Introduction

Paragliders are so simple and so effective that theyseem almost too good to be true. Just imagine: apersonal aircraft that can be kept at the bottom of awardrobe and transported in a rucksack, yet can climbin silence for thousands of feet and carry you forhundreds of kilometres. It is a sporting pilot's dreamcome true. I thought that I was lucky in the 1970swhen I discovered the then-new sport of hang gliding.That seemed to be aviation reduced to the minimum.

Little did I know that twenty years later I would findthe same thrill again with even lighter equipment inthe form of the paraglider.

Strictly speaking a paraglider is an aircraft which hasno primary rigid structure, is capable of soaring flightand can be foot-launched from a hillside. Of course,that's not to say that you cannot tow-launch them too,if there are no hills handy.

At its most basic stage, paragliding is a bit like skiing:the run is exhilarating but ends up at the bottom of thehill. However, with a little skill the energy in the windand the sun can be exploited to extend the run almostindefinitely. It takes time and patience to leam thiscraft of soaring, but the rewards of moving freely in theair make every moment worthwhile.

Having introduced the comparison with skiing, I amnow going to move away from it very quickly. This isbecause it is so easy to think of a paraglider as justanother piece of sporting equipment: after all, it costsabout the same as a good set of golf clubs and doesn't

Facing page: the authorlaunching for a trial flight

7

Units ofmeasurementAviation units are anodd and inconsistent

. mixture. By inter-national aviation con-

ventioo,heights aregenerally measuredin feet, horizontql dis-tances in (kilo)metresor nautical miles, andspeeds in knots (nau-tical miles per hour)

but re.cordsare

given in kilometresper hour! Most of usthink in miles perhour (mph) or kilo-metres per hour(kph), so use what-ever you .are cQmf<)rt-able with. Sport pilotsin Europe tend tofavour metres for

height and metresper second for speed.

In this book I haveused whichever units

are most appropriatein the context, withequivalents where thiswould be he.lpful.

8

take up any more space. But the big difference is thatit is an aircraftand must always be treated and usedwith the care and respect that all types of aircraftdemand.

AirmanshipFor me, airmanship is a way of thinking that addsup to safety for yourself and for everyone who mayshare the air with you. It's a basic attitude, a cast ofmind. If you take up paragliding, airmanship issomething which must be with you all the tir)1e. Itmeans being able to appreciate the differencebetween taking a chance and seizing an opportuni-ty. And then leaving nothing to chance.

The chapters in this book will lead you around manydifferent areas of the sport, from the beginner stages tothe challenges of soaring cross-country over seriousmountains. I hope that it will show you what you cando and help you to develop the attitudes which willallow you to fulfil your own flying potential.

What no book can do is to teach you how to fly. Thatis a job for specially skilled instructors, and I cannotstress too highly the need to be taught at a paraglidingschool or club which is registered and approved byyour country's paragliding governing body. In GreatBritain this is the British Hang Gliding and ParaglidingAssociation (BHPA). Addresses of governing bodies aregiven on page 197.

k

When you first see paragliding the activity seems sonatural that it's hard to realize it hasn't been around for

ages. After all, the apparatus is obviously closely relatedto a parachute, and stepping off a hill or casting freefrom a towline for the glide down is a lot less troublethan jumping from an aeroplane. Yet paragliders didn'treally become generally available until the mid-1980s,since when growth and development have been rapid.

Several people contributed elements to the sport, start-ing in the 1940s, when Or Francis Rogallo and his wifeGertrude were experimenting with unbraced kites attheir family home near Harvard University. I love thetale of how the main passageway in their house wasturned into an experimental wind-tunnel by running afan at one end and closing the doors in certain com-binations. The Rogallo experiments generated somevery effective flexible kites, and eventually led others toproduce the familiar triangular hang glider, completewith internal framework. The concept of the paragliderwas within fingertip distance at that time, but theconnection was never completed.

~

'.

Meanwhile, jump parachutes were steadily gettingbetter at handling and gained the glimmer of a glideperformance. At first this was simply by removingsections of the rear of a circular canopy, so that itwould be driven forward by reaction to the air rushingout during the descent. Then, in the very early 1960s,Pierre Lemoigne produced the designs which led tothe Para Commander (PC) parachute, which has

9

Round-canopy parascending bythe beach at Rio

numerous cutouts and slots, giving a greatly improvedforward speed, good control, and the beginnings of arecognizable glide. Lemoigne's design was developedfor parascending - being towed aloft by a line behinda vehicle - but soon became popular for jump para-chutists too. This type is still in use, and the operatorsoffering towed parascending flights behind boats atholiday locations often use derivatives of the Pc. Theyare safe, stable and just right for that job.

Only a few years after the PC, parachuting tookanother step forward as far as canopy glide andcontrol were concerned: in the USA Domina Jalbert

patented his Parafoil, which introduced the concept ofa double-surface rectangular-planform canopy formedfrom a number of airfoil-sectioned cells inflated bytheir passage through the air. This is often called the'ram-air' system. The concept has not changed fromthat day to this, but the degree of refinement has beenamazing. As an aside, in 1992 the paraglider manu-facturer Trekking introduced a steerable reserve

la CHAPTER1

parachute for paragliders which bears a strikingresemblance to Or Rogallo's original kite designs.

We don't know the name of the very first paragliderpilot - it's probable that it was a parachute rigger whowas trying out modifications on a sloping piece ofground - but we can be sure that the flightswereshort, because jump parachutes generally have a verypoor glide performance.

In spite of the obvious similarities between the aircraft,there is a fundamental difference in attitude between

parachutists and paraglider pilots. Most parachutistsget the biggest satisfaction from the sensation of flightduring free fall, and the joumey after the canopy opensis a necessary inconvenience. Others are dedicated todeveloping landing-accuracy skills, in which the para-chute becomes simply a delivery system. Airbornetroops usually want the fastest survivable descent rate,because that means that they are hanging around astargets for as little time as possible. All in all, para-chutes are about getting you down: paragliders aredesigned to keep you up!

Perhaps I should mention that paraglider pilots alwaysinflate their wings before launching, unlike BASE(Buildings, Aerials, Spans, Earth) parachute jumperswho launch from suitable high points and then trustthat their aircraft will assemble itself correctly on theway down. I understand why they do this, and don'thave the hostile attitude to the activity that somesections of the aviation establishment tend to display,but I am content to obtain my adrenaline in morecarefully measured doses.

Naturally, the first paragliders owed almost everythingto parachuting technology, and they inherited the thicklines and other features that are essential to resist the

considerable shock of repeated openings at very highspeed. As soon as it was realized that hill-launchingdid not require the same strength margins, drag wasreduced and performance improved dramatically.

WHERE WE CAME FROM 11

Parascending at the British National AccuracyChampionships in ]993. These canopies havechanged little from the jump type. They are notsuitable for hill soaring but still provide goodsport when used with a towline and a target.

12 CHAPTER1

Lacking high, steep mountains, pioneers in Britaincompensated by towing parachutists into the airunder the high-performance canopies of the time.This developed into the activity of parascending, andthousands of ascents were made, tow-launchedbehind Land Rovers, with a very good safety record.The sport centred around airfields, with accuracy oflanding being more important than duration of glide.Just one or two visionaries, led by Waiter Neumark,could see the possibilities of soaring performanceunder canopies, and tried to develop it.

Parascending is still popular, and has spread to severalother countries, often after being initially displayed as asport by military personnel.

Paragliding is hang gliding's first cousin, and many ofthe personalities in the sport have also been activehang-glider pilots. My first contact came from GeraldWilliams, a hang-glider pilot who became a lone pio-neer, flying canopies in the Peak District of Derbyshireand trying to convince hang-glider pilots that this wassomething well worth getting into. Gerald was there,ahead of all of us, and he's still there, now instructingbeginners with undiminished enthusiasm.

In Europe, three early starters were the flying adven-turer and journalist Didier Favre, the innovative design-er Laurent de Kalbermatten, and harness manufacturerFreddie Keller. They were flying canopies from themountains around Mieussy, in the French Alps, in thelate 1970s. By 1981 the sport had developed sufficientlyfor the Swiss to hold a championship at Wengen.

Internationally, the sport of paragliding operates underthe benevolent eye of the Federation AeronautiqueInternationale (FA!), the world governing body of all airsports. The FAl's hang-gliding commission, theCommission Internationale du Vol Libre (CIVL), looks,after the details, dealing with such matters as the allo-

cation of championships and the promot~n of safetystandards. For sporting purposes paraglide!rs have been

WHERE WE CAME FROM

Ceroid Williams helping astudent in Derbyshire

13

given the category of Hang Gliders, Class 3. One of thefirst steps towards getting the sport firmly establishedand organized internationally came when ThomasBosshard, then President of CIVL,demonstrated aparascending canopy to delegates at the 1986 CIVLmeeting in Hungary.

A trial day at a training schoolis the ideal way to find out ifthe sport is for you.

Is it for you?It is easy to find out if paragliding is foryou: simply give it a try! You don't haveto spend a lot on equipment, becausethe training club or school will supplyeverything in return for a reasonabledaily fee which will include instruction.All you need is some suitable clothing- in Britain that generally means warm- and a good pair of boots.

People of both sexes and all ages take up the sport.You don't have to be super-fit, but you probably won'tenjoy it much if you are really unfit. There will be a fairamount of walking up hills, and the ground-handlingcalls for some exertion - especially in the early days,when the wing always seems to be fighting you. In anycase, if you suffer from heart problems or epilepsy, orany other medical condition which may causedifficulty, you should certainly consult your doctor first.Expect to be asked about health matters before yousign on at a training school.

Maybe you have already experienced the thrill of flyingon a PC-type round canopy behind a boat on a holidaytrip. That's a good initiation, but it's nothing to com-pare with the satisfaction of flying completely underyour own control.

Piloting and drugs do not mix. Your instructors will notlet you fly if you have consumed alcohol that day, or ifthey suspect that you have taken drugs.

Of course, not everyone who starts paragliding is newto aviation. You may have experience of sailplanes and

14 CHAPTER 1

light aircraft; or be a parachutist who wants to stay inthe air for longer; or you may be one of the manyhang-glider pilots who are attracted by the compact-ness of the equipment and so convert to canopy flying.Anyexperience of other forms of flyingwill be useful,but there will also be significant differences: you musthave a fullyqualified paragliding instructor.

My experience is almost entirely of launching myselffrom hillsides: for me this provides a degree of in-dependence and freedom which I find particularlysatisfying. However, in the absence of hills, tow-launching from flat fields is quite practical, but it must

WHERE WE CAME FROM

A tandem outfit in the YorkshireDales.

Dual flying needs special largeparagliders, and the pilot musthold a dual rating. Be cautiousabout taking such flights withunregistered pilots in somecountries.

15

DangerI've put this under aseparate heading,because I am sooften asked 'Is it

dangerous?' TheI short answer to this

has to be 'yes' -potentially so,anyway. The onlycompletely safe wayof participating insport aviation is toconfine yourself toreading or dreamingabout it. But, if youare prepared to learnparagliding properly,stick to the rules,respect the elementsand understand yourown limitations, thedanger is very smallindeed.

Right and above right: EachSeptember a great festival offree flight is held in the Frenchmountain resort of St Hilaire duTouvet. Enthusiasts andmanufacturers vie with oneanother to produce the mostingenious paraglider-supportedcreation.

16

be performed with an experienced team, undercontrolled conditions, and from tow-sites approved bythe aviation authorities. This book does not providespecific details about the techniques of towing,beyond warning explicitly against attempting toanchor one end of a line to the ground and trying to'kite up' in the wind while tied to the other. This is anextremely risky practice which has cost lives.

CHAPTER1

The concept of the paraglider is wonderfully simple:a textile wing inflated by its own movement throughthe air, joined to a number of lines supporting thepilot's seat. The key words in that sentence are wingand pilot. Paragliders are aircraft which fly by usingexactly the same aerodynamic effects that keepJumbos full of paying passengers in the sky. However,unlike Jumbos, paragliders are very slow aircraftindeed - even compared with hang gliders, theirnearest soaring relatives - and have only a smallspeed range.

We shall not delve very deeply into the world of aero-dynamics, but it does help to think about the nature ofthe air and what happens when objects are movedthrough it. Fortunately the stuff is so plentiful that wenormally take it for granted, but once you start flyingparagliders you will find that you are suddenly muchmore aware of how it likes to behave. Think of air as a

dense gas which isn't particularly keen to move, butwhich, if it has to, would prefer to travel in straightlines. Get used to the idea that it has considerable

mass and reacts in predictable ways to being pushed,squeezed or dragged.

Another maxim that it's useful to keep in mind whenconsidering how things fly, is that you don't get some-thing for nothing. When you improve one area of per-formance, there is usually a price to pay in anotherarea. For example, a small wing may fly relatively fastand handle well, but have rather a high sink rate. If the

17

... a colourful but unruly massof fabric and line can transformitself into a flying machine.

18

wing is increased in size, the sink rate may improve,but the top speed and easy-handling characteristicswill quite likely be reduced.

Keeping it in shapeI am still delighted by the way a colourful but unrulymass of fabric and line can transform itself into a

stable wing without the help of any form of rigidframework. That this wing can go on to developenough power to lift a pilot, is almost too good to betrue.

CHAPTER 2

Figure]: A typical paraglider

trailing' edge

B-line

Aline

C-line

brake line

Figure 1 shows a typical paraglider. The wing is builtup of many cells joined together side-by-side. Thenumber of cells can be as low as about twelve forvel}' simple wings, up to sixty or more for high-performance ones. Most of the cells have an openingat the leading edge which allows them to inflate, andthe cell walls have holes cut in them to act as com-munication vents, allowing air to pass freely betweenthe cells so that even pressure is maintained through-out the structure. The trailing edge is closed along itsentire length.

WHY IT FLIES 19

mean chord

trailingedge

angle of attack

A B

Figure 2: Airfoil section Developing lihThe key to developing lift lies in the shape of the cellwalls. These are shaped as shown in Figure 2, and per-form exactly the same duty as ribs in a rigid aircraftwing.

Assuming that air is flowing past it from A to B, the air-foil generates lift in two ways:

. by meeting the air with the leading edge higher thanthe trailing edge. In this attitude the wing is said tohave a positive angle of attack, and virtually anyflattish shape will develop some lift if it is tilted inthis way, because the pressure under t.he wing israised by the force of the air pressing against it. Thiseffect is often referred to as plate lift, and about one-third of the wing's lift is generated in this way.

Figure 3: Airflow past an airfoil

. by having an airfoil shape which causes the air pass-ing over the top surface of the wing to take a longerpath than air passing under the wing. This causes areduction in pressure on the upper surface. Thistype of lift can be called section lift. lt is a powerfuleffect which normally contributes between 60 and70 percent of the overall lift.

20 CHAPTER 2

Inflation

A paraglider wing is held in shape by internal air press-ure. The air is admitted through the ports at the front ofthe cells, and as long as these holes are clear andfacing the airstream, the wing will keep its shape. Theextra internal pressure is very low, but it's enough.Those gaps at the front of the cells look as if theywould cause the development of a very inefficient air-foil shape, but it is not as bad as it appears: once thewing is fully inflated the air inside is virtually static, andthere is a slight 'back-up' which causes a buffer effectat the leading edge. This allows a surprisingly smoothflow. At the front, the cell dividers are sometimes re-inforced with a stiff plastic material called Mylar, tohelp in keeping the ports at the leading edge open atall times. The communication ports in the cell wallsensure that the air inside can flow from cell to cell

across the wing quite freely, both when inflating itinitially and during flight.

Theports at the front of thecells show up clearly in thisshot of a basic training glider.You can also see the holes thatallow the passage of airbetween the cells.

WHY IT FLIES 21

The array of lines connecting the wing to the pilot arefixed at points which have been very carefully calcul-ated. The designer has to reconcile two conflictingrequirements: there have to be lots of attachmentpoints to keep the wing in an efficient shape when it isloaded, but because lines generate drag, whichreduces performance, there need to be as few aspossible. The end result is a very carefully balancedcompromise.

The whole device depends on the weight of the pilotto match the other forces, so the position of thehamess is absolutely critical. The lines are gatheredtogether to join the harness via pairs of webbing strapscalled risers. On the simplest paragliders there will betwo pairs of these. More advanced designs will havethree or even four pairs. By convention the front pairare referred to as the A-risers, the next pair as the B-risers, and so on.

Within certain broad limits, as long as the air keepsflowing past the airfoil in an orderly manner, the press-ure underneath will be higher than that above, and thewing will respond by trying to move upwards into thelower-pressure region. The upward force is lift, andcan be measured in pounds or kilograms.

So far so good, but what keeps the wing movingthrough the air? It is obviously not being drawn throughit by a propeller, so what does keep it moving along,and why does it stay up? The answer is gravity, and itdoesn't really keep the paraglider up - it simply keepsit moving through the air in exactly the same way as itmoves a skier downhill. While it is moving, the liftkeeps the rate of descent low, but it is always there:gliders are always travelling downhill through the air.The only way they can really climb is by flying throughair which is moving upwards faster than they are sink-ing. We deal with upward movement of air in detail inChapters 6 and 7.

22 CHAPTER 2

DragThe lift is fine, but you don't get something for nothing.Here the price is drag, which comes in two forms. Thefirst is parasitic drag. This is caused by the passagethrough the air of all the non-lifting parts of the glider.These include all the rigging lines, the risers, and ofcourse the pilot. The main feature of parasitic drag isthat, although it is small at low speeds, it very soonbuilds up as speed is increased. Ifyou double thespeed, you quadruple the amount of parasitic drag (intechnical terms, the parasitic drag is proportional tothe square of the speed).

The second form of drag is induced drag. This is dragwhich is induced by the passage of the wing itselfthrough the air. It is a product of the way that the airfoildevelops lift. We saw that the combination of the angleof attack and the airfoil section produces a higherpressure below the wing than above it, and it is thispressure difference that generates lift. However,because of the pressure difference, not all the air closeto the edges of the underneath of the wing is contentto stay on the same side - some of it naturally tries tomigrate to the top, via the trailing edge and tips. Figure4 gives a clearer idea of how this happens. This airmovement causes turbulence around the tips and trail-ing edge, and this turbulence sets up drag.

