[jcoyier]

As I made my last flight at Funston this week, an RC pilot casually walked by and mentioned that he noticed I had some difficulty handling my glider up to and at launch. I immediately thought "oh, great, advice from a non-pilot". As I struggled to shove my ego aside (kicking and screaming at me) I was able to ask what he had noticed. He then told me he was, in fact, a hang glider pilot and had the same problem he noticed me having and said that it was nearly eliminated by simply moving his CG forward. Although I was in the process of breaking down and returning home, I found his idea very interesting from a couple different angles. First, I know this glider is trimmed near stall and I had not changed it because there was no easy way I could see to bring the CG point forward since the hang strap was already in front of the king post attach point. The second was that many experienced pilots had watched me all week and had given me a variety of ideas to improve my approaches and landings but none of them had mentioned anything about how the glider was trimmed. Before I go off and change my CG, I'd like to get some input as to how that may be changed by hooking into a different upright quick pin attach point in the Brock box (there were 3 in the Comet). I have been using the center position. Since the hang strap attachment is not even touching this, I assume it will not affect the CG and will only provide a minor adjustment to the upright forward/aft position once you rotate although it would make a difference in the static, unloaded balance point. Therefore, I will need to actually move the point at which the hang strap leaves the air frame while providing a safety stop like the webbing strap currently keeping it from being moved further forward.
Comments welcome....

[Bill Cummings]

You are on the right track in my opinion. You may want to put some of that bath tub tape (that keeps you from slipping in the shower) on top of your keel. Getting a Velcro fastening hang strap. And also use the safety strap as you mentioned so that it can't go forward.

[Bob Kuczewski]

I noticed a similar problem with my Falcon 3 while at Funston recently. The air at Funston is often so smooth that you can fly for relatively long periods with "hands off" to really check your trim without cheating. The Falcon is so forgiving that it doesn't have a crisp stall point, but I believe that my trim was well into the "mushing" part of the curve.

When I landed, I checked the main hang point and it was right up against the rearward portion of the forward keel pocket. In other words, it was about as far forward as one would expect. But since the keel pocket is fabric, I was able to move the hang point a little further forward (scrunching it into the keel pocket a bit), and that made things a little better.

I'm wondering if it's a well-known problem that hang gliders fly slower as they stretch with age?

[jcoyier]

I had a suggestion made by a well-known pilot here in the NW about determining my current trim (hands off) air speed relative to stall. He described the same method sailors use to trim their sails which is to apply tell-tale yarns to the sail with an emphasis toward the root of each wing. Looking directly at these during hands-off cruise speed should show if you are partially stalled or still fully flying the entire wing surface. I may use my GoPro video camera aimed at the root area around the king post which would be hard to observe from a pilot position anyway.

[Bob Kuczewski]

That's a great idea. It will give me something else to try with my new camera.

Thanks John!!