4 l FLIGHT PLANNING AND TAKE OFF

So, you have got your licence and are ready to spread your wings! You have checked the probability of good flying conditions from the forecast and with local pilots or instructor. This way you don't get frequently disappointed by travel time wasted on conditions that are "not quite right", fustrating you into having a possibly unsafe attempt anyway!

If you are a novice pilot, you are required to fly your first 25 hours or so amongst other more experienced pilots. This gives you the benefit of Collective judgement of the site and flying conditions, more accurate than anything a school has been able to instill in observation skills during the relatively short time span required to train you to license

This is the fastest, safest way to progress your judgement- and flying skills after leaving the security of the Paragliding school.

If you get to a popular flying site and there is no one flying, ask yourself why.

BE CAREFUL!

When you arrive at a new site, make contact with experienced local pilots, safety officer or school and give a realistic account of your (lack of) experience and site knowledge; Giving the impression of experience might see you ignored by others. This way you could miss out on crucial site information.

This information can be crucial to the safety of your flight and the continued existence of the flying site itself. Many good sites have been lost due to ignorant visiting pilots blundering with local landowners and ignoring restrictions!

On arrival, don't commit yourself to flying just yet. First, inspect the conditions. As a paraglider pilot, your set up time is dangerously short; too short to be able to observe a trend of change in the weather. Observe the conditions for some time; look for fronts and cloud formations!

Measure the windstrength for some time and note a trend of strength picking up or dropping off. Note gustiness and measure the peak wind strength as this will determine your forward Groundspeed (or lack thereof). ( Flying with Instruments P93 and Soaring Flight.P45)

l Never see the site 'through rose coloured glasses' just because you want to fly.

Coastal ridge soaring requires a light to moderate wind strength fairly straight onto the hill and certainly no more than 45 degrees across the slope on most sites, as lift will diminish and rotors can form. (Soaring flight P 45-47.).

* Make sure of appropriate wing loading to penetrate into possibly increasing wind (ballast if necessary P 24).

* Approaching fronts or rainbands, even large singular rain clouds will increase the wind (Read Weather P 101-102.).

For thermal flying conditions you need a light prevailing up-slope breeze, interspersed with thermal cycles of manageable strength for your level of experience and skill (Thermal Soaring P 47).

Inland is one place where the wind direction at Take- off can differ from that in the landing field. The landing field may have the prevailing valley breeze, whilst at launch there is an anabatic (uphill) breeze and thermals.

Once you have made sure that the conditions are suitable for you start making your flight plan. Changing conditions or plain bad judgement can unfortunately foil the best plans for epic long flights.

Therefore, any flight plan will always have to include the following considerations:

Every flight should be viewed as a corridor leading to your planned goal with many exit doors along the way - planned Contingencies (fig 1). That means that part of your great plan has to deal with the possibility of an immediate landing in the closest field. So, plan this approach and set-up carefully as you may not have much time to figure it out in flight when forced to land!

Often problems occur when the unspeakable happens; our flying buddies are up there soaring at great altitude, whilst, due to bad timing, skill or conditions, we are going down not up! Although we seem destined for the bomb out paddock and logic would tell us that when there is no lift up near the launch, there is not much point in looking for it down in the treetops of the foothills, it is tempting to keep trying desperately.

Tell yourself before your flight from what minimum height it is still safe and easy to set up a good landing. Failing to do this is a very common mistake!

Companions needs, car key logistics, emotional upsets and retrieval logistics are best dealt with well before flying, as you need a clear mind to cope with the needs of flying safely. The less experience the pilot has, the more this is true!

Being tired, upset, hungover, sick, stoned or mentally or emotionally preoccupied is very detrimental to safe flying! It is crucial to be fit and alert when flying!!

lMany prescription drugs are labeled with a warning against driving and operating machinery. Do not fly while under the influence of such medications.

The effects of alcohol consumption remain in the body for 36 hours and of marijuana for 72 hours. Importantly, any tiredness requires that the person be rested before flying.

lAlcohol has a residual effect long beyond the time when most of it appears to have left your body, as it dilutes the fluid in your inner ear's motion dampening chamber. Tests have shown because of this, disorientation exists in pilots long after the alcohol is no longer present to any significant level in the bloodstream.

When you lay out your equipment, follow an established checking routine and procedure. Do your inspection without interruption or being interrupted by spectators.

You especially need to inspect the lines , stitching as well as the fabric if:

l You have last flight dropped it in scrub, trees, water or on rocky ground.

Don't lay your wing out for inspection in the best launch spot; you will not be popular. Find a quiet spot to inspect your equipment without interruption. When you are finally hooked in and ready to fly you can carry it onto launch.

Our almost ritualistic approach to preparation described above is to ensure a calm, clear mind for take-off as each part of your preparation, planning and checking can be confidently signed-off as completed - A bit like a long straight barrel will get a straight shot. A fumbled, interrupted, undefined preparation is not likely to find a well-prepared calm, focussed pilot at the end of it.

After checking your equipment and making your flight plan, check again for any possible change in conditions before you climb into your harness.

lCaution: Due to the use of carabiners mounted water ballast bags or map, the leg loops and chest strap can be hard to see and are easily overlooked.

lFor an alpine (forward) launch, lay the glider far enough back from the final edge of the running area so that you have enough time and space to inflate and check your wing.

