Flying possibilities

[SamKellner]

R G S A

Great work BillC

Great work Robin

Welcome DavidM

[JoeF]

Gold Star for BillC, RobinH, and new bird.
Wing running. Micro Hang Gliiding.
Respect for physical strains in new activity.
[Actual physical training easily could take six weeks with planning. Muscles in new activities will be strained. Coordination patterns takes repetition, rest, repetition, etc. Adrenaline tends to carry first days; that same adrenaline will hide the actual strains that are occurring. Those strain may degrade second sessions; respect for the physical need for body repair and repetition over weeks could give best results. Recall how one learned to type; things do not happen smoothly in first day or second day or third day. Wing running and and the full dance of micro hang gliding with full wing are new complex mental, physical, and nerve-involved activities.

The Benefits of Rest and Recovery After Exercise

Running
Running down slope
Running with the holding of tubes
Running with the control of attitude of wing
Running with control of visual attitude
Running while sensing the order of coordinated actions
Order of safety: attitude of wing, hook in, hang check, hook-in check, attitude of wing, pick up wing, hook-in check, check environment, check self, CLEAR, walk, jog, run, airspeed lifting wing, micro hang glide, judgment about wind, judgment about flare decision, flare or not (apparent wind calculation at landing). Then handling wing in conditions post landing.

To get second nature aside from first-day adrenaline takes physiological change/growth that takes cycles of rest, recovery, repetition. Strain (tears, soreness, rips) occurs in tiny and large manners; respecting strains, learning, recovery ... on the way to new levels of control and strength will lead to having many training sessions on the flat and bunny slope. There are ways to enjoy the weeks of training.

Mimic the patterns (have checklist of the parts of the full set of coordinated and sequenced actions) many times a week even on flats near home holding a low-mass wheeled triangle control frame. Over and over again. "Did I keep my eyes and head toward far targets?" "Did I actually appreciate the apparent wind as I moved from walk, jog, run?" "Did I sense wing attitude and get it flying, so that the wing could then carry more and more of my mass?" Over many weeks. Recall dancers learning new dance steps. Recall the challenges of learning new juggling tricks. Recall the investments of athletes with their implements. Well, hang gliding is a complex set of motions involving coordination of feet, legs, eyes, ears, arms, mind, and wing implement, harness implement, helmet implement, environment variables. Timing. Not a one day deal here! Patience. Give time for recovery from practice strain. Avoid overwork under the influence of adrenaline. Investments in mimic visualization sessions to get the order of things well embedded could pay neat dividends.

Different days. Different winds. Low-mass small wings. Environment awareness. Clothing. Pick up feet. Rocks. Spatial comfort. Motion comfort. Grown strength.

David M. did a GREAT DEAL of new motions in one session. He stressed his whole self in the new realm. Strains can last for days and weeks from first sessions if any overwork of a part occurred. Recovery takes time, water, food, sleep. The renewal over impairments is part of the growth towards mastery process. Repetition sessions with artificial implements and even imaginary implements can be part of the training of the steps of the dance. Severe injury or debilitating strain could discourage one; avoid such strains; such strains interrupt the flow of needed repetitions over days and weeks and months. BillC noticed the potential of overwork. RobinH kept positive reinforcements going. David M. came to the session with some natural talent.

Thanks for sharing the video of the session!

PS: Notice how BillC and RobinH get to exercise their bodies and minds while coaching another.

Mastery of wing running takes considerable time. Once one is a strong master at wing running, then significant micro hang gliding may occur in calm and low wind, not just "light on feet" dependng on choice of wing. Visualize Usain Bolt with a small wing, intermediate wing, large wing.



SeeHERE

[Bob Kuczewski]

Wow! It took 160 minutes to upload this short video to YouTube of today's (actually yesterday) mentoring of a first time hang gliding flight for David M.
  :
https://youtu.be/66qE3cSRzlk

Super video Bill and Robin!!!!!

That's exactly what recreational hang gliding looks like!!!!!       

[Bob Kuczewski]

Gold Star for BillC, RobinH, and new bird.
Wing running. Micro Hang Gliiding.
Respect for physical strains in new activity.
  :
Thanks for sharing the video of the session!

PS: Notice how BillC and RobinH get to exercise their bodies and minds while coaching another.

Pilots helping pilots for the love of the sport!!!

[Bill Cummings]

Thanks everyone for your interest shown for David's first day (January 12, 2016) of exposure to hang gliding.
I'll put a few still pictures of David taken while he was was getting the feel of wing running and slowly backing up the base of the hill.
David is a gymnast and Robin is a gymnastics coach. David arrived at our bunny hill in about the best shape of anybody that has shown up here.