Direction of flight

~~~.

\Small amountof air alwaysescapesaround trailingedge

Figure 4: Airflow around tipsand trailing edge

Directionofmain airflow

over wing

Figure 5: Lift and drag. Thediagram shows in simplifiedform how the two types ofdrag alter with speed. Whenthe combined drag is relatedto the overall lift developed bythe wing, an impression ofglide performance can beobtained.

24

However, it's not all bad news: induced drag has theproperty of reducing with speed. This is because,when a glider goes faster, the effective angle of attackof the wing is reduced. You can think of this as allow-ing it to 'slice' through the air more cleanly, thuscausing less disturbance and downwash, and sominimizing the induced drag.

To work out the total drag of the aircraft at any parti-cular speed, the figures for the two types of drag areadded together.

Lih, drag and the glide ratioFigure 5 shows how the development of lift and dragrelates to the speed at which the wing is flying. Notethat total drag is lowest at the speed at which the twodrag curves cross. This is the speed which will give themost efficient gliding performance for that particularwing. In the particular example shown in Figure 5, thelift is five times the drag at this speed. The point ofinterest in all this is that the ratio of lift to drag (lId)also tells us what the gliding performance of the wingwill be. The lid ratio is effectively the same as the glideratio, so in completely still air a paraglider with a bestlid of 5:1 will be capable of travelling forward 500 ftwhile descending only 100 ft. Needless to say, still air is

~-0,C0Q)

~-0

lift

speedminimum-drag speed

CHAPTER 2

rare indeed, as are the chances of flying at the opti-mum speed for the entire flight, but nevertheless lidfigures are useful as a general guide to performance.

Unfortunately, some manufacturers have tended toerr on the side of optimism when advertising newparagliders, so it pays to treat published lid figureswith a certain caution.

Minimum sink

Just as there is a speed (the maximum-glide speed orbest-glide speed) at which any aircraft gives its bestglide ratio, there is another one at which the sink rate isat its lowest. This is rather unoriginally called the mini-mum-sink speed, which is frequently shortened to 'min-sink'. It is achieved at a high angle of attack, when thewing develops maximum lift. Consequently minimumsink occurs at the slow end of the overall speed range.

StallingThe wing develops lift only while the airflow over it isfairly clean and undisturbed. Air will tolerate beingforced to flow past an airfoil, changing its speed anddirection slightly to accommodate it, but continuing toflow in fairly straight lines. However, if you ask it todeflect too far, it will react by refusing to follow thesurfaces smoothly, changing instead to a broken,turbulent flow. When this happens, lift at once reducesdramatically, and the wing is said to be stalled.

WHY IT FLIES

Figure 6: Airflow around astalled wing

25

On a paraglider, stalling is usually experienced asquiet, smooth flight followed by a sudden rustling ofthe canopy which then swings back behind you andsurges forward while you lose height fast. With para-gliders, unlike other aircraft, the effect can be furthercomplicated by loss of pressure inside the wing, caus-ing it to change from its normal flightconfiguration.None of this is good news, and during flightstalling issomething to understand but avoid. Contrary to whatmany people think, stalls can occur at any speed if theangle of attack is increased sufficiently,but certainlythe most common stalls happen when pilots attemptto flytoo slowly. In Chapter 10we deal with stalls andrecovery.

The polar curveIfyou are new to paragliding, you can skip this sectionand come back to it later when you need to refreshyour memory for your pilot exam.

The polar curve is a chart of the overall performanceof your paraglider, plotting forward speed against rateof descent throughout its speed range. The axes of thegraph are always drawn as shown in Figure 7. Theminimum-stall speed and the effective top speed showclearly, and you can tell at a glance the rate of sink atany speed in the range. Bydrawing a line from thezero point (where the axes cross) to form a tangent tothe curve, you find the maximum-glide speed. Further,you can work out the most efficient speed to flyindifferent headwind conditions by drawing a similartangential line from the point on the speed axiscorresponding to the wind speed. Frankly,you areunlikely to make much practical use of the informationprovided by a polar curve during your first couple ofyears of paragliding, but a basic understanding is a bighelp in appreciating the performance limitations ofyour aircraft.

Note that a published polar diagram describes the per-formance of the paraglider when supporting the idealpilot weight - that is, the weight for which the glider

26 CHAPTER 2

00

10airspeed

15 25205

100

200

300

--...............

CD"'3.s:E

~ 4001;..2

Cl)

"2 500-'"c"'

600

700

800

was designed. A lighter pilot has the effect of movingthe whole curve up and left a little, while a heavierone moves it down and right.

The controls

Paragliders are different. The basic controls aresimple, but they have no exact counterpart on fixed-wing aircraft; I suppose 'independent flaps' would beabout as close as you could get to describing them infixed-wing terms. They inherited the name 'brakes'from parachuting; although rather inaccurate, thisexpression is widely understood, so I have no qualmsabout using it throughout this book. One of the mainskills to learn is to use the brakes smoothly at alltimes. Think of them as operating flexible guides forthe air, not as machine-like levers or switches to bejerked on and off.

WHY IT FLIES

30Figure 7: Polar curve

27

Tim Taft gives an Apco Hi-Lite 3just enough brake forcomfortable soaring. Note howthe trailing edge of the wing ispulled down a little on bothsides. The Hi-Lite was apopular model in the earlyI990s.

28

Your paraglider will be constructed so that if you sitcomfortably in the harness and leave the controlsalone it will fly in a straight line at around its best-glidespeed. On beginner and intermediate models this willalso be its effective top speed.

Speed is adjusted by using both brakes simultaneous-ly: typically, completely off for best-glide speed; one-quarter to one-third on for minimum-sink speed, andfully on to produce a deliberate stall at the lastmoment for a light-wind landing.

When you look at a paraglider in flight, you will seehow pulling the brakes causes the trailing edge tocurve down. This increases the camber in the airfoil

section, and also increases the effective angle ofattack. Increasing the camber and angle in this wayincreases the lift, which explains why pulling the

brakes a little helps you off the ground after a launchrun. It also allows you to slow the glider down to itsminimum-sink speed when trying to stay in rising air.There are limits: increasing the camber too muchresults in a stall.

Basic steering is accomplished by pulling down thebrake on the side to which you want to turn. Thiscauses an immediate increase in drag on that half ofthe wing, and the glider begins to turn. This is simple todo, and looks logical when you watch it happening, butthe dynamics of the manoeuvre are quite complicated.

When you look at the brake lines, you will see thatthey fan out and are joined to the trailing edge at sev-eral points. This arrangement will have been carefullydesigned, and the safety and speed of turn will owemuch to it.

Assuming that you start with both brakes on to someextent, tighter turns can be made by pulling further onone while easing up on the other. This should not beoverdone: insensitive heaving on the brakes could leadto stalling the inside wing and starting a spin, or wind-ing up into an ever-tightening spiral dive.

The brake lines show clearly asthe control is pulled to make aright turn.

WHY IT FLIES 29

Matthew Whittall using brakeand weightshift to turn hisFirebird Barracuda. The waythe brake moves the trailingedge shows very clearly in thisshot of a high-performancemodel.

30

On most models you can assist steering by leaning inthe direction of the turn. This is called weightshifting.Its effectiveness depends a lot on the design of theharness, and one which allows easy weightshiftingmay be a little too twitchy for beginners. This is amatter on which you will need expert advice from aninstructor or coach.

There is more about turning skills in Chapter 3.

Roll and rawBecause of the tremendous pendular stability providedby sitting several metres below the wing, paragliderpilots can be blissfully unaware of the effects of rolland yaw on their progress. Certainly these effects arenot anything like as obvious as in other types of air-craft, but it is useful to recognize them.

Roll occurs when the wing is tilted sideways from thehorizontal. Although some roll occurs when turning aparaglider, it is not the obvious effect with which pilotsof more orthodox aircraft are familiar. The paragliderpilot needs only to be aware that the minimum-stallspeed and the sink rate increase during roll, so anyturns should be entered faster than the minimum-sink

speed (see page 25).

Yaw occurs when the leading edge of the wing is notsquare on to the airstream. Turns involve an elementof yaw, but because of the strong pendular stability theeffect does not normally persist into level flight. Youcan observe yaw easily when on the ground: fly theparaglider like a kite by inflating the wing and gentlyturning it slightly to right or left and back again.

Adjusting sp~edI have explained that a paraglider will normally fly'hands off at its most efficient glide speed, or there-abouts. Much of the time you will want to go slowerthan this to make the most of rising air, so you pulldown the brakes to some extent on both sides. This

slows you down by effectively increasing the angle of

CHAPTER2

attack. You could achieve a similar result by pulling therear risers, although this is not recommended becauseit would be easy to pull too far and stall the wing.(Useful to remember that you can use the rear risersthis way in the unlikely event of a control line breaking.)

Increasing speed is another matter; you can make aslight improvement by putting your legs straight out infront of you and trying to keep drag to the minimum,but the only way to get a significant increase is byusing a speed system. Designs differ in detail, but theyalmost all consist of a foot stirrup connected to thefront risers via a simple pulley mechanism. Pushing onthe stirrup shortens the front risers, so reducing theangle of attack and thus increasing speed. Somesystems operate on both A-and B-risers. The effortrequired to push on the stirrup is surprisingly high, andthe speed increase is not fantastic - sometimes itseems like a lot of hard work for an extra 10kph(5 knots) at best, but when you feel you could beblown backwards over a spine back ridge, the effort iswell worth it!

Preparing for launch. Thestirrup for the speed system istucked behind the pilot's legsuntil it is needed during theflight.

WHY IT FLIES 31

Figure 8: Basic paraglidingharness

32

Because flying a high-drag aircraft at speed is a ratherinefficient business (remember - the parasitic dragincreases with the square of the speed), it is normal touse the speed system for short periods only. A speedsystem should never be fitted to a glider which is notdesigned for one, and they should not be brought intoplay in very turbulent conditions, as they do slightlyincrease the risk of the leading edge of the wing tuckingunder and closing the cells. Fortunately, it is an instinc-tive reaction to release the pressure on the stirrup if thisstarts to occur, so your safety should not be threatened.

Trimmers

Earlier generations of paragliders sometimes incorpo-rated trimmers in the front or back risers. These were

buckle-type arrangements which allowed adjustmentduring flight. They went out of fashion because of thedifficulty of getting test certification throughout theadjustment range, but quick-release versions werereintroduced on several models, such as the Firebird'Genesis' .

Harness

Paraglider harnesses can be very simple, consisting oflittle more than a wooden seat, a few strips of web-

bing and three buckles. The risers on the canopy areconnected to the harness with a pair of maillons orkarabiners.

Figure 8 shows a typical harness of the type which youwill probably use during training. It simply has to holdyou securely in a position where you feel comfortableand from which you can reach the controls easily.Paraglider harnesses do not have to be adjusted astightly as parachuting harnesses, which will come asgood news to most males. That is not to say that theycan be allowed to be slack, as that could allow thebuckles to come undone in certain circumstances.

When you are standing up before launch, the shoulderstraps should be slightly too tight for comfort. You willthen find that when you are seated in flight they will bejust right. Most harnesses can be adjusted in flight

CHAPTER 2

Paraglider design considerationsA modern paraglider is a wonderful examplepractical design. You can pull it off the groundto inflate in nil wind, stabilize overhead witha touch the brakes, launch it at a steady trot,and yet it will also fly forwards quite a strongbreeze. It turns with a gentle pull on a singlehandle, or will fly straight with little more than anoccasional shift of your shoulders. This allbecause of intensive development. The easyinflation due to a combination of the choice of

airfoil section, the size and shape of the cellopenings, the positions of the lines, lengths ofthe risers and the layout of the brakes. It can do

this and still comply with the requirements ofcertification programmes.

Now, imagine that the manufacturer's sales officedemands that the model should have a higher topspeed. Simple! just cut down the area of the frontopenings a little and shorten the front lines givea slightly lower angle of attack. Result: more speed;

now the wing has become a pig inflate onthe ground and is more prone to spinning ifhandled roughly the air. A whole new develop-ment programme is needed to get the old easy-handling characteristics back into the faster wing.This illustrates the way that paraglider design is aconstant matter of compromise.

The Edel design teamdiscussing modifications duringa pause in testing: Rob Whittall(left), Gin Seok Song (centre)and Kaoru Ougisawa (right)

WHY IT FLIES 33

Laurent de Kalbermatten'selegant Magistair was anattempt to obtain highperformance through using avery narrow wing. A transverseflexible batten helped to holdthe shape. The model did notgo into production.

34

quite easily, but this is not something you will be want-ing to do until you have an hour or two of airtime.

Because walking in a harness which is correctly adjust-ed for flightis not particularlycomfortable, it is notuncommon to release the leg straps to avoid theQuasimodo-stoop effect. Unfortunatelythis can be fatal,as it is all too easy to forget to secure them again. Thisusually happens when you have already made one flightand decide to release the straps for the walk back foranother. I own up to having done this, and fortunately Igot away with it. I have seen others do it too, so beaware of the hazard and make your pre-flight checkevery time! The next chapter tells you what to check.

" ill '"....~ ..

III It'

I ~ '"l1li

11

~ '"If11 ""

III fJ ~I

CHAPTER 2

Pract;ca I

pilotingAt the risk of repeating myself, Istress that this chapter, like the restof the book, is not intended toreplace the services of instructors.Paragliding is not a teach-yourselfactivity.

~

In the descriptions I have assumedthat the paraglider has a three-riserlayout. If a two-riser system is in use,ignore the references to C-risers.

~

1

It is far easier to handle a paraglider in the air than onthe ground. This thought may be a comfort after youhave spent an hour or so wrestling with an undisci-plined wing at the start of your training course. Un-fortunately, you have to learn ground-handling skillsbefore you can proceed into the air, and the morepractice you can get, the better. The ideal conditions inwhich to learn are plenty of open space and steadylight winds of up to 10 mph (16 kph). You do not haveto be on a hill - in fact it is better if you are not. In thiswind strength the paraglider wing will lift itself quiteeasily, but you should not have any trouble anchoring itby yourself.

Ground-handlingin easy conditions

35

Pre-fUg hI checksPre-flight checking must be a basic part of yourflying from the very beginning. It is not somethingto do when you feel like it - do it every time.Good pre-flighting saves lives, usually your own.

Equipment inspection - at thesh1rt of each day and routinelythroughout the&!day1 Canopy: Correct size for pilot. All stitching

sound. No broken or frayed lines. No obviouskinks.

2 Harness: Good condition, with no fraying ofwebbing or stitching. Buckles correctly fitted andsecure.

3 Riser attacbme8;1ts(maillonsor karabiners): Ifsteel-no rust. If alloy ~ no deep scratches.Fitted loharness so that the screws are inboard.

4 Brake lines: Handles firmly attached (use bow-lines and tape the loose ends for extra security)and no obvious wear, particularly where the linespass through guides or pulleys on the risers.

5 Helmet: Correct size and in good condition.

Pre-Iaunch checks every time1 Helmet on and fastened?

2 Harness on and all straps secure?

3 Lines and risers free and untangled?

4 Maillons/karabiners screwed shut?

5 Speed system (if fitted) connected?

6 Brake lines free and in the correct hands?

CHAPTER 3

7 All clear above and behind?

8 Wing: all cells inflated and tinder control?

9 All clear in front?

launch!

In-flight cbecksDevelop the habit of having a good look roundthe harness and canopy frorn time to time onceairborne. A line broken by snagging on a rockduring inflation is easily missed on the ground butwill be obvious in flight. Check that karabinersare correctly aligned too. If the glider is not 100percent, make a safe landing at the earliestopportunity.

Canopy inspectionsAt least annually (and I l.ike to do it far moreoften) your canopy rnust be given a thoroughinspection. This should be a cell-by-cell going-over, looking for worn areas and strained orbroken stitching. It is also a good time to delveinto .it and remove any grass seeds, bits of twig orany other foreign bodies that will have foUnd theirway aboard. Run all the lines through yourfingers, feeling for kinks or breaks, and check alltheir terminations.

Line lengths are criticaL and certain line materialscan stretch significantly dUring an active flyingseason. Your glider's handbook should include arneasurement chart of all the lines so that you cancheck them accurately.

If there are bleached areas or other evidence of

discoloration, have the canopy checked by arespected dealer who will ensure that it has nof.become weakened by exposure to ultraviolet radia.tion or dangerous to fly because of porosity.

PRACTICAL PILOTING 37

A first-day student builds awall while the instructordemonstrates. Students oftenact as anchor people for eachother until they have becomeused to controlling the power ofthe wing in even a light breeze.

A perfect low wall formed witha FirebirdApache

Building the wall - a light-wind exerciseA typical exercise starts with the wing lying on its backwith the wind blowing towards the trailing edge. Theharness is laid out in front of the trailing edge. Withhelmet on, you clip in to the harness and take up thereverse launch position which will soon become very

38 CHAPTER 3

familiar. Identify the front risers and use them to teasethe A-lines up a little. The wing will immediately cometo life as air enters the cells and it will take on the form

of a wall. Forming and controlling this wall shape is abasic skill which you will use every time you launch inanything but the lightest winds. Practise raising andlowering the wall by pulling the front risers by hand,and then by simply leaning backwards and forwardsso that your body does the work. See how the walldrops as soon as you let the tension off the A-lines. Atthis stage don't let the wall get higher than about ametre (3 ft). As soon as it looks like growing too high,move towards it to take the pressure off.

Next, take hold of the brakes, either by the handles oralternatively by the lines themselves, leaving thehandles attached to their risers. Again raise and lowerthe wall, this time using a pull on both brakes togetherto help lower it.

Full inflation

The next stage is to 'fly' the wing above your head likea giant stunt kite. Check that your back is completelyinto the wind, and then - smoothly and fairly slowly- guide the front risers up, using your body weightpressing into the harness to help, and letting go of therisers just before the wing reaches full height.

PRACTICAL PILOTING

Above left and above: Thewall is raised and loweredsimply by pulling both frontrisers.

A stable wall established with aprototype Genesis during trials

Figure 9: Move to keep yourselfin the centre of the arc of thecanopy, applying just a dab ofbrake as necessary.

Below: With a bit of practiceyou will be able to run forwardwith this sort of commitment,while using the minimum ofbrake needed to retain control.

40

If you are very lucky it will stabilize directly overhead,leaving you to marvel at the size and shape of it. Morelikely, it will fall off to one side, trying to take you withit; or it will overshoot, collapse, and engulf you in a seaof nylon. After a few more attempts, during which theinstructor will disentangle you each time, you willbegin to get the feel of it. Soon you will have leamedto move sideways as necessary -to keep under thecentre of the arc of the wing, simultaneously applyingsome brake on the side you are moving away from.You will also sense when to use a touch of both brakes

together to stop it all overtaking you. If the wind issteady you will be able to keep the wing up forminutes on end.

t fTurn and run

The next ground exercise is to practise turning so thatnot only is the wing facing into the wind, but you, thepilot, are too. Simply turning around to take the half-twist out of the risers is easy, but problems arisebecause of the need to swap hands on the brakes. Nomatter how you do this, there is likely to be a secondor so when you have no effective control. Ideally, youwant to walk backwards into the wind while turning,simultaneously looking up at the wing and juggling thebrake handles. This does not always go entirelysmoothly at first.

Once everything is stabilized and facing in the rightdirection, lean forwards, make sure that there is notension on the brakes, and run powerfully forwards.When you can manage all this without too much

CHAPTER 3

drama, you are almost ready to move on to a traininghill for your first launches.

Collapsing the canopyBynow you will be itching to get off the ground, butthere is one more exercise to master first: collapsing

PRACTICAL PILOTING

Making sure the canopy is fullystabilized before turning around

41

the wing when you want to. In the light winds youshould be training in, this is very easy, but the lessonslearned now will be vital the first time you find yourselftouching down in a brisk breeze.

If you are using a basic training glider with just tworisers on each side, the positive way to collapse it is topull down firmly and confidently on both rear riserssimultaneously. The wing will disappear behind youand expire onto the ground. As it does this, you mustturn and run towards it so that the lines stay slack.Keep hold of the rear risers, and take care that thefront ones are given no opportunity to tighten.

In light winds the same technique can be used on athree-riser wing, but you should also learn to collapseit by pulling strongly on the middle risers. You will hearthis called 'B-lining', and it is the safest way of collaps-ing many paragliders if the wind is strong. As long asthe B-lines are kept tight while all the others are slack,the wing will be safe, although it may flap around a lot.

Once you have collapsed the wing, keep hold of therisers you used to cause the collapse until you havemoved around the wing and are certain that it really iscompletely under control.

There are other ways of collapsing a wing, some ofwhich are peculiar to certain gliders. Be guided byyour instructor in such cases.

The forwardlaunch

There are two main ways of launching a paraglider,and the forward method is the one you usually startwith. You will also hear it called the alpine or snatchlaunch. In very light or nil-wind conditions it is the onlymethod which works, but if there is a blow of morethan 5-6 mph (8-10 kph) I prefer the reverse method(see page 48).

For a forward launch, lay the wing out on its back, withthe trailing edge towards the launch direction: the

42 CHAPTER 3

launch will be cleaner if the wing is laid out in theform of a very shallow bow, with the tips slightly for-ward of the centre. Then spend a bit of time makingsure that the lines are free of snags, lead them for-wards, and clip yourself in. Make another carefulcheck that the risers are not twisted by lifting them upand looking back along each in turn. Lead the B- andC-risers over your forearms, and take hold of thebrakes and front risers (see Figure 10).

PRACTICAL PILOTlNG

Figure 10:Always take care toroute the risers over your armscorrectly when making aforward launch. Note how thefront risers (the As) are held inthe hands while the others passfreely over the forearms.

Left and below: Forward launch in light wind.The arms should move in an arc so that theyfollow the lines up as smoothly as possible.

43

At this stage it is useful to spread your arms and verygently pull on the front risers so that you can tell thatthe tension on each is identical. This ensures that youare correctly centred relative to the wing.

All OK?Take a pace backwards, keep your arms spreadand move forwards powerfully but without snatching.Try to bend forwards slightly from the waist during allthis. The first pace should be quite slow - just a walkreally - which starts the inflation. Until the wing isoverhead and you have let go of the front risers, youwon't need to be going quickly. As it goes overhead,you will probably need to use both brakes a bit to stopit overshooting. Once it really is up, and preferably afteryou have managed a glance at it to check that all thecells are inflated, lean forwards into the take-off run,keeping your arms well back, and somehow managingto take another upward glance to ensure that thecanopy is indeed fully developed. After a few paces, agentle application of the brakes to increase the angle ofattack should complete the launch.

That's the theory, anyway. Like most of us, I can get itwrong in many ways. I can snatch the start so that con-trol is lost immediately; I can bring my arms forwardtoo soon (and usually do); I can get the wing up so fastthat it shoots forwards and collapses; I can hesitateand let it collapse by default; I can hold pressure onthe front risers too long; I can forget to look up, and soon. At some stage you will probably develop your ownvariations. But when the rhythm is just right and a vir-tually effortless smooth launch results, the satisfactionis great.

Ground-handlingin a wind

44

Sooner or later, you will want to inflate your wing in amoderately strong wind, and this can be a rather fright-ening procedure for beginners. I learned the hard way,at the expense of some bruises and grass stains (andworse) on knees and elbows. Here are some tipswhich should take some of the pain and fear out of theoperation.

CHAPTER 3

Always put your helmet-on and secure it before clip-ping into the harness.

Layout the wing on its back, as for the forwardlaunch. Set it out square-on to the wind, which will notnecessarily be coming straight up the hill; don't worrytoo much about the outer parts and tips, as long as thecentre cells are clear and unobstructed. If the harness

is attached, ensure that you keep it fairly close to thetrailing edge of the wing, so that there is no chance ofthe front lines becoming just taut enough to open acell or two - it doesn't take much.

With one hand, take hold of both the brake lines aboutan arm's length above the handles and keep hold ofthem there. At this stage leave the handles attached tothe studs on the risers. Now lift one complete set ofrisers over your head and make a half-turn so that youare facing the wing. Keep some slack in all the linesexcept the brake lines, and don't worry if the wing isflapping around a bit - as long as you keep hold ofthe brakes it will not get away from you.

Keeping hold of the lines as described above, also gethold of the brake handles and remove them from their

studs. Sounds tricky, but it's not difficult when you try.At this learning stage it will be easiest if you hold thebrake controls so that the left and right hands pull thecorresponding left and right brakes as you look atthem now. Then payout the brakes progressively untilyou have hold of the handles only. You will need tohave your arms almost straight out behind you now tokeep control of that trailing edge.

Move backwards gingerly and the cells will start toinflate. Get the middle of the wing inflated to form ashallow wall, maybe 2 ft (600 mm) high. Ifyou havedifficulty doing this, it is probably because you arepulling the brake lines too far, so let them go out alittle. Practise carefully altering the height of the wall atthis stage. The A-lines will be just taut, and if you leanyour shoulders back a little while easing out on the

PRACTICAL PILOTlNG 45

brakes, the wall will build higher. You will find that theouter cells on either side will now inflate of their own

accord. Don't snatch at the controls, ease them, andmake evetything happen at your speed.

If one tip inflates and the other is reluctant, it may bebecause the wing is not quite square-on to the wind.Tty pulling the fully-inflated side towards you, control-ling its wall height with the brake, while you moveacross towards the uninflated tip. This will usually dothe trick.

Rob inflating a Navaho in abrisk breeze

Spend quite a bit of time getting the feel of the wingunder these conditions. This type of control is essentialif you are to use either of the reverse-launch methodssuccessfully. If things seem to be getting out of hand,move towards the wing; the leading edge will drop asthe pressure comes off the A-lines, and simultaneously

46 CHAPTER 3

you pull the brakes on more to keep it down. Wind thebrake lines round your hands if need be ('takingwraps'). The great temptation when handling in a windis to do everything in a rush, whereas you need controland balance. Take time to experience how a pull onthe left or right brake affects the wall: you have lots ofcontrol as long as you keep your head and do thecorrect things.

Ifyou really do get everything wrong, there are twoaccepted ways of minimizing the drama:

1 Haul one brake line right in and completely releasethe other. Keep hauling, hand over hand. The wingwill flail around a lot, but at least you should notexperience too much of a cross-country drag.

2 Pull one or both of the rear risers (the C-risers,

assuming the glider has a three-riser layout) reallyhard and keep on pulling.

If you can, move towards the canopy as soon as poss-ible - your aim is to keep the front risers slack at allcosts. If you can dash around one side of the wing, somuch the better.

Ifyou are past the point of no return and are beingdragged face-down across the field, accumulating evi-dence of the livestock that was there before you, thenoption 1 is the only practical remedy. Whatever you do,try to avoid the situation where the glider rotates andflies hard into the ground with a whump! This putsshock pressures into the cells and has been known toburst seams. It is often caused by pulling one brake onan unstabilized canopy without fully releasing theother.

PRACTICAL PILOTING 47

TanglesSometimes the lines will seem to be hopelesslytangled when you try to lay the paraglider out.If this is the case, don't panic, and don'timmediately start undoing maillons. Take stockof the situation, and if there is somebody elsewho can help, don't be too proud to ask. Themost common fault is that both sets of risersare twisted, and all that is needed is for theharness to make a forward or backward

somersault to clear the problem. Whether youremain in it while this is done is a matter of

personal taste.

If you have a really bad tangle, try to get theglider out of the wind and sort it out methodi-cally. At most you may need to unhook theharness from the risers - never more than

that. It is amazing how tbe most hopeless-looking bird's nests can be cleared in one ortwo moves with two people and a littlepatience.

Reverse

launching (initialtraining method)

48

The forward launch is simple in very light wind condi-tions, but you can't consider yourself a real paragliderpilot until you have mastered the reverse launch. Theground-handling procedure described in the previoussection prepares you for the simple reverse launchwhich is used in stronger winds. You can use it when-ever the breeze is strong enough to inflate the wingwithout you having to pull it forwards. It is a morecomplicated procedure than the forward method, butthere are two main reasons for it: it allows you to useyour body weight effectively for control in strongerwinds, and it lets you observe the wing throughout allstages of inflation.

Before we get into the details of the technique, thereare two good habits you should try to develop:

CHAPTER 3

. Try always to turn in the same direction.It doesn't matter which way this is, choose which-ever feels natural at the start and stick to it from

then on. This will reduce the likelihood of findingthat you have put an extra turn into the riggingwhen you take off, instead of removing the half-turn that will inevitably be there. Mark Dalesuggests a very simple dodge for deciding whichway you will have to turn: simply check which riseris on top, and remember that the shoulder it goesto will have to turn backwards. I normally lift theleft risers over my head at the start and thereforeturn left to take off. Think about it and decide

which way feels most natural for you. If you haveput a twist into the risers when dropping thecanopy on the previous flight, you may find thatyour usual turn direction will only make thingsworse. Develop the habit of checking for this as aroutine part of your pre-fIight procedures.

. Always wear gloves. You will have to pull on thebrake lines at points well above the handles, and itis very easy to give your fingers painful friction burnsif the lines are whipped through them by an un-expected gust.

Now for the technique, which is almost a replay of theground-handling exercise in a fresh wind. We'llassume that you are on a smooth ridge with a wind ofabout 12 mph (20 kph) blowing straight on.

] You have made sure that there is plenty of clearspace around you - especially in the all-importantdrag-back area directly downwind. With harnessand wing carefully checked, and the wing laid outacross the wind, build a Iow wall (see page 38).

2 When you have the wing nicely stabilized in thewall, check your footing - one leg forwards, theother back - and grasp the front risers just belowwhere they meet the lines.

PRACTICAL PILOTING 49

Reverse inflation. Notice howthe student leans well back intothe harness at the start so thather body is contributing to thepull-up. As the canopy comesoverhead, she is ready tosteady it with the brakes.

3 Pull the risers with a confident steady pull, aiming tokeep your arms straight and in line with the risers asthe wing comes up. Don't snatch! Take a step or twotowards the wing as this happens (you probablywon't have much choice) and be ready to applysome brake to keep it stabilized directly overhead.

4 Once the wing is stable and you are satisfied that nolines are snagged, make a half-turn, change over thebrake handles into the correct hands, and launch.

That is exactly what is supposed to happen, and it usu-ally does, but you will also encounter some involuntaryvariations. The most popular of these is to find thatwhat you thought was a 10-12 mph wind (17-20 kph),is actually a bit stronger. You get the wing inflated OK,but the second it is overhead you are whisked off the

ground without having much say in the matter and

50 CHAPTER 3

with the lines still crossed. Obviously this is somethingto avoid, but it will happen to you sooner or later. Thebig thing is not to panic; the pull on the lines will auto-matically rotate your harness into the correct direction,and you get on with piloting as if nothing untoward hashappened. A slight complication will be that you haveto get your hands onto the appropriate brake handlesat some time during the procedure, which is why I likethe continuous-control method which is describednext.

It happens to the best! Robsorting out the brakes during awindy launch in Japan

Reverselaunching(continuous-control method)

This is a simple variation of the previous method, and Iam glad to see that the training schools are taking agreater interest in it now. The only difference is thatyou take hold of the brake handles as they will bewhen you are flying. This has the great benefit of notrequiring you to shuffle the handles from one hand tothe other when you launch, so you have full control atevery stage of the operation. However, there is a priceto pay: as you build the wall, you will find that yourright hand controls the left wing, as you look at it, andvice versa. This does take a bit of getting used to, but Ithink the effort is well worth it. Spend some timeground-handling on the flat before trying this in angeron the hill.

I think that this continuous-control system is beneficialwhen reverse launching in all conditions. It is particu-larly useful in lightish breezes, when you often seewings collapsing because the pilot doesn't keep con-trol while swapping handles.

