5 km (almost a mile) horizontally and 300 meter vertically away from clouds. These two have almost no horizontal vision at times before it "suddenly" dropped to zero. Way to much risk-taking in my book.
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Davis
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Post by Davis »

Dan Utinski writes:

Just a quick note; the lessons learned on the spiral disorientation are at best a joke.  The fact the glider was able to recover is not due to pilot proficiency.  By all rights both should be dead.  “In aviation, a graveyard spiral is a type of dangerous spiral dive entered into accidentally by a pilot who is not trained or not proficient in instrument flight when flying in instrument meteorological conditions (IMC). Other names for this phenomenon include suicide spiral, deadly spiral, death spiral and vicious spiral. Graveyard spirals are most common at night or in poor weather/clouds”.   

 

I’ve recovered far to many remains of pilots/passengers where the pilot became disoriented and even though the aircraft was IMC capable refused to believe instruments and spiraled into the ground.  This was quite a serious incident that luckily the pilot and passenger survived.

 

In hang gliding you’re less prone to vertigo simply because of position you fly and most importantly you are the aircraft/wing’s CG.. you just let go and it will keep you safe unless you’re close to “rock clouds”! 

 

Just my .02!
Entelin
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Post by Entelin »

yeah that video gave me chills, they were extremely lucky.
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