Over the years I’ve been experimenting flying accelerated for long periods of time between climbs, whether it’s thermic or rough. Obviously if I feel I’m in danger of losing the front edge I’ll step off the gas, stabilize the wing then slowly apply gas again.
Flying in World Cups and FAI cat.1&2 comps where most pilots are giving pretty much as much gas as they can unless climbing I noticed that some have 2 distinct techniques for holding the angle of attack positive.
The Obvious Stuff.
When we push on the bar the A’s and B’s are pulled down by different amounts this results in the wing accelerating but as the angle of attack is decreased the glider is more prone to taking a slap. So to stop a front stall or worse an high speed asymetric we need to keep the angle of attack positve.
The Valic method.
The Valic Brothers are reknown for flying full speed between thermals in some pretty turbulent air and I’ve rarely seen them take big whacks, although I’m sure they do from time to time. They can’t see the air either or get it right the whole time after all.
So what are these boys doing to hold their protos open going full chat. The following method should work just as well with lower end gliders as it does with skinny weapons, in fact you’ll probably have an easier time on a lower aspect ratio’d wing.
From what I can see and understand, although this is not the method I’d use for reasons I’ll go into later.
So you’ve left the climb and want to push on to the next, putting the brakes to the keepers you slowly apply the accelerator until you reach your best speed to fly(this will be another article coming soon). The theory of this method now relys on your ability to feel the air through your leg muscles. As you feel the glider surge forward you use the speed system like the brakes and come off the gas slightly (how much depends on the surge) so the wing comes back. Holding it there until the glider stabilizes.
Why not use the brakes? If you are using over half speed it’s unwise to use large amounts of brake aswell as this will cause the glider to yaw about and could collapse or spin if you’re unlucky. Once stabilized or you feel the glider get pushed back you apply more gas. So in effect you are using the accelerator like the brake lines.
I’m not a huge fan of this method as it requires a lot of feeling through very strong muscles in you legs and usually the stronger the muscle the less feed back they will allow. Also if you gas peddle is stiff you’ll get pretty tired pumping your legs backwards and forwards the whole time. Plus if the glider surges asymetrically it’ll be difficult to compensate for this in time and it could get messy very quickly but as I said before this boys seem to have this technique wired.
The Steigler method.
Stefan Steigle, ex-World Champion in 1995, uses the same method as myself. Still holding the brakes at the keepers and slowly/smoothly apply the gas. The big difference is that unless I feel the nose is fragile I’ll hold the gas through the turbulence but I’ll feel what the glider is doing through the last row of lines, C’s or D’s depending on which wing I’m on.
If the glider surges forward I’ll quickly apply the right amount of pressure through the rear lines, thus holding the gliders AOA positive. The big advantage of the this method I’ve found is that I can hold the wing thru pretty rough air and not come off the gas unless it starts getting silly.
It’s a little less complicated than the legs method as the wrist is pretty weak link and thus easier to feel if the glider is surging asymetrically or not. If it does then I’ll apply the C’s accordingly.
This short article is not designed to enable pilots to senselessly hurtle through rough air. If you are close to terrain or in very turbulent air please treat the gas with respect. Once you master when and how much you can give and more importantly what your particular glider can take before going tits up will enable you to fly faster and therefore further, confidently and competently.
If you have any questions regarding this subject please leave a comment for me.
Have fun and please be careful out there as collapses at speed can surprise even the most routine of pilots.
As the foehn is blowing roof tiles off I’ve had time to sort out the last pieces on the site. So by now you should’ve received your password to view the whole series of movies I’ve made called ‘Understanding the Alps’.
Just to let you all know that next April I’ll be running an XC week in the World reknown Greifenberg in Drautal. This 70km long valley has some fantastically straight forward 100km+ routes.