Flying straight

French team pilot Olivier Topsflying straight out from the hill.No brake is being used at thisstage.

52

A correctly trimmed paraglider will flystraight in calmair without any help from the pilot. However, air israrely calm, so you will need to give it a little help byapplying pressure to the appropriate brake from timeto time. These corrections should be very smooth andgentle: just small movements which allow plenty oftime for the wing to respond. At firstyou will probablytend to over-control, because paragliders react muchmore slowly than, say, cars or bikes.

You will have been taught to cruise with a smallamount of brake applied - on most training glidersthis will be equal to about a hand's width. This is auseful guide, but don't let yourself get into the habit ofthinking in terms of position alone when it comes toapplying brake - feel is more important. Try to devel-op a feeling for the tension on the brake lines, andkeep it equal. Ifyou run into lumpy air, let your handsmove a little to counter the movements of the wing.For example, if one tip finds sink, a pull on the brake

CHAPTER 3

that side may be needed to maintain the usual tension,followed by a dab on the other side to keep everythingstraight. This way you will find that you can keep oncourse easily; you will also be adding to your flightsafety, because you will be helping to keep full press-ure in the wing, which reduces the possibility of a tiptucking under.

If for any reason the wing tries to turn of its ownaccord - perhaps because of a tip deflation or asnagged line on launch - concentrate on keeping itflying straight by braking on the side away from theturn. Only when you are satisfied that you can keep iton a straight course should you even think aboutcorrecting the fault. A deflated tip on any but a high-performance glider will often correct itself without anyinput from the pilot. At most, a couple of long firmpumps on the brake should cure it - one is usuallyenough.

PRACTICAL PILOTlNG

The left tip is deflated and hungup in the lines. The pilot iskeeping things under control bybraking the right wing tocounter the drag of thedeformed left one.

53

- Nil wind

~I/, /15mp\ airspeed\,1

,Jr~

r~

Figure 11:Never confuse airspeedwithgrol.1ndspeed.

54

15mph ground speed

- Head wind

\ /15mph~f¥irspeed

,J

5mph ground speed

- Tail wind

\ \1/

15mp~i"p~d CC~ClL

25mph ground speed

Ground speed andairspeedYour paraglider has to keep movingthrough the air at a minimum speedof about 15 mph (24 kphl if it is todevelop enough lift to fly safely. This isdue to the laws of physics, and neitherprayer nor large sums of money willalter Therefore in still air you willtravel over the ground at the samespeed as you fly: 15 mph (24 kphl.

Now imagine that you are flyingdirectly into a 10 mph (16 kph) wind:your airspeed remains unaltered at15 mph (24 kph), but you will coverthe ground at only 5 mph (8 kph),because of the headwind. This will

feel quite slow, and even if you areclose to the ground your speed willnot seem at all threatening.

Things will feel rather different if youdre flying with that 10 mph wind. Youmaintain your 15 mph airspeed, butnow the 10 mph tailwind has to beadded to it. You will be covering theground at 25 mph (40 kph), which isquite likely to feel disturbingly rapid.

In all these examples the position ofthe brakes will be exactly the same,because the paraglider is passingthrough the air at the same speed.The big thing to remember is not toattempt to reduce your airspeed justbecause the ground is going underyour boots more quickly than youmight wish. Maintain airspeed atall costs.

CHAPTER 3

Turning a paraglider is so easy that you will find youare simply responding instinctively most of the time.Just a little pull on the right or left brake, and you aresoon pointing in the right direction. When you haveplenty of height and space to play with, that systemworks fine, but one day you will find that you are tryingto stay up while ridge soaring in light conditions, withthe ground only a few feet away: suddenly the preci-sion of your turns will become extremely importantto you. Under these conditions you need to turn asefficiently as possible without stalling or spinning. Thesecret is familiarity with your glider and lots"of practicewhen the soaring is easy.

Yet another note of caution. Just because someone

else on a similar glider is managing to stay up, don'tassume that you can. You may not have the experi-ence needed to turn safely near the ground. When itcomes to handling, I sometimes think that a paraglider

PRACTICAL PILOTING

Turning

Staying up on an old Air-ManXC 9, one of the first paraglidersto be sold in Britain in anyquantity. It will need only onesloppy turn to put Matthewbelow the ridge in theseconditions.

55

Harness with cross-bracing.If the crossed straps in front ofthe pilot's waist are tightenedup, side-ta-side disturbance ofthe seat will be reduced whenrough air is met during flight,but assisting a turn byweightshift will be difficult.

56

is much more like a horse than a motorcycle, and youhave to develop 'feel'.

WeightshiftYou can increase the rate of response when initiating aturn by using your body weight and leaning in thedirection you want to go. Some gliders are much moresensitive to this than others - much depends on thespread of the risers and the design of the harness. Onharnesses with adjustable cross-bracing, weightshiftwill only be really effective with the bracing slackenedright off.

How much brake?

When dealing with turns, you will often hear pilotstalking of percentages of brake. For practical purposes,zero brake is when the control handles are right upand the lines to the brakes have an obvious bow in

each: the glider will be flying at full speed. The otherextreme is 100 percent brake: the handles will besomewhere below waist height, and the wing veryclose to stalling. In between, at 25 percent brake yourhands will probably be about level with your ears,while at 50 percent brake they will be at chest height.This is a very rough and inexact guide, but it won't befar out for most intermediate paragliders.

Speed and turnsThe fastest turns are made starting from the zero-brakeposition. You pull one brake, say 25 percent or 30 per-cent, and round you go. However, this loads up theglider as you swing outwards due to. centrifugal force,and your sink rate will increase considerably. So fastturns are not very tight ones and are greedy withheight.

Tighter turns are achieved by entering with bothbrakes at about 25-30 percent and pulling the insideone further - perhaps as far as 50 percent. This pro-duces a relatively slow, tight turn, which you canadjust by slight movements of the outside brake -always being smooth and taking care not to overdo it.

CHAPTER 3

Whatever sort of turn you make, you will sink fasterthan when flying in a straight line, but the flatter theturn, the less the increase in sink rate.

At each end of the range of turns there is an extremewhich you must be able to recognize and avoid. Theextreme fast turn can develop into a spiral dive, whilethe extreme slow one is the start of a flat spin.

A spiral dive is entered by applying 50 percent (ormore) brake on one side and keeping it there througha series of 3600 turns. The speed and loads increaserapidly, accompanied by a dramatic increase in sinkrate. After a couple of turns the speed really builds up.Ifyou keep the brake on, the wing will bank more andmore steeply as your body is thrown outwards bycentrifugal force - eventually you can almost reachhorizontal. During a severe spiral, you can becomeseriously disoriented and feel as if the world is turningaround you. This is a good time to ease off on thebrake - you should have done so much earlier. Un-fortunately the disorientation effect can be so strongthat pilots have been known to spiral completely air-worthy paragliders into the ground.

The flat spin starts when you stall one half of the wingduring a very slow turn. It is one of the most danger-ous conditions you can get a paraglider into. As thename suggests, the wing attempts to rotate around itsvertical axis with a strong yawing movement, and if leftalone will do so, twisting all the lines together as itgoes. Needless to say, the brake lines are included inthis, so after a couple of full turns they are not going tobe much help to you. Avoid the flat spin in the firstplace by not using excessive brake. Ifyou sense thatone may be starting, release both the brakes to getthings straight again.

Your first turns will be gentle '5' turns, and yourinstructor will gradually ask you to make these tighteras your flying progresses. He or she will be watchingcarefully to check that you don't make the common

PRACTICAL PILOTING 57

beginners' mistake of forgetting to return the brakes tothe cruising position after each element of the S. Inthe worst case, what might happen is something likethis:

1 turn left using 25 percent left brake, and hold itthere;

2 turn right using 50 percent right brake to overcomethe left, and hold that too;

3 apply whatever left brake remains;

4 realize that the controls are now feeling sluggish, butstill pull the right brake to try and straighten thingsup;

5 stall into the ground;

6 fill in accident report form.

Facing page: Changingdirection - quite a lot of rightbrake is being used to turn thisBarracuda.

Land into wind if you can. That's rule one, whichmeans that your ground speed will be as low as poss-ible. In fact it can easily be zero if there is any realheadwind. We'll look at selection of landing fieldslater. For the time being, just imagine that you have anice big green open space ahead of you with a wind-sock at one end and no other gliders in the air. Scanthe area, make a smooth final turn at 40 or 50 feet(12-15 m), and line up along the line indicated by thewindsock. Keep plenty of speed on by using very littlebrake, if any, and move your body into the fully uprightposition.

If the wind is light, the ground will seem to be passingby very rapidly, but still keep speed on until your bootsare about 3 feet (1 m) from the ground, then flarepositively by using both brakes quite hard. If your co-ordination is good you will arrive with almost noforward motion at all, but always be prepared to run afew steps.

PRACTICAL PILOTING

Landing

Full flare

~

59

Wind gradientThe reason forkeeping plenty ofspeed on duringlanding approachesis to coUnter,theeffect of the wind

gradient. The windspeed close to theground is normdllyless than higher up,because of frictionbetween the air andthe surface. The fast

flight ensures that theparagJider keeps asafe margin ofairspeed downthrough this windgradient. Attempts atslow approaches canresult in stalls

because the wingmay not be able toreact quickly enoughto a steep windgradient.

The exception to thegeneral rule aboutwind being lighter atground levelsometimes occurs

among highmountains. Here

valley winds can beblowing which areundetectable ataltitude.

60

If there is a fresh breeze blowing, you will find thatyour descent will be almost vertical, and now yourflare is much less important than the ability to collapsethe canopy the instant you touch down. Often no flarewill be needed, but I have seen pilots become so con-ditioned to flaring that they still do it the first few timesthey land in wind. Unfortunately, the landing is thenfollowed immediately by falling over and beingdragged backwards. As soon as you touch down inwind, turn and run towards the wing to deflate it,pulling in on the brakes at the same time.

The main sins to avoid on a modern paraglider areflying too slowly on the approach or trying to descendsteeply in a series of stalls. The stalling descent used tobe common in the old days of parascending canopieswhich were closely related to jump 'chutes, and those

pilots could get away with it, but it is a very riskybusi-ness on anything else. You also need to make your finalturn smoothly and with sufficient height that you don'tarrive swinging about, penduluming from side to side.

Landings should always be light and easy, but ifyouhave the slightest reason to think that everything is notgoing strictlyaccording to plan, swallow your pride andprepare for a good PLF(see page 145)rather than tryingto retrieve an impossible situation and ending up with abroken ankle. Certainly,ifyou are off-windand makinga crabbing landing, don't hesitate - go for the roll!

Of course, once you get further into the sport you willnot always be landing in a field somewhere beneathtake-off. You will be top-landing and slope-landing -techniques which are dealt with in Chapter 7.

Rules of the airLaunching, steering and landing are simple techniquesto master on a paraglider, but they are just a small partof the overall blend of skills which will make you into asafe and confident pilot. The knowledge will comewith time and a bit of study, but there are basic rulesof the air which you need to know from the first timeyou venture into the air:

] Aircraft flying towards each other - break right.

2 Aircrafton converging courses - the aircraft onthe right has priority; the other one must changecourse.

3 Overtaking a slower aircraft while ridge soaring:

- In the United Kingdom, pass between the otheraircraft and the ridge.

- In other countries, pass on the outside, takingcare not to 'crowd' the slower aircraft.

4 On approach and landing - the lower aircraft haspriority.

PRACTICAL PILOTING

Where will.land?When you start it isdifficult to estimate

where you will touchdown. There is a

simple trick which willhelp: choose a likelyspot ahead of youand check whether it

seems to be movingup or down in yourfield of vision. If it is

apparently movingupwards, you willland short of it; if it ismoving down, youwill overshoot. This

system is not infalli-ble, because itassumes that youcontinue to fly atexactly the samespeed and that thewind speed is consis-tent between you andthe ground, but it isstill a very good indi-cator which you canuse from quite a longway away.

Facing page: Collapsingastalled canopy at the point oftouch-down in a fresh breeze

61

Everyone joins in during the firstdays at training school.

62

Trainingschemesand pilotratings

Most countries have a pilot rating system with severalsteps in it. The international standard is called Para-Pro

which has been developed from a Norwegian hang-gliding system. Each step comprises flying tasks andexaminations. The object of the exams is to equip youwith the knowledge you will need to fly the next stage.Because paragliding is still evolving, the requirementstend to be changed from time to time.

In the United Kingdom the rating system has four stepswhich cover all stages, from novice to advanced cross-country pilot.

The list that follows on pages 65-66 gives a generalpicture of the standards required for a self-launch pilotin Britain, where the hills are quite low and theemphasis tends to be on ridge-soaring in moderatewinds. In alpine countries students tend to graduate tohigh flights much more early on, although in very lightwinds.

The requirements for tow-launched pilots differ indetail from those for self-launched pilots, but theoverall progression is very similar.

The UK ratingsystem

63

Proficiency schemes agdratingsAlthaugh the Para-Pro.system is available as an internatianalstandard, thexeare almast as many rating scbemes as thereare cauntries with paragliders in them: Many af these areadapted versians af existing natianal hang-glider schemes,but madificatiansare always needed. This is because,althaughit takes abautthe saD;1eamaunt of airtiD;1eaverall to.reach the levelaf campetence at which yau are littlethreat to.yaurself and atbers, tbe rate at:whicb individual steps areattained .is different. Far example, mast students get to.gripswith tbe basic technique af steering a paraglider witbina fewminutes,whereas.it can take a cauple af days to.achievesimilar precisian an a hang glider; Canversely, graund-handling and launching a paraglider safely in a range afflyable canditians can take weeks to.experience and master-. ifs rather D;1aresimple with a hang glider;

The philasaphy behind a rating scheme can have a greateffect an its usefulness. Same are biased taa far tawards

experience, with levels being attained largely thraugh haurs ofairtime and number af sites flawn. That's OK as lang as yauappreciate that ten haurs af smaath caastal saaring do. natequate with ten haurs afbattling with mid.day therD;1alsatalpine sites. Others depend taa heavily an exam perfar-mances: . pilats who. are ward-perfect in reciting the Quad-rantal Rule far the Separatian o.fTraffic in Cantralled Airspaceare still menaces in mast paragliding situatians if they haven'talso. learned the basic skill af keeping a gaad laakaut whenflying amang their clubmates.Fram. D;1yawn experience,1wauld say that the Britisbscheme is fairly well sarted aut, withperhaps just a shade taa much emphasis an exams. As Iwrite, there is a fine discussian gaing an in the USA abautwhether to.change fram a three-rung to.a five-rung ladder.Time will telL but as it will be the same pilats flying the samewings in the same canditians, pravided that the selected

scheme encaurages the studen.ts to. thinki~s well as to. fly, itprabably won't D;1akemuch difference whth is chasen.

We have to.have ratings - gavernments and aviatianautharities aften demand .it- andl wauld encaurageanyane to.keep aspiring to.the next rung an the ladder. Butalways appreciate that reaching that rung daes nat by itselfnecessarily make yau a better ar a safer pilat.

64 CHAPTER4

1 Student Pilot This stage is completed while at train-ing school. A dozen safe flights are needed, half ofthem with a ground clearance of at least 100 ft(30 m). The pilot must fly at appropriate speeds,make controlled 90° turns in both directions and

perform a number of safe landings within aspecified area. As well as these tasks, the studentmust satisfy the instructor that he can assess condi-tions, and devise and execute a suitable flight plan;and that he has a good attitude to airmanship andsafety matters. The exam covers simple matters offlight and weather, as well as the all-important Rulesof the Air (see page 61) for collision avoidance.

2 Club Pilot The pilot must demonstrate launches innil-wind conditions and moderate breezes; musthave at least twenty flights from a reasonable alti-tude - not 'ground skimming' - two of which musthave at least five minutes above take-off level; andmust execute accurate 180° turns and make goodlandings within a 20-m radius of a target, some ofwhich must be top-landings. The exam requiresmore knowledge of air law and meteorology, as wellas basic knowledge of the principles of flight. Youalso have to continue to convince the instructor that

you have the sort of attitude and airmanship that willmake you a safe pilot when you are in the companyof others at club sites.

A mixture of students at club-pilot level and experiencedmembers sharing the air on apleasant soaring day

3 Pilot This standard prepares you for cross-countryflying - if you wish. More stress is put on know-ledge of air law and the principles of flight.Knowledge is required about stalls and spins, butyou do not have to have to perform them. Muchmore flying is needed - 15 hours at the time ofwriting, and this has to be at a number of differentsites. In both this and the next stage, airmanship andattitude continue to be taken into account.

4 Advanced Pilot This is the top rung of the BHPAtraining ladder. It is achieved by flying cross-countrytasks as well as amassing a further 150 flights and 35hours airtime. The knowledge required for the examis quite extensive in all fields, and the successfulAdvanced Pilot will be qualified to a level compara-ble with that of the best recreational pilots in otherbranches of air sport.

During the Club Pilot stage an orange streamer about ametre long is flown from the pilot's harness until 10flying hours have been logged. This is a signal to otherfliers to allow extra space in the air, and it is also aninvitation for club coaches or other experienced pilotsto offer advice if it seems to be needed.

Attitude

Attitude is a recurrent theme in all the stages.Naturally, it covers attitude to personal safety and toflying itself, but it also goes much further. Paraglidingdepends on the goodwill of landowners, farmers andgovernment agencies for access to its sites, and thismust be carefully fostered. Leaving gates open, lettingyour dogs run about off the lead, and screaming athigh speed through villages in cars plastered with para-gliding stickers, are all examples of attitudes that thesport can do without.

66 CHAPTER 4

The FAI Eagle proficiency badges require certainstandards of achievement, and once attained do nothave to be renewed. The requirements are the sameworldwide:

Eagle badges

Holding an Eagle badge is not a qualification - simplya great source of personal satisfaction. The flights haveto be observed by a responsible person, and a baro-graph is needed for the gain-of-height tasks. Thebadges are issued by the national aero club of thepilot's country, and a full register is kept. Often thenational aero club will delegate responsibility foradministering the badges to the appropriate nationalparagliding body.

It is easy for paraglider pilots to travel the world withtheir aircraft, but sometimes there are problems whenproof of qualifications is required to fly certain sites orfor access to cable-cars. The International Pilot

Proficiency Identification card was introduced by CIVLin 1992 to overcome these problems. It carries thepilot's equivalent to the international Para-Pro rating inseveral languages. You still need yourown national rating card - indeed, theIPPI is invalid without it - but there have

been reports from all over the world thatthe system has made life much simplerfor travelling pilots. The cards cost theequivalent of $10 in most countries, andin Great Britain they are issued by theBHPA. Get one before you travel abroadto fly!

IPPI card

The International PilotProficiency Identification card- very useful if you plan to flyabroad

ONAUTIQUEATlONALE

NG COMMISSION

Hot Proficiency IdentificationInternationaler Befahigungsnachweis. Certificado de Calificacion Internacional de Piloto

Certificat Internationale de Qualification de Pilote

MeJi\IlYHapoiIHOe RB8JJ"g,ill<8UMOHHOe CB\!JIeTeJIbCTBO mInora

S<JJ!!\'I/'-<' CI'y t-Bi'tlem

TRAINING SCHEMES AND PILOT RATINGS 67

When you were learning to fly,your training schoolwill have provided you with gliders which were thecorrect size and which had a performance suited toyour ability. Once you have qualified sufficiently to buyyour own wing, there is plenty of scope for makingexpensive mistakes. Paragliding is a relatively newsport, and much of the knowledge which has led tothe wing of the mid-nineties being remarkably safe hasbeen earned at the expense of the customers of thelate eighties.

There are second-hand paragliders on the marketwhich are dangerous; there are those which are madefrom materials which were plagued by acceleratedageing, and there are plenty which are just downrightold and obsolete. Unfortunately there are quite a fewstolen ones too. Until you have built up a significantstock of experience, you won't be able to tell which iswhich, and it is a good idea to talk to as manythoroughly respected pilots as you can before partingwith any cash.

In Britain the risks are minimized by purchasing fromdealers registered by the BHPA,who will not selluncertificated gliders.

Facing page: The WindtechAmbar is a stable wing suitablefor new pilots. Developmentduring the] 990s has led togreat increases in both safetyand performance.

69

A simple glider like this isperfect for your first few days oftraining, but its performancewould be too limited for moreambitious use.

70

Certification systemsDon't let yourself become obsessed with performancealone: easy handling and stability are more importantthan the last degree of glide angle. As far as safety isconcerned, you will encounter two main rating sys-tems: ACPULS and Giltesiegel. ACPULS is principallyFrench/Swiss, while Gi.ltesiegel is German; both arerecognized in many other countries. Both systemsattempt to show how easily and how quickly para-gliders recover from tucks, stalls, spins etc, and howmuch pilot input is required. However, the philosophybehind each is slightly different. ACPULS concentrateson how rapidly a canopy recovers from deformation,whereas Gi.ltesiegellays more stress on how easily itdeforms in the first place.

The ACPULS system was revised early in 1994, and isnow more correctly called AFNOR. Originally it cover-ed twelve features of handling, from the simple 'inflateand launch' to flat spins and turn reversals. These havenow been increased to seventeen, but not all gliders

CHAPTER5

have to be tested for all the features. Solo gliders areput into one of three categories by the manufacturers- standard, performance and competition - and haveto meet a different selection of the requirements,according to category. Naturally the standard glidershave to meet the largest number of requirements withthe minimum amount of pilot input. Dual or tandemgliders make up a fourth category.

The Gtitesiegel (it means 'seal of approval') testingregime devised by the German hang-gliding assoc-iation (DHV) is considered to be the more searching ofthe two systems. Gliders are graded from 1 to 3,according to ease of handling and recovery. A 'one'means that it will recover from a deflation almost

before it has happened, while a 'three' will demandhigh-speed freestyle macrame with the rigging lines tostop the canopy turning inside-out in rough air. Thatmay be a slight exaggeration, but you get the picture.Much committee work has been done to harmonize

the certification systems, and it is very likely that asingle system will emerge in due course

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BUYING A GLIDER AND LOOKING AFTER IT

Dual gliders can have an areaof 40 square metres,

Figure 12,'Examples of AFNOR(left) and Giitesiegel (below)decals, These show that thewings to which they are appliedsatisfy certain standards ofstrength and handling, In futurethese, like the earlier ACPULSgrading method, may give wayto a standard CEN certificationwhich will be identicalthroughout Europe, Never buyan un certified glider of any type,

I~

71

The harness you use can affect the handling perfor-mance of the wing, and the airworthiness certificatewill specify the type that it was tested with.

Don't take anyone's word that any given paraglidercarries a certificate: make sure that you see it on thewing itself.

Size is importantYour glider needs to be the right size for your weight.Usually the wing area is indicated by a figure in themodel description, such as 'Space 26', which suggestsa nominal area of 26 square metres. At the time ofwriting a 26 or 27 is a medium-size wing, catering forpilot weights of between 65 and 85 kilograms. This isclip-in weight, rather than get-out-of-the-bath weight.Most manufacturers produce their models in threesizes to cover the 45 to 120 kg range, plus a muchbigger one for dual flying and corn-fed Texans. Theairworthiness certificate which should always besupplied with the glider will show a higher weightrange, because it refers to the all-up flying weight,which includes the weight of the wing itself.

In smooth conditions you can get away with flying anoversize wing, but as soon as the going gets rough youwill appreciate the wisdom of having one that is prop-erly matched to your weight - lightly loaded wingsare much more prone to collapses. On the other hand,if you are too heavy for the wing you are in for a miser-able time, with difficult launches, a poor sink rate anda fast landing speed.

Harnesses The harness needs to be matched to the glider you fly,although most modern designs can be flown with mostmodern gliders. Ifyou are buying a new one, you shouldbe guided by an instructor you trust. I would not recom-mend any harness which does not include provision fora back-protector and a reserve parachute with shoulderconnections. Mypersonal taste is for adjustable cross-bracing too. The cross-bracing dampens sideways

72 CHAPTER 5

reactions in lumpy air. At the time of writing there is nointernational standard specifically for harnesses, al-though several countries have their own. In Europe, theymay come under the umbrella of the European PersonalProtective Equipment regulations in due course.

Common sense comes into harness purchase, and it iseasy to try them for size and comfort by hanging froma rafter. Check that the leg straps don't feel as if theywill cut into you, and select a model with a seat deepenough to support your thighs when you settle backinto the flyingposition - some tend to be just tooshort. Avoidthe so-called 'mountain' harnesses whichhave only a canvas seat and are uncomfortable after avery short time.

If buying second-hand, reject anything that is seriouslyscuffed, crudely repaired or obviously faded by extend-ed exposure to the sun. Be prepared to spend enoughfor a harness you will be happy with for a long time,because you will probably change it far less often thanthe wing you fly it with.

John Silvester settling in after ahigh-wind launch. I like thiskind of large harness withplenty of back support.

You've been through the training school; you'veenjoyed getting your Club Pilot rating; the sport is foryou, so what do you buy? I would say: go for the latestmodel of a good intermediate glider (from the perfor-mance range of the new categories) from one of thelarger manufacturers. This type will be pleasant to flyand the performance will not hold you back at all -they are well capable of cross-country flights. Buy anew one if you can possibly afford it, otherwise get asecond-hand one from a reputable source. Avoid old-model 'hot ships' (pre-1992) like the plague, even ifthey appear to be very cheap and you are assured thatthey have only a few hours of airtime.

All paragliders depreciate in value rather fast, but themarket for good intermediate gliders is strong, so if youdecide you want to move on to a competition model ina year or so, you should be able to do so quite easily.

BUYING A GLIDER AND LOOKING AFTER IT

What paraglidershould I buy?

73

Rob won the WorldChampionship on a FirebirdNinja in 1991, but manyrecreational pilots find it toodemanding to fly.

One feature which I find really worthwhile is for theglider to have dear colour-coding for the lines. If the A,Band C lines are of different colours it makes life

much easier when checking that they are all correctlylaid out before launch. It also helps when there aretangles to unravel.

Everyday care

74

A perfect paraglider material would be completelyimpervious to air. It would also be cheap, light inweight, very flexible, reliably strong, not weakened bystitching or welds, totally tear-resistant, unstretchable,unaffected by ultraviolet light, and easy to attach linesto. Unfortunately such a perfect cloth has yet to be dis-covered, so for the time being the manufacturers alluse woven materials of the nylon type which are then'dressed' by applying various types of coating to ensurethat they are not porous. This dressing is applied under)

pressure and heat, but it will not stay put for ever. Thetechnology draws heavily upon experience of develop-ing cloths for spinnakers on ocean-racing yachts.

The longer you can keep the dressing in your wing, thelonger it will fly without performance loss. The dress-ing deteriorates very gradually, mainly owing to flexingand folding, but heat, mildew and sunlight all take apart too. You don't notice the difference as the ageingprocess develops, but it happens, sure enough. Just try

CHAPTER 5

comparing the crisp feel of the cloth of a new gliderwith one that is two or three years old.

You can slow down this ageing process with a littlebasic care:

. Don't fold the wing any more tightly than you haveto: some pilots seem to develop a passion for gettingit as small as possible. As long as you can get it inthe bag, that's OK.

. Avoid rolling the wing up in a coil like a Swiss roll.This can build up considerable tensions in parts ofthe cloth. Instead, use folds with short flat sectionsbetween so that the cloth can relax between bends.

. If you are not going flying for a few days, try tokeep your wing in a shaded space large enough forit to be taken out of its bag so that it is not underpressure.

. Never pack the glider away when wet. Let it dry outin the spare bedroom even if this poses a threat tohousehold harmony.

. Try to lead the lines in smooth curves when youpack up. Avoid tight turns, particularly where theyjoin the risers. This is especially important if yourglider has Kevlar lines, as repeated bending canweaken them.

. Sunlight is bad news for paraglider cloth. When outof doors, keep it in the bag until you are ready to fly.This is particularly important if you are high on amountain where the UV rays are relativelyunscreened.

. Before starting out on a long journey, think aboutwhere you will put your paraglider in your car. Someluggage compartments have a hot exhaust pipeimmediately underneath which is quite capable ofbaking it.

BUYING A GLIDER AND LOOKING AFTER IT

)(

~~Figure 13: Folds are better thana tight coil when packing thewing.

Below: a well-folded wing

75

. If you really must clean parts of your wing, use avery mild soap and lukewarm water - never deter-gent or any other form of solvent.

. The public and paragliders do not mix well.Cigarettes, dog urine and sun-tan oil all pose athreat.

Increased porosityA few years ago there was a problem with a certaintype of polyester cloth which lost its coating veryrapidly. After less than a year, new paragliders werebecoming porous to the extent that they were difficultto inflate and could also stall in flight due to loss ofinternal pressure. Several different manufacturers in anumber of countries used this cloth. Most of these air-

craft have long since been withdrawn, and there is nochance of your purchasing one from a recognizeddealer. However, be extremely cautious if you aretempted to respond to a newspaper advertisement,as there is a fair chance that you could be buyingtrouble.

There are instruments produced to measure theporosity of the cloth, and some paraglider dealershave these and offer a testing service. A crude checkcan be made by trying to suck air through a sample,but this needs lots of experience to be at all effective.You also have to pick the right place to check,because wings do not develop porosity evenly all over- usually the area behind the top of the leading edgeis the first to go.

Karabiners andmaillons

76

Karabiners and maillons are the essential links

between wing and harness. Don't economize on them.Use either good-quality screw-locked alloy karabinersor stainless-steel maillons of at least 6 mm (1/4in)diameter. Karabiners are now produced which arespecially designed for paragliding, being shaped tominimize any tendency to turn and thus avoid the loadbeing taken on the gate.

CHAPTER5

Karabiners should be routinely replaced every threeyears, or sooner if scratched. They should be fitted sothat the screw lock is in the inside - towards the pilot- as this reduces the tendency for them to turn justbefore take-off. Once in the air, always check that theyhave aligned themselves correctly.

If you need to loosen a maillon and are out on the hill-side without a suitable spanner, you can often do thetrick by gripping the nut between two coins to increasefinger-leverage.

Most paragliders come complete with their own ruck-sack. Ifyou are buying one separately, go for the largesize regardless of the size of your wing. You will thenhave room for harness, flying suit and all the extraswhich can make a day on the hill so enjoyable.

Life will also be more pleasant if you have a broadVelcro strap to hold the canopy together when folded,and a thin nylon stuff-bag to keep it in.

BUYING A GLIDER AND LOOKING AFTER IT

Rucksack

77

Paraglidingis a completely weather-dependent sport, sofor enjoYmentand safety you must build up some met-eorological knowledge. This needs to be at three levels:

. a general concept of weather systems so that youcan decide between going flyingat the weekend ortiling the bathroom

. knowledge of how weather develops during the dayin your locality, so that you can go to the best hill forthe wind and recognize safe launch periods

. understanding of how air can move upwards power-fully enough for soaring flight to be possible.

In this chapter there is space only to scrape thesurface of this vast subject, and I will use simplific-ations and generalizations which will make truemeteorologists wince. For information on flyingweather in detail, see Further Reading, page 196.

r.'1

,I

The air itselfThe Earth is surrounded by air which remains thereowing to the force of gravity. The air we are concernedwith forms the troposphere, which is the lowest layer,extending from the surface of the Earth to about40,000 ft (10 km) at its maximum height. Tropo comesfrom the Greek for 'turbulent', and the air here isalways on the move. This layer is warmest close to thesurface, and its temperature drops with height at afairly constant rate.

Weather - thebasic ingredients

Facing page: A clutch ofparagliders climbing in a bluethermal (see page 92)

79

Air is a mixture of gases - mainly nitrogen, but about20 percent is oxygen, and there is a small but highlysignificant amount of water vapour.

As we go about our daily lives at walking pace, it issometimes difficult to imagine that air has mass, butstick your hand out of a car window at full speed, andthe mass immediately becomes apparent. The gravitywhich keeps it in place around the planet causes themass to exert considerable pressure, which can bemeasured with simple instruments; the most commonof these is the barometer. Naturally, this pressure isgreatest at the Earth's surface, because that is wherethere is the greatest depth of air to produce the press-ure. Therefore, the higher you go, the lower the airpressure. Ifyou take a barometer up a hill it will showthis reduction, and when a barometer is used in thisway, to measure vertical distance, it becomes in effectan altimeter.

