[Bob Kuczewski]

Thanks for that information Rick.

I called John as soon as I saw your post and I left him a message to review what you've posted.

Thanks for sharing your wealth of experience here on the US Hawks.

[jcoyier]

Session #10
May 28, 2015

Site – Cape Kiwanda, Oregon coastal training hill approximately 150ft high.
Conditions – maybe 5 on the beach and 12-15 on top WNW. Heavy overcast with offshore fog.
Cummulative flights to date: 12
Number of flights - 6

This is the first trip with the Easy since my last flight session last fall.
All flights from the top.

First flight dealing with more west than north so had to think about a right turn on takeoff, cruise down the ridge, left turn as I approached the bottom No Vehicles signs and then “oh, crap, the gradient”. Found my self stalled in the left turn and augered in from about 15 ft. Nothing hurt, just a lot of sand all over the glider. A bystander caught the entire flight on his iPhone. I will include the footage later if he actually sends it. The next 2 flights I concentrated on that gradient and did fine. The last 3 flights I tucked my legs up to get a feel for bringing my feet up into the cage. On #5 I actually got my right foot onto the leading edge and could have pulled up my left but felt I had too many things going on. Still getting used to maintaining airspeed while holding my flight path and dealing with that gradient. The last flight I easily landed 5-10 yds past my tarp and also worked on slowing the glider so I wasn't having to run it on so hard. On 4 & 5 I noticed I was having to run a bit too fast on touchdown....seems to be very little ground effect glide with the Easy....or maybe just me? I'm feeling like this was the last beach session. 150 ft elevation is not high enough to do much more than launch and land. Finding an intermediate hill is going to be a challenge. About 400-500ft would be ideal. Unfortunately there is nothing local. I also need to think about rigging the LARA chute I bought last year for the Easy before tackling a higher launch. Since I'm doing this all solo, it is not possible to get any video from the ground. I have decided not to mess with the GoPro glider mounted since an on-board perspective not very useful (read: I'm just too lazy to set it up?).

[Bob Kuczewski]

Hi John,

We missed out on seeing your Easy Riser flying at the Otto Meet last weekend.   

On the bright side, I'm glad to see you're still flying it, and I look forward to more great pictures!!!

Bob

[Bill Cummings]

What is the glide distance from the 150' hill? It seemed like you could have used a longer landing area.
What distance from launch will you expect you next higher hill will give you?

[jcoyier]

Bill,
I'm guessing you are referring to Cape Kiwanda? I think it's about 100 vertical feet from where I'm launching on all these flights. I have always had some wind when I'm flying there so it's hard to say but my guess is that I'm consistently landing at a spot about 5:1 from the launch point. As soon as I am out of the lift band I come down fast. My next "hill" ideally would be 300-400 vertical with nothing more than "S" turns required for landing so that I can practice getting both feet up onto the leading edge. I am hoping for an LZ of 4:1 out to 7:1 on my next flying sessions but don't have any good ideas on where that might be yet.

[jcoyier]

Rick,
I actually went down to San Francisco and talked with Brian Porter the good part of one evening last fall. He told me basically what he described in the article he wrote adding nothing new. His concerns make me a bit nervous however there is a great deal of evidence (a lot of it from powered ER's ) that seem to argue against the instability of the design. My concern is the fabric tension I have on my re-build which was limited to a non-vigin airframe that did not allow me tighten the fabric to where I would have liked. My worry is that I will find the center of lift will not be stable and the fabric will billow up on the top surface shifting the lift center aft. If this happens, I could be looking at a real divergent situation. It would be great if I could somehow static test the glider for pitch stability before commiting to a first flight.
John

[Rick Masters]

John,

If you've used the proper construction techniques, the Easy Riser is a marvelous aircraft. I've had friends soar them many thousands of feet high with no problems at all. (Dave Ductor please call John.) There are ways to tighten up fabric using heat and chemicals, although I couldn't advise you there. I suggest you email some of the people at the ESA http://esoaring.com/officers.htm, most of them have experience with tightening fabric on airframes and all would be more than happy to point you to the experts.

