First flight off the mountain, morning, about 9am, with winds 3-5mph from the NW. I left in a bunch of pre-launch footage so everyone can see how nervous I was. :)
Also, I'm reviewing this footage after nearly a year and having been off the mountain 24 times. This might give a little better perspective for new or aspiring pilots, because I am better able to see what I did well and what needed work.
Launch is at
3:05 if you want to skip ahead to launch.
2:47: "All right. You feel good?" "Iiiiii'm getting there." Someone was quite nervous! :)
I'm lucky I got this flight on video. This was my first time using a GoPro, and I apparently bungled turning it on properly for my 2nd flight (the next day) and my 3rd flight (February of the following year--COLD).
Things I did well:
* Solid launch.
* Stable flight
* Decent box pattern after the initial oops when I entered it
* Landed safely (on wheels) in the target (because of blind luck)
Things I didn't do well:
* Didn't have my nose low enough or pointed the right direction when carrying the glider to the launch. When carrying the glider to launch, always position the glider (pitch and yaw) as if you were going to launch--because in stronger winds, or if there's a sudden gust, you might accidentally launch or get "turtled" downwind.
* Death grip on the downtubes. It was a full 48 seconds after launch before I opened my fingers in a conscious attempt to relax. (I was excited to go off the ramp, but I was also clearly terrified.)
* Turned too soon into the box pattern. For some reason, I want to turn too early--and this habit persisted until I started consciously telling myself not to do it. I think it's from worrying I'll overshoot the box pattern and not being able to judge turning radius from that high off the ground.
* Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too slow coming in for that landing. I was used to "training hill speed," which is basically trim speed or just above it. I knew I was supposed to fly faster, and I was pulling in on the bar with a couple pounds of pressure, but nowhere near as much as I needed to. I was way too timid to put in bigger control inputs. Always, always, always, always carry a surplus of speed in on that base turn and especially the final approach.
* I completely misjudged when I needed to flare and ended up rolling it in. (If you get a foot landing on your first flight, AWESOME! If you don't, don't worry. Checking my log book, I rolled my 2nd flight in and then did foot landings for 3-9 until I switched to a knee harness on my 10th flight--which is a whole new experience.)
2.622 Lượt nghe
Video