Air reacts to pressure and heat in the way that all gasesdo: when it is heated its volume expands, and when itis compressed its temperature increases. Keep this inmind - uneven heating is the key to the generation ofwind and lift.

The effect of the sunIf the Earth were not heated by the sun, or if it were tobe heated completely evenly, the atmosphere wouldprobably be prepared to remain as a sullen layer withlittle movement in it. As this is not the case, we willtake a look at how the heating happens.

Because it is transparent, the sun's rays pass throughclear air without heating it. When they strike the Earth,they are absorbed and heat up the ground or seaaccordingly. You can experience this effect very easilyby standing at a sunlit window on a winter day: youwill feel the warmth of the sun on your skin, but if youplace a hand against the window, the transparent glasswill feel very cold.

80 CHAPTER 6

The Earth's warmed surface radiates heat back into

the air, which is thereby warmed from the groundupwards. This alone would be enough to cause con-siderable air movement, because as the ground-levelair warms up it becomes less dense and will 'float'upwards, its place being taken by cooler air. This ishow thermals develop, and we spend quite a bit oftime dealing with them in the next chapter.

As there is lots of sunlight at the equator and not muchat the poles, the overall effect is for air to rise at theequator and then flow towards the poles, sinkingsteadily as it does so. The rising air at the equator isconstantly replaced by cold polar air travelling lowover the hemispheres, and warming up progressivelyon the way. However, if this were the only influence,there would only ever be cold northerly winds inEurope, North America and Asia, and icy southerlies inAustralia, South America and much of Africa. Variety is,put into the global airflow in several ways:

. The planet revolves, so as one part is being heated,another is cooling.

. Land heats up much more quickly than water, andcools correspondingly quickly, thus adding to theunevenness of the heating.

. Not all the sunlight aimed at us gets here: cloudscause much of it to be reflected back out into space.

. The globe is spinning, and friction between theground and the air layer next to it keeps it all goinground more or less together. Of course, because airis fluid, there is plenty of scope for great variations,and complications set in when you imagine theconflict between the north/south/north (longitudi-nal) polar flows and the west/east (latitudinal) fric-tional effect. The result is a tendency for the air tomove in vast eddies in which the winds obey somegeneral rules (see page 82).

WEATHER 81

The Coriolis effectWe have Gustave-Gaspard Coriolis,a French civilengi-neer, to thank for this one. It is really difficult to explainwithout being able to wave my hands about. You canget a feel for it by looking at a long-playing recordrevolving on its turntable and imagining drawing achalk line straight from the centre to the periphery. Youwould have moved your hand in a straight line, but themark the chalk leaves would be curved because of themovement of the disc. The rotation of the Earth has asimilar effect on the winds blowing over its surface,and this contributes to the tendency for air masses torotate in moderately predictable ways. In the northernhemisphere the Coriolis force directs movement to theright; in the southern hemisphere it works to the left.

Lapse ratesAs the pressure of rising air drops with height, it natur-ally expands and cools as a result. This is an adiabaticeffect (that is, it happens without heat being trans-ferred), and the rate of temperature loss with heightgain is called an adiabatic lapse rate. The lapse ratevaries according to whether the air is dry or containscondensed moisture (see Chapter 7). When the-lapserate is high, the air is often described as being un-stable; conversely, stable conditions are said to existwhen the lapse rate is low.

Clouds

Clouds consist of condensed water vapour in the formof minute droplets. At any given temperature, the air iscapable of containing a certain amount of watervapour, which is quite invisible. When that criticalamount is reached, the air is said to be saturated;beyond that point, the excess water vapour which theair cannot hold condenses into droplets and themoisture becomes visible. The temperature at whichcondensation occurs is called the dew point.

The warmer the air is, the larger the amount of moist-ure it can contain without condensation. Perhaps thesimplest way of appreciating this is to look at the famil-

82 CHAPTER 6

iar effect of breathing out on a cold day: your breath,which has picked up moisture and warmth on its tripround your lungs, forms a small cloud when it meetsthe cold outside air again. Note that there is a gapbetween your lips and the 'cloud', because the air hasto cool just a little before condensation takes place.

Back to real clouds and flying: rising air cools, and if itcontains a significant amount of moisture, sooner orlater it will cool enough for clouds to form. There areseveral types of cloud, and they are categorizedaccording to type and the altitude at which they form.You don't need to know the details of all of them, butit is useful to be able to identify the main types and toappreciate the effect they will have on your flying day.

Cloud typesCumulus clouds have a heaped-up appearance. At thelowest levels they are very obviously separate fromone another, and even in the highest cumulus types(cirrocumulus) this separateness is still fairly obvious.

Cumulus clouds forming

83

Stratus clouds appear as sheets of cloud. These sheetscan vary in depth from gauze-like cirrostratus to thethick depressing rain-laden nimbostratus of a Britishwinter. You may also encounter fractostratus: theseare the miserable little chunks which skulk about atlow level under nimbostratus and are of no benefitwhatever.

All nimbus clouds are associated with rain.

Cloud altitudesThe nature of clouds varies with the altitude at which

they exist. They are grouped into high, medium andlow clouds, but there can be a lot of overlap. There isalso considerable variation in the heights of certainclouds according to the type of land beneath them -more of this later.

High clouds are the 'cirro' group. These occur above16,000 ft, and may be as high as 42,000 ft. The highestare the cirrus, which have the appearance of wind-blown wisps. These are sometimes called 'mares'tails'. Because the air at such altitude is extremelycold, clouds in the cirro group are largely formed of icecrystals.

Medium-height clouds are the 'alto' group. Typicallythese are found between 7,000 ft and 20,000 ft. As wellas the obviously-named altostratus and altocumulustypes, stratocumulus lurks towards the bottom of themedium-height group.

Low-level clouds do not have a group name, but theyare the ones with which you will become most famil-iar. Cumulus will be the ones you learn to recognizewith most enthusiasm, because their fluffy cotton-woolpresence marks thermal activity and the likelihood ofgood lift for soaring. However, it is quite possible tohave too much of a good thing, and cumulonimbusclouds are the monsters of the whole cloud family.These are the thunderclouds. Their upward develop-ment is colossal: a strong cumulo nimbus (usually

84 CHAPTER 6

shortened to cu-nimb) can reach from ground level to40,000 ft or more. The energy associated with them isenormous, but it is far too violent to be of any use toparaglider pilots. The strong gust fronts in their vicinitycan change the wind direction and multiply its speedin seconds. Avoid:cu-nimbs are life-threatening.

Rain

The minute droplets of condensed moisture whichform clouds are so small that they have difficulty inescaping from the cloud mass - most remain withinit, and those at the edges evaporate into the surround-ing drier air very easily. However, they can eventuallygroup together to build into much larger drops, andwhen that happens, rain is the result.

Air masses

When a large amount of air spends a long time in oneplace, it acquires the characteristics of the area. Forexample, air which passes slowly over North Africacan reasonably be expected to be warm and dry,whereas that approaching Europe from across theNorth Atlantic will be cool and damp; you can eventhink of great continent-sized cold slabs sliding slowlyaway from the polar regions. These air masses move,sometimes relatively quickly and sometimes veryslowly indeed, owing to the global influences dis-cussed earlier, but they are surprisingly reluctant tomix with each other.

The margins between air masses are called fronts.These always involve a change in the weather and soare of great interest to paraglider pilots. The weatherforecasts always give notice of approaching fronts, buttheir progress is also accompanied by characteristiccloud formations from which you can often gaugetheir positions for yourself.

Warm frontWarm air is less dense than cold air, so when a warmair mass moves against a cold one, its edge will tend

WEATHER

Fronts

85

Warm air

/Cirrus

1,000 km or more

Figure 14: Warm front advan-cing. This grossly simplifiedillustration shows the cloudtypes that characterize a warmfront. Although we are used toseeing fronts represented bythin lines on a weather map,they are really quite broadareas of disturbance.

86

to rise up over the colder air. This effect forms a warmfront. If the air which rises contains much water

vapour, and it usually does, it will climb to an altitudeat which the vapour condenses, forming clouds andrain. The length of the overlap will be several hundredkilometres, so the overall effect is quite gradual. Theprime warning for the approach of a front is often alayer of cirrus across the sky.

After a warm front

While the front passes there will be heavy overcast con-ditions and rain, so soaring will be out of the question.Once the front is through, the weather will usuallyimprove, but soaring conditions are rarely brilliant. Thepattern of movement over northern Europe is such thatthe wind tends to settle in the west or southwest behind

the front, and that means more damp Atlantic air.

On other continents the passage of fronts may notalways be so noticeable, for a variety of reasons. Fmexample, the effect of high mountain ranges such asthe Rockies and the Andes can produce frontal effectsat high levels which are barely recognizable on the

CHAPTER 6

Alto-stratus

Cold air

dUUU-- _UUU_-

..Cumulus

-500 km or more

ground - although the weather maps will clearlyshow their existence. In the middle of large landmasses the air will be generally dry, so the cloud mark-ers that typify fronts in temperate maritime climatesmay well be absent.

Cold front

When a cold air mass is trying to overtake a warmone, its denser air pushes in under the warm air masswith a sort of blunt-chisel effect. This cold front lifts the

warm air, which again tends to result in cloud andrain. The dense cold air moves the warmer stuff rela-

tively easily, so cold fronts are steeper than warm onesand cover a shorter distance - even so it will probablybe at least a hundred kilometres.

Mter a cold frontNot surprisingly, the air behind a cold front is relativelycool. In the northern hemisphere it also tends to flowfrom further north than is the case after a warm front,which means that it will also be drier. However, thesun is just as active in warming up the ground and thelayer of air in contact with it. This is good news for the

WEATHER

'\

WarmairO°C

,

Figure] 5: Cold front advancing.Its width is far less than that ofthe warm front. From theground, the altostratus cloudsmay conceal cumulonimbustoo, if the front is particularlyactive. It is possible for a coldfront to catch up with part ofthe warm front preceding it.The result is an occluded front,a sure sign that the associateddepression is weakening.

87

soaring pilot, because the conditions for the formationof strong thermals are favourable. Remember, it is notheat alone which encourages thermal development,but the difference in temperature between thewarmed patches and the air mass surrounding them,so after a cold front there will be scope for good temp-erature contrasts. After the passage of an active coldfront, with its attendant rain and grim weather, theskies can clear surprisingly quickly, although the windstend to remain on the strong side for paragliding.

If you are a beginner, the turbulent unstable conditionsfollowing the passage of a cold front may well be toorough for you, so check with an instructor or clubcoach before venturing into them. Don't imagine thatbecause a few pilots are 'skying out', you will auto-matically enjoy trying to do the same.

Figure 16: The warm sectorbetween a warm and a coldfront. Note that the fronts nearthe centre of the low havebecome occluded.

Sectors

You will often hear meteorologists refer to sectors -usually warm ones. You will see from the charts that

fronts tend to radiate from

the centre of weather sys-tems. Sometimes they arewidely separated, but oftenthey are quite close to-gether, in which case thewedge of air between thefronts is a sector.

88

Warm sectors are prettydisappointing, as they canfeel like one long-drawn-out warm front, with lots ofovercast and drizzle. Coldsectors are a lot more inter-

esting, as they frequentlymean that there will be a

high lapse rate with theattendant strong thermaldevelopment (see Chapter7, page 104).

CHAPTER 6

Maybe we jumped ahead a little by examining fronts,because they are an intrinsic part of the weather sys-tems which govern our soaring weather. In Britain andmuch of Europe, these systems are the depressionswhich follow each other across the Atlantic. The

depressions are triggered by the activity of winds atgreat height - right at the limits of the troposphere -and they develop in a fairly regular and predictablemanner. An initial small invasion of cold air into a

warm mass is given a spin due to the rotation of theEarth, and the whole thing develops from there into anenormous vortex maybe a thousand miles across.Naturally, this spinning system soon incorporates itsown sub-masses of warm and cold air, with theirassociated fronts.

As you try to make sense of weather maps and charts,you will become very familiar with the sight of thecircular isobars surrounding a depression, and with theusually radiating lines of its fronts. Soon you will beable to judge the likely timing of various weatherevents associated with the system: really useful thingssuch as whether it will be raining on Saturday or if thenearby hills will be blown out for the whole of nextweek.

Depressions and anticyclonesI cannot be alone in having difficulty in rememberingwhich is which when it comes to anticyclones anddepressions, so let's spend a minute or two gettingused to them:

High-pressure area = high = anticyclone

Low-pressure area = Iow = depression

Note that lows are not referred to as cyclones at allunless they are of such a strength that they are devel-oping into tropical cyclones or hurricanes (winds above115 kph). In this case the paragliders will remain intheir rucksacks, so you don't have to remember'cyclone' .

WEATHER

Weather systems

89

Satellite view showing adepression centred on Scotlandand its associated frontalsystems

90

Although 'low' and 'high' as used here refer to thepressure of the atmosphere, if you were positioned outin space and if the air masses were visible, you wouldnotice that they do indeed bulge higher over highs andsink lower over lows. I find that if I visualize an anti-

cyclone as a heap of air, it is easy to remember; thismay work for you too. This tip is very useful whentrying to unravel some of the questions in the pilotexam papers.

Where ;s the Iow?With a very small amount of practice you can indulgein some do-it-yourself forecasting simply by readingthe weather map provided in the morning paper. From

CHAPTER 6

the map it is easy to get a reasonable assessment ofthe probable wind direction and strength, but to applythis to the hills you are likely to fly it is useful if you canrelate your position to the centre of the nearest Iow.Thanks to an observant Dutchman, there is an easyway: if you stand with your back to the wind, thelow will be on your left. This law applies in thenorthem hemisphere only - if you are flying south ofthe equator, the opposite is true. The Dutchman wascalled Christoph Buys Ballot, and his name lives on inthe form of Buys-Ballot's law.

All this information on weather systems and frontsallows you to judge the odds on the prospect of a fineday, but you need to know a bit more about how liftdevelops before you can hope to pick a good soaringday from a purely average one. The best ways of flyinglift are covered in the next chapter, but here is how liftdevelops:

Therma/s

We touched on this earlier: the ground does not heatup evenly when warmed by the sun, so consequentlythe air directly above it heats unevenly too. Air over awarm patch will eventually form a sort of bubble andmove upwards powerfully enough to allow your para-glider to climb for as long as you can keep it in therising air. There's more on this in Figure 22 on page 105.

The vertical progress of a thermal depends on itsremaining warmer than the general mass of air, but asit climbs it cools, due to two influences: adiabatic cool-ing as a result of its expansion, and cooling throughintermixing with the surrounding air. If there is moist-ure in the air, it will condense out to form a cumuluscloud when the thermal's temperature drops to thedew point. For the soaring pilot this is very useful,because the clouds mark the thermals. Also, with a bitof practice you can tell from the condition of theclouds whether the thermal is still active or if it is waybeyond its sell-by date.

WEATHER

Weather effectsand soaring

91

CloudbaseheightExample for aweather station at1,000ft:

surface femperatvre ::;

200(

dew point = 15°(

(Iovdbase height =400 x (20- 15)::;400 x 5= 2,000 ft.

Add 1,000 JtJorfheweather-station heightto give a cloudba.seabove sea level ofabout 3,000 Et.

92

C/oudbaseObviously, the higher the thermals are rising, thelonger you will be able to climb in each one, so a highcloudbase is good news. Cloudbases vary considerablyfrom country to country. In England, a mid-afternoonbase of 6,000 ft is very good, while in the Owens Valleyof the USA 16,000 ft is merely average.

There is a crude but handy formula for estimating thelikely cloudbase: subtract the dew-point temperaturefrom the surface temperature (in degrees Celsius) andmultiply by 400. The answer will be the approximateheight of the cloudbase in feet above the point atwhich the surface temperature was taken.

h = 400 x (st- dp)

As there is a welcome tendency for hang-gliding andparagliding clubs to install small weather stationswhich give the temperatures this formula requires, it isworth remembering.

When there is little moisture present in the air, orwhen the thermals have cooled to the surroundingtemperature below dew-point height, cumulus cloudswill not form. Thermals unaccompanied by cloud for-mation are called 'dry' or 'blue' thermals (see photo-graph on page 78).

WaveWave is caused by the action of the air downwind ofa ridge or range of mountains. As can easily beimagined, the airflow does not always immediatelyresume a placid laminar flow over the land behind ahill, but rather tends to settle down in a series ofwaves, each smaller than the previous one. However,there are circumstances in which one or more ofthese residual waves can become greatly amplified,so producing liftwhich extends to unexpectedheights. If the windspeed is just right, second andthird ranges of hills a few miles downwind can play abig part in magnifying the wave.

CHAPTER6

Lenticulqr clouds

Wave development is enhanced if there is a stablelayer of air a short distance above ridge height, withunstable air above and below it. The unstable layersoffer little resistance to the stable one, allowing it tooscillate much more than would occur if the air was

either stable or unstable throughout. Specialized fore-casting is required to predict such conditions, and theirdetailed consideration is beyond the scope of thisbook.

Wave is often indicated by long, narrow clouds withsmooth boundaries. These form along the apex of thewaves, much as a cap cloud does on a mountain.Because their cross-section is similar to that of a

magnifying lens, these are called 'lenticular' clouds.They appear to be stationary in the sky.

It is interesting to note that only three or four years agothe idea of connecting with wave lift on a paragliderwould have been considered impossible, yet perfor-mance - particularly top speed - has improved tothe extent that (as I know from personal experience) itis occasionally possible to soar wave on some of mylocal Yorkshire hills. Don't get too ambitious, though:the air in the really big waves will be travelling at40-50 mph (65-80 kph), which will be well beyondparaglider performance for some time yet.

WEATHER

Figure 17: Waves developdownwind of a hill range incertain wind speeds andconditions. A second ridge canhelp to amplify the wave.

93

Inversion

So far we have talked as if the air cools with height atconstant and predictable rates throughout the tropo-sphere. It does not - there are countless exceptions,but the simple inversion is one you will meet quiteoften: it consists of a layer of warm air on top of acooler layer.

An inversion tends to form when the air is fairly stable,such as when a high-pressure system has existed for a

'few days; the cold air at altitude sinks very gradually,increasing in density and warming up adiabatically asit does so. Eventually a layer of air becomes estab-lished which is warmer than that immediately belowit. Weak thermals will be unable to penetrate this layer,so vertical movement of air beneath it will be further

inhibited. This situation can persist until the next frontcomes through and stirs everything up again.

Inversions are not good news for soaring pilots: theweather beneath them is often pleasantly warm, butthe light will be hazy and the chances of good glidingconditions will be slight.

The air at a city site like thiscan easily become fume-filledduring an inversion period.

Inversions are at their worst where a city is surroundedby a ring of mountains. The inversion can effectivelyput a lid on the whole area, trapping the city dwellersin with all their smoke, dust, pollution and humidity.

94 CHAPTER 6

Any meteorologist will admit that forecasting is not anexact science, especially in a group of offshore islands.Pilots in countries like Japan and Britain know this alltoo well. Generally speaking, conditions become morepredictable as you go further into continental land-masses. Most of us watch the mid-evening TV presen-tations to get an overall idea of what the morrow maybe like, but (in the UK, at least) they seem to be gettingmore and more vague. Many of the morning papersprint reasonable synoptic charts which are useful andgenerally under-rated.

The following sections describe the main sources ofmore detailed weather forecasts in the United

Kingdom; in other countries contact your governingbody (see page 197) for advice on what services areavailable.

AIRMET

The Met. Office and the CAAjointly provide a selectionof services for general aviation pilots, and some ofthese are very useful for us. AIRMETis the telephoneversion. You can get a detailed forecast which givesdetails of wind directions and strength at severalheights, cloud cover, freezing level and much else. Youmay need some help in interpreting all the informationat first, because it is given in 'av-met' jargon. Cloudcover, for example, is specified in oktas - each oktabeing one-eighth of the sky. The forecasts are updatedthree times each day and are obtained by phoning apremium-rate number. There are several numbers,according to the area for which you require the infor-mation. You can obtain a handy laminated card whichgives the all these numbers direct from the Met. Officeby phoning 08700 750075.

MetFAX

MetFAX is the fax version of AIRMET,but the range ofservices available is much greater. From any faxmachine with a polling facility - most have thatthese days - you can obtain synoptic weather charts,satellite pictures and written AIRMETtext. Like all

WEATHER

Weather-forecastsources

95

these premium-rate telephone services, it canbecome a bit expensive if you access it too often, butI rate the occasional forecast chart a good invest-ment, particularly just before a weekend. Fax 09060100490(premium-rate) to receive the index page forall the MetFAXservices.

WeathercallThis is another premium-rate phone service, operatedby the BBc. Naturally it is much more general thanthose designed for aviators, but it has its uses. TheUnited Kingdom is divided into twenty-seven regions,so the information can be quite specific. When theservice was originally introduced I felt that they gavevery little attention to predicting wind speeds, but thatseems to have improved. Phone 09068232 + yourlocal area number - find out which your area is fromyour local BBCradio station.

Vo/metThis is a weather-reporting service which is broadcaston Airband radio frequencies. It gives continuousreports from various airports of wind speed anddirection, pressure, cloud cover, etc. Its relevance forpowered aircraft is obvious, but for paragliding it is farless practical. Like so many things that are free, itsomehow never turns out to be quite as useful as youhad hoped.

The InternetThe Internet is a good source of weather information.The Met. Office has a Web service, MetWEB(http://www.met-office.gov.uk/MWlntro/MWlntro.html).There are also several free Web sites which carrydetailed charts, and new ones appear regularly.

96 CHAPTER 6

When you are learning to paraglide you will be happi-est in light, smooth wind conditions. Launching, steer-ing and landing will keep you busy, and you will notmind landing at the bottom of the hill after each flight.However, before long you will be keen to stretch yourairtime, and to do this you will have to seek out risingair and stay in it. You will have embarked upon theendless hunt for lift.

There are two main usable sources of lift for para-gliders, and some minor ones as well. We look at themain ones first: ridge lift and thermals.

A smooth wind of between 7 and 12 mph (12-20 kph)blowing against a steep ridge - say 2 km long and50 metres high - is the recipe for unlimited airtime inyour first season or two on a paraglider. The seaside isoften ideal, provided that there is a continuous beachand that the cliffs are not completely vertical. The windblows against the ridge and is deflected upwards in abroad band.

Ridge lift

As long as you can remain in the parts of this lift bandwhere the air is going upwards faster than the sink rateof your paraglider, you can soar. The band will bestrongest just in front of the ridge, and reduces withheight and distance out, as Figure 18 on page 98shows.

97

,,

,,,,,,

,

Liftband Good top-landing area

a

,, Rotor area (may extend

back a long way),,,

Lift band

-) ~;r;~:~

98

b

CHAPTER 7

There are several things you need to know about liftbands and ridges:

. They are at their best when the wind is at 90° to theslope, reducing greatly according to how far thewind is 'off'. No matter how easy the ridge soaringis, pay attention to the wind direction all the time. Ifthe wind is even slightly off, you will find that youmake faster progress in one direction than the other;keep monitoring this so that you don't suddenly findyourself down at one end of the site with no chanceof making the return into-wind leg.

WINDAND LIFT

Figure 18 (facing page): Theairflow and lift bands over

a a ridge, and b a cliff

Preparing to soar a typicalEnglish moorland ridge

99

Figure 19: The route to takeacross the mouth of a gully ismarked with a tick. Avoid thetemptation to follow thecontours and stray into thegully: it is all too easy to findthat you are pinned there.

. More wind does not necessarily mean more usablelift; you may have to fly so fast to stay in the lift thatyou cannot exploit the minimum-sink performanceof your glider.

. Air likes to change direction quite gradually. It great-ly resents being required to follow sharp edges, andreacts by becoming turbulent. The edge of a cliffand the back of a steep ridge are places to avoidbecause the turbulence is extremely dangerous.

. Damp air which is forced to travel up a hill cancondense and form a cap cloud above the top of it.The temperature only has to drop a small amountfor this cloud to engulf the top of the hill, and soar-ing pilots with it. Watch out for this, particularlywhen flying during winter afternoons.

. When moving air is compressed, such as when windenters a gully,it speeds up. You need to keep this inmind when crossing gaps in a ridge - you can easilyfind yourself unable to make forward progress ifyoulet yourself become drawn too far back.

100

ground

CHAPTER7

Wind gradient and Iow-level turbulenceAt the levels reached by paragliding activity, the wind speed increases withheight. This is because the movement of the air closest to the ground is reducedby friction. It is very important to remember this if you are tempted to launch inwind speeds close to the top speed of your wing: you may discover that you aretravelling backwards relative to the ground as soon as you have climbed a fewhundred feet. On steep hills with valleys behind them this can lead you into verydangerous turbulence.

You also need to keep the wind gradient mind when landing. This time itthe lack of wind speed which may bring problems: you need to keep plentyof flying speed on to avoid possible stalls on approach. You must also expectyour relative glide angle to flatten out as the ground approaches, so alwaysmake sure that you have plenty of field to spare.

Any obstructions on the groundearthworks - anythingfurther the

landing.

--- ..~ -

Figure 20: Turbulencegenerators

~~ ~

WIND AND LIFT 101

Figure 2]: Top-landing. Thefigure shows a ridge with aprominent spur. The wind isblowing many degrees off thehill, from the left. A and B showgood approaches, with thegliders having to turn only asmall amount to land directlyinto wind. C is much riskier,involving a fast approach whileflying completely downwind,followed by a ]800 turn intowind at the last minute. Thearea around D should beavoided in this wind direction:there will be sink and possiblyrotor here, so don't be temptedto try to sneak across it to landright on the spur.

I-z-.<'cy

c

50

100

150200250

102

Top-landingSoaring in ridge lift lets you build up lots of airtime,especially as you can usually land on top after an houror so and then launch again after a rest. Top-landinghas a certain mystique about it, but it is very easyindeed in soarable conditions. All that is required is tofly behind the lift band until you are in air which isflowing horizontally, and you will descend automatic-ally. The main skill is in choosing the best route backover the edge of the hill. You want the way which willlet you touch down directly into wind after making theminimum of turns. Naturally, if the wind is at an angleto the hill at all, you approach along the into-winddirection.

Gauge your speed over the ground very carefullyduring the last few feet. You will probably have to usevery slight brake, and you should aim at landing withjust a little forward speed. Be prepared to grab bothback risers and heave down strongly to 'kill' the wingthe second you touch down. Collapsing the wing withthe B-risers is an alternative which some instructors

now prefer; use the system which suits you and yourparticular wing.

A

/Topof hill

CHAPTER 7

If you have judged wrongly and think you may go overthe edge again, release the brakes, settle back intoyour harness and fly out with plenty of speed on. Neverpile on the brakes in the hope of 'getting it in' - a stallin the rising air near the edge is a real possibility. Thismatter of going round again plays a part in your selec-tion of a good top-landing spot. Always go for some-where where the edge of the hill is smooth and wherethere are not lots of other fliers launching.

Slope-landingThis may be a good point to introduce the art of slope-landing. You will want to do this when the wind dropswhile you are ridge soaring and the alternative is along flight down to the bottom - especially if your caris parked at the top. In essence a slope-landing is acarefully-timed low-level quarter-turn combined with astall. Note that the order is important; vital even. Let'slook at a typical sequence, paying attention to thedecision-making throughout the procedure:

. Decide that there is not enough lift for a top-landing,so check out the slope for smooth areas free ofrocks.

. If the wind is not coming directly up the slope, paycareful attention to its direction, and choose to landwhen flying the beat which is into wind. This willgive you the lowest possible ground-speed onapproach to touchdown, a very definite bonus.

. Refuse to be daunted by the proximity of the groundand the rate at which it passes by.

. Avoid being so gripped by the task in hand that youforget about other pilots who may be nearby. Keeplooking around, as well as at your proposed landingspot.

. Keep flyingat a good speed, so that there is nodanger of stalling prematurely.

WIND AND LIFT 103

. At about 3 ft (1 m) from the ground, and sinkingtowards it, brake the outside wing firmly, and themoment the glider begins to turn away from thehill, stall it completely with both brakes to completethe touchdown. This is altogether a fast and fluidoperation.

. Keep your options open if you can: if the area youfirst selected looks risky once you get there, beprepared to fly out and down rather than make achancy landing.

. Beware of being half-hearted about the final stall.There is a real danger of finding yourself out ofcontrol, semi-stalled and flying out from the hill.

. Be prepared to make a PLF.Humans can't runsideways, so don't risk breaking an ankle trying toprove it.

. Collapse your wing fully at the earliest opportunity.Apart from the chance of its being blown away, aspread wing indicates 'I need assistance.'

Thermals Chapter 6 gives the general idea of thermals (see page91); here we look at them in more detail and try towork out how to find them and stay in them. By flyinga paraglider, you are using the most sensitive form ofaircraft to exploit thermal lift, but if you can't find it,that is not a lot of help.

Thermal formation

Before we get on to the interesting matter of usingthermals to climb, we have to look further at the tech-nicalities of their formation. The start is a patch ofwarm ground which heats the air directly above it.Because of friction and inertia, this air does notimmediately float upwards, but remains in place for atime, with the bottom getting warmer and warmer. Inthis condition it is described as having a superadiabaticlapse rate. Eventually its buoyancy becomes irresistible,

104 CHAPTER 7

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lightwind

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and it breaks free and begins to float upwards. This itcontinues to do for as long as it is warmer than the sur-rounding air, which is cooling at the normal dry adia-batic lapse rate of about 3 Co per 1000 ft (1 co/lOO m).Naturally, cool air flows in to replace the upwardlymobile young thermal. If the patch on the ground iswarm enough, this air may be around long enough to'feed' the thermal further.

Figure22: The development ofa thermal - a stylized version!

Of course, as it travels upwards, the thermal cools adia-batically, as well as through direct mixing with the sur-rounding air. Eventually, unless the air is extremely dry,it reaches a level at which it becomes saturated, andthe condensing water vapour forms a cloud. This act ofcondensation releases heat (remember latent heat fromschool physics lessons?) which gives a final upwardspush to the thermal. This explains why cumulus cloudshave that heaped-up appearance. It also explains whylift continues into clouds, but does not provide anexcuse for the dangerous practice of cloud flying.

The lapse rate of saturated air is only about half that ofdry air.

First thermalsYour first thermals will find you, rather than the otherway around. Typically, you will be having quite a

WIND AND LIFT 105

smooth flight along a ridge or after release from a tow-line, when suddenly the wing will rustle quite loudlyand you will feel a frisson of nervousness from theresultant turbulence. Ifyou have a variometer and thepresence of mind to listen to it, you will hear that'climb' is clearly indicated. The air will feel more activethen you have been used to, but you continue to flystraight, and after fifteen or twenty seconds there isanother rustle followed by a surge of speed, and theneverything is back to normal. You have flown straightinto a thermal and then out of the other side. That

surge you felt is typical of leaving the lift. Of course,more often than not you will just catch the edge of athermal, when the feeling will simply be one of un-welcome turbulence, often coupled with a tendencyfor the glider to want to turn. This turning is caused bythe part of the wing in the lift wanting to climb fasterthen the other one. This effect is very easy to feel on ahang glider, but I find it more elusive when under themuch more flexible paraglider wing.

