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By jellolion
#508
I feel like I have hit a wall (not literally) in learning to fly. I feel comfortable launching, but I have a problem with turns. I am not cross controlling. When I turn, sometimes it goes into an extreme bank, sometimes it doesnt turn at all. Then there is the wind that is bouncing me around too. I feel like I dont have the right touch to have a good control over the turns and to maintain a heading. Other people I see soaring the ridge as soon as they have mastered launching. I dont understand why I am the only one who seems to have this problem. I feel comfortable launching, but if I have to make a few turns to get into the LZ, it is almost impossible for me. Did anybody else have this problem? How long does it take to get over this?
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By EWDesire
#510
As a an experienced glider pilot I had the same problems when I started hang gliding. In my case I very often pushed a good deal of my weight into the centre bar for quite a long time and wasn't aware of it. I didn't even know that this had bad effects on the turning speed (neither did my flight instructor tell me). In addition to this I had (and still have) to learn to live with much less control than in a glider. Especially the swiftness of response to control input is what I am missing in hang gliding. I guess you have to be patient and wait for the glider to turn when you shift your weight....that one second of delay can be hell - at least for someone who is still used to immediate control reactions. Still, experience and hints have reduced my problems with turning control and will do it for you, too, I am sure. If you have a very slow rolling glider (like the LAMouette Atlas) and lift / thermals are pushing you out of your intended direction you can also pick up some speed, then shift your weight and at the same moment push the centre bar sharply, but only a short way out. Increased g-forces will give you "extra weight" for coontrol for that instant. Be careful not to try this in low altitudes because if you do it wrong you can easily stall your glider. In any way: don't panic... your control plus your patience will definitely grow fast. Good luck!
By jellolion
#513
It is a falcon 195. I weigh 180. Number of hours? Considering I have only been doing sled rides, It must not be very much time in total. I am thinking the last poster might have it right, that I am just not used to the delay. I dont understand what he is saying about putting his weight into the center bar. Does that mean he is always pushing out? And he doesnt have enough speed to get good control? When he says push the bar out the instant I move my weight, is that something like a quick punch, then pull it back, or is the bar held out until I start turning? And what about the small corrections? Do you do the same thing for these? When I watch other people, it seems like they are making lots of contant corrections with a very small, almost unnoticable amount of body movement. Is this true? or am I imagining this?
By jellolion
#515
thanks everybody. I will try this stuff next time on the hill.