* Ok this one is from a few hours ago, not 2009-- that's better.
* Rodger, there's no reason that the glider should turn into the wind just because the airspeed is decreasing. Rather, the flight path and ground track should curve downwind, with no change in heading. All this assuming no pilot input.
* On the other hand if the pilot is making steering inputs as needed to stay on a linear ground track, he'll cause the glider to turn upwind-- the heading will change in the upwind direction. Some amount of bank in the upwind direction will be required to make this happen.
* This may be the explanation for an observed tendency for the upwind wing to drop during the flare-- the glider was already slightly banked when the flare was initiated, because the pilot was consciously or unconsciously trying to keep the glider flying along a linear ground track as the airspeed decreased.
* As hang glider pilots we lack the sort of straightforward "gunsight" heading refererence that you have when seated on the centerline of a single-seat or tandem-seating airplane or sailplane, so we are often MUCH more aware of the direction of the ground track than the actual heading of the aircraft. This can cause some confusion as to the fundamental dynamics at play.
* In many cases, keeping the glider flying along a linear ground track is an excellent way to keep the wings level. Not so if we are bleeding off airspeed in a strong crosswind! If we are bleeding off airspeed in a strong crosswind, and we want to keep the wings level, we need to either observe the actual bank angle and make sure it remains zero, or we need to observe the glider's actual heading and keep it constant. Either method will keep the wings level. Either method requires a significantly different control input than would be needed to keep the glider flying along a linear ground track. Either method requires more deliberate attention-- even if less actual control input-- than would be needed to keep the glider flying along a linear ground track.
* The wind gradient can also be important. If the glider descends into a lighter crosswind, the nose ought to tend to swing AWAY from the crosswind, not into the crosswind. If this is not happening, it is probably due to a pilot steering input in the upwind direction, as noted above.
Steve
miraclepieco wrote:An old thread on a subject that always bears repeating.
As one ground skims on final the glider's speed is high enough that the crosswind component is a smaller percentage of the forward speed, so the crosswind is comparatively irrelevant. As speed slows however, the cross becomes a greater factor. My technique is to ignore the crosswind while ground skimming, then as the glider slows to the flare point it will naturally began to turn into the cross. Allow it to do so. Now, being more windward, your ground speed will diminish and you can flare normally.