If I had built your ship, and had no experience, I would seek out a local hang glider pilot to help me learn and, in particular, man the nose rope. Then go to a nice little hill or dune that I've staked out with streamers everywhere, and with a smooth breeze of about 15 mph ON YOUR ANEMOMETER, practice flying the crest with your friend manning the nose rope just to help you with pitch. You will figure the rudders out pretty quickly, so there is no need for a side rope.

The wind will help you maneuver and land because you have rudders, you lucky dog. You will have much more control authority than any rogallo-type hang glider.

After an hour or so of this, your confidence will be way up and you will be good to go on low flights and start having fun. Practice. Practice. Practice until you are making the correct responses without thinking, then gradually move higher (10-15 feet).

Any divergent tendencies from design errors will likely reveal themselves as you fly faster. I would try the nose rope again in stronger winds, again on a gentle hill with a shallow wind vector, just to see if the pitch becomes lighter as you speed up. If it doesn't, and you don't encounter fluttering or fabric loosening up from the top surface, I would be inclined to take it higher with out much concern.

We mention this divergent stuff to avoid a major "gotcha" common in home-building this aircraft. It does not take long to resolve the concern over divergence and once you have put it behind you, you will begin to trust your wing and enjoy it tremendously.

This is a tough aircraft with a huge record of accomplishments. People have flown them with broken ribs and ripped fabric day after day. They've hung heavy engines on them and towed banners. They are very robust. The problems usually arise from the pilot not doing proper maintenance or keeping the ship in damp storage, inviting rot or glue problems. After following your posted progress, I don't see these as issues. It's time to start flying.

All Dennis Pagen's early hang gliding books are priceless. George Worthington's In Search of World Records has a wonderful and very detailed section on learning to fly a rigid wing.

[jcoyier]

Bob K.,
I've just published a new post on easyriser2.blogspot.com
Also, check my build blog for the recent post there on easyriser1.blogspot.com
John
Session #11
July 17, 2015

Site – Cape Kiwanda, Oregon coastal training hill approximately 150ft high.
Conditions – maybe 5 on the beach and 12-15 on top NNW, clear and warm
Cummulative flights to date: 18
Number of flights - 1

Spent all day up until 11PM getting the final things done on the ER for it's maiden flight tomorrow AM. Left town around 7:30. Nice, sunny day with a slight drift from the south as I arrived. Began setting up and within an hour the north drift set in. By the time I was set up it was about 5mph from the NNW. Had to make several trips to the bottom of the hill. Still picking up but about perfect. I would guess about 10mph at the first false summit on the dune. I was so burned out from the week working long, hot hours getting the glider done I ran out of energy and decided to fly from the false summit rather than try and continue to the top. The extra weight didn't help.....16lbs more than the 50lb plan estimate. Ran a bit further than I planned but got off with no problems. I made very small directional corrections but mainly concentrated on airspeed....especially as I came in to land. The flight lasted only seconds but the glider felt just like Darrel's in the air and I am now confident taking it off of an inland trainer hill.....if I can only find one! Decided to pack up and head home. All in all the new glider got off very nicely relative to keeping the sand off of it. I'll wipe it down when I get home but it won't need much. Need to tighten the tip cables and replace all of the 1/16 cable with vinyl coated. I noticed that Darrel's had the 3/32 cable on the root negative wires. I may do that at some point. What an epic event! Finally, after all the struggling and hard work I finished it. I am now needing to apply the center closure and fabricate fairings, oh, and rig a chute mount plus set up the seat harness Darrel gave me. I'll do all this on his glider and use it for my transition to higher, inland launches. I did mount the GoPro and filmed this flight but I had to mount it close enough to turn it on without setting the glider down so the footage was worthless....way too close and the angle was terrible. I don't need a driver, I need a camera person.

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[Frank Colver]

Brings back good memories of the 40th anniversary of Oregon hang gliding held at Cape Kiwanda. I had great time there and even made a short flight in my Eipper Flexi Floater (standard Rogollo)!

Congratulations on a beautiful resurrection of the ER

Frank Colver

[brianscharp]

A flying work of art.