Pilot Stories & Interviews

Follow up:

by Dustin Martin
February 3, 2005

Preparation

Equipment
Radio, vario, harness, wing, O2, water, GPS, clothing, piss plan, glasses. Basically, work on all your stuff at home where you can get it right, not on launch on a good day. Get a radio set up that always works then shut up, learn your vario functions-especially the averager, make your harness comfortable, tune your wing for the least effort required to fly, always fly with water that you can reach in the air, learn how to piss in the air, always dress warmer than required, get glasses that aren´t too dark for sunset landings.

Attitude
Figure out how to pack your harness with all your gear so that every flight is capable of being an XC flight, even the sledders. Any harness can somehow carry all your pack gear. If it won´t, put it in the wing.

Know the routes
Same as Equipment: learn the routes at home on a rainy day, not on launch. Figure out LZ’s, landmarks, topography, etc.

Site

Wind direction/velocity
Get the forecast, and then be prepared to dismiss it based on conditions in the air.

Altitudes expected
Same as #1, the numbers are interesting but mean nothing if they don´t agree with the conditions. You can have as good a flight without any forecast as with one. If you´re going for the record, it can save some time to get a good forecast since you´re covering so much ground.

Over development
This is a good thing to forecast before a flight. The ASA website has a specific forecast for over development. Mainly, learn to identify the potential for a gust front as you´re flying and how to avoid landing in one.

Landability
This can be a factor in choosing the site for the day; some routes are safer in wind than others for landing, scratching, etc.

Relaxing
In general, a less turbulent flight can be had in the central deserts than the north or south ends of the state. For what it´s worth.

Launch time

Go when you can soar
Time is distance

Cloud timing
Learn to time your launch with the clouds over the hill, especially at low sites like Oatman, craters, etc. In flight, when one side of a cloud works best it will usually remain that way on every cloud thereafter.

Effective use of wind dummies
Wind dummies are important but useless if they are misused. Once a pilot is more than a couple hundred feet above you, he is nearly useless. Jump on climbing pilots immediately.

When to leave

Is anyone higher?
Make sure you´re as high as your buddies when you go, especially for group flying.

Is the path ahead lifting?
Leave when you have indications of a good glide ahead: clouds, dust devils, gliders, sun, etc. Sometimes there are no indicators and you have to trust that there will be lift. You are covering lots of ground…you almost always hit something before the ground. Believe.

Clouds
With clouds, try to leave at base unless great indicators on course tell you to leave sooner.

Gliding

Lift lines
Learn to follow lift lines. They make more difference than s2f, glider performance, and everything else combined. Lift and sink align with the wind. When in lift go down wind or upwind to stay in the line as long as possible. When a wing is lifted turn into it. When a line turns to sink don´t just plummet downwind; change lines (go crosswind) as soon as possible. If one way produces more sink, go the other way. Do this the entire flight. Finding 500 down instead of 1000 down is exactly the equivalent of finding 500 up instead of zero. Do the math.

Speed to fly
Not enough room for detailed theory here. Finding lift lines and climbing effectively will make much more difference for you than flying strict s2f. Basically fly faster than you think you should in sink, and slow to min sink in lift. A little on the slow side of things at our performance level will hurt you less than too fast. Getting out of sink is better than flying the correct speed through it. LIFT LINES. One important point: s2f remains exactly the same regardless of headwind/tailwind. Read that again. If you want to cover the most ground through a parcel of air in a given time, it doesn´t matter whether that air is moving relative to the ground or not. To get better glide over the GROUND, increase speed in a headwind, decrease in a tailwind. This applies when on final glide, when stretching to reach a sunlit area, etc. This will slow your XC speed, but staying aloft matters more.

Crosswinds
Stay upwind of your course line with strong crosswinds. Give yourself room to climb/scratch.

Safety/VG settings
Learn safety bar positions. Find out which vg settings are safest for conditions. Use your cord constantly depending on the air. Generally the more the vg, the less the stability. I´ve heard that a lot of gliders are least stable with ¾.

Gliding with gaggles
Always fan out. Never follow the same track as your buddies unless you´re plummeting and they´re climbing. Otherwise, fan out to increase your sampling area. When someone hits a good one go to it ASAP or the whole group will pull the ladder up on you and then you´re SOL. Don´t chase from below if you´re left behind. Fly your own flight till you catch up. Never try to be sly and hang back a few circles while everyone else goes off in search of new lift. You will ALWAYS lose in the end. Lead out, don´t follow.

Climbing

Triggers
Learn to identify likely sources of lift. Mostly common sense.

Dust devils
Identify which dust devils can be safely flown over. Remember, just about every thermal you fly in would have a dusty under it if it was over a dirt field. A dust devil is just a visual clue to a thermal´s presence. If a dust devil is pulling dirt out of a grass field, it might be wise to avoid it. Same with dust devils that resemble tornadoes. An average dusty in a dirt field poses no more hazard than blindly stumbling into lift on the rest of the flight. You almost never have to get to the dusty to encounter lift in the surrounding area that is considerably smoother. If your safety is in question fly fast and bank high while climbing.