There are thermals of all shapes and sizes, and natur-ally their strength and height varies according to the airconditions and the time of day. For the purposes ofillustrating ways of locating them and staying in them,imagine a 'standard' thermal which is originating overa dark ploughed field a little upwind of you. Think of itas being shaped like a giant wide-topped tower ahundred metres or so in diameter, and reaching fromthe ground to cloudbase. Now imagine it travellingalong at about the speed of the wind, and sloping alittle due to the effect of the wind gradient. In thissimple thermal the lift is strongest up its centre - thecore - and weakest at the edges. Your aim is to findthe core and climb as far as possible in it.

Your vario is essential in this search. You should have

used it enough to have become familiar with the notesit gives out for sink and lift without having to look at itall the time. Listen for a 'up' beep coupled with arustle from the wing; if the paraglider feels as if itwants to turn you, resist the turn by turning against it.

106 CHAPTER 7

Use weightshift as well as the brakes, and with anyluck you will be rewarded with a continuous up-tonefrom the vario. You're in! Slow the glider a little andcount to ten; ifyou are still going up, turn 1800backthe way you came, counting to eight this time beforeS-turning back again. Keep S-turning, shortening thestraight sections and controlling your speed so that youspend the longest possible time in the area where thevario tells you the lift is strongest. Amid all the excite-ment you must also make quite sure that no other air-craft are nearby.

Paragliders fly so slowly that it is quite possible toreach cIoudbase by S-turn thermalling. This has theadvantage that you are not likely to become disorient-ed or allow yourself to be taken downwind out ofreach of your planned landing area. Untilyou are feel-ing really confident and have a constant awareness ofothers in the air, stick to it. Sooner or later, though, youwill need to make 3600turns so that you spiralupwards (see Turning in thennals on page 108).

Finding your first few thermals will involve as muchluck as judgement, but you will gradually develop afeel for it. Remember that between the thermalsthere is a lot of sinking air. You can use this to youradvantage: on a thermic day: when the vario indi-cates more sink than usual, take this as a useful cluethat there will be a thermal nearby. Let the brakesright off and fly as rapidly as possible through thesink, ready to slow down the second you find liftagain. Deciding which way to go is really easy if youare soaring a ridge, as there are really only twochoices of direction and your chances of guessingcorrectly are good. From a towline in flat areas thetask is more difficult, and the best advice I can give atthis stage is that if you did not sense any lift while onthe tow up, your best chance is to search upwind. Asyour knowledge increases you will learn to identifylocal thermal generators such as silage stores cover-ed with black plastic, or even dark areas of asphalt atrunway junctions.

WIND AND LIfT 107

Don't expect all thermals to have a single core - oreven an identifiable one at all. Just do the best you canto stay in the strongest part, and be grateful for everyfoot of free energy they give to your wings.

Turning in therma/sAlthough S-turning is quite a good way of thermalling,you need to master the more efficient technique of cir-cling too. This is almost invariably referred to as 'three-sixtying' in gliding, as you turn through 360°. Anybodycan make a paraglider do this, but the knack is to beable to turn at the speed which will let you make thebest use of the lift.

I have asked a number of obviously successful pilots todescribe their technique, and have learned enoughfrom the answers to be satisfied that there is no singlerecipe. Suffice it to say that carefully judged differentialuse of the brakes is essential - just hauling down onthe inside one is not the way! Also essential is to alterthe rate of turn according to where the lift is strongest,so that you become truly centred in a core. Somepilots rate weightshifting as just as important as brakeoperation, especially for that initial turn into the ther-mal. In rough conditions this can introduce a dilemma,because if, like me, you enjoy the feeling of securitygiven by tightening the cross-bracing on your harnessin rowdy air, the weightshift response of your gliderwill be greatly reduced.

As usual, thermalling gets easier with every hour ofpractice and experience.

How fast should you fly when thermalling? There is noshort answer to that except to warn against slowingdown too much. You need to keep speed up to retaingood inflation pressures in your wing so that it doesnot tend to collapse in the sometimes rough air ofthermals. You also need speed to avoid spins whenturning. It is easy to forget this when straining to keepthe vario saying 'up', and allow yourself to slow downtoo much.

108 CHAPTER 7

If there is any wind at all, the thermals will be takenalong with it (unless they are so powerful that theyoverwhelm it - unusual in Britain, but common insome parts of the USA). Therefore, if you remain inone, you will almost certainly move downwind too.Unless you really do wish to embark on a cross-country trip, this means that you will have to make adecision to leave the thermal while still within range ofyour planned landing field. The ease with which youcan move 'upwind' within the thermal will be muchgreater than in the air following behind it, so err on theside of caution at first. This is particularly important onridges, when it is all too easy to go past the point of noreturn through paying too much attention to the vario.Normally this doesn't matter much - it just means alongish walk back to the edge - but if the ridge fallssharply away at the rear, there is a real danger ofcrashing in the lee turbulence.

Thermal markers

Although thermals themselves are invisible, anythingbeing taken up in them will show clearly. The mostobvious ones are other gliders, and birds. If someonenearby is climbing, simply fly across and join in,remembering to circle in the same direction as anyaircraft already in the thermal. You will usually go uptoo, but sometimes you will arrive just too late and findonly the sinking air beneath the base of a thermalwhich has completely separated from the ground andhas taken the form of a bubble of rising air.

If you are soaring a long ridge on a paraglider and youspot gliders climbing fast at the other end, it is oftenfruitless to try and fly along to the same thermal. Weglide so slowly that you usually arrive too late. It isoften better to go in the opposite direction on the off-chance that a thermal will be developing there too.Many sites have 'house thermals' which occur at aparticular point owing to the presence of a reliablethermal generator. With a bit of familiarity you get toknow where they are, and will try these pointsfrequently before casting further afield.

WIND AND LIFT

Strips of plastic being lifted by avicious little dust-devil thermalat Chelan, Washington State

109

Gliders and birds are designed to fly, so their presencein thermals is not altogether remarkable. However, ifthe thermal is strong enough you can encounter itemswhich were not originally designed to aviate. Pieces ofchaff and straw are common at harvest time, and alarge flying paper handkerchief suddenly spotted,uncomfortably close, from the corner of my eye oncegave me a moment of disproportionate anxiety.

Before stubble-burning lost respectability, stubble fireswere an excellent source of thermal lift for cross-

country pilots, their plumes of smoke providing verypositive markers. From my experience on hang glidersthey were always extremely rough, and I suspect thatthey would be uncomfortably vicious on paragliders.

The most common indicator of all is in the sky -cumulus clouds which often mark the tops ofthermals. However, from the ground these can beunreliable because you have to make allowances forthe distance that they will be downwind of the thermalsource, according to the wind speed. You also need tohave built up some experience in judging whether theyare the type which show the thermal is still active, orwhether it is past its prime. Once you are a reasonableheight in the air, it becomes much easier to make useof clouds as markers.

Not all markers are visual: if you are on the ground,wind speed and temperature can be a big help. Iremember a spring day when a bunch of paragliderpilots managed to launch into sink time after time,while one or two others kept climbing out into goodthermal lift. It was a light-wind day, and the unsuccess-ful fliers went off whenever the breeze felt strongenough to give ridge lift. The successful ones waitedon the hillside through these bursts of activity, contin-ued to sit it out through a few minutes of total calm,then launched at the next light stirrings - often intono more than three or four miles per hour (5-6 kph).The first group had failed to realize that the relativelystrong wind - which felt all the stronger for being

110 CHAPTER 7

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noticeably cool - marked the back of a thermalwhich had just passed by. In contrast, the very lightwind which followed a few minutes later really was athermal, just there for the taking.

Small cumulus indicate anactive sky. You need to observecarefully to tell if the one youchoose is developing ordecaying.

A little knowledge to store for the future concerns theway ground activitycan trigger off a thermal. In thehillydistricts where most of my flyingis done thiseffect is rarely noticeable, but ifyou find yourself get-ting Iow over flatlands on a sunny light-wind day, youmay be able to use it. Look out for a tractor harvesting,or a even a lone motorcyclist in a field, and adjust yourtrack to pass overhead - many very Iow 'saves' havebeen made in this way.

Mountain therma/sSo far I have written about liftwhich is generateddirectly from the wind or which is moved along by it,

WIND AND LIFT 111

because these are the usual conditions in my home-land, the British Isles. High-mountain thermals aredifferent, however. The prevailing wind will necessarilybe very light - the wind speeds that can be toleratedon relatively low, smooth hills produce fierce turbu-lence in mountains - so you will be relying on yourskill at locating thermals if your flying is to be anythingother than top-to-bottom every time.

Apart from the need for satisfactory lapse rates, the keyto success is the position of the sun. As soon as therays warm a slope, there is potential for thermals toform. All the normal rules apply - dark surfaces willabsorb more heat than light ones, as will quarries andsimilar pockets which are out of any regular breeze. Itfollows that in the morning easterly-facing slopes willbe more active, while in the afternoon the action willbe on the westerly ones. In practice, it is usual to go toa convenient launch site and wait for convection to

start. If the thermals are coming directly up the slope,that's fine; if not, you launch anyway and fly to a spuror face which is likely to generate action. A beguilingcharacteristic of alpine flying is that the choice oflaunch can often be dictated by the presence of agood approach road, a cafe at the top or just the com-pany of friends.

When faced with a glide down from at least athousand metres, it is easy to be overwhelmed by theterrain and to fly about more or less at random, hopingto find some lift. Just a little imagination and flightplanning can make a great difference to your airtime.Imagine that thermals usually travel up the faces ofmountains rather than popping up at random in thevalleys. They love to track up spines, and two smallthermals will happily join together at the top of a ridge,continuing as one big one. Darren Arkwright, one ofBritain's most successful hang-glider pilots, has asimple but graphic way of illustrating where thermalsare likely to be in the mountains. He projects a slide -usually of the awe-inspiring mountains forming theOwens Valley in the western USA- and points out the

112 CHAPTER 7

planned flight route. Then he turns the slide upside-down and asks the audience to imagine that the landis a ceiling covered in condensation. At every pointfrom which water would drip, there is quite likely to bea thermal.

Bear this in mind when you first visit the mountains.Instead of simply flying out over the valley to keep asmuch space under your boots as possible, plan yourtrack so that it takes you along likely spines and overpinnacles. Then, when you find lift, fly it in just thesame way as you would in lower terrain.

The lee-side thermal effect is at its best in mountains,too. This occurs when there is a wind blowing on one

face and the sun shining on the other. Thermals formon the warm sheltered face. The problem is that youare quite likely to encounter rotor turbulence whenyou venture over the back to find them. In strongwinds this can be very dangerous, but in light condi-tions the lee side can be a good thermal hunting-ground.

If you are going to fly in big mountains, you need toknow and respect the fOhn effect, which can producedangerous wind effects that are not always obvious.The fohn is caused by an airstream being forcedupwards as it travels over a mountain range. Cloud

Wind

WIND AND LIFT

Figure 23: Lee-side thermals arelikely to originate in places likethis.

113

forms and rain falls high in the mountains. Naturallythe airstream is then much drier, and as it descendson the other side it also compresses and warms upadiabatically. Pilots who are tempted to fly in thisapparently pleasantly warm airstream invariablyemerge with horror-stories of turbulence and sink. Thenorthern side of the European Alps is often subject tof6hn conditions, and the Rockies are notorious for it.

While we are on the subject of mountain flying, hereare some essential safety hints:

. Respect local knowledge. Always ask the local clubor school about any special features of the site.Local dangers are not always obvious.

. If the locals are not flying, find out why. Blunderingoff in fOhn conditions could ruin your holiday on dayone.

. Don't let your search for thermals become soabsorbing that you get into positions from which youcannot flyout and down to a safe landing.

. Carry a reserve parachute - one that has beenrepacked regularly and recently.

. Fly early in the morning and late in the afternoonuntil you are completely sure that you can handlethe very strong thermals which you may encounterduring the middle of the day.

. Remember that mountain weather can changeextremely quickly. If there is any sign of cumulo-nimbus clouds developing nearby, land and pack upquickly.

. Valleywinds can switch in seconds, so use any windindicators you canJind before finally committingyourself to the landing direction. Smoke, flags andclothes on washing-lines are all useful if there is nowindsock to be seen.

114 CHAPTER 7

In the lift context, convergence is the name given tothe condition existing when a moving airflow meets anopposing one and the air is forced upwards. In oneform it happens when two or more thermals flowingup separate sides of a mountain join together at thetop or spine. The resultant area of lift often appearsmuch bigger and smoother than you would expectfrom the sum of the contributing thermals. Anotherform, and a very common one, is when a sea breezemeets a light prevailing wind from the land. Thisfrequently produces a convergence line, marked by achain or band of clouds. It is sometimes possible to flyinto the convergence and track along it for consider-able distances. A favourite place for this is the areasouth of the Sussex Downs in southern England, wherehang-glider pilots such as John Pendry and JohnnyCarr pioneered long cross-country distances in sea-breeze convergence. Later Michel Carnet and RobWhittall made some of the first long British paragliderflights in similar conditions.

Towards the end of writing this book I encounteredquite a dramatic form of convergence. Chelan Butte isa small mountain which stands at the apex of a 'V'formed by the valleys of the Columbia River and LakeChelan, in Washington State. I launched from the Butteone evening, expecting maybe some ridge soaring, butwas surprised to climb without effort for over 2,000 ft.The area of lift covered several square miles, and Icould flyover the lake and town at will. The effect wasconvergence caused by the meeting of airflows follow-ing both valleys, and is apparently well known in thearea. It didn't last for more than an hour, and hang-glider pilots launching later found no more than theexpected ridge lift.

Convergence

Some hill and mountain sites are famous for providinga very pleasant form of lift in the evening. The usualeffect is of smooth and uniform lift which is reliable

but not particularly strong. It starts late in the evening,fading away as darkness approaches, and can be so

WIND AND LIFT

Magic lift andwonder wind

115

beguiling that it is easy to soar on in the fading light athilltop height only to find that the landing field in thevalley bottom is in almost total darkness. There aretwo main sources of this lift:

. Trees If the valley is heavily wooded, especially withbroad-leafed trees, they soak up heat all day whilethe sun is high, to release it later as the ambient airtemperature drops in the evening. This can providegentle lift over very large areas. It is sometimescalled the 'accumulator effect' or 'magic lift'.

Smooth soaring on the wonderwind, with lngleborough hill inthe background

. Katabatic flow down an eastern-facing slope whichboosts the anabatic flow up the western side of avalley. The sun sets in the west, so eastern-facingslopes go into shadow long before western-facingones. Naturally the air on the eastern side then coolsand tends to 'slide' down into the valley. This givesan extra push to the western-side air, which isalready doing quite nicely because of the sun andthe angle of the slope. The result is smooth liftwhich extends further than would be expected forsuch a light breeze. Not surprisingly, the name'wonder wind' is sometimes used for this.

It can be fashionable to underrate these types of liftbecause they do not lead to great cross-country flights.I think this is a pity, and I hope you will make the mostof them whenever you get the chance. Apart from thebeauty of the scene, it also gives a great opportunity toget your harness perfectly adjusted and to tune yourspeed system.

The mysterious way in which wave lift develops hasbeen covered in Chapter 6 (see page 92). Paraglidersdo not yet fly fast enough to be able to exploit majorwave systems, but you may experience milder formsof the effect, so you need to understand it and to beable to make the best of it when you connect.

If you do enter wave, it will probably be on a hill sitewith some similar ridges upwind. The ones I'm famil-iar with are those in Wales and the north of Britain.

You will launch into ridge lift, which will feel normalfor about 300-450 ft (100-150 m). Then there will be abrief period of moderate turbulence, followed bysmooth lift which may extend up for thousands of feet.At first you will think that you have found a particularlybenign thermal, but after a short while it will occur toyou that there is no need to turn at all - simply park-ing into wind is enough to keep the vario chirping,apparently indefinitely.

A couple of thousand feet gained like this can feel veryhigh indeed; somehow the smoothness makes youfeel more exposed than does the hurly-burly ofthermalling. Keep checking your progress: you willprobably find that you are stationary relative to theground, and you should ease the brakes off enough toedge forward if possible. If all is well, try tracking upand down the area of wave lift, which may extend farbeyond the limits of the hill you launched from -remember, it originated a couple of ridges upwind ofwhere you are flying. Ifyour experience is like mine,you will just be beginning to feel at home with theheight when all of a sudden the vario starts saying

WIND AND LIFT

Wave

117

'down only' and you are back at ridge height within afew minutes. The wave has switched off by going outof phase.

A flight such as this depends on the wave being inexactly the right position. The problem is that it willshift quite a lot with only a slight change in overallwindspeed. The situation can arise where another pilotnotices how well you are doing, launches to join you,and immediately experiences frighteningly rough airwhich sends him to the bottom of the hill in a fewseconds. This will be because the wave has moved

upwind enough to put the launch point into its leedowndraught. I have seen this effect make a normaltop-landing area into an aluminium scrapyard as asuccession of hang gliders discovered that 'wave' and'lift' were not always the same thing.

Occasionally, particularly in winter, you may find thatin a sky that is otherwise completely overcast withstratocumulus there is a long narrow patch of clear skyjust parallel with the front of your ridge. This will be a'wave slot', and you may be able to fly up through it sothat you are eventually looking down onto the sunlittops of the clouds stretching away into the distance -a brilliant contrast to the grey day you took off in. I'venot managed this on a paraglider yet, but I achieved itonce or twice on relatively primitive hang gliderswhich didn't have much performance.

There are risks to playing this game, the main onebeing that the wave may change slightly and close theslot with great rapidity. On such a slow aircraft as aparaglider you will not be able to dive through aclosing slot, and may easily find yourself in a danger-ous and illegal position, out of sight of the ground.

118 CHAPTER7

It is easy to become over-concerned with the techni-calities of lift.Theory is no substitute for getting intothe air and searching for the wonderful sources of freeenergy that are there for the taking. Provided you haveenough knowledge to recognize potentially dangerousconditions such as f6hn, cumulonimbus cloud devel-opment, and encroaching hill fog, the best way torefine your knowledge about lift is to flyit. There isimmense exhilaration and satisfaction to be gainedjust from making the most of the day and getting to the'top of the stack'. And getting high and remaining thereis also the key to the next big step in the adventurethat is paragliding: flyingoff across country... We lookat this in Chapter I I.

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Practice

Approaching the landing field atAnnecy as a threatening stormbrews in the mountains behind

119

The instruments which paraglider pilots carry withthem are virtually identical to those which have beendeveloped in the other soaring sports - hang glidingand sailplane flying. This is a field which has develop-ed greatly during the past few years, and if you canafford it, you can strap a bewildering selection of elec-tronic equipment to your harness. However, don't bedismayed if your budget is limited, because you canbecome a good pilot without buying an array ofelaborate instruments: a simple variometer and a basicaltimeter are all that you really need. Nowadays theseare usually combined into one unit.

Var;ometers

The variometer, or vario as you will normally call it,indicates the rate at which you are climbing or sinking.When you are starting to fly paragliders, the prospectof ever getting so far above the ground that you needsomething to tell you whether it is getting nearer orfurther away may seem unlikely, but you will soon findthat it is very hard to tell - even from as low as 200 ft(60 m).

Varios work by sensing the change in pressure of theair around them. In the most basic form this is done byusing a flask with a couple of interconnected trans-parent tubes communicating with the outside air (seeFigure 24). Two very lightweight loose plugs, generallyreferred to as pellets, are in the tubes, which are slight-ly tapered. Imagine you are on the ground: the airpressure is steady and the pellets sit at the bottom oftheir tubes. When the flask is moved up into less-

Instruments

Facing page: A fully equippedcompetition pilot. Thevario/altimeter is on his right,and will swing into position asthe risers go taut. His map hasslipped down his leg and willneed to be retrieved once theflight is under way.

121

c~0

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Open to a.tmo~phere

Air expands whenmoving upwards

Figure 24: A simple pelletvariometer. The taper in thetubes is greatly exaggerated.

dense air, some of the air in it flows out, raising the uppellet up its tube as it flows. Once the pressure in theflask equals that of the outside air, both pellets sit atthe bottom of the tubes again, but as soon as theinstrument moves down into denser air, the flow willbe into the flask: now the down pellet will be lifteduntil the pressures are again matched.

These simple instruments are now virtually obsolete,although some of the Makkiki brand, manufactured inHawaii, are still around. For paragliding, this type ofvario is not ideal because they are inevitably bulky,must be upright to operate correctly, and are entirelyvisual - no audible tone is possible. However, theyhave the benefit of not requiring batteries, so I havenoticed one or two competition pilots carrying them asbackup instruments.

For many years the mainstay of lightweight variodesign was the thermistor type. These again used aflask, but instead of moving pellets, two small heatingelements were placed in the tube. According to theflow of air, one of these would be warmer than theother, and this differential was measured and indicat-

ed electronically. These varios were sensitive and

122 CHAPTER 8

effective, and many are still in use. Thermistor variosusually have a sound-generator wired into their circuitsso that climb or sink is accompanied by an audibletone as well as the movement of a needle. Indeed, onsome of the most basic models, a tone was all you got.This type of vario works well, but is more fragile thanthe pressure-chip models (see below).

Paragliding has developed almost hand in hand withpressure-chip varios. As the name suggests, these usea tiny pressure-sensitive cell integrated with chip cir-cuitry. Much of the technology of this was originallydeveloped for fuel-management systems in vehicles,and our sport has benefited from the large amounts ofresearch money that has been spent in this field.

These varios are now extremely sensitive and versatile.They can respond to vertical changes of only a fewcentimetres, and can be programmed to give theirinformation in a variety of ways. These include averagerate of climb or descent rather than constant reading,and total-energy readings, which require the forwardairspeed to be measured as well as vertical speed; andnaturally there are all sorts of options concerning thetype of sound signals. As mentioned earlier, altimetersare routinely included, and a thermometer function iscommon. Flight information can be stored within theinstrument, to be printed out later, and an accurateclock can be included. In effect, what was once asimple device has tended to become a compact com-puter which tells you what is happening while you areflying and stores the information for later inspection ifyou wish. In its most developed form, the vario hasbecome a barograph too (see page 130).

The software within these varios has opened up possi-bilities which would have sounded like pure science-fiction not long ago, notably the speed-to-fly feature.Briefly,this indicates the most efficient speed to flytomaximize glide in given lift conditions. To be effective,the vario needs to have stored information about theglider's performance - you will encounter this as its

ADVANCED EQUIPMENT 123

polar curve graph (see page 26). This you may nothave conveniently to hand; never mind, the vario canbe used to generate the polar and store it for futureuse. What's more, you can keep the information foryour own access alone by means of the built-in pass-word security system which acts as a form of thief-deterrent.

An ingenious feature on at least one model is theability to arrange the display on the screen in theform that is most suited to your use. For example, forparagliding you may want the screen to sit on yourleg in 'portrait' format, whereas a hang-glider pilotmay prefer the wider 'landscape' arrangement on thebottom bar. The instrument lets you choose and thenarranges all the 'dials' and digits accordingly. Luxuryindeed.

It is easy to be so impressed by all this technology thatyou feel you have to buy the latest and most fully-featured instrument, but until you have been soaringfor a season or two you will probably be more at homewith a relatively simple vario/altimeter. Here is what Iwould be looking for as a first-time buyer in the UK:

. a display which you can read easily in bright sunlight- some of the early LCD screens were a bit dim;

. an analogue (dial-type) display for the vario;

. a digital display for the altimeter, reading in feet;

. altimeter readily switchable between QFE and QNHsettings (see pages 190 and 192);

. ability to have the tone on up only, or on up anddown;

. a strong case without any sticking-out bits;

. ideally, the ability to switch to a spare battery duringflight.

124 CHAPTER 8

. I am prejudiced against models which require youto press buttons in combination to switch betweenfunctions. This is because when under pressure -such as when piloting a paraglider with other air-craft around me, or in any but the smoothest air - Iknow that I am entirely capable of forgetting whatthe combinations are. You may not suffer from sucha handicap.

All that will narrow the field considerably.

Buying variometersIf at all possible, try before you buy - there really is nosubstitute for an hour in the air with the instrument

you are thinking of owning. Most dealers will let youdo this, but if it is not possible, or if you are buyingsecondhand, then try the following tests:

. Have a really good look at the instrument, insideand out. If there is corrosion around the batteryterminals or signs of home-made repairs, reject it atthis stage.

. Read the instruction booklet. If there isn't one, youmay like to wonder why. Unfortunately varios aresometimes stolen - usually minus booklet.

. Switch on the unit and check that everything thatshould be able to be set to zero can be set to zero.

. Are any switches that you may need to operate in-flight too dainty for use with gloves on?

. Raise and lower the unit slowly a few times, atarm's length. Check the zeros again, and then take itup a flight of stairs and note how it responds. Willyou be able to hear the tone with your helmet on, oralternatively is it so strident that you would cheerful-ly stifle it? Is it over-damped or under-damped? Isthere a significant lag in its readings? Is it over-sensitive, so that it squeaks every time you look atit? Now take it back to where you started from, and

Aov ANCEO EQUIPMENT 125

check that everything is back at zero without havingto be re-adjusted.

. If the instrument is a multi-function one, repeat theoperation for all the functions - referring to theinstruction booklet to make sure that you under-stand them all and haven't missed any.

The scale on the vario can be in feet per minute ormetres per second - it isn't really important which.However, altimeter readings are most useful in feet, asthese are the units of elevation used on air-navigationcharts.

It's well worth getting instruments you will be reallyhappy with. They are important. You will probably usethem for years, and they will be with you for everyminute you are in the air.

Airspeed indicatorsBecause of the relatively small overall speed range ofthe aircraft, airspeed indicators (ASls) are of limiteduse on paragliders, although for serious cross-countrythermal flying they can be worthwhile. And let's admitit, it is sometimes fun to get an idea of how fast orslow you can travel. However, a really good reason tohave one is for checking windspeeds at launch.

There are three main types: disc, venturi and turbine.

The cheapest ASls are the popular Ventimeter and Halldisc instruments. These consist of a transparenttapered tube with a guide wire up the middle, an airinlet at the base, and an outlet at the top. A plastic discis free to slide up the wire, and is happy to do so whenthe inlet is held into wind. The speed is read directlyby checking the disc against gradations marked on thetube. The Dwyer meter uses the same principle, butwith a little plastic ball moving up the tube. All theseinstruments have to be aligned with the wind to giveaccurate readings, but if this is done they give excel-lent results in spite of their simplicity.

126 CHAPTER 8

Venturi ASls use a vacuum gauge to measure thedepression in a venturi. The higher the speed, thegreater the depression. The Winter meter is the bestknown of this type, but they are little used in para-gliding. As with the disc models, the venturi must beaccurately aligned if reliable readings are to be gained.

Now to my favourite: the turbine. In these a small fanrotates a tiny magnet. The revs are counted electroni-cally and translated into airspeed displayed digitally ona small LCD screen. I keep one of these in the pocketof my flying suit, and use it frequently. The turbine willtolerate a few degrees of misalignment without givingerratic results.

Turbine ASls can be incorporated into varios, with theturbine sensor unit being mounted on the outside ofthe case or at some remote point and connected bywires. The remote-mounting option allows it to betitted to a part of the aircraft where the airflow is leastinfluenced by the wing or other obstructions such asyou, the pilot. I have seen them lowered below theharness, attached to a long lead, and with a vane tokeep the sampling head in line with the airstream.

CompassLike the airspeed indicator, a compass will not benecessary until you start to attempt ambitious cross-country thermal flying, although one can be quitehandy when checking wind direction on the ground atunfamiliar sites.

There are two uses for a compass: to follow the correctbearing when trying to cover miles across country, andto keep you flying straight when in cloud. As cloudflying is at best marginally legal as well as being reallystupid, I will mention the cross-country use only.

Briefly, you need a fairly large spherical compasswhich is effectively damped. The best place to mountthis is on the chest strap of your harness, making surethat it will not be influenced by any other instruments

Aov ANCEO EQUIPMENT 127

or by the radio, ifyou are using one. Compasses tendto be useful only on long straight glides. The constantturning when thermalling confuses magnetic compass-es, and even the best ones can take a long time tosettle down again after you have stopped circling.

GPS

GPS = Global Positioning by Satellite. This would havesounded like a science-fiction dream when I started

flying hang gliders, yet now neat little units are avail-able which will tell you at a glance where you are onthe surface of the Earth, accurate to 50 metres or so. Ifyou are above the surface of the Earth, they will eventell you how far above, although it must be said thatthey are not always quite so accurate at doing that.

GPS instruments operate by constantly monitoringtheir position relative to a number of satellites whichare in geostationary orbit 11,000 miles above theEarth's surface. The accuracy is amazing, even thoughit is understood that the information accessible to

private pilots is deliberately degraded in comparisonwith that which military pilots can receive. For theaverage club pilot a GPS system is an entertaining nov-elty, but serious cross-country pilots really gain benefit.Nick Przbylski in South Africa was one of the firstpeople to apply GPS use to paragliding, and when RobWhittall went after world records there in 1993 he

found it invaluable. Using GPS and radio on the gliderand in the retrieve vehicle not only ensured that hewas flying the right track, it also enabled Nick to havethe car standing by at touchdown after several hours offlight over rather featureless country.

Giving your position is only one of the facilities thatGPS offers. Probably the most useful feature is the abil-ity to programme into the instrument a series of pointsalong a proposed route (waypoints) from take-off togoal. Then, as you fly, the GPS gives constant progressreports indicating the bearing to fly, your averagespeed and the estimated time of arrival at the nextpoint. You could have chosen the waypoints to ensure

128 CHAPTER 8

that you keep clear of controlled airspace - always amatter of anxiety for cross-country fliers - or to findturnpoints on a competition flight. Ifyou are at the startof a paragliding career you may find it hard to imaginethe need for such assistance, but as soon as youembark on cross-country flyingthe benefits will soonbecome obvious.

GPS is here to stay, and I guess that there will be a ten-dency for map-reading navigation skills to disappearduring the next generation or so. However, they arestill essential for the time being, because GPS is notcompletely reliable and there can be blind spots fromtime to time. There is some way to go before GPS doesfor map-reading what the pocket calculator did to theslide rule.

ADVANCED EQUIPMENT

Full instrumentation. Thispackage is on a hang glider, butit could equally easily be usedon a paraglider. The GPS is onthe left; the central unitcontains a variometer, digitalaltimeter and AS! {the chromedcylinder is the ASI sensor}; onthe right is a remote-controlunit for a video cameramounted on the keel.

129

BarographsWe touched briefly on these under the variometerheading. They are instruments which produce a per-manent record of the flight, usually in graph format,showing the altitudes reached against the duration. Itis very satisfying to see the evidence of a good flight,and if you intend to register a flight as an officialrecord, a barograph reading (barogram) is essential.

Earlybarographs used a stylus marking on a revolvingdrum to produce the flight record, but now the state-of-the-art instruments store the information electroni-cally and deliver a print-out when the flight is over. Ifyou are going to the expense of buying a barographand have any record aims at all, make sure that it is amodel approved by CIVLfor records.

