GIN Vantage - Manual (Page 20)

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Do not take wraps with your brakes before entering a full stall. Keep your hands close to your
body during the stall, and lock them under your harness seat plate if necessary. In a stable full
stall, the canopy will oscillate back and forth. Before releasing the stall, raise your hands
slightly and evenly to fill the glider with air. If possible, let the brakes up when the glider is in
front of you to avoid excessive surge. The Vantage will slow down the surge on its own, but you
may counter brake the dive briefly for comfort if needed and then let up the brakes to regain
airspeed. Be careful not to stall the glider again when damping the surge.
Never attempt a stall and then change your mind and release the brakes, as the glider will surge
radically.
Deep stall (parachuting, stable stall)
The Vantage does not have a tendency to get into nor stay in a deep stall. Should this
nevertheless occur, put your hands on the A risers and push forward to gain speed. On some
modern harness/accelerator setups, you can reach the speed bar without using your hands. If so,
push the speed bar. Never try to steer out of a deep stall.
You can recognise a deep stall by the glider getting "mushy" and the airflow around your ears
decreasing. This situation is usually achieved by flying in turbulence or exiting a deflation with
too much brakes applied.
Losing altitude
Extremely strong and widespread lift is found, for example, in storm conditions. The best place
to be in this situation is on the ground. Nevertheless, if you’ve been caught out by the weather
and find yourself needing to descend rapidly, there are several ways to do so. The best way is,
of course, to find sink. Failing that, try one of the techniques below. They are presented in order,
from the least to the most extreme. Most of these techniques place undue stress on your glider,
and should be avoided if you wish to extend its lifetime. We recommend you initially practice
these manoeuvres under qualified supervision during a safety-training course.
Big ears
This method is a good safe way of descending; however care should be taken when pulling down
the outer A lines, not to pull them too far, the Vantage has a lot of load on the “A’s” especially
on the faster trim settings. A spiral may be a more efficient way to get down.
Note; we do not recommend using big-ears with power, There is a risk of stable stall and it
defeats the object.
Although the noise of the wind around your ears may indicate the airspeed improves, the
airspeed does not improve with big ears. You may use the speed bar in combination with big
ears to maintain your forward speed but increase the sink.
The glider can be steered while in big ears using weight shift alone.
When releasing the lines, the Vantage’s ears will come out on their own. Release the big ears at
least 100m above the ground. If this is not possible, keep the big ears in until you flare for
landing rather than letting them out on the approach. This is a safer method because of a
possible wind gradient close to the ground and your low airspeed/high wing loading with big
ears in.