Windtech zephyr-2 - Manual (Page 11)

11
When flying, a front tuck may occur while leaving a strong thermal, or more often while
using the speed system in turbulent air, or sometimes whilst flying down-wind of anoth-
er paraglider & being 'waked' by the wing tip vortices of the glider and turbulence wake
turbulence of the pilot.
Remember, the pilot can learn to help stop collapses by flying 'actively', but if a front
tuck does occur it will easily clear itself. Re-inflating the wing can be helped by correct
pilot input and, once the glider is overhead, symmetrically applying 40 % of both brakes
& then releasing immediately will get pressure back in to the glider and speed up the
recovery. Do not brake when the glider is behind you, as this can stall the wing, but wait
for the glider to come forwards above your head, then brake.
-- asymmetric stall (spin)
This is a very difficult situation for the pilot to provoke with the ZENITH, given it's very
low stall speed, you have to really abuse the controls a lot to manage it. Even so, this sit-
uation can be induced if, say, the pilot is turning very slowly in a thermal (near the stall
point), and wants to tighten the turn even more, and at the same time as smoothly lift-
ing the outside brake (which is the correct thing to do), if the pilot simultaneously brakes
more on the inside brake, this may stall the inside wing which will then go into spin. One
half of the wing flies forwards, whilst the other flies backwards (negative). In this case
to return to normal flight, one has to raise the inside brake, returning air speed to the
inside wing, which will cause the wing to surge and dive forwards. This dive can be more
or less violent, depending on what stage that the flat spin is in, how much the spin had
been allowed to develop, and the moment at which the brake is lifted. If the pilot wants
to intervene to dampen this dive, they will have to adopt a position (roughly) of some-
thing more than half brake, which must then be released as soon as the dive is stopped,
or the wing may then go back into a stall or spin. Another option is to put the glider
directly into a full stall immediately that the spin is entered, and from this the exit is
more symmetric with less chance of a twist.
-- landing
Choose a large field clear of all obstructions & in a clean laminar airflow.
A different technique is needed for different wind strengths. Every landing should be
judged differently even if it’s your local site.
On final approach the pilot should have hands up (keeping a feel of the wing in case of
unexpected turbulence) so the glider has energy for a flare. In light or nil winds the pilot
will need a committed symmetric flare at around 1 meter above the ground.
In stronger winds less of a flare is needed & the pilot must judge this for himself through
practice & training from a qualified instructor.
The flight is not finished, and the pilot is never fully safe, until the glider is safely con-
trolled on the ground.