AndyB Posted July 3, 2019 Share Posted July 3, 2019 Today I got another first experience. I flew at 1.00 pm in the sun. It was very thermally and very bumpy. On my way back towards my field I went over to see the PG hill guys. I could see about 5 of them on the top practicing. On my way there I found the most amazing thermals. Engine off for 40 minutes. Twice I went from 1000 to over 2500, very quickly. See how many PG guys you can spot in these photos. Hint, they are very small! The last photo was just because I went over the reservoir on my way back. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumble56 Posted July 3, 2019 Share Posted July 3, 2019 Free lift, gotta love it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidG4 Posted July 4, 2019 Share Posted July 4, 2019 Are they washing up gloves on your hands??? Once a boy scout always a boy scout...always ready for the unexpected Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyB Posted July 4, 2019 Author Share Posted July 4, 2019 1 hour ago, DavidG4 said: Are they washing up gloves on your hands??? Once a boy scout always a boy scout...always ready for the unexpected Nope. They are the best lightweight gloves I have found. They are cotton, with a rubber facing on the palm side. Excellent grip, warm enough for down to 13 degrees and great dexterity as they are not too thick. Below 13 deg I switch to a thicker cotton type and below 8 deg ski gloves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Posted July 5, 2019 Share Posted July 5, 2019 Hi Andy, Very rough and bumpy you say. I must admit to still feeling a little nervous in those conditions. I went up yesterday mid morning.....lovely and smooth at 1500 ft but really rough around 200 ft coming in to land. I'm keen to know how the wing coped with it. Presumably no tucks / collapse in the rough air. I fly an Ozone and really have confidence in it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyB Posted July 5, 2019 Author Share Posted July 5, 2019 Hi, it was about as rough as I will fly in. I fly in Spain a lot and the thermals are wicked. Midday there is strictly over the beach/sea only. Below 1500 feet it needed constant use of brakes to keep things a little more even. Without this I was swinging around about 20 degrees either way, sideways and forwards/backwards. With brake use I could make it much less. It was of course still bumpy. Higher up it was smoother except for the entry and exit of the really big thermals I found. The wing never did anything other than look exactly like a fully inflated wing - Roadster 2, 28 m. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackburn Mark Posted July 5, 2019 Share Posted July 5, 2019 1 hour ago, Guy said: I must admit to still feeling a little nervous in those conditions. Hang on to that... keep you nice and safe. Its tricky to describe our "bump tolerance" to each other in this sport. I personally find I get uncomfortable or the flying becomes physically taxing before things get to what I would describes as dangerous (assuming some skill with active flying) For example, the last time I launched (last week) it was 6/10mph wind (20+ aloft) and sunny... I was 90% sure it would be a bit shit but with 10mph, the takeoff would be easy so I though I would suck it and see.... I was correct, it was a bit shit. 10mins of active flying was enough for me... not particularly dangerous, just shit so I packed up and sulked instead. If I have to fly active for long periods, ill head for home... its just not fun if I cant pick my nose, scratch my arse and watch the world meander by in a relatively chilled fashion. If however, (as happens reasonably often on a long flight) I take a bit of a kicking where I end up as twitchy as a gunslinger with my breaks, if I have a good idea why EG: "I encountered the bottom of an inversion" or "I dropped into rotor", then I will probably manage to continue on with a jam buttie in one hand and a smoke in the other (just as soon as I have put some space between me and offending airmass) I haven't managed to quantify anything useful with this have I Pretty sure it describes what most pilots feel though... no matter what their skill level. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyB Posted July 5, 2019 Author Share Posted July 5, 2019 I think you have said it well Mark. If you need active flying all the time it is not so fun. My arms can't keep up that long and my right shoulder says no. Using the Geoff Goin bump scale is useful. I would say I was at a 4. No tip collapses, but I was being very active in keeping the wing in order. There are 2 aspects of unpleasantness to me. One is bumps, the other is swing/sway. I would describe the bumps as similar to an old roller coaster. Not very nice for a long period. The swing/sway was just about dampable (is that even a word) with lots of brake effort. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackburn Mark Posted July 14, 2019 Share Posted July 14, 2019 On 05/07/2019 at 14:58, AndyB said: Using the Geoff Goin bump scale is useful. I tried googling this... I came up empty. Any chance you could enlighten me Andy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyB Posted July 15, 2019 Author Share Posted July 15, 2019 In his book he details a scale of 0 to 10, from completely smooth to you will die. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackburn Mark Posted July 15, 2019 Share Posted July 15, 2019 Ah, that's why I couldn't find anything... I thought I was losing my touch. £47 ... bit rich for a mere mortal like me. Ill stick with my idiot three notch scale.... 100% compulsory hands on = not flyable // Can eat a jam buttie = flyable // Can eat a jam buttie and smoke at the same time = bliss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steelmesh Posted July 24, 2019 Share Posted July 24, 2019 The Dudek Universal 1.1 manual says to trim out in strong turbulence (pg) and suggests with the trims all the way out it is very resistant to frontal collapse and the rear risers have almost no pressure on them so you'd need to tip steer. In general with a reflex wing in reflex mode, are pilot inputs reduced when in turbulence? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackburn Mark Posted July 25, 2019 Share Posted July 25, 2019 9 hours ago, steelmesh said: The Dudek Universal 1.1 manual says to trim out in strong turbulence (pg) I have heard of this... blows my mind as it is so counter to what I am accustomed to (thousands of hours under free-flight wings) The Niviuk Kougar 2 is "trims in, fly active" in turbulence which is a good job because I would really struggle to keep my instinct's in check despite understanding the benefits of loading the leading edge and almost allowing the trailing edge to flap in the breeze I struggle to grasp why some reflex wings will go tits up if you use breaks... I am sure it is because you got from positive to negative aerodynamic divergence in a short time (break pull) but I still cant picture the angle off attack switch which causes the collapse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrsfrwll Posted July 25, 2019 Share Posted July 25, 2019 11 hours ago, steelmesh said: The Dudek Universal 1.1 manual says to trim out in strong turbulence (pg) and suggests with the trims all the way out it is very resistant to frontal collapse and the rear risers have almost no pressure on them so you'd need to tip steer. In general with a reflex wing in reflex mode, are pilot inputs reduced when in turbulence? Turbulence won't disappear. Jolts will still be felt but harder at increased speed. Reflex mode just increases resistance to collapse and so piloting work is reduced when controlling stability. So unpleasant feelings in turbulence will still exist but you can be happy in the knowledge of being very resistant to turbulence induced collapses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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