- Thu Apr 05, 2018 12:39 pm
#403071
For the first several years of my flying career, I was a typical flexwing pilot. In 1998, a few of my buddies at Mt Diablo started flying rigids - specifically the Exxtacy. Wow, what a performance difference! Those guys could now easily outclimb and outglide me in my WW XC flex. A couple of years later, I made the rigid wing jump myself, and hadn't flown a flexwing ever since. Until last weekend.
Over the winter, I bought a used Falcon 225 to be able to make relatively short hike-ins to a few PG sites in my hometown. It's an opportunity to get some quick airtime on days when I can't commit to an all-afternoon schedule. Last weekend, I took the F225 to Ed Levin, where I could take a morning flight off the top. My goal was to get dialed back into this flex, after so long away.
What an eye-opening experience! I knew the basic differences in flying a flex vs. rigid, and what to expect - but not the degree of such differences when in the air. I had been thinking, "Well, a Falcon is an entry-level glider. It can't be that hard to switch back." So wrong!
From the very beginning, it's been clear to me how easy it is to fly a rigid. Other pilots mostly comment on the "power steering" feel of controlling a rigid, but there's much more. The most significant change is that for rigids, PIO Does. Not. Exist. It doesn't matter the conditions, your airspeed, or anything else - PIO is just gone. Coming from flexwings, however, it's not the most noticeable part of the very easy transition to rigids. That, typically, is just how dumb-simple the control inputs are. In a first rigid flight a flex pilot will try giving all the small, frequent control inputs needed to make a flexwing go where it should. Rigid wings ignore all of that, and simple require the pilot to give the most simple of turn inputs whenever a turn is desired. A bit confusing at first, but incredibly simple in reality.
Back to my first return to flexwings. Being aware that PIO is now back on the table, I chose a site where I could simply fly out into clear air and play with control inputs. At the end of the flight, there would be a huge flat LZ, where I wouldn't need much finesse to land safely. Good thing, because I needed it. Launching the F225 was fine; I think it went very well. I carefully flew away from the terrain behind me until I felt comfortable that impacting a side-slope wasn't really possible. From there, I tried roll inputs. I knew that relatively small bumps were the preferred inputs for flexwings, but getting the strength and timing of the bump was tough. I also knew that the solution to PIO was to effectively let go of the control bar and just let the glider fly. Very hard, however, to overcome years of rigid wing experience to do so. If a rigid rolls on its own, it typically because you stuck a wingtip in a really booming thermal, or are falling out of one. Rigids just don't roll around on their own, and immediate action is needed to ride such a thermal bronco. The F225 (of course the reaction is greater on higher-perf flexwings) overreacted to my correction inputs, and sent me to the edge of PIO-ville. It seemed like I was walking a tightrope.
How foreign it felt, having such poor control over a beginner glider. I continued careful roll inputs as I descended toward the LZ, getting somewhat better at the execution of each one, even if my comfort level didn't improve much. I set up a long final, not pulling in for speed as I normally would - PIO on final could be an especially bad thing. Of course there was almost no ground effect and I missed the best part of the flair window. No whack, but far from a "good" landing. Still I was somewhat relieved to have safely landed. This is going to take a lot more practice than I expected!
Once I've regained my flexwing skills, staying somewhat current on them will be necessary. During a summer of ripping up the Sierra Nevada skies on my rigid, I have to take a couple of hours here and there to fly the F225 at my local sites. Once I'm dialed back in, I don't want to fall out!
RM
Over the winter, I bought a used Falcon 225 to be able to make relatively short hike-ins to a few PG sites in my hometown. It's an opportunity to get some quick airtime on days when I can't commit to an all-afternoon schedule. Last weekend, I took the F225 to Ed Levin, where I could take a morning flight off the top. My goal was to get dialed back into this flex, after so long away.
What an eye-opening experience! I knew the basic differences in flying a flex vs. rigid, and what to expect - but not the degree of such differences when in the air. I had been thinking, "Well, a Falcon is an entry-level glider. It can't be that hard to switch back." So wrong!
From the very beginning, it's been clear to me how easy it is to fly a rigid. Other pilots mostly comment on the "power steering" feel of controlling a rigid, but there's much more. The most significant change is that for rigids, PIO Does. Not. Exist. It doesn't matter the conditions, your airspeed, or anything else - PIO is just gone. Coming from flexwings, however, it's not the most noticeable part of the very easy transition to rigids. That, typically, is just how dumb-simple the control inputs are. In a first rigid flight a flex pilot will try giving all the small, frequent control inputs needed to make a flexwing go where it should. Rigid wings ignore all of that, and simple require the pilot to give the most simple of turn inputs whenever a turn is desired. A bit confusing at first, but incredibly simple in reality.
Back to my first return to flexwings. Being aware that PIO is now back on the table, I chose a site where I could simply fly out into clear air and play with control inputs. At the end of the flight, there would be a huge flat LZ, where I wouldn't need much finesse to land safely. Good thing, because I needed it. Launching the F225 was fine; I think it went very well. I carefully flew away from the terrain behind me until I felt comfortable that impacting a side-slope wasn't really possible. From there, I tried roll inputs. I knew that relatively small bumps were the preferred inputs for flexwings, but getting the strength and timing of the bump was tough. I also knew that the solution to PIO was to effectively let go of the control bar and just let the glider fly. Very hard, however, to overcome years of rigid wing experience to do so. If a rigid rolls on its own, it typically because you stuck a wingtip in a really booming thermal, or are falling out of one. Rigids just don't roll around on their own, and immediate action is needed to ride such a thermal bronco. The F225 (of course the reaction is greater on higher-perf flexwings) overreacted to my correction inputs, and sent me to the edge of PIO-ville. It seemed like I was walking a tightrope.
How foreign it felt, having such poor control over a beginner glider. I continued careful roll inputs as I descended toward the LZ, getting somewhat better at the execution of each one, even if my comfort level didn't improve much. I set up a long final, not pulling in for speed as I normally would - PIO on final could be an especially bad thing. Of course there was almost no ground effect and I missed the best part of the flair window. No whack, but far from a "good" landing. Still I was somewhat relieved to have safely landed. This is going to take a lot more practice than I expected!
Once I've regained my flexwing skills, staying somewhat current on them will be necessary. During a summer of ripping up the Sierra Nevada skies on my rigid, I have to take a couple of hours here and there to fly the F225 at my local sites. Once I'm dialed back in, I don't want to fall out!
RM