Two asymmetric collapses

Today I got my first unintentional asymmetric collapse, it swiftly was followed by my second.

Having checked the weather the night before I wasn't hopeful to get flying. Some rain was forecast at each of the flying sites that looked hopeful. This morning I checked my email to see no messages so I assumed that none of the other club members thought it was worth chancing the rain. An hour or so later I checked my email again to find that there was one guy heading to the Mourne Mountains and another group of guys heading to Dungiven. A quick phone call later I had decided on Dungiven as there was a nasty looking cloud sat on top of Slieve Binian in the Mournes.

I arrived to find no-one flying but a couple of pilots in cars at the car park. Conditions seemed to come and go so after a bit of a chat I lugged my kit onto the hill and spent a long time watching other more experienced pilots take of and go up and down. One minute everyone had great height then the next everyone was scratching about struggling to stay up.

I stood and did a lot of watching with a some other low air time pilots. It was a first for me to witness three tandem paragliders in the air at the same time. Eventually the conditions seemed to calm a little and I made the decision that if I take off and land at the bottom then so be it. No-one likes landing in the bottom landing field because someone needs to drive down to collect you or it's a half hour walk up.

I took off into a thermal, as you can see from the video I go almost directly up. I struggle to move forward so with my controls up at the keepers I head of to the right to see what the conditions are like over there. It is a little bumpy so I decide against using my speed bar (which is a rarely used part of my kit anyway). I then experience an asymmetric collapse on the right side. After I realised what is happening I add a little brake on the left and weight shift to the left and the wing recovers. I remember thinking to myself "Well that is my first asymmetric collapse out of the way without incident." Then I get a second collapse on the left side which is about 50% of the wing (the camera doesn't catch this but I certainly did). At this point a fellow pilot Tony gets on the radio to advise me to fly away from the hill but I am still unable to penetrate. At this point I have been pushed back away from the ridge and am in sink so am committed to landing into a flat field only moving backwards very slightly so I go with it.

My mind was full of what ifs while I walked back to take off. I immediately found Tony and thanked him for getting on the radio, I was appreciative of his advice (even though I couldn't follow it).

After about an hour of intently watching everyone's flights I managed to get a pleasant and uneventful flight in of about half an hour. This was only ended when the wind switched to the north and I was treated to a visit to the bottom landing field. Jim was kind enough to come and fetch me and save me having to do the half hour walk up.

What have I learned:

• Always have a little bit of pressure on the controls, especially if it is a bit rough.
• If I am failing to penetrate make myself more aerodynamic by streamlining my body as best I can by tucking in elbows, point feet, etc. (advice given by the wise old owl Bertie)
• Care should be taken over the rocks to the right at Dingiven when you are low and the sun is shining (more advice from the owl).

Halloween at Dungiven

I hadn't even been looking at the weather today when I glanced out of the window and thought to myself it must be flyable somewhere. I checked the club mailing list and sure enough a couple of members were making their way to Dungiven. So I quickly got kit and myself together and drove the 50 odd miles (who am I kidding I know it is exactly 52 miles). I arrived in time to see Colin take off and by the time I had driven to the top of the hill it looked like Dave was about to take off. Dave is the UHPC Chief coach and so is in the know. I ran down the hill to see what he thought of the conditions and as far as he was concerned there was nothing to worry about except it might be a wee bit light.

I was a wee bit worried about the lack of wind as I don't like landing at the bottom simply because someone has to stop what they are doing to drive down and collect you. First couple of flights were easy enough and resulted in top landings. Third flight was a disappointing top to bottom, followed by a top landing, and then another top to bottom.

I had five flights today and managed to clock up over an hours airtime. Not too bad considering I woke this morning without the faintest hope of flying.

Dungiven. Wind a bit too strong

Today I took a days leave from work to fly Dungiven. I set out about 9.45 and arrived about 11 am as several others were just arriving. The wind was smack onto the hill and nearly too strong to fly. Mike who passed this CP the week after me was already there and he set up and before long he was up and flying. Conditions looked good with plenty of lift so shortly after he was joined by Phil Barron and a student on his tandem, another pilot and finally me.

Michael was the first off the hill.

