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Lee Ganley's Training Blog.


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Hi Lee,

You need to forget about the 'C' risers for the time being and concentrate on getting the wing through the power window using just the 'A's, the power window is at about 45 degrees and is the area used for Power kiteing, Kite Surfing, Land Boarding, etc as this is where you get the strongest pull, the quicker you get the wing from the ground to over your head the better, stick to light conditions of around 5mph until you get your confidence back.

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Positive Mental Attitude should never be under rated.

First time I flew at Oludeniz I fluffed 5 launches in perfectly acceptable conditions. Before I went I had watched lots of Youtube videos (many with accidents or fatalities) and I was tense and nervous since my head was full of all the things that could possibly go wrong.

If you are worrying about getting dragged or whatever, that will affect the outcome. Watch other people make perfect launches and visualise your wing coming nicely overhead. Think about what you want it to do, not what it might do to you. After a successful launch take a moment to replay it in your mind - the feeling and body movement.

Might sound naff but it is a respected coaching tool and it works. Check out NLP (neurolinguistic programming). Sounds like it is all starting to come together for you anyway. :)

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  • 1 year later...

As you can see from time lapsed between my last posts, I had nearly given up on Paramotoring altogether, there has been a very long list of injuries involved, a couple as a result of training and many picked up whilst working which prevented me doing any training at all. Also a couple of mishaps during training really knocked my confidence and to be honest had me scared of the wing itself.

However, I ended up moving my tuition to Paul Kilburn at Manchester Paragliders, and basically started from scratch; he got me over my fear of being dragged and developed the confidence to tackle the wing in stronger conditions. The fact that I work shifts and the weather never playing ball meant that it was really difficult to get together and have the weather to make progress, this was really soul destroying but it did mean that I have spent an eternity ground handling and really got know my wing, or so I thought.

Anyway to cut out a long narrative of ground handling and such I will cut to the chase and write the part I was beginning to think I would never get round to. Today the weather was lovely, I finally had a day off and Paul was also free for training, we met up at the field and the wind was a bit stronger than the forecast had predicted but still within what I was confident to handle. After a few goes of bringing the wing up and ground handling it was time to strap into the motor, all of a sudden I would not have been that disappointed if the weather had suddenly taken a turn for the worst. Yet we had a nice even breeze and everything was set for a reverse launch, I brought the wing up but couldn’t get to come over head, it just hung back and then dropped back down. A slight adjustment to the trimmers and the wing seemed a bit keener to fly, also being honest I think I was quitting on it a bit rather than going for a committed launch. The next attempt I strapped on a pair and really went for it, the wing come over head and I checked it nicely, step one done, deep breath and I started walking it backwards till the wing was moving nicely forward, breath held I went for the turn and found myself facing forward with Paul shouting "POWER ON" in ear hole. I brought the throttle in, remembering to lean back and not suddenly mash full power and began to run, I honestly don’t know how many steps I took but before I knew it I was just waggling my legs and hanging by my gonads and realising I was still holding my breath!

I kept the power on and was truly amazed at how I had been picked up without really knowing it, next I heard Paul encouraging me to try and get in the seat, lifting my knee's wouldn’t do it, so I parked my left break and slipped into the seat by pulling it under my arse quickly grabbing my break again, because of course if the break is not in my hand I will fall out of the sky.

It’s at this point I first looked down and truly shat myself!

I have never been afraid of heights before but dangling by little bit of fabric attached to giant kite whilst sitting in a glorified lawn chair was very unnerving, so for the first few minutes my mind ran every possible scenario for me plummeting out of the sky to a painful death. However I soon realised that this was not going to happen at least not yet, it was at this point it dawned on me just how wonderful the feeling of flying was, and just how different everything look from a bird’s eye view, and how everything looks very small and similar! I decided it was time to try and turn back the way I had come and tentatively applied a bit of left break, wow how different did that feel to ground handling, I expected it to be really easy to pull the breaks, but they were really heavy and took a fair bit of pulling to start a turn. As the wing started a slow lumbering turn I then realised that it was oscillating left and right I had been warned about this and fought with it to stop it. I got everything stable again and realised I had managed to turn back towards the field without a major disaster.