Instrument mountingMost instruments are so small and light that they canbe mounted in a variety of ways. The most common isa VeIcro strap around wrist or thigh, or attached toharness straps. As all the best manuals say, experimentwith different positions until you find the one youprefer. I have settled for the vario on my right thigh. Ifyour flying suit doesn't have a loop or two to stop thestrap from slipping, it is worth stitching at least one on.The alternative is to pull the strap so tight that yourlower limb goes to sleep, or to discover the varioround your ankle during the critical phase of a trickylaunch.

No matter how little you value your instruments,always use a mounting backup in the form of a strongcord. Dropping anything except fine sand or waterballast from a paraglider is dangerous and illegal. It isalso inevitably expensive.

130 CHAPTER 8

Whether it is called- a reserve, a backup or a rescuesystem, we are talking of a secondary parachute to getyou down safely if your main paraglider stops flyingproperly for any reason. There are many on themarket, most of which operate in the same basic way.They draw on almost twenty years of steady develop-ment in the hang-gliding world. The principle issimple: the pilot pulls a handle which releases the still-packed parachute from its container attached to theharness, in a little parcel. The parcel is then throwninto clear air, where it opens as soon as it has fullyextended the bridle which connects it to the pilot'sharness. The canopy and lines have been carefullypacked into the parcel in such a way that they developin sequence, rapidly and without tangling. The parcel-wrapper is called a deployment bag.

The most common type uses a small canopy which isconnected to the harness via its lines and a bridle

shaped like an inverted V. The apex of the bridleconnects to the lines, the legs joinhig to the harness atmaillons fitted just behind the shoulders. Some oldertypes use just a single point of harness connection,and others are connected in front of the shoulders. I

am unable to work up any enthusiasm for these oldersolutions. All the types described so far are completelyunsteerable.

Several manufacturers are now introducing steerablereserves. Most of these are round canopies with slotsin the back which provide some forward speed, ordelta-shaped like Or Rogallo's very first kite designs-a case of the wheel turning full circle! These steerablemodels use two risers, each of which terminates neara shoulder. They are steered by pulling on the appro-priate riser. The response is much less positive thansteering a paraglider, but they do give you the chanceof facing into wind for the landing.

Finally, there is also at least one rectangular ram-airdesign which has a very good glide performance butrequires that you 'cut away' from the main canopy

ADVANCED EQUIPMENT

Reserve

parachutes

131

before it deploys. A single pull on the deploymenthandle initiates both the cutting away and the deploy-ment. The concept is elegant, but I would need a lot ofconvincing that it would not require more height inwhich to work than the more orthodox types. Also, itdepends on the departing main canopy to pull out thereserve - not much comfort if you are already tangledin the main ...

No matter what sort of reserve you have, if you everhave to use it in anger, a PLF (see page 145) should bean essential feature of your arrival, as the descent willbe steep and probably fast.

It is important that any reserve you have is shortenough to deploy underneath your paraglider wing. Inthe early days, reserves were used with bridles con-nected via long strops, hopefully to get the reserve wellclear of a semi-flying main wing. This is the systemused for hang gliders, but it is not so good for usbecause of the risk of entanglement. The short reservesystem has turned out to be the most dependable.

Most reserves are manufactured in at least two sizes,and you need one which suits your weight. There isusually an overlap in the pilot-weight ranges which thecanopies can handle, and if in doubt my preferencewould be to go for the larger size. These may take afraction of a second longer to open, but the descentrate will be significantly less.

You will see the expression 'pulled apex' in descrip-tions of reserves. In these types an additional line runsfrom the bridle straight to the apex of the canopy andpulls the centre down towards the pilot. This speedsup the opening time and slows the descent rate com-pared with a domed canopy of the same diameter, butat the expense of less stability on the ride down.

You may come across rocket-deployed reserves. Theseoriginate in the USA,and they use a small but verypowerful rocket to draw the 'chute out. They may be

132 CHAPTER 8

effective, but frankly I am not at all happy about theiruse by the average sport paraglider pilot. I am assuredthat an accidental deploYffient is virtually impossible.However, having seen the hang-glider version demon-strated on the ground, even the remote chance of onefiring on one of our typically crowded European sitesseems distinctly unappealing. Especially if I shouldhappen to be in line with it.

Your reserve 'chute will be no good if it stays in its con-tainer when you really need it. It must work first time,every time, yet never appear uninvited. Think of it as asystem, all parts of which must work perfectly together.Nowadays most harnesses include provision forreserve mounting, but if you are using one from adifferent manufacturer, check very carefully that itsdesign is compatible in every respect. This is not a jobfor the amateur: consult an expert - preferably aqualified rigger.

Reserves need to be repacked regularly. This is a jobyou can do for yourself provided you have the correcthandbook, follow it religiously and understand thedeployment principle perfectly. Many clubs run pack-ing evenings supervised by experts, and these are thebest places to start.

Reserve canopy use and care. Familiarize yourself with your system. Hang your

harness up somewhere - in the garage, maybe -and practice grabbing the handle until you areconfident that you would find it every time in a realemergency.

. Repack often and carefully.

. Don't attempt to repack on your own without thecorrect handbook for the canopy.

. Take just as much care of your reserve as you do ofyour paraglider: keep it dry and away from heat andsolvents.

ADVANCED EQUIPMENT 133

,

. When replacing elastic bands used in repacking,never use stronger ones than were originallysupplied.

. Take extra care when packing pulled-apex canopies.These usually require the use of a length of cord asa rigging aid during packing, but it is absolutely vitalthat the cord is removed at the right time during theprocess, or the canopy will not open.

. If you are tempted to inflate your reserve on theground to see what it looks like, prepare to besurprised at just how hard it pulls even in a wind ofthree or four mph.

. Remember that the reserve is a system, every part ofwhich must be kept in perfect condition. There havebeen several recorded cases - at least one fatal -

of the handle coming adrift from the deploymentbag when pulled hard, because of old or inadequatestitching.

134 CHAPTER 8

Drinking waterA good container for liquid can be a vital part of yourequipment, particularly if you will be flying in a hotpart of the world. The drinking systems made originallyfor mountain bikers, which consist of a flexible bagand a valved-mouth tube, are often adapted for para-gliding. 'Camelbak' is one popular make, and someharnesses are now produced with special compart-ments to take the system.

Ballast

Competition pilots often carry ballast in the form ofwater, usually in a pillow-shaped bag under the seat.The additional weight (10 kg or more) makes the para-glider easier to handle in the strong thermals of themiddle of the day, and can be discarded later in theflight to allow the pilot to make the most of weaker liftas the day calms down. If you are planning a competi-tion career, look out for a harness with a compartmentto take a ballast bag. For normal recreational flyingsuch an extra is quite unnecessary.

ADVANCED EQUIPMENT

Liquid supply

Japanese world-record holderMasahiro Minegishi carryingglider and ballast to launchnear Kitakyi1shu

135

Above: Helmet choice is still amatter of personal preference.

Right: 1993 World ChampionHans Bollinger (Switzerland)models a stylish pair of Oakleyshades.

136

As I said in the Introduction, there is some danger inparagliding. The choice of how much danger is really upto you. With a sensible approach the risk is very smallindeed, but if you tackle the sport at all recklessly youwill certainly pay for it - possibly with your neck.Although I am going to offer you my own ideas of safety- ideas built up from over twenty years of hang glidingand paragliding as well as those shamelessly stolenfrom whoever thought of them first - don't imagine fora minute that this is all there is to the subject. Make thisyour chapter too, by adding your own elements of safetyand sharing them through your club or association.

I separate the aspects of safety into three: passive,defensive and active. Your overall safety depends on aconstant interaction of all three categories. lt alsodepends on remembering Murphy's Law, the constantcompanion of any aviator: If anything can go wrong,sooner or later it will. And there's more: it willgo wrongat the moment when it can cause the biggest trouble.

Don't go italoneI believe very stronglythat safety1nthe airdepends greatly uponbuilding yoUr ownsense of responsibilityand self.reliance,qndIh~pe thqt this bookwill help you in this.However, I f11..uststress again that theguidance of qualifiedinstructors andcoaches is one of the

gredtest aids to safetyin the sport.

Pay attention to all the elements of passive safetydescribed below: they are essential to your overallsafety habit.

Flying equipmentSafety starts with your equipment. Don't compromiseon anything. Fly a glider that is the correct size for yourweight, and use a comfortable harness that is easy toget into, with a good back protector and a profession-ally fitted reserve parachute.

Passive safety

137

Helmet

The choice of helmet is a problem. At present there isno published standard for helmets suitable for airsports, so either we have to use those developed forother activities, such as cycling or motorcycling, or wego for so-called 'paragliding' helmets which are oftensimply one man's idea of what he thinks would do thejob and sell well. He is not always right. Take thesepoints into consideration and then buy a helmet thatyou feel is right for you.

. Look for good protection of the temples: manycycling helmets are poor in this respect.

. A tough outer shell is useless if there is not plenty ofthe right types of padding between it and you. Aclose-fitting Kevlar shell may make you look like ahero of the skies, but some such models seem tooffer little protection against brain damage, com-pared with less glamorous types.

. A helmet is only any good if it stays in place. Thedesign of retaining strap plays a bigger part inhelmet safety than you might imagine. This is anarea where a helmet which complies with standardsfor other uses is likely to score over an unmarkedone.

. A helmet is only any good if it fits. Try lots until youare really happy with your choice.

. Make your own decision about which type of helmetto go for: 'open', 'full-face' or 'chin-protector'. Faceprotection is obviously a good thing if you find your-self being dragged over rocky ground, but may beless of a blessing if the unthinkable happens andyou need mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. I am alsorather uneasy about the way some guards extend aconsiderable way beyond the chin: they look to meas if they could exert an undesirable twisting load insome types of accident.

138 CHAPTER3

. Some people don't mind flying with their ears cover-ed. I'm not one of them. I prefer to be able to sensemy airspeed by the sound of the wind, and don't liketo wear anything which may add to my isolation oreven prevent me from exchanging shouts with otherfliers.

SunglassesWith any luck you will spend quite a lot of time highup in the air with little shade. You need sunglasseswhich give good UV protection at the very least. Foreye-safety it is also desirable to filter out the infraredwavelengths, but this is less widely publicized. You willfind that lenses that filter the blue part of visible lightincrease your perception of cloud; this is not strictly asafety feature, but it can help you to locate thermals byspotting the birth of little cumulus clouds.

Naturally, choose shatterproof lenses, and if the glass-es are at all a loose fit, use one of those elastic retain-ers which fit onto the ends of the ear-pieces. Somepilots use skiing goggles for winter flying, and thesecan incorporate all the foregoing features.

Gloves

I put gloves very high on my list of essential equipmentfor passive safety. I virtually never fly without them,regardless of temperature. Obviously the thicknessdepends on the season, and I like skiing gloves inwinter and thin leather ones in summer. The pointabout wearing them all the time is that paragliding candamage your hands in two ways at least. One commonsource of wounds is skin burns from the lines. The

canopy only has to get mildly out of control in a freshbreeze while you are holding a line rather than a riser,and you can get burned to the bone in no time. I havealso known pilots to get quite nasty finger burns whenpulling the lines to form 'big ears' (see page 155). Theother common injury occurs when being dragged by acanopy. Ifyou are desperately reaching around trying topull the thing to a standstill, you will be very glad ofgloves. And yes, it can happen to you. ..

DOING IT ALL SAFELY 139

If your flight is likely to last for more than a fewminutes in cold weather, you will also discover thatparagliding is second only to motorcycling for numbingthe fingers. Quite apart from the inescapable fact thatthe temperature decreases as you climb, your handsare exposed to the wind for every moment of theflight, and will spend much of the time up above yourshoulders - thus making it relatively hard for theblood to be pumped around them.

On the subject of skiing gloves, it is worth removing thesnap hooks which the manufacturers supply to clipthem together in pairs. Nobody ever uses these hooks,which are probably simply there to ensure that you losetwo gloves instead of one, so cut them off before theycatch onto a line when you are doing an alpine take-off.This is not an imaginary fear: I have seen it happen.

Hand injuries, even if only to the skin, are so disablingand slow to repair that you should do all you can toavoid them. As soon as you are away from the con-trolled environment of a training school in summer,use gloves all the time you fly.

BootsBoots give protection and grip, and you should neverparaglide without them. The market is now big enoughfor one or two sporting-equipment companies such asSalomon to make special paragliding boots. Theseoffer good cushioning and ankle protection, as well ashaving a weatherproof flap to conceal the laces. Ideal.However, many other types of boot will do, providedthey are high enough to cover the ankle and havesoles with clearly defined grips. Avoidboots withhooks for the laces, as these are fated to hook arounda brake line during ground-handling or tangle with thespeed system when in the air.

Good boots may seem like a luxury when you arestarting paragliding, but you will soon find that you willspend quite a lot of your leisure time wearing them, sodon't over-economize.

140 CHAPTER 9

Spinal protectionThe science of back protection for paraglider pilots isstill in its infancy, so you will have to rely on your owncommon sense to help you decide what to choose.Back protectors produced for other sports seem tohave limitations when applied to ours. In particular,motorcycling ones do not seem to me to extend farenough under the buttocks. My feeling is that virtuallyanything is better than nothing, but it is a good idea toclarify the idea of what a spinal protector needs to dobefore you make your choice.

Keep in mind that in paragliding your bottom frequent-ly arrives at the accident before the rest of you. In thevery early days this may be because of a misplaceddesire to 'stretch the glide' by keeping your feet up solong that you land sitting down. Later, when trying tosoar a small ridge in scratchy conditions, a little localturbulence may be enough to dump you onto theground before you have time to get your undercarriagedown. Injuries due to seated landings range from theextremely painful broken coccyx through to perma-nently disabling damage further up the spine, or evenbrain damage through vertically transmitted shock.

In any of these cases a semi-rigid protector which

extends from I(nder your seat to midway up your backmay lessen injury, but - like the crash helmet - itneeds a good thickness of shock-dissipating foambetween you and it.

Some protectors are designed to deform progressivelyon impact, while others are extremely stiff. The stiffones must also have some padding if they are to beeffective.

You need to look at back protection in conjunctionwith your harness: obviously, one must fit the other.Also, beware of stiff protectors which come too far upyour back: there must be no risk of the top of the backprotector chopping into the base of your skull in acrash.

DOING IT ALL SAFELY

Back protector by Air Bulle. Thisis a serious attempt to providea progressively deformableprotector, and it looks as if itwould be effective.

141

One particularly novel form of back protection is avail-able with the Apco Paradise harness. This consists, ineffect, of an inflatable armchair which is activated bypulling a toggle on the harness, or whenever the emer-gency parachute is deployed. I guess that this does notstrictly conform with my idea of passive protection,and my personal choice is for something which reallyis there all the time.

Other equipmentCarry a whistle and a webbing cutter in your flying-suitpocket or somewhere you will be able to reach themeven if you are disabled. Don't tuck them into the backof your harness.

If there is any chance of ending up in water - perhapswhen practising radical manoeuvres or soaring seacliffs - a buoyancy aid is essential. There is a popularidea that air will be trapped in a paraglider wing in theevent of a water landing, so no lifejacket is necessary.Air may be trapped, but that will be no use at all if youare beneath the wing, sodden through, and tangled insome lines. You need a buoyancy aid which will keepyou upright with your head out of the water. Nevermind the paraglider!

Defensive safety

142

Under the heading of defensive safety, I include allthose things you can do to minimize damage or injuryby just looking ahead a little. By developing gooddefensive safety you can outwit Murphy and his law. Toa large extent, defensive flying is a state of mind whichcan be cultivated. Observation is a big part of it.

Defensive safety includes matters of natural caution,such as avoiding flyinga new glider and a new site atthe same time. It also covers details like moving yourlaunch point a few metres one way or the other if itmeans that there will no longer be a barbed-wire fencedownwind of you - even if the fence is so far backthat you don't think there is any real chance of yourbeing dragged back onto it ifyou get the launch wrong.

CHAPTER 9

On a larger scale, it means never committing yourselfto a single plan. Always have a second and third optionready to slot into position the moment it is apparentthat Plan A is doomed to failure. For example, whenyou set up a top-landing, ensure that there is a clearpath ahead of you in case you find you need to overflyand go round again. And if the lift then dies, youshould already have a clear idea of where your bottomlanding will be. Always keep the words of Mark Dale,the BHPA's Technical Officer, ringing in your ears:'Never put yourself in a situation where it's Plan A ordisaster! '

Here is a list of items which come under my headingof defensive safety. I hope that you will be able to addto the list throughout your flying career. The big trick isto add the items through foresight rather than bitterexperience.

. Pre-flight checking. Not just the canopy and linesetc, but also the pins on your back-up parachutebefore each launch.

. Pre-flight planning. Know the limits of airspacearound your proposed flying site. If it is one likely tobe affected by military low-level flying, phone therelevant warning number at the earliest opportunity(see page 193).

. Weather awareness. Don't fly without some idea ofwhat the weather is likely to do, and keep watchingthroughout the day.

. Don't flyalone, and make sure somebody knowswhere you are going and approximately when youare likely to return.

. Untilyou are very experienced, carry a wind-meter,and respect your own limits for air speed at launch.

. Be prepared to walk to a safe launch-point ratherthan using the close but dodgy one.

DOING IT ALL SAFELY 143

. Similarly, rate safety higher than nearness to yourcar when landing.

. Make taking care of your equipment an automaticeveryday part of your flying routines.

. Don't let your wing languish for hours in the sun.

. Repack your reserve parachute frequently.

. Keep current. Flying and judgement skills soon getrusty. Ease your way back into the air with a fewunambitious flights if you have had to take a breakfor any reason.

Defensive safety is one step ahead of passive safety,but sometimes the two categories overlap. Suppose,for example, that you decide to take some in-flightphotos using a bulky SLRcamera. Would you hang itround your neck so it rests on your chest the way youdo when using it on the ground, or is there a saferway? Ifyou think of the camera as your own personalrock which you might easily fall onto, rather than as anexpensive instrument, you may decide that it would bea better arrangement to hang it to one side, at aboutwaist level.

Active safety

Figure 25: The parachutelanding fall. The full sequencecould make the differencebetween life and death in acrash after a big deflation. Itinvolves using the bent legs asshock-absorbers at initialtouchdown, and then smoothlyrolling down one side of thebody and across the back. Mostuntidy paraglider arrivals undera fully inflated canopy do notrequire the entire sequence, butstages 1-4 will save leg, armand spine injury time after time.

144

Under this heading I include all the actions andreactions which will either keep you out of

danger or minimize the effect ifthings go wrong.

1 2 3 4

CHAPTER9

Top of the list is keeping a look-out all the time you arein the air. Know where the other pilots are. Rememberthat mid-air collisions are potentially fatal, and don'timagine that they only happen in the most crowdedconditions. In fact, when it is really crowded, everyonetends to take more care - the really nasty mid-airstend to happen when there is quite a lot of spacearound but pilots are concentrating on thermallingrather than keeping a constant look-out.

The parachute landing fall (PLF)The PLF is a vital active safety technique to master. Asthe name suggests, it was developed by military para-chutists as a way of reducing injuries caused to heavily-equipped men descending fast on unsteerablecanopies. The overall idea is to spread the shock oflanding progressively over all those parts of the bodythat can best absorb it, while protecting the parts whichare easily damaged.

The basic technique is to make the first land contactwith your feet tightly together and knees slightly bent.Then follow through by spreading the load over theside of the legs, the buttocks and diagonally across theback as you collapse and part-roll to a halt. You fall inthe direction dictated by the approach, never attempt-ing to resist.

Throughout this procedure the hands are kept knuckles-together in front of your chest with your elbows tightlyagainst your sides. Your chin must be tucked in andyour back rounded. One of the hardest parts to masteris the knack of not being tense: your body should be as

5 6 7

DOING IT ALL SAFELY

Stages in the PLF:

1 Ready to meet the ground: legsfirmly together, knees bent, notension in knees or ankles

2 Contact: legs together, flex atknees, chin and elbows in. Make noattempt to anticipate the landing bypushing with the feet.

3 & 4 Collapse progressively ontothigh and hip.

5 Keeping elbows andchin well in, roll acrossback.

6 & 7 Come to rest os

the energy is expended. Check that011ports ore working, and bethankful you practised PLFsearlier.

145

relaxed as possible, while at the same time you need tomake a conscious effort to keep feet and knees tightlytogether. At no time must you reach out with hand orfoot to try to arrest the landing.

All the descriptions in the world are no substitute for alittle practice at PLFs. Your instructor should introduceyou to their delights quite early on, so that you can slipinto PLF mode automatically whenever the timecomes. Because paragliding in Britain draws from themilitary-influenced parascending/parachuting back-ground, the PLF seems to be taught very well here, butI know that schools in some other countries almost

ignore it.

Hang-glider pilots converting to paragliders find it quitedifficult to do PLFs, because they are so conditioned tomaking running landings that it feels natural to hit theground with the feet in the ready-to-run position. That'sOK for a completely controlled arrival on a flat surface,but if the slightest element of crisis seems to be creep-ing into the event, the PLF is by far the safest option.Occasions to decide on a PLF in good time are whenlanding cross-wind or while travelling backwards.

One of the problems with PLFs occurs in high wind,and demands rapid action the moment you are down.If you have retained the brake handles (you should),and have bunched your hands against your chest inthe approved manner, you will discover that you aremaintaining the canopy in the perfect configuration fora high-speed drag across the ground. Be ready to haulin one of the brake lines immediately.

Cultivate the habit of standing up immediately afterevery successful PLF,so that anyone watching willrealize that you are unhurt, and then gather in the wingas soon as possible. A paraglider open on the groundis universally accepted as a sign for 'assistanceneeded' .

146 CHAPTER 9

Helping othersIt is quite natural to want to help your friends in theirflying, but you do have to do this thoughtfully and care-fully. Sooner or later you will be tempted to assistsomeone making a launch in a high wind. You proba-bly had some help like this at your training school, so itwon't seem too unfamiliar, but don't just blunder inwithout a thought. There are at least a couple of waysyour well-meaning help can lead to big trouble.Imagine this scene:

It is blowing about 20 mph (about30 kph) on the edge of a hill, anda pilot you don't know particularlywell has managed to get his winginflated but is being graduallymoved backwards while on tiptoe.You rush forward, grab his harnessand start to pull him forwards.Unfortunately, the convenientpoint you selected to pull on washis reserve 'chute handle. You

remain holding this while the pilotdeparts smartly backwards.

Now imagine almost the samescene, but this time the pilot ishovering at shoulder height, goingneither forwards nor backwards.

Trying to be helpful, you approachfrom behind and grab hold of thepilot's seat at each side and addsome weight to his. The gliderimmediately responds by speed-ing up. You stumble slightly, andthe glider speeds up yet more asall your weight is added to it. Youmaintain your hold a moment toolong and find yourself in the airover the edge, hanging on by yourfingertips. Your light-heartedattempt at help has now put youin a potentially fatal situation.

UP's Etsushi Matsuo (left) hasthe experience to handle thislaunch situation safely, but anenthusiastic novice could easilymake things worse by grabbingthe parachute handle!

147

As a general principle, give help when asked, other-wise be cautious. Naturally, you must not let this noteof caution about helping stop you from acting positive-ly if a really dangerous situation arises and you are in aposition to do something about it.

If you yourself would really like help, ask for it beforeyou attempt to launch, and tell the helper exactly whatyou require. It is probably wiser to decide to wait untilconditions have calmed down and you can launchunaided.

Ove.rhead electric ediblesOverhead wires can be a bjgpmblem fm paragHder pilots ~.particularly whensettingup d landing in a previouslyunknownJield d.ftera..cross-countryBight.Thedanger is not usually themajm groups of pyJon-sqppoxtedlioes1which ateeasily seen, but small~rones serving villages or fa;rms.'fou ca..nreduce.thechance of flying into them by vigilange and.a healthy sense of suspicion.Developthe habit of expeGtingevery farm to have. at least one wire leading to it,notnecessarily followingroads m fieldbouo.daries, aod doo't mlax untilyou havefoundi.f. DQn'teven relax then - there may be anoth~d Lookfor. the p?les, andremember that copper wire will have oxid.izedto a n./cegreen which willmokejifinvisibleovergmss when viewedfrQmabov~. If there is dn isolated ba..mor $hed,look fm the wire that powers the lighting or the milkingmachine.

Ifyou have the misfortuneto fly intowires and find yourself conscious andtangled up dea..rof the grQund, do nothing except shQutto keep well-meaningpotential helpers away f~,pmyou untilthere is abs?lUtely.nodoubt tha..tthe poweris off,no matter how long the wait may be.

tfyou see someone else hit wires and get hung up, fQrgethe.mics immediately.The firstpriority isfm the electricitycompany to switchthe power off. Unless youcan easily find their own.emergenCYDumber,cq!!the general emergency number(999 in the lJK,911 in the USA)for thepolice m.fireservice,whowillconta..ctthem fm you. Under no circumstances mustyou attempt a.rescue yourselfuntilthe line i$safe. Keep ladders and ropes we!laway!

And finally,if an accident brihgs a wire which mightbe./ive ioto contact with theground near you, move away by 'bunny hopping' with both feet together. That

way youwon't get a charge fmmthegJoundelectr~cuting}ou by flowingup oneleg and down the other, as it may do ifyou stride away. No kidding.

148 CHAPTER 9

Getting the paraglider down where you want to everytime is active safety, yet I have frequently been topopular sites in continental Europe and seen peoplemissing the landing area and arriving on the road, intrees and bushes, in backyards, and sometimes acouple of fields away. In some cases there is a validexcuse, when a valley wind switches 1800with thepilot committed to the final glide, but usually thereason is simply bad planning and lack of thought. Thepilots get to the vicinity of the landing area and thenhope to find a neat way of landing in it.

Here is a method which removes guesswork andworks quite well. It deviates somewhat from mostflying textbooks, because they are usually aimed at air-craft with much flatter glide angles and higher air-speeds than ours, and assume quite a long finalapproach with a straight glide over the threshold of thefield. With the method described here, you make thefinal turn on or even within the threshold. This exampleassumes a field of at least 350 x 200 ft Cl00 x 60 m) insize and in exclusive use by paragliders. It also assumesthat there are no particular local rules about land whichyou must not overfly.

You lose height during thedownwind leg to one sideof the field with a few

gentle 360s or S-turns,always taking care to keepspeed on to avoid stalling.When down to 50-60 ft

(15-20 m) turn into thefield and complete thelanding. The advantage isthat you can monitor thewind by watching your driftduring the turns, and caneven change your directionof landing at a relativelylate stage if you decide thatyou have got it wrong at

Wind

DOING IT ALL SAFELY

Landing choices

Figure 26: Keeping your optionsopen when approaching alanding field

land

._-~

-/), ,, ,

149

first. You also avoid the embarrassing problem ofunderestimating the valley wind and finding yourselfsinking vertically into the downwind field with every-one standing round the windsock and saying 'S/he'snot going to make it!'.

Your landing planning should start a long way awayfrom touchdown: take stock of any other gliders whoare likely to be landing at about the same time andkeep an eye on them. Then decide from whichdirection you will probably need to make your finalapproach.

Tree landingsTree arrivals would be a better heading really; afterall, by the very nature of the event it will not be exact-ly what you planned by way of a landing. There aretwo phases to a typical tree landing: hitting the treeand getting out of it. If you have any say in the matter,it is better to hit the tree fair and square in the middleof the branches and stay there, rather than hooking iton one side and being swung down to the groundfrom a great height. When impact becomes inevitable,protect your eyes with your forearms and try to keepyour legs together. As soon as the crashing subsides,take stock of your situation and do nothing in a rush.Unless you are quite sure that you are likely to be castto the ground at any second, the best action may be tosit tight and blow the whistle, which you will suddenlybe very glad you had in your pocket. With any luck,helpers with rope and ladders will soon be on theway.

Only if you are absolutely confident that you can climbdown safely, should you attempt to unclip from thewing. Do this by unhooking the karabiners rather thanby getting out of the harness, because if you haveguessed wrongly and later have to be lowered downby helpers, the harness will be very useful. However,watch out for snagging your reserve parachute handleon anything on the way down. Deploying it at thisstage will not enhance your day.

150 CHAPTER 9

Remember that a drop of only 10 or 15 ft (3-5 m) cancause a lot of damage. After you've been flying, per-haps at several thousand feet, it may not look much,but do reflect that more injuries are caused by fallingout of trees than by flying into them.

If you have landed in a large forest, be sure to markthe trail so that you can find your way back to the treeand reclaim your wing. Use pieces of broken line, atom-up neckscarf or something like that - not yourrucksack or harness, which might be subsequentlypicked up by a thief or a well-meaning hiker. Get allthe help you can to recover the paraglider: havingseveral people to lift and pull branches can often makeall the difference between a wrecked canopy and anintact one.

If you have an accident, file a report! Others must beallowed to learn from your misfortunes. Many nationalassociations publish accident statistics, but these areonly of value if they are truly comprehensive. Goodstatistics allow trends to be spotted before theybecome epidemics. For example, a line break on yourglider may be due to having snagged it on a rock, but ifthe line in the same position breaks on half a dozenexamples of the same model, there may be a manu-facturing fault. Without your reports it could passundetected for years.

Accident reports

Sooner or later all pilots find themselves in the positionof having to decide whether the conditions are fit to flyin or not. Weigh all the factors and make a good deci-sion. Ifyou don't get it right, you may find these wordsrattling across your consciousness as you struggleagainst the elements. They are probably as old asflying itself:

'It is far better to be down here wishing you were upthere, than up therewishingyou were down here.'

DOING IT ALL SAFELY

When doubtcreeps in

151

.'8"

WIl1.

collaIn Chapter 3 the possibility of a wingtip tucking underduring flight was mentioned (see page 53). As yourflying experience builds up you will become accus-tomed to occasional encounters with local turbulence

which set your canopy shaking and your heart-rateshifting down a gear. Because paragliders are designedand tested to resist collapses, it is usually over almostbefore you have noticed it, and you fly on withouthaving to take any action. Sometimes it can be rougherand you may look up to see the front of the wing tuck-ing or a tip deflating and waving back at you. If you areflying a wing correctly suited to your experience, youstill won't need to do anything except watch it resumeits normal comforting shape within a second or twoand without any input from you. But suppose, just for amoment, that it didn't recover on its own: would youreally know exactly what to do?

The exercises on a typical SIV course equip you tohandle such incidents and emergencies by requiringyou to perform collapses and then extricate yourselffrom them. While writing this book I performedseveral of the SIV tasks on my own glider, under thetutelage of my son Rob, and expected to benefit bygaining extra technical piloting skills. That certainlyhappened, but the biggest benefit was the increase inconfidence that followed. After undertaking SlY, youunderstand just how powerfully your paraglider wants

Simulationd'incident en vol(SIV)

Facing page: WaiterHoltzmuller (Austria) with hiscompetition glider in a perfectB-line stall (see page 157)

153

to stay in the air and how a little cool thinking canprevent a minor inconvenience from turning into adisaster.

Incorrectly executed, deflations and stalls are danger-ous manoeuvres, and I stress that you must not experi-ment with them on your own. SlY must be done undercontrolled conditions with the guidance of a thorough-ly trusted and qualified instructor. You need plenty ofheight, water underneath with a rescue boat standingby, a buoyancy jacket and a radio. Reject courseswhich have anyone of these elements missing.