(a) On a steep slope do not lay out too close to the edge as this may be in rotor and, once inflated, you may be lifted off before you are ready! (Fig 3a)

(b) On a more rounded slope don’t lay out so far back that you cannot penetrate off the hill through the compression area. (Fig 3b)

A hill is terrain and therefore a wind gradient exists near it; be aware that when you measure a just acceptable wind strength at launch, the wind higher up will be stronger. Also, it can be dangerous to launch from lower (part way up) on a hill without ensuring that the wind up the top is not too strong to fly in!!(Fig 4).

l If you assist a pilot in moderate wind, do not give him a hard shove to get him off the hill; the return pendulum you may cause can have a dangerously low angle of attack.

l If being anchored, perhaps on a small take-off area and you are being held down, make a clear decision either to take-off or to lay your wing back down and tell your assistant what you are doing as you may take him/her off the hill with you. Its happened!

l If you get lifted off in a reverse deployment before you are ready to launch, you can use any set of inside risers to collapse the canopy and parachute down (B-Line P57). Pulling the rear risers when just off the ground will first drag you up and back and, only then, down; the same but worse if you use the steering lines!

l When dragged over the ground, try pulling one steering line or rear riser towards you until you have the wingtip in your hand .If this is needed its probably too strong.

* Is the windsock showing the right stuff? (Timing can make all the difference).

If there is a trend of increase and decrease of wind-strength at take-off due to coastal cloud related fluctuation or thermal cycles, time for a suitable inflation strength and consistency, but don't time it in the sink after a thermal cycle.(P 49)

lThe most comforting thing about launching a paraglider compared to any other flying machine has to be that you can always abort a wild, uncoordinated, not quite straight take off attempt. USE IT!! Just sit down, think it over, watch some other pilots launch, then visualize doing it perfectly yourself, and do it again calmly.

Of course, if your skills are rusty, a launch is not the place to brush up! The best preparation you can give yourself in order to look good on launch and be in calm control of your wing is to spend some "quality time" ground handling in reverse launch conditions. This will soon put you back in touch with your wing.

Perfecting this skill is a time investment that pays big dividends in terms of calm, good looking, clean take-offs! So find a park, beach or sports field to practice on especially if you have not flown for some time. (Make sure to stay at least 25 meters away from any people when doing this!)

It is not our intention to discuss various canopy-handling techniques here. This is best done hands-on by a qualified instructor. In most training situations, depending on how much of your course time is spent on ground handling, you will learn basic methods for both types of launch. After you leave the school and spend some time flying, you will be able to adopt one of many methods and refine it to suit your wing and flying conditions.

l That the canopy is at the correct angle of attack (flying above you) and stabilized straight into the direction of take off.

l That you are focussed on your (upwind) take-off direction Target, so that you can timely make steering corrections accordingly. This means not staring at the ground, or overly long at your wing or in the direction of your erroneous drift if you are going sideways! Where you look is where you go!

l That you inspect your wing for tangles or tucks before committing to final take- off.

lIn the case of alpine launch, this last inspection is a few meters before the edge to enable you to lay the wing down in case of tucks or tangles.

lIn a reverse launch, this is prior to turning around to find your take-off Target. You will soon be going sideways if you keep staring up at a well-deployed canopy after you turn around! You are going to be lifted off soon and need a stable directional anchor by looking ahead.

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Now it is time for your actual Take-off run. The best way to keep your wing moving forward and directionally stable is to apply as much weight and forward speed to it as you can. This is done by:

l Taking large paces. This places more weight on the wing between paces than small upright steps.

l Brakes at trim speed (hands up) until, at the very edge, you dial a small amount of brake to assist lift off and to control any turbulence.

Regardless of the deployment method, the most significant part of the run may be the last few extra paces that you should have taken, but did not think necessary, to avoid sitting on the last bit of slope (or worse, sitting in a pile of bracken or blackberry bushes!).

In flight, your wing behaves as a stable pendulum; your entire weight is now suspended, creating full pendular and directional stability. On the ground, during deployment, you are an unstable pendulum, due to lack of weight on the wing. Therefore, the more weight and forward motion that you can apply during your run, the more directional stability and valuable Airspeed you will create.

In an alpine launch, if the canopy goes sideways before it is above the pilot steering can be difficult. This gets compounded if the pilot tries to bodily pull the glider in the desired direction by running there. The correct method is to take a couple of paces across towards the center of the wing, continue to bring it overhead and then applying steering on the desired side.(Fig. 6) The same method applies for a dropping reverse deployment.

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When taking off in ridge lift and especially in thermal lift make sure to Stabilise the wing in flight (see Active Flying Page. 25). First fly at the correct speed before messing around with the ergonomics of your position in the harness. Ultimately, with practice, you may be able to control the wing with both controls in one hand whilst lifting yourself into the seat with the other hand. Never unhand the controls in anything but dead smooth air and only then when absolutely necessary! However do not grab the bottom of the seat with the controls in your hands. You will stall the wing! Do not grab the risers and wildly wriggle into your harness by hanging off the risers.

You can help Lift-off and counter thermal activity by applying a small amount of brake just at the edge of the launch .Do not suddenly let this go to get into your harness, a forward surge will occur which is dangerous in thermal or turbulent conditions!

You need to control the initial surge of lift and dampen any pitching prior to seating considerations. First fly at the correct speed and in the right direction!

Pilots often fly too far off the slope and out of the lift while messing with the harness This costs valuable altitude that could have been gained by turning parallel to the hill with 25% of brakes on. It is better to forego comfort for a few moments until you are established in lift before getting in the harness.

It is outright dangerous to forego dampening control on your wing for secondary considerations. You may fly out of a thermal and be unable to control the forward pitch and possible tucks if your hands are off the controls whilst getting seated.

So, finally it all comes down to planning. A frantic, spun out, bounced around pilot with a heart rate of 4000bpm spaced out on adrenaline is hardly going to be ready for any unforeseen events in the early part of a flight, like traffic, thermals, sink etc.

Plan it well, be careful, be calmly in control or put it down. You can always do it again.

***The main cause identified as the cause of accidents in flying is Human Error. The definition of an accident is an incident compounded by a bad decision making process.