Straight flight and speed control

On your first glide the wing picks you up, the ground falls away, and two urges arrive at once: sit down, and hold on to something solid. The risers are right there and look like handles. They are not handles: pulling on one can steer the wing.

Those first seconds happen close to the ground. In German data about 15% of reported accidents happen in the departure, just after lift-off¹. This lesson is about flying calmly through them, then flying straight at a steady speed.

Getting into the seat

Order matters. Keep running until the wing clearly carries you, because sitting down early drops you back onto the slope². Then fly straight away from the terrain and look around for traffic. Only then settle into the seat³.

Both hands stay on the brake handles the whole time. One manufacturer strongly advises never letting go of them⁴, and letting go near the slope to reach for the seat has caused accidents³.

A well-adjusted harness lets you slide back into the seat without using your hands⁵. Many instructors teach lifting your knees and wriggling back; others have you press the front of the seat under you with the handles still in your hands. Your instructor’s method for your harness takes precedence. Never use the speed bar as a step⁶; getting into the seat tells how that once ended in a collapse.

Why not haul yourself in on a riser? The rule is simpler: keep both handles in your hands until you are clear of the hill³⁴. Instructors add a reason. Hanging on one riser puts more of your weight on that side, much like a big weight shift, and weight shift turns the wing⁷. A rear riser also steers, which is why rear-riser turns are a P2 task⁸, and a front riser pulled down lowers that side’s angle of attack, the first step towards a collapse⁹. Just after launch, an unplanned turn can point you back at the hill.

Figure: Seen from behind. Left, hands on the brakes while you slide back into the seat: the wing flies straight. Right, a hand on one riser loads that side, like a big weight shift, and the wing can start to turn towards it.

Flying position

Sit with your body slightly reclined and your knees roughly level⁴. Keep your head up and your eyes on a landmark ahead, not on your feet. Hold your hands up, at the pulleys, just feeling the lines: that is trim, your reference speed¹⁰. In bumpy air your instructor may ask for a light, constant contact instead, about the weight of your arms¹¹; see Active flying. Let your shoulders drop and your grip relax, so you can feel the wing.

Do not lie back. Flying reclined makes the harness less stable and raises the risk of twisted risers after a collapse¹². Set the chest strap as your wing’s manual says¹³.

Figure: Left, a good flying position. Right, three habits instructors correct every season: lying back, creeping hands and watching your feet.

Holding a heading

Pick a landmark ahead and fly towards it. USHPA’s first flying tasks ask for exactly this: smooth, straight flight to a chosen target at a constant airspeed¹⁴.

Then find a second point beyond it, on the same line. Keep the two in line¹⁵. If the near point slides sideways against the far one, you are drifting.

Correct small and early: lean a little, or add a touch of brake, then go back to neutral and wait. Your wing hangs about 7 m25 ft above you¹⁶ and needs a moment to answer. You feel a slight push in the seat, then the landmark drifts back to the centre of your view. Big, late corrections give a wavy track. Controls and brake ranges explains weight-shift steering.

Judging your speed

You have no airspeed indicator, so you fly by sound and feel. Hands up, the wing flies at trim speed, about its best glide in still air: about 37–38 km/h23–24 mph on current school wings where measured¹⁰¹⁷. Learn what that sounds like: steady wind noise around your helmet, a firm wing, light and even brake pressure.

As the wing slows towards the stall, the wind noise fades and the brake pressure rises clearly¹⁸. Heavy and quiet means ease up. If the pressure then suddenly goes light, the wing has stalled: hands straight up at once¹⁹; see what comes before a stall.

Never judge speed by the ground. Downwind the ground rushes past although your airspeed has not changed, and pilots who brake to “slow down” can stall²⁰. See the wing only knows the air.

Minimum sink

Light brake gives minimum sink: hands between shoulder and eye height on one school wing, about 20 cm7.9 in of brake on another²¹. The pressure firms up and the wind noise drops a little. Use it with height, in smooth air, when your instructor asks. Minimum speed, with deep brake, is not for beginners¹⁰.

Change speed smoothly, never in a snatch. Let the brakes up quickly and the wing surges ahead of you²²¹⁸; pitch and roll explains why.

Crosswind and crabbing

In a crosswind the air carries you sideways. Turn partly into the wind until your two points stay in line, then fly straight on that heading with even hands. This is called a crab, and the wing points one way while you travel another¹⁵. You do not hold a steering input; you simply fly a new heading. Crosswind and crabbing shows the geometry.

A crab angle that keeps growing, and a groundspeed along your line that keeps falling, mean the wind is building²³. Head for the landing field (LZ) and follow your instructor’s radio calls.