Now I really got into enjoying myself, I was FLYING, and I was FLYING WHERE I WANTED TO GO! After a few circuits getting the feel for the turns and finding I could climb or descend at will, even fly straight and level if I wanted, well nearly anyway, it was time to try and land. This is really the tricky part from what I could see, firstly it’s very hard to actually line up with the landing field where you want to be, it seems like the wind, thermals, curvature of the earth and God himself are doing their best to send you anywhere but towards your chosen landing field. Also the side to side rocking was really causing me problems by the time I had got it under control I was no longer lined up so around I went for another try. This time all lined up and stable I slid out of the seat and descended as Paul talked me down, however when told to kill the engine my thumb just would not obey my command as it had realised that killing the engine meant meeting the ground was inevitable. So around we went again, this went on for a few more circuits till I finally built up the nerve kill the engine when told to, after that it all happened so bloody quickly but I managed to flare and land on me feet took a couple of steps and turned to lower the wing looking rather competent if I do say so myself.

It was an absolutely amazing experience to have flown and landed and realised I had achieved finally what I set out to do so long ago, and I was still trembling ten minutes later. On reflection the wing, a Dudek Synthesis, really surprised me, the breaks were so heavy and the oscillating was really noticeable and to be honest a bit of an issue when coming in to land, so this needs a bit of work to master, the takeoff and landing was amazing in that it swept me off my feet so easily and then deposited me so back down very slowly.

Another flight followed that afternoon where I encountered a fair few bumps and lumps, again the side to side swinging was very noticeable and really caused an issue on the landing this time as I didn’t quite get it stable and committed myself whilst still swinging a bit, the obvious outcome was a touchdown on my feet followed by an over balance and a crumpled heap but hey no injuries, broken bones or damage, so two take offs, two flights and two landings, now that’s what I have been waiting for and boy was it worth the wait!!

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Well done lee this reminds me exactly of my first flight which was march this year although I've not had a flight since april I'm keen to get back into it.

I know exactly what you mean about holding back on the launching I do the same thing almost afraid to get it over head because then you know you've got to go for it, did your dad continue flying?

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Thanks all, its was really something else, I cant wait to get the weather to go up again, Timmy, my dad is still at it, in fact he is looking at getting a new motor at the moment.

Does anyone else fly a large synth' I would be interested to know their views on the break pressure and the occilation.

Cheers Lee.

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Lee, I have a 34 Synth.

When ground flapping the brakes are incredibly soft/light! Taking a wrap gets the required response, also a bollocking from my instructor!!

But in the very few flights I've had, they are a lot heavier when flying. No wraps...

Never noticed any rolling etc?

I must have asked my long suffering instructor, Steve Haze, "are these brake lines too long"? about a hundred times.

I did check when flying on '0' trim setting, and there is just a slight bow in the line length. This I remember reading as being the correct amount of slack.

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Ill have it mate, but after watching many different peopleand watching spirals and tight turns being done with seeming ease it didnt half surprise me when I pulled a brake and the wing didnt just bank over and turn. But then again the whole thing was much more intense than I pictured, especially taking off in a place ive drove round and walked for years only to be instantly unsure of where I was in relation to the field. On the second flight Paul came up with me and we had little tour it was really strange to be wondering which bit we were over and just how far you would go in a short time especially since its a relatively slow way to travel.

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Here is a video of my first landing, I hope the youtube link works as Ive tried to embed it, please feel free to offer any insights for improvement.

Cheers Lee.

PS I appologise for the screaming female, I think she was just glad to have her little boy back on the ground!!

[youtubevideo]

[/youtubevideo]
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Cheers Paul.

I'm really pleased with it, there is bags of thrust and it's so easy to get in the seat. Once your up it's so unrestricted and comfy because of the way the straps are it hardly feels like your strapped in. But then you know this already.

Cheers lee

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Well I got my thrid flight in today, it was late on in the afternoon and everything looked calm and spot on, when we got to the field there was a very slight breeze, just enough to inflate the leading edge but no chance of getting a reverse launch. So it was going to be my first forward launch!!

I laid the wing out into the wind according to the wind sock and how it felt, I talked myself through it a couple of times trying to see the wing coming up and what I was going to do if it went off to one side. Then I took a breath and went for it, the wing came up well enough but as I went to add some power it started to turn to the left, I felt it on the harness and stepped that way adding some opposite brake, when I looked up it was over head, I was now pointing off to the left but I had loads of space so I put the power back on and started running, Ive been told I was off the ground in about twenty feet and suddenly climbing smoothly away.

Once in the seat I felt really relaxed, everything felt right and the ride was amazingly smooth, I kept climbing out to about a 1000 feet and decided to have a play with the trimmers, I let them out slowly to about 8 and could notice the difference. Not so much in an increase in speed at height but more that the wing seemed to come forward and I had to add power to maintain height.