This book is not the place to instruct you on any of thetechniques: the following comments are just to giveyou an impression of what you will encounter whenyour turn for an SIV course comes along. Any of mypersonal comments here relate to the Firebird 'Marlin',a very stable and forgiving intermediate glider - thisshould be borne in mind if you aspire to a hottermodel.

154

Big ears ...

Big earsThis is the mildest of all the manoeuvres, and is

scarcely a part of the SIV range. Big ears simply con-sists of folding in the tips of the wing by pulling theouter one or two A-lines on each side. This reduces

the area and efficiency of the wing and increases itssink rate - and, usually, its speed - so it is acommon way of descending. You steer by weightshiftwhile the ears are in. If you have flown at any popularsite, you will almost certainly have seen someone'pulling the ears' to make a top-landing.

It is a useful trick to know, not simply because it maycome in useful, but also because it introduces you tothe concept of deliberately collapsing part of yourflying machine and then re-inflating it. I believe that allmodem gliders can safely be big-earsed, but a few ofthe early ones could not. Don't go folding the tips inunless your handbook says it is OK.

COPING WITH COLLAPSES

... and really big ears

155

Front tucksThe full front tuck is surprisingly undramatic, but itdoes require an act of will-power to pull firmly andevenly on both front risers to initiate it the first time.Dammit, all your flying so far has depended on thoseports at the front of the cells remaining open, and hereyou go closing them with a couple of thousand feet ofvacant space below you. Then you give a strong pulldown on the risers, there is some vigorous rattlingfrom the sail, a bit of penduluming and a reassuringwhump! when you let the risers up again with asmuch control as you can muster and an undeniablefeeling of relief. You will probably have just dampedthe penduluming nicely with a judicious touch of bothbrakes when the radio bleats at you: 'Not bad, but thistime go a bit deeper and try to hold it for a bit longer- and look at the wing while you are doing it!'

After good symmetrical front tucks, the next item onthe menu is usually asymmetrical ones, achieved byhauling on one or other of the A-risers. These lookdreadful at first, but are easily cured by releasing theriser and possibly helping the re-inflation with a pumpof the appropriate brake.

At this stage you will be following the advice to look atthe wing during the manoeuvres, and finding that thesense of height and isolation disappears. You are nowconcerned just with the wing and your actions, aworld limited to the length of the lines. There is adanger in this, as you can forget to monitor your alti-tude or the proximity of other gliders. Even whenunder instruction, you must keep a good lookout.

StallsStalls will be somewhere on the SlY agenda: perhapsyou will be told to take the glider to the edge of a fullstall by taking both brakes far below hip level, waitingfor the wing to start to deform and then releasing themsteadily just before it folds back. The glider will slowdown considerably during this, and you will swingback and forwards quite a lot during the recovery.

156 CHAPTER 10

B-liningMaybe you will do the so-called B-line stalls, illustratedon page 152. B-lining is simple, and is one of the SlYtasks which could have a practical application if youget into irresistible lift - it is a way of getting downquickly. Just reach up to the top of the B-risers and pullthem down towards your shoulders. This is easier saidthan done, because the effort required is great. Youwill probably find that you need to hook a finger or twointo the lines where they meet the top of the riser andvirtually heave yourself out of the seat before thewhole undersurface of the wing 'breaks' across itswidth and you become conscious that the relativeairflow is up your trouser legs rather than into yourface. My shoulder joints are unreliable, so I find B-lining very uncomfortable. After a few seconds ofdescent, you let the pressure off steadily and the gliderresumes normal flight. I experienced absolutely noproblems in exiting from the B-line stall, but somemodels of glider are liable to go directly into a stabi-lized stall if the risers are released too gently.

Full stallThe full stall used to be included in SIV courses, but itis a distinctly dangerous procedure without a truly pre-dictable outcome. When it began to be realized that ineveryday flying full stalls are virtually unknown, but A very fully developed stall

that practising them deliberately was causing severalaccidents each year, common sense prevailed and theteaching of the manoeuvre has now ceased. I'll tellyou what it's like so that it won't remain a completemystery, but please don't try it - full stalls are so riskythat not even the vastly experienced AFNOR test pilotsinclude it in their repertoires.

Briefly, the pilot takes a wrap or two on each brake,and then slows the glider right down before finallypulling the brakes on to their fullest extent and holdingthem there with the arms locked straight down besidethe thighs. The wing reacts by folding backwards in ahorseshoe shape and flapping and rattling mightily.The descent rate is considerable, but the whole pro-cedure is relatively stable at this stage.

The drama starts when the pilot lets the brakes backup again. If this is done smoothly and symmetrically,the wing should start flying again, although it will surgeforwards, probably violently, and there will be a lot ofpenduluming. If the gods are not smiling or at leastgrinning a little, the wing surges so viciously that it fliesforwards under the pilot, who promptly plummets intoit. The remainder of the flight is brief and well outsidethe scope of any curriculum.

Instead of teaching the full stall, most responsibleinstructors now concentrate on teaching their pupilsappreciation of slow flight and the onset of a partialstall.

Spirals and spinsOther components of an SIVcourse are the spiral diveand the spin.

The spiral is simply a succession of tight 360° turns inwhich you can eventually reach a bank angleapproaching 90° accompanied by a formidable rate ofdescent. The main hazards of this are disorientation

and clumsiness in restoring everything to straight andlevel flight.

158 CHAPTER 10

The flat spin is an altogether nastier animal in whichthe wing is part-collapsed on one side, with theinflated side rotating around it. As the wing can rotatefaster than the pilot, the brake lines and risers twisttogether to form a short cord, and after a few turns,the brakes become inoperative. I cannot suggest acure for this, as the only spin I was rash enough tobecome involved with was arrested after three turns

and it was simply a matter of reaching up to assist inthe untwisting when everything seemed to be aboutthe right way up again. Throwing the reserve is anoption, but doing this needs a little care and luck if it isnot to become twisted around the paraglider as itdeploys. The standard advice is to throw the reserve inthe opposite direction to the spin.

COPING WITH COLLAPSES

This tip seems to be fairlypermanently tangled, butfortunately the glider is stilloperating well. Liechtensteinchampion Martin Buhler seemsto be remarkably unconcerned.When the canopy is caught upin the lines like this, the effect isoften described as a cravate.

159

Rob in a spiral on a Ninja

Tnere is no formal

agreement about tneexact content of anSlY course. Quite

apart. fromtne obvi-ouspnysical dangers,a.n over~ambitiouscourse cdhbe as bad

for your flyingconfidence as noneat all. Tnereis a fineline between execut-

ingradicaL manoeU-vres wnic.n will eqcdpyou better in tneevent of trouble i.h

your everyday flying,and attempting tnosewnicn are strictly intne realm of profes,.sioIJ.aJtesFpilots.Always dhoose acoUrse wit[, qualifiedinstrUctors wno are

prepared to tailortnei.r demands to yourcapabilities andambitions. If a course

seemsfo .belurningiIJto a competition tosee who can getaway with tnel11ostradical manoeuvres,respect your ownjudgement and naveIJotning more to dowitn)J. Don't laugh, itnappens!

160

With all the manoeuvres, nothing very complicated isrequired from the pilot to restore normal flying service,but with practice you can improve your performanceconsiderably. At first you won't have a dear idea ofwhich way you are pointing during the exercises, andin the open space over a big lake this is not too impor-tant. However, if you have to cope with a deflationwhile attempting to thermal alongside a mountain, theability to handle it and exit in an appropriate directionis vital. As Rob Whittall says, 'There's no point in recov-ering from a stall if you then fly straight into a diff.'With practice, however, you will find that you canrecover smoothly and on the correct heading.

SIV hazards

. Repeated violent manoeuvres will load your gliderto the extent that it will wear out more quickly. Sowill soaking it and having it heaved out of the waterinto a boat.

. You can become so engrossed in the manoeuvres,all of which use - or lose - lots of height, that youcan find the landing field is beyond reach at the endof a session.

CHAPTER 10

Most collapses are fairlyminor and easy to recoverfrom, and the SIV activities teach you not to panic ifthe paraglider suddenly changes shape. However,there is a world of difference between collapses whichyou induce and those which arrive unannounced.

Here are some basic tips for getting everything undercontrol again:

. The brake controls do more than steer: they doubleas pumps to shift air about inside the wing.

. Collapses are recovered by pumping. Think of theparaglider wing as a set of huge bellows, and usethe brake controls to pump air from one part toanother. The holes in the cell dividers allow air to

reach every part, unassisted by Heineken. Quicklittle jabs at the controls are a waste of time - youneed long, firm pumps to get the air moving.

. Ifyou have a tip collapse - this is the most

common event - counter the extra drag on thatside by applying some brake on the opposite side tokeep you flyingstraight. Then sort out the deflationby pumping as necessary.

. If the collapse occurs while you are activating aspeed system, release the pressure on the stirrupquickly but smoothly. If the problem is a frontcollapse, this alone will often cure it.

Reacting tocollapses ineveryday flying

A massive tip collapse duringlaunch. If this happens whileyou still have the option ofaborting the take-off and start-ing again, you should do so.

. Which control to pump? It all depends on whichparts of the glider remain inflated. If it's just a smalldeflation, apply a little opposite brake to counter anyturn, and then use a couple of long pumps on thedeflated side to get the wing back into shape again.If half the wing has collapsed and folded under, youneed to pump the opposite control to get air acrossinto the deflated side, perhaps followed by a smallerpump or two on the collapsed side to bring the tipinto shape. This second case is quite extreme, and isincluded here to show that you have to think aboutwhat you are doing - there are times when simplerules such as 'pump the deflated side' won't work.

. Wind strength and direction can play a big part inthe ease of recovery, so if you are trying to re-inflatein a strong crosswind, don't expect exactly the sameresponse that you got in the calm air over the lake.

. Expect the wing to snap back into shape quite vigor-ously, and be ready to damp out the resulting swingby judicious use of the brakes.

. If you find that you are experiencing repeated partialcollapses while thermalling, don't automaticallyblame the glider or the conditions. Could you beflying too slowly?

Parachutedeployments

The emergency parachute is a haven of last resort. Ifyou do have to throw one, don't expect a smooth ride.Assuming it doesn't tangle with the flapping remains ofyour paraglider, it will open with a jerk and you willprobably be swung from side to side as it oscillates. Ifyou are swinging, you will have no say about what partof the arc you will be passing through when theground arrives. You will almost certainly not be able tochoose your landing field, and will be lucky to steeraway from trees or power lines. The descent rate willbe amazingly rapid compared with the paraglider youare used to. Never be tempted to throw the 'chute tosee what happens!

162 CHAPTER 10

Cross-country"ying

Soaring on a ridge or repeating circuits of a tow-launchairfield is great sport, but after a while many pilots feelthat they want to take the freedom of the air to greaterlimits. After learning to fly in the first place, the nextgreat adventure lies in trying to cover the miles to adistant landing place. All you need are some thermal-ling skills (Chapter 7) and good knowledge of any air-space restrictions on your course (Chapter 13). A littlecourage comes in handy too.

Cross-country success depends upon becoming estab-lished in a thermal that is strong enough to get youaway from your launch area - and preferably to takeyou close to cloudbase. Imagine that you climb 2,000 ft(600 m) in a wind of 10 mph (17 kph), and remain atabout that height under the cloud at the top of thethermal for ten minutes, before flying on in a straightdownwind glide during which you encounter no morelift at all: by the time you land you will have covered atleast 5 miles (8 km), quite enough to qualify as a gen-uine cross-country. Finding another thermal couldeasily have doubled the distance.

This style of downwind flight is typical of distanceflying in much of the British Isles, where the hills arelow and the wind a normal feature. The difficult pointis making the original decision that this is the thermal

First cross-countries

163

Nice view. Pity about thefootwear.. .

164

to go with. I am a champion at saying to myself'there'lI be a better one soon, I need a thousand feet toleave with, I'll fly back to the ridge for now' when I amcircling and am at decision-point, perhaps 700 ft up.The really successful pilots don't worry about howhigh (or Iow) they are; provided they are established inthe lift, they just stay with it and go.

Among mountains it can be easier. Here, typical cross-countries are flown by hopping along ranges, from onespur to another. There is often a thermal on each spurwhich gives enough height to reach the next one. Thebig challenges come when it is time to try to crossvalleys or other big gaps.

CHAPTER 11

Reaching cloudbase is vel)' satisfying, and it can berather surprising the first few times. You will feel themoisture in the air before you get to the clouds, andthen may find that you are becoming engulfed. It iscommon to have good visibility directly downwards, butnot much sideways. This is because the undersides ofcumulus clouds are often concave and you are in thehollow bit. The lift can continue right up into the clouds,fed by the latent heat released by condensation, so beprepared to fly to one side if it is getting too strong, oreven to pull 'big ears' to increase the sink rate.

CROSS-COUNTRY FLYING

Never assume that you havethe sky to yourself during across-country. Keep a lookoutall the time.

165

In cross-country flying, height equals distance, soremain flying fairly slowly in very weak lift or zero sinkrather than rushing on into the unknown. Ifyou runinto sink, unless you are really confident of findinganother thermal, fly downwind at best-glide speed.Slow down again as soon as there is any hint of lift.Paragliders are great thermalling aircraft, but are woe-fully poor when it comes to covering the ground to thenext thermal source or cloud. Be prepared to lose allyour hard-won height in a single cross-wind track to apossible lift source, and don't be too disappQinted ifthere is nothing there.

A glorious situation: altitude of3,000 ft (1000 m) or more, andsafe fields as far as the eye cansee ...

Landing fieldsOne of the great keys to success at cross-country liesin detaching your thoughts from the ground and con-centrating on the flying. The sound of the vario and thecondition of the sky are what is important. However,this must not occupy you to the extent that you forgetthe basic rule of always having a possible landing fieldwithin reach. This is a constant, almost subconscious,

occupation, and while you still have plenty of heightyou don't need to be too specific; it is enough to notethat you can comfortably clear a forest and reach aselection of fields beyond it. Once you are down to sixor seven hundred feet (200 m), though, you have tomake some good decisions quite fast. From here youwill probably be on the ground in two minutes, andyour choices will be very limited. Always choose afield without livestock in it if you possibly can. Watchfor powerlines like a hawk; if you can make life easierfor yourself by landing near the road, so much thebetter, but don't let such considerations take pre-cedence over a big safe field with a good approach.

Paraglider pilots setting off on first cross-countries andlanding after one thermal are causing problems atsome of the popular flying sites because they frequent-ly land in the same field a few miles away. Farmers aregenerally quite tolerant of occasional outlandings ontheir land, but when it happens time after time it canbecome a problem. Check with the club site officer ifthere are any sensitive areas to avoid just downwind ofyour launch area, and don't be surprised if the farmerdoesn't share your 'first XC euphoria' when you landamong his sheep.

Too much too soon?

Suppose it is a fabulous day, with the thermals per-fectly spaced so that you can fly from one to anotherso easily that you are out of your county in an hour orless. You are in unknown country and can apparentlystay up for ever, so what should you do? Land! If youdon't know where you are, there is a very real chanceof blundering into controlled airspace. Even if you arecarrying a map, it is no good if you are lost. Accuratenavigation is just as important a part of cross-countryflying as the ability to fly.

CROSS-COUNTRY FLYING 167

Extra comforts Cross-country flying inevitably involves retrieves and alot of time waiting around. Carry some food and drink,and small change for the phone. In densely populatedtemperate countries such as Britain the drink will justmake life more pleasant, but in many parts of theworld it is an essential life-saver.

Radio

Once you become seriously involved in flying awayfrom the hill, you will start to think about getting a

radio and keeping in contact with fe1l9w fliers andretrieve crews. The legal way to do this in the UK is onAirband, where we are encouraged to use 129.9 MHz,the glider frequency. This is the only form of radiowhich you are allowed to transmit with while airborne.Airband sets are quite expensive.

Two-metre-band hand-held radios are available for

ground use by licensed radio amateurs in the UK, andthe quality of transmission and reception on these isexcellent. Unfortunately the exam you have to pass toobtain a licence is unrealistically complex, althoughthere are evening classes in many areas if you arereally determined. Two-metres are popular for retrieveuse in countries where there is more freedom of the

airwaves. Whatever radio you use, respect the proto-cols and keep speech to the minimum.

Cellphones are a useful retrieve tool, at a price; CBradio, in my experience, is virtually useless.

If electronic communication fails to connect you withyour lift after a cross-country flight, try the old idea ofcarrying a card saying 'GLIDERPILOT' as a hitch-hiking aid. It still works well.

168 CHAPTER 11

Competition flying is a big part of the paraglidingscene. Involvement creeps up on you almost withoutyour noticing it: perhaps you will find yourself on thehillside at the end of a day and someone will suggesttrying to fly back to the car park. Suddenly a routineflight down becomes a test of skill in stretching theglide as far as possible. Maybe you will get lucky andfind a lingering blob of lift which takes you a fewmetres nearer to the cars than anyone else. You won!This gives the ego a pleasant boost and could lure youinto entering your club's competition a couple ofweeks later. After a few more club comps, a couple ofmodest attempts in the cross-country listings and entryinto your national league, you may start thinking ofventuring abroad to your first international competi-tions. It is fair to add that if this all seems like a tempt-

ing prospect, anyone close to you should see it as athreat... competition flying absorbs lots of time andsubstantial sums of money.

Competition can mean simple tasks such as spot-landing or attempting touch-and-goes in a designatedarea, but the real sport starts when cross-country tasksare introduced. This means that are a number of differ-

ent skills to test, and if you want to be a successful com-petition pilot, you will have to master all of them. Apartfrom good thermalling ability, you need to be able tonavigate accurately, to plan the best time to launch, andto keep a cool head when surrounded on all sides byother gliders. You also have to use a camera in the air torecord turnpoints, and be prepared to deal with theform-filling and reporting that are all part of the game.

Rob launches an Ozone Protonduring the 1999 WorldChampionships in Austria. TheProton is a 'series production'class glider rather than anunrestricted racer. There isincreasing emphasis on safetyin competition.

169

Not long ago, paragliding competition simply meantseeing who could fly furthest on the day. Now perfor-mance has improved so much that tasks are set whichinvolve flying to a goal, and usually there will be one ortwo turnpoints along the way which will mean thatsome of the course will be across-wind. To win, it's notenough to get to goal - you have to get there fast.

Internationa Icompetitions

A good 'meteo' briefing is anessential part of a successfulcompetition.

170

The pinnacle of competition is the FAIWorldChampionships. This is held every other year, and upto 180 competitors will take part in the two weeks oftasks. There are awards for the top individuals andteams. At the time of writing the women's champion-ship is part of the main event, but there is some dis-cussion about holding a completely separate women'sevent. FAl Continental Championships are held in thealternate years. Entrants for these events are normallyselected by the national associations of the competingcountries.

The Paragliding World Cup is a series of events whichis organized each year by the PWC Committee.Rounds are held in many countries, and often there isa qualifying day or two in which anyone with a compe-tition licence can participate. This is a good way tostart in large-scale competitions.

A race-ta-goal championship dayHere's a look at a typical day at a big internationalchampionship:

0800 hrs Team Leaders attend a meeting. The pre-vious day's results are handed out and a weatherbriefing is given. The Meet Director announces the site

for the day and sets the time for departure of the pilots'buses at 0845. Meanwhile the competitors collect theirfilms for the day, packed lunches, and special emer-gency radios whose batteries have been rechargingovernight.

0900 hrs The buses finally get away.

CHAPTER 12

1030 hrs Arrive at the mountain top. The wind is lightand coming from behind the launch area. However,the sun will get onto the slope soon, so launchingshould be possible as soon as thermal activity starts.

1035 hrs The Meet Director announces that there will

be a briefing at 1100 hrs.

1100 hrs The wind is no longer coming over the back.The Meet Director announces the task as a race to goalat Bigtown Racecourse, via a single turnpoint atSmall town slaughterhouse. The distance is 50 km. Thelaunch window will open at 1200 hrs, and the. startpoint will be activated at 1300 hrs.

The organizers have provided avery comprehensiveinformation board here.Competitors have to take aphoto of the task board (on theright) each day, on the sameroll of film that will containtheir turnpoint photos. Sampleturnpoint shots are provided, sothat the pilots know exactlywhat they have to look for.

The pilots now know what they will haveto do. They take the required photographsof the task board and make their way tothe launch area. There's no great hurry,because nobody can launch before noon.

Pure race tasks are not timed from take-

off, but from a start point which is usuallyin the vicinity of the launch area but lower

COMPETITION FLYING

The British team discussing thetask and plotting possibleroutes before the windowopens

171

down the hillside. Beside the start point will be a largecoloured cloth square (the tarpaulin, or tarp for short).This will be rolled up until the start activation time,when it will immediately be laid out flat. As soon as itis laid out, the pilots can photograph it from the air andset off along their course. Naturally, their photos havebe taken from the correct side of the start point, andthis will have been indicated at the briefing.

1200 hrs For this task the activation time is 1.00 pm, soall the pilots have an hour in which to launch and getinto a good position to start the task. Some will elect toget off early so that they have the maximum time togain altitude, while others will hang around on theground, using the early fliers to mark the thermals andgenerally give them a feel for the conditions.

1255 hrs With five minutes left, there are only acouple of stragglers left on the ground - all the 120-odd other competitors are crowding the air waiting forthe tarp to open. This can be a spectacular sight! Thena horn blows, the tarp opens and the race is on.

lt will probably take the fastest competitors about twohours to reach the distant goal, and it's sometimespossible to watch the start and then drive to the finish.Often the road takes you along the valley while thecompetitors pick their way from thermal to thermalabove the mountain tops. You get tantalizing glimpseswhich tell you that the pilots are well on the way, butoften they are too distant to identify accurately. This alladds to the excitement.

At a well-organized event the goal field will be staffedby several experienced observers. The goal line will beclearly marked so that the approaching pilots can seeit from a kilometre or more away, and there will be atleast a couple of windsocks. Ifyou have arrived early, itcan be hard to imagine that anyone will reach here ona paraglider. From time to time everyone scans the airin the general direction of the last tumpoint. Then alater arrival in a car rushes up and announces 'There's

COMPETITION FLYING

Photographs on facing page

Top: A little tension isinevitable during the pre-launchwait.

Below left: The LaunchDirector may close the windowfor a few minutes if theconditions cause too muchcongestion in front of take-off.

Inset right: A gaggle of gliderswaiting for the tarp to open

173

a couple about 5k back - don't know who', and sev-eral pairs of binoculars sweep the sky again. Soon twodistant dots become intermittently visible as the sun-light catches them when they turn. Look away for amoment and you'll lose them. It takes more than aquarter of an hour for the first to reach the line - stillso high that he has to circle a few times before he islow enough for the timekeepers to get his number ashe crosses. As soon as he's down to about 650 ft

(200 m), a flag is waved from the centre of the line andhe is free to land anywhere nearby - to a round ofapplause, naturally. The second races in rather lower,and only a few seconds later.

A strong team of spotters andrecorders keeping check ongoal arrivals

From now on there are frequent bursts of action assmall groups are spotted in the distance. This is goingto be a day when lots of pilots reach goal. There arecheers when one glider scrapes over the line with lessthan a couple of metres to spare, and groans asanother lands a field away without making it.

174 CHAPTER 12

Judging the final glide on such a slow aircraft as a para-glider is extremely difficult. The first pilot home waswise to keep plenty of height in hand, because a singleunexpected area of sink or headwind could easily haverobbed him of the goal. The one following had theadvantage of being able to see how the leader wasdoing and to adjust speed and glide angle accordingly.

For spectators, this race task has a big advantage inthat it is easy to understand: the competitors arrive atgoal in their finishing order. Everyone knows at oncewho has won, which is far from the case in someother tasks. In the next section we take a closer look attasks and how they are scored.

Scoring the race-to-goal task described above is relative-ly simple, but for other cross-country tasks it can bevery complex. The formulas used have been developedfrom the other soaring sports of gliding(sailplanes) andhang gliding.To my mind we have allowed things to gettoo complex, but we seem to be stuck with variationson the same theme, so I guess that something like thecurrent systems will be around for a long time yet.

The problemsFor competition to be fair, the competitors need tohave equal chances to use their skills. In competitivesoaring this is quite difficult to arrange, because theweather conditions can change so much during a task.This would not be such a problem if everybody couldalways take off exactly when they wished - launchdecision would then be just another skill for successfulpilots to master - but this is not often possible, due torestrictions on site size and the problems of ensuringtiming accuracy at launch. There is also the problemthat, assuming lift conditions are equal, a pilot whostarts late will have the advantage that the thermalswill be marked by those ahead of him. In hang-glidingcompetitions I have seen this be such a problem thatthe entire launch window was missed becausenobody was prepared to take the initiative and go first.

COMPETITION FLYING

Tasks and scoringsystems

175

How the scoring worksBasically, the scoring works by giving the winner of aday's task 1000 points and ranking everyone else inproportion to that, according to the distance theyachieve and the time they take. The points are dividedinto distance points and time points, and the way theyare divided can have a great effect on the way a pilotattacks a task. For example, if the split is 700 points fordistance and 300 for time, a cautious approach which

guarantees reaching goal would be sensible. If the splitis the other way round, it may be worthwhile flyingmuch more aggressively, because if you reach goalwith a slow time you will not get a very high score atall. Of course, in either case you need to reach goal tomake any sort of really respectable score!

What happens if you don't reach goal? Well, yousimply get a proportion of the distance points, accord-ing to how much of the course you cover.

So far, so simple, but the scope for complicatingmatters is immense. The next step is to split the time

points and relate half of them to the position of arrivalat goal. The idea of this is to reward pilots who takethe initiative and lead the way.

The next area for attention is the relative difficulty ofthe task: here the scoring-system experts have intro-duced yet another variable, the round factor. Thethinking behind this is that the pilots should be betterrewarded for a task that takes four hours than for onewhich is over and done with in forty minutes. It alsoovercomes the reluctance of some meet directors to

set short tasks on days when the weather is poor.

In some systems the figures are fairly simple, say 1000points for the winner of a long task and 700 for a shortone; others use a sub-formula which takes intoaccount the number of finishers and their averagetime. This latter method seems fair at first sight, but ithas been known to work against a pilot who puts in abrilliant performance when everyone else does badly.

176 CHAPTER 12

A big problem with these sophisticated scoring sys-tems is that it takes quite a long time to process theresults; often nobody knows who is winning until thenext day. This deprives the public of any real sense ofexcitement in connection with paragliding competi-tions - after all, one of the main attractions of asport is seeing who is winning and who is losing. Italso makes life difficult for television crews to pro-duce attractive features. Consequently people arealways looking for fresh competition formats whichwill produce instant results while still testing thepilots fairly.

Cat's Cradle

Naturally, organizers try to find simpler ways ofscoring tasks, and many variations have been tried.One is to designate a large number of turnpointswithin a relatively small area and set the competitorsto go around as many as possible, in any order butnever the same one twice, within a given time. This isreferred to a Cat's Cradle task. If the conditions are

good it can work well, but it gives a lot of headachesto the people who have to check the competitor'sfilms.

Cross-Country ClassicAs a reaction to the very tightly defined tasks, theCross-Country Classic system has evolved in the USAfor hang gliding, and is being tried for paragliders too.Several turn points are defined, and the pilots canchoose their own task, according to what they thinkis possible on the day. They can choose an out-and-return, a triangle, or simply a straight-line distancetask, and can even change their minds part-waythrough if they find that their original choice is un-attainable. Points are awarded according to distanceflown - no timing is involved. Typically, there will be1 point per mile for straight distance, 1.3 points permile for an out-and-return, and 1.5 points per mile fora completed triangle.

COMPETITION FLYING 177

Getting started incompetition

Figure 27: The FA! turnpointsector. Buildings make goodfeatures for turnpoints, becausetheir vertical components makeit easy to see which side theshot was taken from. Flatfeatures such as roadjunctionsare less satisfactory.

178

If you are a member of any paragliding club, sooner orlater you will get the opportunity to try your hand atcompetition. Have a go! No matter what sort of event itis, the following approach will help you to do yourbest:

. Fly a paraglider you are thoroughly familiar with.Don't buy or borrow a high-performer especially forthe comp.

. Check everything the day before. If the rules andregulations have been printed in advance, readthem thoroughly so that you know exactly what willbe expected of you.

. Spend plenty of time familiarizing yourself with themap before you fly. Take particular trouble to visual-ize several features on the way to the goal, so thatyou avoid basic errors such as flying down thewrong valley.

. Mark your intended line of flight on your map.

. Ifyou are going to need a camera to record turn-points, practice using it with your flyinggloves onbefore you get into the sky. That way you will discov-er whether you can operate the shutter and wind-oneasily, and learn how to avoid taking extreme close-ups of your fingers.

~

)( Goal

\;:; ,,-(1

\r00/, ~:

oS/~url)

'/)011)1

~~ Turnpoint~ cO ] km

J) ,

~II 00 ,:" Photo has to be

,,' taken from

~, ,-' within this sector

. Get your turn-point photosright! Failurehere is a greatmark-loser. Youhave to bewithin a kilo-metre of theturnpoint featureand in a 90°sector which isopposite thenext leg of thetask (see Figure27).

. Have safety lineson everything:camera, vario,map-holder.Then check thatthe one on the

camera is longenough to allowyou to get youreye to theviewfinder.

. Turn up in goodtime on the day,and really listento the briefings.

. Flythe task. Forexample, con-centrate ongetting to goalrather thanracing to goal.You can't realistically expect to win your first compe-tition, but with a bit of intelligent flyinga place in thetop ten is not out of the question.

COMPETITION FLYING

The complete competition pilot.Richard Gallon (France) girdedup and ready to go.

179

. Do your own sums and have faith in them. Be realis-tic about the speed at which you hope to cover thecourse, and launch at a time which will give you afair chance of finishing it. For example, on a light-wind day 15 kph (10 mph) is a good speed toaverage, so if a 60-km goal is set, make sure that youget off early enough to give you four hours in the air.Don't worry if the aces seem to be waiting for ever- go when you are ready. It may be that they reallycan average 25 kph, but it's more likely that they arepsyching each other up.

. Respect your own judgement: don't just follow thecrowd. It is not unknown for a dozen competitors ina world championship to photograph the sameincorrect tumpoint simply because the leader did.

. Watch the weather all the time. Forecasts are only aguide. If your own observations suggest that theweather is ignoring the forecasters' instructions,make the most of the situation: many of your com-petitors will assume that the weather is doing exact-ly what they were told it would do, and will rejectthe evidence before their eyes.

. The rules for international competitions are pub-lished by the FAI. There are two booklets: SportingCode, General Section, which lays down the basicprocedures for all aviation competitions, andSection 7, which specifically applies to hang glidingand paragliding. These are not a very stimulatingcasual read, but if you are serious about competi-tion they will represent time well invested.

. Paragliding is still a young sport with plenty of scopefor new ideas and fresh approaches. Ifyou thinkpositively and have a flair for flying, you can bedoing well in international events after only a seasonor two. Don't be afraid of winning!

180 CHAPTER12

Flight is an immense freedom, but it is not an un-limited one. As soon as you take off in any type of air-craft, you are bound by the air laws of the countryyou are flying over. In this sense, paragliders are nodifferent from any other type of flying machine. It isessential that air laws are respected scrupulously ifwe are to preserve reasonably wide limits to ourflying freedom.

Why have rules?Before going on to the dry details of the rules andregulations, consider the reasons behind some ofthem:

