Saturday 25 May 2013

Reflex wing landing

It took me a few bad landings to figure out how to slow down the reflex wing on the final approach.
Here is what I do flying my Synthesis:

1) Set up the final leg of the approach
2) Stabilize the flight ~15m above the ground
3) Engine off
4) Get off the harness (hanging position)
5) Hands up - the descent speed and forward speeds are pretty high
6) About 1m above the ground start slowing down the descent
7) Fly parallel to the ground as low as possible (gradually apply the brakes)
8) When the brakes are half way of their travel range and I am still flying pretty fast I apply the brakes rapidly to the 'hands down' position and hold it
9) Wing creates a bit of lift force (little ascend) and stalls

Point number 8 transforms the kinetic energy of the fast flying glider into potential energy (applying the brakes rapidly makes you climb a bit at the very last moment)

Here is a video of me landing (thanks Mitsi):



Lukasz Landing - Sandon Point, Bulli from Mark Mitsos on Vimeo.

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