Over half an hour late on last Friday evening I got in seven tows (six filmed)
as I worked on my landings. In the first three filmed tows I didn't release from
the tow rope. I also pulled in way too much during the tow (like I was
aerotowing, which I'm used to). Later I relaxed somewhat on tow and let the bar
out.
On my previous landings, all those since my shoulder surgery to tie my
supraspinatus tendon back to the bone in February, I had been doing run out
landings (or coming in on the wheels), as I was unsure of my ability to flare. I
wanted to get back to flaring correctly.
On the second tow I pulled in on the base tube and never got up on the down
tubes, thereby requiring a roll in landing which scraped a little skin off the
knees.
The tows were to about thirty feet. I kept having to raise the nose of the
glider on launch before I launched because I'm so used to keeping the nose down
for foot launching at a hill. I also would try to keep the glider down on the
ground for too long as I ran, as again I was thinking about hill launching.
Mitch wanted me to let the glider float up a lot earlier.
The overall idea is to pull in after releasing (or after Mitch releases the line
tension), fly fast down to right above the ground, let the bar out slowly to
keep the same altitude a few feet right above the ground, and then flare a
second after trim is reached.
I was trying to convince myself to hold the down tubes very lightly, with my
hands open, just touching the front on the down tubes. I have never been able to
do this in over 4,000 landings.
I was also trying to feel when I'm at trim (by keeping the touch light) and when
it is time to flare (one second after reaching trim).
A frame by frame view (look at 1:24 and 1:55, for example) shows that I am
pushing up strongly, but that I am hanging from the harness at 45 to 60 degrees.
I'll need to be sure to kick the butt lever (to get the mains up higher) and
also tighten up the leg straps (to get me up higher).
I love launching and landing. It is the most fun in hang gliding.
The slow motion version of the flare in the photo above: http://youtu.be/tLbaLYPm4Wc. It's also in high definition. The flare raises
the angle that the glider makes with the horizon from approximately 20 degrees
to 45 degrees.
