Fly Better - Training Plan for More Safety

Day Two - Quick descent and consolidating what has been learned

In the training plan on day one, you learned how to gain more control over your glider. Another point is very important in order to feel safe in the air: knowing that you can lose altitude quickly and in a controlled manner and land safely at any time.

The second part of our learning program is therefore about rapid descent. From many situations during the training, SIV and our flight instructors' own experience, we have come to the conclusion that there is actually only one sensible rapid descent maneuver for the normal pilot: Big Ears. You move forward, can steer and the strain on your body is low. Even in turbulent air, you can still easily insert and remove big ears. The spiral as a rapid descent only works for people who like to fly it and do it very often. The disadvantage of the spiral is high physical strain, no forward travel (I stay under the cloud) and it is difficult to fly in turbulent air.

In order to be able to think and act clearly even in tricky situations, movements and processes must be internalized and automated. This is only possible with repeated training. Having made big ears once in calm air is not enough to be able to fly the maneuver for a longer period of time in rough air under a large cloud. Here, too, practice makes perfect.

So that your training day is not just a nosedive, you will find a descent exercise and an element from the last training session in the training plan for each flight. This way, you learn new things and consolidate what you already know.

 

Big ears

BASICS TO KNOW: With Big Ears you sink at around 3 - 6 m/s. Your forward speed decreases, the angle of attack increases and the risk of stalling increases. In order to achieve maximum sink rates and reduce the risk of stalling, you must always accelerate. See the description below.

It is best to train the large ears in three stages. Start with stage one and work your way up to the second and third as soon as you feel confident. 

LEVEL ONE: You loop the brakes around your wrist, sit upright in the harness and accelerate slightly, grab the outermost A-lines as high as possible and pull them down as impulsively as possible - small ears, sinking about 3 meters per second.

LEVEL TWO: Before you pull down the A-lines, accelerate the wing to 30 percent, then fold in the ears. As soon as the wing tips are securely folded in, accelerate fully. The speed bar makes your ears bigger and your forward speed and sink rate increase, sinking at around 3-4 m/s.

LEVEL THREE: Like level two, only bigger. Take the A-lines in one hand and with your other free hand grab both A-lines again and pull them down even further. You can repeat this until only a few cells are open and you can't pull down any further. Now you sink as far as you can and fly straight ahead. The sink rate should now be 4-6 m/s, depending on the glider.

EXTREME SINKING VARIANT: To increase the sink rate even further, shift your weight alternately from left to right and rock your wing up with the wingtips folded in. This will increase your sink rate to the maximum, but you won't be able to make any real progress. Depending on the wing and harness, this maneuver can be easy to difficult to fly. It's worth a try.

EXIT: No matter what level you are training at, sit upright in the harness and let the A-lines go up. Only then should you slowly move away from the speed bar. If your glider does not open automatically within three seconds, pump up the glider first on the right and then on the left using the brake. Never both sides at the same time (risk of stalling).

IMPORTANT: Always accelerate when doing your ears. This will make your wing descend faster and reduce the risk of stalling. Different wingtips react differently to large ears. Some flap their wingtips, others start to roll, and others easily go into a deep stall. It is therefore very important to practice this maneuver again and again so that you are not surprised in an emergency. As the risk of a deep stall is increased, we advise against landing with your ears folded in.

You can find the third training plan here.