After a few circuits I had a play with brakes and experimented with turns, on my first two flights they felt really heavy to pull, this time I wasnt so gentle and made some nice tight turns and figures of eight, everything just seemed to be coming together for me.

Time to land, I checked the trimmers were pulled in and did a pass to check the wind sock hadnt turned then picked an approach, this time around I had the occilation well under control, but completely misjudged the height and glide, however I did manage a lovely smooth glide by my landing spot as everyone wondered what I was up to. The wing didnt seem to want to come down even with hands right up so I just went around and figured I would claim that one as a fly by!

Lined up again a bit lower this time I began my approach, as I came in I got the wing stable and came off the power, hands up I figured where I wanted to touch down and committed myself, engine off, out the seat, leg forward etc. I tried to figure the height and speed as I came down and applied brakes accordingly, Im not sure if I was a bit shy on the initial flare or not as I touched down sooner than I thought I would and could possibly and flared a bit stronger and glided a bit more. Either way I only had to take three quick steps before I could turn and drop the wing, STILL STANDING!!!

The sun was dropping so I packed up and am ready for tomorrow, weather gods willing. This flight was brilliant, everything just clicked, I was confident although a bit nervous of a forward launch and most importantly relaxed.

I am still coming to terms with the fact that I can leave my house and be in the air in under an hour, fly like a bird, and put everything in the back of my car when I am done!!

This sport is the dogs Bo#@%cks!!

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I've not been on the Forum for a while. Good blog.

I fly a Synth 29 & I find it does roll a little on occasion. It isn't really a problem for me.

When you are coming in to land & find the wing rolling keep your hands up & do NOT try to cancel it out with brake inputs. When you flare the roll will disappear. When you're flying either put in a slight turn to cancel the roll or ease off the power for a few seconds & the wing will sort itself.

Mine rolls exactly the same as yours is in the video of you landing, I haven't really sussed out what sets it off & TBH I'm not really all that bothered / worried about it.

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Hi all, Thanks for your advice and encouragement. I managed to get my fourth flight in yesterday; it was just a quickie late on. There was very little wind so it had to be a forward launch, one which I nearly stuffed up because I hadn’t laid out directly into what wind there was. As a result the wing turned as I brought it up but I managed to step into it and straighten out before committing, I had to run a bit further due to the correction but I lifted off and climbed out smoothly.

I climbed to about 1100 feet and just chilled for a bit, this time I had a go at parking the brakes and letting the wing fly whilst I had a look about, I must admit I am a bit nervous of doing this as I won’t have the brakes in my hand should something need correcting, but maybe I am being a tad over cautious?

This flight was the bumpiest I’ve had so far on a number of occasions I felt myself jerked up and dropped down rather suddenly, also the wing dived about a couple of times that required correcting, so maybe having the brakes in hand in these conditions is not a bad thing, either way I think that this will take a bit of getting used to. I have got used to the wing oscillating above me and just put a turn in or back off the power till it stops and then power up again, also I’ve really got to grips with the brake pressure and put some reasonably tight banking turns in, and the feeling of swinging out from under the wing whilst turning is something else!

I came in for a fly past just to judge the wind and found that it was quite bumpy on the approach, all of a sudden everything went smooth and stable so I decided to go straight in for a landing, I think I did the first flare a bit early because I was still a bit high when I started to slow down a lot, I eased off a bit to keep flying and dropped down flaring more deeply. The result was three very fast steps before turning but I stayed standing. Although moving a bit quick on landing I was really pleased I was able to make the decision to land and go the steps quickly and confidently instead of having to go around a few times to build up the confidence.

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Well I nearly got another flight in today, sun is shining wind forecast at 8mph getting up to ten later on. Packed the car and went to the field, got my wing out thinking hmm feels stronger than 8 mph this and a bit gusty too!

I pulled the wing up quite a few times thinking I can handle this! A reverse launch five or so steps and I'm up, it's a beautiful day just imagine flying along in this sunshine, the air is cool so it should be smooth wow!

Of course all this is the little red devil on my shoulder wanting the fun and stuff everything else!

As I go to get my motor still dreaming of blue skies and smooth air the bloody little angel pops up on the other shoulder! Take off, I bet you can no problem! But can you land?

Oh I never thought about that, I've never landed in wind this strong before or approached the field from that direction to land!

Decisions decisions!

In the end I thought sod it! Better to go home and sulk over me probably being ok with the landing, than being skint and bleeding after finding out I wasn't.

I think I made the right choice to get some more landings under my belt before pushing my abilities but why can't I help thinking I should've listened to the devil!!!!

:twisted:

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