There were wispy clouds coming and going at the edge of the hill but nothing that you couldn't see through but I stayed in familiar territory just in case it developed into orographic cloud. At one point I was in a bit of mist and decided to use my big ears (which is a rapid descent technique where you pull the wing tips in) in a half hearted fashion but there was no real need. I threw in a 360 degree turn just because I had the height.

After about 15 minutes I thought I would land for a bit as I would have the rest of the day to fly and practising top landings isn't a bad way to spend my time. As I was lining up for the landing I noticed an inch or so of standing water right where I was planing to land so I revised my landing spot as I came in. I used enough control to descend vertically and when I touched down I turned and killed the wing by running towards it and pulling the controls.

Phil's tandem landing was interesting as he called over to myself and another pilot (Jim) to grab the controls from him when he landed. Jim took the controls and ran away from Phil which quickly killed the wing.

Mike had several goes at top landing and missing (well flying back out into the lift for another attempt) getting further and further back over the hill until he was able to get his feet on the ground.

Mike decided he wanted another flight so I stood and shouted wind speeds at him from my wind meter while he chose his moment to inflate and take off. While he was up the wind picked up a bit and Mike ended up landing way back on a flat part of the hill away from the lift.

This was the end of the days flying for me. The wind spent the rest of the day dropping to acceptable speeds just long enough to dupe me into getting ready to fly again and then strengthening to beyond my comfort zone.

I have booked a guided paragliding holiday in Algodonales, Spain so this is probably my last day's flying until  I get there on the 6th October. I am going to try and take pictures and blog about each flying day but I suspect the post frequency will be directly inverse to the number of bars.

Longest flight yet

It has been a while since I got a truly decent flight in at Dungiven and given it is both one of the best and one of the most used sites this end of the country it would be surprising if you didn't take this years horrendous weather into account.

Last night I got a text from Ian (my closest fellow paraglider pilot) saying today was worth an early start, so I did my best to arrange things despite a celebratory slap up meal with the Brother and Sister in-law. After some arsing around in the morning involving keys and cars I set off to pick up Ian and head out.

When we arrived there were no other pilots about so set about our daily checks, and I found I was had left a cable for my radio at home, another thing to add to the checks before I leave next time.

Ian was off the hill first and he was struggling to maintain height so I made myself busy by getting the wing up above my head and watching for a bit.

Other pilots had started to arrive and I was conscious that I should take off before the sky was filled with pilots (which wouldn't take many in the light conditions). I launched and did a few beats of the hill then landed back with a close to the top slope landing, lost my footing nearly falling over and completely losing control of the wing which spun around and ended up front down behind me. After a quick look around to see who had seen me I remembered that no one actually cares if you lose control of the wing or fall over as long as you are safe so I bunched up the wing and moved back to take off.

I took off again after only a brief breather and managed to get a bit of height, enough to give me the confidence to fly further away from take off and before long I was going more or less from end to end of the ridge that is almost a mile and a half wide. I decided that while I was staying up I would try for an hours air time in one flight. This turned out to be difficult to gauge because although I had my new GPS with LK8000 loaded on it which could tell me my flight, I had forgotten how to use it, and at one point took to pressing the screen with my nose but to no avail.

I gave up worrying about the length of time and thought I would just have to guess. I started to set myself little tasks to try to complete. I firstly I got enough height to try slowing down the wing more than I have done previously (but not so slow to make it stall of course). Next I tried to make it to 500 meters above above mean sea level, so using the vario (height gain in meters a second) data on the GPS I tried to stay in lift right at the south end of the cliff and eventually (maybe more luck than judgement) I made it. At this height I was more than happy to try a right hand 360 turn, then a left hand 360. I then set off a good way out the front of the hill to head for the north end of the ridge and tried to stay in lift as and where I found it.

Eventually after I was fairly sure I had my hours flight time I came back close in to the hill and performed a gentle top landing with crouched knees, then stood up (to unload the wing) and turned to face and killed the wing with the controls while jogging towards it. I even got a comment of approval from one of the club coaches about the landing.