Approaching lift sources
When approaching likely areas of lift, try to approach from an upwind or downwind direction. This will increase your odds of finding the lift. Lift runs in lines upwind and down wind. When leaving thermals initially glide straight upwind or downwind to increase your time in up air, then follow the line where ever it goes.

Leave room to climb/scratch
If low, go to sources that will leave you room to drift with the lift. If possible, don´t bet the whole flight on one source. Have several options in mind BEFORE you start your glide.

With others
When gaggle climbing, circle tightly. You will climb better and be a more pleasant person to fly with. Flat turners ruin it for everyone.

Visual cues
When you are being visually out climbed by birds, gliders, bricks, etc, and you have more than 1000 ft, immediately go to that area. If you wait until they are above you, they might pull the ladder up and you will be on your own. Learn to assess the climb rate of others quickly and act immediately.

Shifting gears

Gears
During your flight, you are constantly changing your aggressiveness based on conditions. This is shifting gears. Go as fast as conditions allow to maximize distance, but learn (from painful experience) when to downshift. There are times to survive (anything is possible in the air, nothing is possible on the ground)…and there are times to race.

Looking ahead
Always know your next two moves. Flying by default will deck you.

Don´t linger
Like JJ said in the last XC overview we had several years ago, wishing won´t turn sink into lift. There are two modes you should be in during your flight. You are either climbing or you are gliding. If you are circling or meandering in sink, you are throwing money out the window. The ONLY exception is when you have run up against an unlandable stretch and you need more altitude but can´t go ahead. In this case it is often better to keep gliding on course while keeping the last LZ behind you in reach. If you fail to find lift, take a different route when backtracking; don’t go through the same air twice.

Giving up
If you give up, it will deck you…whether you´re at 18K or 300 feet. Never give up. Anything is possible in the air; you will constantly be surprised as this point proves itself again and again.

Landing

Wind direction indicators
Learn to use bodies of water, tractors, cars on dirt roads, the ever popular patriotic Del Webb communities (every one has a dozen giant American flags), etc.

360s
Learn to use circles to determine wind direction on the ground. Always high enough to do a proper pattern.

Checking for turbulence
ALWAYS overfly your touchdown spot and the area upwind right before you fly your pattern. This will save you some trouble or worse someday if you do it consistently. If you encounter lift, great, work it at least until it drifts by the LZ, then repeat. If you don´t hit anything you can be confident in good LZ conditions. Nothing terrible is going to gather momentum in the short time it takes you to do a pattern. Never skip this step if it´s still early enough to encounter lift. Make your pattern tight to ensure landing in the air that you just checked.

Hazards
Assume that every structure or habitation has a power line running it. Same with every pole. Land where you know there is no possibility of an encounter. Roads usually have fences; same with changes in field color or texture. there’s usually a fence there.

Bushes/crops
Get comfortable landing in bushes up to about 5 feet high. This doesn´t apply to Palo Verde or ironwoods or mesquites. Greasewoods are easy. Learn to identify the plants from above. The only way to do this is land in them or walk the area after overflying it. It becomes very easy to identify landable vegetation with a little practice. Avoid lush, green crops. It is difficult to determine their height and no farmer is happy when you land in good crops.

Rotors
Learn to evaluate topography from above. Identify possible rotors in your LZ and plan accordingly. Also, in strong wind, prepare for gradient rotor in very flat areas with no obstructions. Work on high wind landing technique. This includes being upright during a good portion of your final approach with speed.

Drogue chutes
There are many techniques for using drogues. Beware of some often dismissed safety issues: Your drogue can and will collapse at the worst possible moment after being inflated perfectly; therefore, flying the entire approach with the drogue out will put you in a bad situation if you are landing in a tight LZ. Having a long bridle has two dangers. One, it can catch on your keel while pushed out and not allow you to pull back in. This has already killed someone. Two, it can go over your base tube and tumble your glider. This has gotten multiple pilots already. It should be long enough to allow you to hold it while holding the base tube, but not long enough to go over. Fly your approach, drogue in hand, as if you have no drogue. If necessary, it can be thrown on final. If not, throw it anyway right before you flare. Never land somewhere where you have to depend on the drogue to work. It´s not necessary and it will catch up with you eventually.

Reality

Know that there will be lift ahead and there will be.
Believe you´re doomed and you will be. Whether this is because of the energy of thought particles or just dumb luck is for you to decide, but it is spooky how well it works. You don´t believe in manifesting thermals or clouds? A mind works best when opened.

This is all opinion.
Everything here may be wrong. Flying is a personal experience and everyone sees their own reality. Try to follow at least some safety guidelines and make more of your own. This will increase your chances of a happy flight and more to come.