. Aircraft must avoid collision at all costs.

. Almost anything falling from an aircraft is a threat tolife underneath.

. All pilots are hampered by blind spots in their vision;paraglider pilots are better off in this respect thanany others, but remember - just because you cansee another aircraft, it doesn't mean that its pilot cannecessarily see you.

. There are areas on the ground over which it wouldbe dangerous to fly. Military firing ranges are anobvious example.

. Some people lack imagination to the extent thatthey will do really stupid things. Laws don't stop this,but they help a bit.

181

Air law worldwide

Although there is some conformity of air law through-out the world, and the object of ICAO is to increasethis, there are significant differences, and it is theresponsibility of all pilots to know and respect the ruleswhich apply in the countries where they fly.

In the United KingdomThe Air Navigation Order contains the umbrella oflaws which apply to flight in the United Kingdom. Assoon as you decide to fly a paraglider you becomebound by these laws, although most of them areobviously drawn up with powered aircraft in mind. Inthe eyes of the law you are a 'commander of an air-craft', and as such you must accept certain legalresponsibilities.

For example, you must satisfy yourself before take-offthat 'all the equipment required for the flight is in a fitcondition for use'. Therefore the pre-flight check ismore than a good idea - it is a legal necessity. Oncein the air you must not 'recklessly or negligently causeor permit an aircraft to endanger any person or prop-erty', so don't make a habit of buzzing the onlookersor soaring without keeping a proper look-out. Youmust not be under the influence of drink or drugs.Leave at least eight hours between any alcohol andflight - longer if you've really been partying.

Reference sourcesA useful source of air-law facts is the small book

published by the CM, CAP 85. This is primarily forstudents entering the private pilot maze, but much ofits contents are directly applicable to paragliding. lt is agreat help if you are taking the BHPA's pilot-ratingexams. In this respect, the annual training issue of theBHPA's magazine Skywings is invaluable too.

The UKAir Pilot is the bible of flight in the British Isles.This is a weighty and expensive book which is updat-ed several times each year. Your nearest central libraryshould keep a copy.

RULES, LAWS AND AIRSPACE

Basic rules

Facing page: Both these pilotswere safely within theappropriate airspace. Thesystem depends upon all airusers knowing exactly wherethey are.

183

ATZ AerodromeTraffic Zone

AIAA Area ofIntenseAerial Activity

AMSL Above MeanSea level

ANO Air NavigationOrder

CTA Control Area

CTR Control Zone

FIR FlightInformation Region

F~ Flightlevel

IMC InstrumentMeteorologicalConditions

ICAO InternationalCivilAviationOrganization

MATZ MilitaryAerodrome TrafficZone

TMA TerminalManoeuvring Area

VFR Visual FlightRules

VMC Visual

MeteorologicalConditions

184

The information in this chapter is an overview only. Itapplies to unpowered aircraft - you cannot add anengine and still enjoy the privileges of a glider.

Anti-collision rules

This is a refresher for the rules given on page 61. Theserules are simple, and you must know them and usethem instinctively:

1 Aircraft flying towards each other - break right.

2 Aircrafton converging courses - the aircraft onthe right has priority; the other one must changecourse.

3 Overtaking a slower aircraft while ridge soaring inthe UK - pass between the other aircraft and theridge. (In other countries the opposite is often true:you may find it is customary to pass outside theslower aircraft, but leave plenty of room.)

4 On approach and landing - the lower aircraft haspriority.

5 Powered aircraft give way to gliders and everyonegives way to balloons. However, be realistic, andremember that overall it is the pilot's responsibilityto do everything possible to avoid collision.

Abbreviations

Aviation jargon is as littered with abbreviations as adairy pasture with cow-muck. You never stop trippingover new ones, but the panellists some of those youneed to know for a start.

Units

On aeronautical charts, in line with internationalaviation convention, heights are measured in feet,horizontal distances in metres and kilometres or nauti-

cal miles, and speeds in knots. Sport pilots in Europetend to use metres for height and metres per secondfor speed.

CHAPTER 13

Aeronautical charts

To fly legally, you must not stray into controlled air-space. When you are at your local club's site, ridgesoaring or doing circuits from the towline, you shouldnot have any problems. However, as soon as you startto think about cross-country flight, even in the form ofquite short hops, you need to know where you canfly.

The information is all on the aeronautical charts,which in the UK are published by the CM. Your firstsight of one of these 'air maps' can be a dauntingexperience, leaving you with the impression that theentire country is covered by an invisible labyrinth ofsuch complexity that you will never make sense of it.Can this possibly be that same deserted open sky thatyou have been scraping around near the bottom ofduring the weekends of the last year or so? 'Fraid so,but persevere! Much of the labyrinth is at heightswhich you are unlikely to achieve, and once you havegained a little knowledge of what the symbols andabbreviations on the chart mean, you will soon makesense of it.

Don't imagine that you have to commit the whole lotto memory. The chart is a reference source which youshould use frequently. Until you can contemplate reallylong cross-country flights, you will do better to transferits information onto a local map with a larger scale,rather than trying to read it in flight. The key at thebottom of the map sheets contains loads of usefulinformation, and unless you are map-reading almostdaily, you will need to freshen up your knowledgefrom it quite often.

The charts are quite large and it is not unknown forpilots to cut the bottom part off to make them moremanageable. This is usually regretted later.

Classification of airspaceIt is impossible to cover all the intricacies of air chartsin a book such as this, but here is a start:

RULES, LAWS AND AIRSPACE

How the air iscarved up

Just a fraction of an aero-nautical chart, reproduced athalf size. Some practice isneeded to become familiar withthe symbols. Can you identifythe hang-gliding sites near thebottom of the sample?

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185

In many countries (including the UK and the USA), air-space is classified under the ICAO system. This hasseven categories, defined in terms of the access regu-lations. However, some countries do not use them all,and their implementations can and do vary, so alwayscheck. The categories are marked on the charts by theclass letter boxed in blue.

The descriptions that follow apply to the UK.

Class A AIl the major airways. The flight levels of theseare given on the chart, and it is usually possible to flysafely underneath them. The rules for general access toClass A airspace are complex and depend on the useof radio for contact with air-traffic controllers. In spite ofall this, gliders, including paragliders, may be allowedto cross certain airways in VMC (see page 195), provid-ed that they take the shortest crossing route and refrainfrom circling. The airways in Britain to which this con-cession applies are published in the UKAir Pilot, but asa relatively inexperienced paraglider pilot, you are welladvised to keep out of them completely.

Class B Effectively this is all airspace above flight level245 (think of it as 24,500 et), so don't stay awake worry-ing about what you will meet if you stray into it one day.

Class C There is no Class C airspace over the UK, butyou can find some in Eire where it appears frequentlyas the lower part of Airways and Control Areas. As AirTraffic Control clearance is required to enter Class Cairspace, it is effectively closed to us.

Class D A common category covering many ControlAreas and Control Zones around regional commercialairports. You may enter several of these without priorpermission, provided that you are operating in VMC(see page 195). Each year, in Skywings magazine, theBHPA publishes a list of those areas in the UK that maybe entered in this manner. Do not confuse the right toenter a CTR or CTA with the need to keep out of thesmaller Aerodrome Traffic Zone (ATZ) within it.

186 CHAPTER 13

~

Class E Belfast TMA and most of the Scottish TMA.

Class E may be entered under similar conditions forVMC as listed under Class D above, except that theflight-visibility requirement is relaxed to 5 km.

Class F Advisory airspace. You can think of these aslow-grade airways in which all the traffic will be flyingaccording to VFR.Youhave free access to this, but mustbe extra-vigilant for commercial traffic. This airspace isshown by single lines on the chart, but you should visu-alize the routes as being normal airway width.

Class G The rest! You may fly freely here provided youtake account of all the other users and of the mass ofrestricted space such as that above small airfields, mil-itary airfields and Danger Areas - see next section -which share Class G. The rule is: see and be seen.

Other areas of restrictionBy the time you read through the list from A to G, youcould be forgiven for thinking that must be everything.Unfortunately there are all sorts of other hazards aboutwhich you must be aware. Again, the details givenhere apply to the United Kingdom.

Aerodrome Traffic

Zones (ATZ)Think of these as trans-parent vertical cylinders2,000ft high, centredon the longest runway.If that runway is less ~

0

than 1,850 metres long, ~the zone will have aradius of 2 nauticalmiles. If the runway islonger, the radius willbe 2.5 nautical miles. I

wonder if you find thiswild mixture of units as irritating as I do? You cannotglide into or through an ATZ without air-traffic controlclearance.

2 or 2.5 nautical miles

RULES, LAWS AND AIRSPACE

Figure 28: Aerodrome TrafficZones (ATZ)

187

5 nautical miles

~000,C")

The rules and restrictions in thissection apply only to unpoweredparagliders. Powered versions{PPGs} must respect greaterairspace limitations which aredetailed in a special exemptiongranted by the CM.

Military Aerodrome Traffic Zones (MATZ)Military airfields have an ATZof similar size to civilones, but this is surrounded by a larger zone designat-ed a MATZ.Typically, these are 3,000 ft high and5 nautical miles in radius. In addition there will be anaerial stub 4 nautical miles wide and 5 nautical miles

long which extends the MATZin line with its principalrunway (see Figure 29). Gliders are permitted to enterMATZs,but when you realize that the air is likely to befull of novice fighter-pilots flying state-owned equip-ment, it may not seem like a very good idea. The goodnews is that MATZsare frequently inoperative at week-ends and national holidays. Don't gamble on this,though - your club should have details.

Facing page Figure 29: Military Aerodrome Traffic Zones (MATZ)

Prohibited Areas (P), Restricted Areas (R), DangerAreas (D) and Weapons Range Danger Areas(WRDA)These are the spaces above military firing and exerciseareas and hazardous industrial plants such as nuclearreactors. They are easy to identify on the chart, andtheir effective altitude above mean sea level is indicat-

ed by the figure after the reference number. This givesthe altitude in thousands of feet.

It does not require deductive genius to work out thatyou should not enter a Prohibited Area under anycircumstances. Restricted Areas have a little more

flexibility, but you must still steer well clear of themunless you know exactly what the restriction is.

Strictly speaking, Os and WRDAs are areas you aresimply advised to avoid, unless they have a asterisk (*)in front of the number on the chart, in which case thereare by-laws prohibiting entry during active periods. Inthe UK, full details of timings can be found in therelevant section of the UK Air Pilot. Apart from the in-the-air risks connected with overflying these areas, youneed to know exactly where they are and be confidentof not landing in them because of the danger fromunexploded ordnance - this is in addition to the wrathof the authorities and the bad reputation you get for thesport. If in doubt - keep out!

'Microwaves'

This is the casual name for High Intensity RadioTransmission Areas (HIRTAs). On the chart they looklike small Danger areas, but if you take a second lookyou will see that they are hatched all over, rather thanshaded at the edges. The figure after the name indi-cates the effective height AMSL.Ifyou find your vario-meter apparently going crazy part-way through across-country flight, it could be due to the emissions

RULES, LAWS AND AIRSPACE 189

Facing page: It is not unusualto find that microwaves affectvariometer readings whenflying close to some.transmitters.

190

from a HIRTA - they can be powerful enough toscramble instruments. Check the chart!

Non-ATl airfields

The chart will reveal all sorts of bases for aerial activitysuch as gliding centres, microlight fields, farmers'airstrips, bird sanctuaries and so on. You need to beable to identify all of these and to respect the users.

You also have to take care when overflying built-upareas and large gatherings of people. Briefly, with built-up areas the rule is that you must keep at such aheight that you can glide clear to land at any time. Thesame is true for large gatherings, but you must also notappear to be making a display flight if there are morethan 1000 people there. No method of counting themcomes readily to mind.

Altimeter settingsTo keep within permitted airspace, you must knowyour height above the ground as well as your position,so an altimeter (see pages 121-126) is essential.

The altimeters we use work by measuring air pressureand translating this information into a height reading. Ifthe air pressure were equal throughout the world, lifewould be very simple: altimeters could be set to thealtitude of the manufacturer's factory and would notneed further adjustment. Unfortunately, a change in airpressure of only one millibar will shift an altimeter'sreading by about 30 ft Cl0 m may be easier to remem-ber), so it is essential to be able to adjust the setting.

There are three settings you need to know about. The'Q' code, still used for the first two, takes some gettingused to:

QFE setting is when the altimeter is set to zero on thesite you are operating from. Imagine you zero your alti-meter, launch from a ridge and climb until it shows300; in aviation terms you are flying at a height of300 ft.

CHAPTER 13

RULES, LAWS AND AIRSPACE 191

P.ressure settingsHere's a practical example ofwhy knowledge of the settingsis needed: the figures areapproximate.

Imagine you are flying a h..illsite under an airway. Theheight of the hill is ] ,500 Ftabove sea level and is franklyunlikely to alter. The lowerlevel of the a.irway is shownon your chart as FL40. 'Fine,'you think, 'I can climb 2,500feet before reachiog conetrolled airspace.' Not neces+sarily. That airway base figurewill go up and down accord-ing to the Area QNH at thetime. Only if that happens tobe 1013.2 mb will there be

2,500 ft available to you. Foreach millibar that the QNH islower, the base of the TMAwill be 30 ft nearer to the hill-

top. Therefore, if it is 1003.2mb, a climb of only 2,200 ftwW take you i.nto controlledairspace. It works the otherway too, so on a very high-pressure day of 1023 mbQNH you would have 2,800ft to play with.

Once you appreciate howindicated altitudes are affect-

ed by pressure, the reason torthe 'flight level' system inwhich all the aircraft using a..ir-ways set their altimeters to thesame pressure becomesobvious.

192

QNH setting is when the pressure adjustmentof the altimeter is set to the pressure prevail-ing at sea level at the time and in that area(the Area QNH). If the site you are launchingfrom is 1000 ft above sea level, on QNHsetting your altimeter will show 1300 ft after asimilar 300 ft climb. You are correctlydescribed as flying at an altitude of 1300 ft -even though your ground clearance is only300 ft.

The third setting, and the one you are leastlikely to use until you are involved inadvanced cross-country flight, is StandardPressure setting, or Pressure Altitude setting.However, you do need to know about it andto understand how it affects many of the air-space markings on the map. Here the alti-meter is set to the International Standard

Pressure Setting of 1013.2 mb. Aircraft usingthis setting are said to be at the indicatedflight level (FL). This is the setting used by allpowered aircraft once they are at a nominal3,000 ft altitude. On the aeronautical chart,FLs are used to show the upper and lowerlimits of airways. They are written in multi-ples of one hundred feet, so FL85 means8,500 ft as shown on an altimeter set to1013.2 mb.

There are rules about the transition between

QFE and Pressure Altitude settings, but theyare beyond the scope of this book.

Temporary airspace restrictionsCertain restrictions are placed on airspace ona day-to-day basis: royal flights, with theirattendant purple airways; air shows; etc. Thisall comes under the heading of TemporaryRestricted Airspace, and in Britain you canobtain daily updates free of charge by tele-phoning 0500 354802.

CHAPTER 13

Military Low FlyingMuch British paragliding takes place in airspaceshared with fast military jets flying at Iow level. Therisk of catastrophe is reduced by using the telephonewarning system which was originally set up for theuse of crop sprayers but which was long ago extenedto cover other air users. The free phone number is0800 515544. Ideally, you should phone the eveningbefore flying, but because of our unpredictable weath-er this is not always possible, so a morning call isstill acceptable. You will need the grid reference of thesite you will be taking off from, which will normallyhave been provided in your club's site guide. Never beshy about phoning this number: use it!

Even if your flying is going to be restricted to ridgesoaring or circuits of a tow-field, you must know ifthere are any limitations prevailing. Ifyou are consider-ing anything more ambitious, the knowledge to deci-pher an aeronautical chart and use the resultinginformation is essential.

And a final thought: an out-of-date chart is almost asuseless as none at all. Each chart is revised on a one-

or two-year cycle and carries an edition number, somake sure you are using the latest one. If in doubtabout this, check with the appropriate department ofyour national aviation authority; in Britain this is theCAAChart Room (address on page 197).

RULES, LAWS AND AIRSPACE

Summing up

193

Cross-references are indicated by SMALLCAPITALS.

ACPULS System of flight testing and certification.Originally French.

AIM Area of Intense Aerial Activity.

Airfoil (or aerofoil) Surface which is shaped toprovide lift from moving air; in paragliding, theshape of the cross-sections of the wing chord.

Alpine launch The take-off method in which thepilot faces forwards at the start. Also called thesnatch or forward launch.

AMSL Above Mean Sea Level.

Anchor-man An assistant who holds on to thepilot while the wing is being inflated in high winds.

Angle of attack The angle at which the MEANCHORDof the airfoil meets the airflow.

AND Air Navigation Order.

Aspect ratio The relationship between the spanof the wing and its chord. A wing with a big spanand a narrow chord is described as having a highaspect ratio.ATl Aerodrome Traffic Zone.

Backup [system] Reserve parachute.

Big ears Deliberately collapsing the tip cells ofthe wing to increase the rate of descent.

Blob Small weak thermal or isolated patch of lift.

Brakes Popular but slightly inaccurate term forthe aerodynamic controls on a paraglider.

Camber The curve in the airfoil section. On aparaglider it can be altered by applying thebrakes.

Canopy The entire fabric wing of the paraglider:the expression wing is normally preferred in thisbook.

194

Capewell Quick-release mechanism used byparachutists to separate from their canopiesbefore deploying a reserve parachute. Notnormally used on paragliding harnesses.

Cascade failure A series of LINEbreaks resultingfrom progressive overload following an initialbreak.

Chord The measured distance between theleading and trailing edges of a wing.ClVL Commission Internationale de Vol Libre.The international hang-gliding committee of theFAI, the governing body of both hang gliding andparagliding.

Core The area of strongest lift within a thermal.There may be several cores in a big thermal. Hasproduced the verb 'to core': to centre in the liftand climb efficiently.

Coriolis Force The apparent force which deflectsairborne matter to the right in the northern hemi-sphere and to the left in the southern one. It isdue to the rotation of the Earth.

Crab see KARABINER

Cravate A canopy deflation in which the outerpart of a wing tucks under and becomes trappedin the lines, which may even loop themselvesaround the fabric. Cravates can be very difficultto rectify in flight - sometimes the radical solu-tion of inducing a partial stall is the only way. Thename comes from the French for necktie.

CTA Control Area.

CTR Control Zone.

FIR Flight Information Region.

FL Flight Level.

Forward launch see ALPINELAUNCH

Gleitschirm German for PARAGLIDER.

Giitesiegel German flight testing and certificationseal of approval.

ICAO International Civil Aviation Organization.

IMC Instrument Meteorological Conditions.

IPPI card International Pilot ProficiencyIdentification card. Issued by national paraglidinggoverning bodies so that clubs and site operatorsin other countries can be assured of a pilot'sstandard.

Karabiner Connector with a quick-release gate,normally used to join the harness to the risers.

Lift band The rising air in front of a ridge whichprovides sufficient lift for soaring.

Lines AIl or any of the cords connecting wingand pilot.

Mamon Steel ring (usually rectangular) connect-ing the lines to a RISER.Sometimes also usedinstead of KARABINERsto connect the harness.

MATlMilitary Aerodrome Traffic Zone.

Mean chord A line passing through the wing sec-tion via the centre of the leading edge and thetrailing edge. This is the line against which theANGLE OF ATTACK is measured.

NOTAMNotice to airmen. Official advisory noticesissued by the relevant national aviation authority,and covering such things as flying displays, majorcompetitions, NATO exercises etc. NOTAMscomein both permanent and temporary varieties.Parachutal stall A condition in which the wholewing is stalled, but in which it retains its shapeand allows the paraglider to become a parachute,with its high drag causing a vertical descent.Primitive wings designed for parascending willoften do this quite safely, but higher-performancemodels will not.

Paraglider An aircraft which has no primary rigidstructure, is capable of soaring flight and can befoot-launched from a hillside. What this book isabout.

Parapente French for paraglider.

Parascending A sport closely related to para-gliding, consisting of being towed into the airbehind a vehicle and parachuting to the ground.Commonly used for tow-launched canopy flightof a non-soaring nature.

PLF Parachute Landing Fall.

Polar [curve] A graph plotting the sink rate of aglider throughout its speed range.

Porosity The property of a material that allowsair to pass through it. For paraglider cloth, thelower the porosity, the better.

Pumping Pulling BRAKESto re-inflate a partiallycollapsed wing.

PWC Paragliding World Cup annual competitionseries.

Rescue [system] The expression commonly usedin Europe for the BACKUPor reserve parachute.

Reserve see BACKUP

Risers The lengths of webbing between theharness and the LINES.Will be designated A-risers, B-risers etc, according to the set of lines towhich they are attached.

Rotor Air turbulence caused by a large obstacle- usually a ridge or range of mountains.

Scratching Flying close to the ground in light lift.

Shooting The tendency for a canopy to surgeforwards when recovering from a stall or duringinitial inflation.

SlY Simulation d'incidente en vol. Usually acourse in which canopy collapses, spins andother potential disasters are practised safely, overwater.

Snatch see ALPINE LAUNCH

Stall Sudden loss of lift due to breakup of orderlyairflow over the wing.

TMA Terminal Manoeuvring Area.

Toggle The word used by parachutists for thehandles on the control lines. Hence toggling issometimes used to describe steering.

Trim speedThe speed at which the paragliderflies 'hands-off'.

Tuck Wing collapse caused by the leading edgecollapsing downwards and closing the front ofthe cells.

V-lines Another name for RISERS.

VFR Visual Flight Rules.

VMC Visual Meteorological Conditions. To be inVMCyou must remain 1000 ft vertically clear ofcloud and 1,500 metres clear horizontally, andthere must be a flight visibility of 8 km.

Window The time period available for launching.

Wing see CANOPY

Wraps Temporarily shortening the brake lines bylooping them around your hands. Potentially riskyin flight, but useful when ground-handling or justbefore making a nil-wind landing.

XC Cross-country flight.

195

Books

The books listed here are published inthe United Kingdom except whereotherwise indicated.

Aviation law for applicants for thePrivate Pilot's Licence [CAP85], CMPublications, 1992

Tom Bradbury, Meteorology and Flight,A & C Black, 1989

lan Currer and Rob Cruickshank,Touching Cloudbase, Leading Edge,1996

Dennis Pagen, Understanding the Sky,Sports Aviation Publications (USA),n.d.

Derek Piggott, Understanding FlyingWeather, A & C Black, 1988

David Sollom and Matthew Cook,Paraglidingfrom beginner to cross-country, Crowood Press, 1998

C. E.Wallington, Meteorology for GliderPilots, John Murray,1977(out of print)

Alan Watts, Air Rider's Weather, A & CBlack, 1992

Noel Whittall, Paramotoring from theground up, Airlife,2000

196

MagazinesCross-Country(France, but printed in English)

Delta & Parapendio(Italy)

Drachenflieger(Germany)

Para World(Japan)

Paragliding- The Magazine(USA)

Swiss Glider

(Switzerland, printed in French andGerman)

Skywings(UK)The BHPA magazine

Vol Libre

(France)

British Hang Gliding andParagliding Association Ltd

The Old Schoolroom

Loughborough RoadLeicesterLE4 5PJTel: 0116 261 1322Fax: 0116 261 1323

e-mail: office@bhpa.co.uk

CM charts distributed by:Westward Digital Ltd37 Windsor StreetCheltenhamGloucestershireGL52 2DGTel: 01242 235151Fax: 01242 584139

Hang Gliding Federation ofAustralia

P 0 Box 558TumutNSW 2720AustraliaTel: +61 269472888Fax: +61 269474328

e-mail: hgfa@tpgLcom.au

Hang Gliding and ParaglidingAssociation of Canada

#13 1367084 Ave.SurreyBritish ColumbiaCanadaV3W OT6Tel: + 1 604 507 2565Fax: + I 604 507 2565

Federation AeronautiqueInternationale

Avenue Mon Repos 241005 LausanneSwitzerlandTel: +41 21 345 1070Fax: +41 21 345 1077

e-mail: office@faLorg

New Zealand Hang-Glidingand Paragliding AssociationInc.

PO Box 3521RichmondNelsonNew ZealandTel: +6435402183Fax: +6435402183e-mail:

nzhgpa. admins@clear.net.nz

South African Hang Glidingand Paragliding Association

PO Box 1993Halfway House1685South AfricaTel: +27 11 8055429Fax: + 27 11 805 5429e-mail:

sahpa@paragliding.co.za

United States Hang GlidingAssociation

P 0 Box 8300Colorado SpringsCO 80933USATel: + 1 7196328300Fax: + 1 7196326417e-mail: ushga@ushga.org

197

Italic numbers refer tofigure or photo captions

AA-lines 19, 39A-risers 22, 43abbreviations 184, 194-195accidents 148, 151, 153accumulator effect 116ACPULScertification 70, 158, 194active safety 144-145addresses 197adiabatic lapse rate 82, 105Aerodrome Traffic Zones (ATZ)

184, 187,187, 188, 190, 194aeronautical charts 185AFNORcertification 70-71, 71AIM 184, 194air masses 85Air Navigation Order (ANO) 183,

184, 194airfoil20,194airflow 20, 23, 25airmanship 8AIRMET 95

airspace restrictions 185-193airspeed 26, 54, 54airspeed indicator 126-127, 129alpine launch see forward launchaltimeter 121,124,129

settings 190-192altocumulus clouds 84altostratus clouds 84, 86, 87AMSL(Above Mean Sea Level)

184, 189, 194anabatic flow I 16angle of attack 20, 20ANOsee Air Navigation Orderanti-collision rules 61, 184anticyclones 89, 90Arkwright, Darren I 12ASIsee airspeed indicatorassisting others 147-148, 147

198

atmosphere 79-80attitude 66ATZsee Aerodrome Traffic Zonesaviation laws 61, 181-193

BB-lines 19B-lining 41,153,157B-risers 22, 43back protection 141-142, 141backup system see reserve para-

chuteballast 135, 135barograph 123,130barometric pressure 80BASEjumping 11basic rules 61best-glide speed see maximum-

glide speedBHPAsee British Hang Gliding and

Paragliding Associationbig ears 154,155,155,194blue thermals 79,92Bollinger, Hans 136books 196boots 140Bosshard, Thomas 14brake lines 19, 27,29, 36, 39,47,

194braking 28,28,29, 56British Hang Gliding and

Paragliding Association (BHPA)4,8,67,69, 143, 183, 196, 197

Buhler, Martin 159buying a glider 69, 73-74, 70Buys-Ballot's law 91

CC-lines 19C-risers 22, 35, 43, 47CM see CivilAviation Authoritycamber 194canopy 194

collapsing 41-42inspection 36, 37

capewell194cascade failure 194Carnet, Michael 115Cat's Cradle 177cells and cell dividers 19,21certification systems for gliders

70-72, 71championships 169-180checking before flights 36-37, 143

in competitions 178chord 194cirrocumulus clouds 83cirrostratus clouds 84cirrus clouds 84, 86, 87CivilAviation Authority (CM) 183,

185, 193, 196CIVLsee Commission

Internationale du Vol Libreclassification of airspace 185-187cleaning 76cliffs, effects of 99, 100cloudbase

calculating height 92in cross-country flying 165

clouds 82-85, 83cold front 87-88, 87, 88collapses, coping with 153-162collapsing the canopy 41-42,61Commission Internationa1e du Vol

Libre (CIVL)13, 14, 130, 194compass 127-128competitions 169-180condensation 82-83, 85, 105Continental Championships (FAI)

170controls 28-30convergence 115core (of thermal) 106, 194Coriolis effect 82, 194courtesy 66cravate 159,194Cross-Country Classic 177

cross-country flying 163-168,164,165,166competition tasks 175, 177

CTNCTR 184, 194cumu1onimbus clouds 84-85, 87,

114cumulus clouds 83, 83, 84,87, 105,

110, IIIcyclones 90

DDale, Mark 4,49, 143Danger Areas (D) 189dangerous conditions 16, 84-85,

113-114,119, 147, 148defensive safety 142-144depressions 89-91, 90design considerations 33, 33dew point 82, 92drag 23-24,24drinking water 135dry thermals 92dual flying ISdual gliders 71, 71

EEagle badges 67electric cables 148emergencies, dealing with

153-162emergency parachute 131-133

deployment 162equipment 19, 33, 36-37, 142

advanced 121-135, 121everyday care 74-76, 133-134inspection 36safety 137, 142

FFAIsee Federation Aeronautique

InternationaleFavre, Didier 13Federation Aeronautique

Internationale (FAI) 13,67, 129,170,178,180,197

FIR 184,194Firebird29,38, 74, 155FLsee flight levelflare 59, 60flat spin 57, 159flight level (FL) 184, 192, 194flying

principles 17-34technique 52-59

fOhn conditions 113-114folding the glider 75, 75forward launch 42-44, 43fractostratus clouds 84front tucks (SIV) 156fronts (weather) 85-88

full stall 157-158, 157further reading 196

GGallon, Richard 179glide ratio 24,24gliders, purchase and main-

tenance of 69-76Global Positioning by Satellite see

GPSglossary 194-195gloves 49, 139-140GPS instrument 128-129, 129ground-handling 35-47ground speed 54, 54gullies, crossing of 100, 100Giitesiegel certification system 70,

71,71,194

Hhang gliding 13harness 19, 32,32, 34, 36, 72-73,

73helmet 36,136, 138-139helping others 147-148,147High Intensity Radio Areas

(HlRTA)189-190, 190high-level clouds 84high-pressure areas 89, 90HIRTAsee High Intensity Radio

Areashistory of paragliding 9Holtzmuller, Waiter 153hurricanes 89

IICAOsee International Civil

Aviation OrganisationIMC184, 195in-flight checks 37induced drag 23,24inflation 21-22

in light winds 39-40, 40in strong winds 45-46, 46reverse 49-50, 50

instruments 121-130International CivilAviation

Organisation (ICAO) 183, 184,186,195

international competitions 170-175International Pilot Proficiency

Identification (IPPI) card 67, 195International Standard Pressure

Setting 192inversion 94IPPI card see International Pilot

Proficiency Identification

JJalbert, Domina 10

KKalbermatten, Laurent de 13,34karabiners 76-77, 195katabatic flow 116Keller, Freddie 13

Llid ratio 24landing 59-61,59,61

in cross-country flying 165, 165safety aspects 149-151, 149top-landing 102-103,103

lapse rates 82, 104, 105launching

assisted 147-148, 147forward 42-44, 43reverse 48-52, 50, 51

leading edge 19, 20,20,21lee-side thermals 113, 113Lemoigne, Pierre 9, 10lenticular clouds 93, 93lift 20,24,24,97-119lift band 97, 98, 195light winds, handling in 35-44lines 19, 195Iow-flying aircraft 193Iow-level clouds 84-85Iow-level turbulence 101, 101low-pressure areas 89-91, 90

Mmagazines 183, 196magic lift 115-117maillons 76-77, 195maintenance 74-77, 133mare's tails see cirrus cloudsMatsuo, Etsushi 147MATZsee MilitaryAerodrome

Traffic Zonesmaximum-glide speed 25,27, 28mean chord 20, 195measurement, units of 8,95, 184medium-level clouds 84Meteorological Office 4, 95, 96MetF AX 95-96

'microwaves' 189-190,190MilitaryAerodrome Traffic Zones

(MATZ)184, 188-189,188, 195military Iow flying 193Minegishi, Masahiro 135minimum-drag speed 24minimum sink 25,27, 28mountain thermals 111-114,113

Nnimbostratus clouds 84, 86, 87nimbus clouds 84non-ATZ airfields 190NOTAM195

199

0occluded front 87okta 95Ougisawa, Kaoru 33overhead electric cables 148overtaking 61

pP see Prohibited Areaspacking the glider 75, 75Para Commander (PC) 9-10parachutal stall 26, 195parachute landing fall (PLF) 132,

144-146,144-145, 195Parafoil 10paraglider, diagram of 19Paragliding World Cup 170, 195parascending 10, 12, 13, 195parasitic drag 23passing 61passive safety 137-142pilot ratings 63-67planning for safety 143-144plate lift20PLFsee parachute landing fallpolar curve 26,27, 123, 195porosity 74-75, 195pre-flight checks 36, 143Pressure Altitude Setting 192pressure-chip variometer 123pressure settings 190-192proficiency schemes 64profile drag 23,24Prohibited Areas (P) 189Przbylski, Nick 128pumping 161, 162, 195PWC see Paragliding World Cup

QQFE setting 190QNH setting 192

RR see Restricted Areasrace-to-goaI170-175, 171, 173, 174radios for cross-country 168rain 85, 86, 87, 88ram-air system 10ratings for pilots 63-67recommended reading 196reserve parachute 131-133, 195

deployment 162restricted airspace 185-190Restricted Areas (R) 189reverse launching 48-52, 50, SI

continuous-control method 52ridge lift97-104, 99risers 22, 36,43, 195Rogallo, Francis and Gertrude 9roll and yaw 30

200

rotor turbulence 98, 113, 195rucksack 77rules for competitions 180rules of the air 61,181-193

S's' turns 57, 59, 107, 108safety 137-151saturated air 82scoring systems (competitions)

175-177sectors (weather) 88,88section lift 20shooting 195Silvester, John 73sink rate 27SlY (simulation d'incident en vat)

153-160, 195size of glider 72Skywings 183, 196slope-landing 103-104snatch launch see forward launchSong, Gin Seok 33speed 24, 25, 28, 54, 54

adjustment 30-32, 31spin 159spinal protection 141-142, 141spiral dive 57, 158,160Sporting Code 180stalls 25-26,153,157-158,157,195Standard Pressure Setting 192steering see turningstraight flying52-53, 52, 53stratocumulus clouds 84, 86, 118stratus clouds 84strong winds, handling in 44-47, 46sun, effect on climate 80-81sunglasses 136, 139superadiabatic lapse rate 104

TTaft, Tim28tandem outfits IS, 71, 71tangles 48, 48, 159tarp 173, 173tasks in competitions 175, 177temporary airspace restrictions

192-193Terminal Manoeuvring Areas

(TMA)184, 192, 195theory of paragliding 17-34thermals 79, 81, 88, 91-92, 104-114

formation 104-105, 105in cross-country flying 163-165

tip cells 19tip collapse 161, 161TMAsee Terminal Manoeuvring

Areastoggle 195

top-landing 102-103, 103Tops, Olivier 52trailing edge 19, 19, 20,20,23training schools 14, 14,52training schemes 63-67tree landings 150-151Trekking 10trim speed 195trimmers 32troposphere 79tucks 156, 195turbulence 98, 101,101,113turning

in the air 29-30,29, 55-59,55,59in thermals 108-109on the ground 40, 41

turnpointphotos 171, 171, 178, 179

UUKAir Pilot 183, 189UKairspace regulations 183,

186-190units of measurement 8, 95, 184useful addresses 197

VV-lines see risersvalley winds 114variometer 121-126, 122, 129

use 106, 107, 117VFR/VMC184, 195Volmet 96

Wwall building 38-39,38,39warm front 85-86, 86, 88water supplies 135, 135wave lift92-93, 93, 117-118Weapons Range Danger Areas

(WRDA) 189weather 79-96, 143Weathercall 96weightshifting 29,30,56,56Whittall, Matthew 4, 29, 55Whittall, Noel (author) 7Whittall,Rob4,33,46,51,74,115,

128, 153,160Williams, Gerald 4, 13, 13wind and lift 97-119wind gradient 60, 101window 171, 17l, 173,195wonder wind 115-117, 116woodlands, effect of 116World Championships (FAO 170wraps 195WRDAsee Weapons Range

Danger Areas

yyaw 30

SPORTS ISBN 1-58574-103-5/$26.95($39.00 in Canada)

Paragliding emerged as a sport in the early eighties after a fewcourageous pioneers leaped off the Alps using converted para-chutes. Easier and more accessible than hang gliding due to its

lightweight equipment, paragliding can be enjoyed by people ofall ages and all over the world. PARAGLIDlNGis the essential guide

to this fast-growing, thrilling sport, taking the reader from anintroduction to the basic techniques, through the rules of the

sport and the equipment necessary for the ultimate experienceof "flying."

This fully illustrated handbook includes chapters on piloting,

weather, wind and lift, advanced equipment, safety, rules andlaws, and airspace.

NOELWHlTTALLis the secretary of the Hang Gliding and Paraglid-ing Commission of the FAI-the governing body responsible forboth sports throughout the world.

Write for a complete list of other sports titles from the Lyons Press.

~THE LYONS PRESS

123 West 18 StreetNew York, New York 10011

www.lyonspress.com

Cover photograph by the authorPrinted in Hong Kong