I bunched up the wing and moved it behind a small grassy wall that runs the length of the take off field (a good place to make sure the wind doesn't unexpectedly re-inflate the glider). Hands now free I worked out how to get the flight time from the GPS and to my delight it was a few seconds over one hour and thirty minutes. I promptly turned off the GPS which I found out later will eventually shutdown the flight software in a way that it will not save the flight log. another point to note next time.

Unfortunately that was the end of the flying for me because two minutes after my landing the wind picked up and didn't let up until I we decided we had seen the better part of the day. The wind didn't stop everyone from flying as there were a couple of mini wings and a hang glider for us to watch.

Dungiven

Today there was word that a some of the club members were going to try the flying site that over looks the town of Dungiven. I arrived just before 2 PM to find four idle gliders laying on the hill and four pilots bumping gums in the car park. I was informed that I hadn't missed anything of note, with the exception that a couple of pilots had "gone over the back" (went for cross-country flights). Shortly after my arrival the wind decided it was going to start working again so got I set up.

I took off and proceeded to fly back and forth not really getting any great height, after a  few attempts I managed to push out towards the big cliff face to the north, but I decided not to stay there because it was the first time I have been up that end and I didn't want to push my luck when I was not gaining much height. I struggled back towards take off and shared the air with another low air time pilot. Suddenly we just stopped getting lift from the hill so I headed out and managed to make it to the lower landing field that I have used before. As I landed I realised that the wind had changed direction and was now coming from the north.

I thought that I might be in for a big hike back to the top but before long I was joined by three other experienced pilots, landing at the bottom because they had simply no other option.


View Larger Map

I was quite pleased with my 6.8 km flight, but as you can see from the above track log it was far from a straight line. While I and the other guys were packing away in the bottom field a phone call came in from the cross country guys. It seems they had flown all the way to the East coast, 40 miles away. They literally couldn't have gone any further in that direction.

Fortunately the other low airtime pilot hand managed to land near the top of the hill, so after he had put his kit away he came down just as the rain was starting and collected everyone and took them back up to the car park at the top.

The rain ended play.

Flying with others

Training today was at probably the most used site in Northern Ireland, Dungiven. Bertie and I headed out fairly early to be greeted at the windy, cloud covered hill by two glum paragliders pilots and a hang glider pilot. After an hour or so,  more pilots had arrived, the wind had dropped and the cloud was starting to lift.

This low cloud was an improvement over the earlier conditions

I was quite looking forward to seeing a hang glider in flight as I have never seen one before and I think it is important to at least see how aircraft you are sharing the sky with behave.

I tried to take a picture of a hang glider but it had shot off into the distance by the time I got the phone out.

I was surprised at the number of pilots arriving, and that I knew so many of them to talk to. By the time the flying got into full swing there were probably ten aircraft in the air at any one time and up to three of those could be hang gliders. One of the 'Hangies' made low pass at speed over the take off area (no-one was taking off at the time otherwise he wouldn't have done it), the noise of the thing cutting through the air is quite impressive.

I only managed to snap four gliders airborne but there were plenty more out of shot

All told I only got one flight of about 10 mins but I can add pitch osculations (damping out when the glider starts to rock you back and forth), flying with others and another top landing to the tasks completed.

All I believe I have left now are a couple of slope landings and one more top landing and I have finished my club pilot tasks. The weather this coming week is looking good so hopefully not long until I nail it.

Slope landing at Dungiven.

I got a phone call from Bertie this afternoon asking "are you coming out?"

A few frantic phone calls to the missus and work to make sure I wasn't needed for a few hours and I was ready to go. We thought we would give Dungiven a try and see how it goes. While on the way there it looked like there was no wind at all. Another CP student rang Bertie en route to say he was heading down as well.

Waiting for the wind at Dungiven

Got to the site and there were other pilots about but no-one was flying due to lack of wind. Along with the usual horse play when there is no flying, a couple of pilots were gloating about being right out over the town earlier in the day

By the time I got set up, the other student had arrived and I had got my daily checks done the wind had picked up to just about soar-able levels almost directly onto the hill.
The other student went first and was bearly managing to soar and ended by just getting enough height for a slope landing.