First Robin demonstrates wing running without being hooked to the hang glider or wearing a harness.

Robin demo., Wing Running..PNG (507.88 KiB) Viewed 4785 times

__________________
After the flat ground wing running David starts at the bottom of the bunny hill.

David Wing Running Under Control 01-12-16.PNG (437.82 KiB) Viewed 4785 times

__________________
After a few of these runs David puts on the harness.

David, first time hooked in..PNG (460.26 KiB) Viewed 4785 times

Wing Running #2 David..PNG (459.76 KiB) Viewed 4785 times

This first day produced three micro flights where one to two steps of each flight didn't reach the ground.
(He might be too short to reach the ground. Either that or he was flying!)

[Bill Cummings]

I goofed and deleted my GoPro pictures of today but I do have most of the files loaded onto Robins computer. Maybe he can figure how to send them to me so that I'll have a second chance to goof up and delete them again.
I did get some videos with my Cannon Power Shot 1000 IS so I didn't goof on all the videoing.
Today, day two, David started again at the bottom of the hill since we now had some wind (5mph) and slowly backed up each flight until he was launching from the top.
https://youtu.be/xOEweo33qz0

[JoeF]

David
aeronaut extreme:

Screen Shot 2016-01-13 at 6.48.15 PM.png (177.71 KiB) Viewed 4781 times

[Bill Cummings]

Robin was able to pack a GoPro file containing 15 minutes of video into a thumb drive and get it to me today.
I fumbled it yesterday and I swear I'll never even enter or hover near the delete feature again until I have it uploaded into my Dell.
Although we still have another 30 minutes in memory in Robin's computer I edited the 15 minutes down to around six minutes. Below watch the mentoring that David received yesterday recorded from the on board tail camera on a small single surface glider that is older than David.
https://youtu.be/YVCQQ8QTlfs

Viewing the video I now see that David's hands should be a little higher on the down tubes for the flare.
Anything you might see that will help mentor David to be able to kick our butts in the air - please feel free to comment.

[JoeF]

It will take some time for David to well sense airspeed and bar pressure. The touch-and-go drive seems to have resulted in a nose-up nearly jumping action that went uncomfortably near stall; from watching exterior camera view, I was aching for him to have his body C.G. forward a bit to obtain more airspeed. Common hesitancy. I felt vicariously that I was landing when I could have been pulling in a bit more to gain airspeed and stay flying, even if such put me near the ground; I could burn off the speed in the flats. Friend: speed. How much ground school did he have concerning the reflex function?

[Bill Cummings]

It will take some time for David to well sense airspeed and bar pressure. The touch-and-go drive seems to have resulted in a nose-up nearly jumping action that went uncomfortably near stall; from watching exterior camera view, I was aching for him to have his body C.G. forward a bit to obtain more airspeed. Common hesitancy. I felt vicariously that I was landing when I could have been pulling in a bit more to gain airspeed and stay flying, even if such put me near the ground; I could burn off the speed in the flats. Friend: speed. How much ground school did he have concerning the reflex function?

Thanks for the advice Joe. Yes I noticed the "jumping action," and we talked about that. I too started out that way when with an over zealous (is that the spelling?) desire to get airborne NOW I had done the same thing!
I apologize for the audio with too much creaking through the camera mount but if you fiddle with the volume you can hear Robin going over that airspeed need at the top of the bunny hill. David did paraphrase what Robin was telling him when he said something like, "I'm not here to float I'm here to fly." I too am urging ground skimming and bleeding the speed off in a long ground effect final. I agree that pulling in more and staying nearer the ground will better equip David with more time to sense the glider, speaking, to him letting him know when is the correct time to flare. (Trim + 1sec.)
I did tell him what I know about the lag time between the pilots input and the gliders response. Even mimicked a four inch weight shift to the side and how long the order for the turn had to be put in before he could expect results. Then talked about faster roll results with more airspeed or slower with less speeds.
I've noticed that most beginners can get into over correction not realizing that the lag time tends to make one think that not enough input was given. Then they add too much more at about the same time the glider was responding to the initial input.
David does need more work for when it is time to flare -- but so do most of us.
David is pulling a lot of information out of us but most of that is edited out for the "meat" that Youtubers expect right away.
David knows the way to this forum and possibly absorbing the same thing said with different words will clear up something that wasn't all that clear to him when I ran it by him. Thanks again.
EDIT: We first put him on the simulator that Robin made to give him that feel for glider response lag.