I went up next, and the wind picked up a little for me, I managed to soar for a while, then the instructor got on the radio and got me to fly out from the hill to perform an asymmetric collapse. This is where you reach up and grab a A line on one side and pull it until the canopy collapses (or tucks). This is a bit scary because the glider begins turning towards the collapsed side as well as banking. When I performed this maneuver I didn’t need to wait until my instructor told me to let go of the line, I had automatically let go. The glider almost immediately recovered by re-inflating the collapsed part of the wing, and I quite impressively remembered that I am to keep my “hands up” (i.e. do not pull on the controls) and let the glider settle before pointing the paraglider where I want to go next, which was back at the hill for more soaring fun.

A bit more soaring later and Bertie asked me back to the hill for my first slope landing. Wow I can run fast if I have to. A slope landing is across wind and because of this the ground speed is much faster, however, I managed to land and collapse the canopy in an acceptable manner. Yes!!!

So now I can soar, top land, slope land (well I did it once, no reason to think I can’t do it again) and not soil my underwear when the canopy tucks and recovers..... next stop may well be the site I now want to fly the most.....Magilligan, back to where this all started.

Unfortunately the weather forecast isn’t looking good for the coming week (what is left of Hurricane Katia is on it’s way to Ireland, Scotland and Northern England.

On the way home Bertie pointed out that I got a mention in Skywings magazine (the BHPA member's monthly magazine) which was his doing:

More First Flights. Ian Fraser (that is me that is) recently gained his EP qualification in record time (for Northern Ireland) with First Flight Paragliding. Thanks are due to some co-operative weather, and encouragement from Ian's wife, reported to have said she has never seen him so enthusiastic about anything.

 So you heard it here first folks, an Englishman breaking Northern Ireland records. I do suspect that if this is really a record it wont be long before it is broken.

600ft flight, Dungiven

This was an awesome day. With only one thing that I would have changed, one less thistle in the landing field. Bertie (my instructor) took me to a new site that overlooked the town of Dungiven. We stopped at the bottom of a steep road and climbed into a field which I was to land in, we surveyed the site from this angle and talked about the hazards (telegraph poles, power lines and stone walls), set up a wind sock and then set off up the hill road in the car.

Dungiven, 600 feet above the landing field.

At the top there was the view of the town of Dungiven below and mountains in the distance. I laid out the glider and did my daily inspection. Discussed my flight plan, by the time it came for me to attempt the flight the wind had moved from W to WNW, which was just about ok for me to fly. After one false start (make sure the glider is above your head before you stop leaning into the hardness) in a reverse launch I got the glider above my head and stable, so I turned and ran and ran, and ran (with the encouragement of Bertie, "run, run, run" on the radio). Eventually I took off (it seems there was a short lull in wind at the exact moment I decided to take off) and was happily flying according to my flight plan, got a few 180 degree turns in, and generally enjoyed myself.

After I had lost enough height I started my final approach to the landing field. I was aiming for landing on the wind sock, but as I was coming in, the landing slope seemed to be about the same gradient as my wing's glide angle and I just flew on and on past the wind sock with my boots about 8 feet of the ground. Eventually I realised that I need to do something so I slowly pulled the controls for a fairly gentle (if at a jogging pace) landing directly on top of a thistle. It went straight between my legs, spiking both as it passed. It wasn't yet time to cry though as I had to concentrate on collapsing the canopy in a controlled manner, and I sort of succeeded. I spent the next fifteen minutes alternating between packing the glider away and picking thorns out of my jeans.

Dungiven is a great site because if you land in the bottom field, some kindly soul will drive down and collect you. When Bertie picked me up I asked what height that was, so he got out a variometer (a device for measuring rates of lift and sink, plus it tells you your altitude) and reset it before we drove back up the hill, it turns out it was 600 feet!

After some messing with Google Earth (an invaluable tool for wannabe paraglider pilots' daydreaming I might add) I worked out that I would have flown over a mile in distance albeit repeatedly over the same area multiple times.


After this flight the wind moved around more to the north, rendering the site un-flyable (at least for me). At this point I would have called it a day and gone home, but my instructor had other ideas, we went to a private site called White mountain. Site familiarisation is a very important part of paragliding but unfortunately this is all the weather allowed me to do, then again the pain of not flying is dulled by views like these.

That is Lough Neagh in the distance