Nose popper warning device

It seems to me that the biggest problem foot launching a hang glider is commencing the run with too high an angle of attack and or popping the nose in an effort to get the glider off the ground. The outcome of this is the glider leaving the ground with insufficient airspeed and a massively increased risk of flying back into the ground due to a stall and a loss of control. Does anyone know if a device is available to prevent this kind of thing happening.

I would have thought that one way of tackling the problem is to have an audible alarm that is activated prior to launch that wiil go off when the horizontal attitude of the glider goes above a certain predetermined level.

Michael Derry

You could make a visual device quite easily to aid choosing the angle of attack - A small wind vane rotating on the pitch axis, with a fixed reference bar... Not sure exactly where to mount it.

Of course, you'd have to work out what the right reference bar angle was, and reliance on it could be dangerous, say when going to a launch which drops off, where the angle of the airflow changes through your run.

If you wanted it to be audible, then a useful starting point might be an electronic wind direction sender for the top of sailing boats' masts. They might be expensive though (as all things marine are).

And you'd have to get more opinions on its usefulness from someone with significant experience of hill launches (i.e. not me)!

It is called proper training.

Tricky, even if there were such a device it would depend on the make/model of glider the prevailing site/wind conditions, pilot clip in weight etc etc. The real answer is training and familiarity with your glider. As a general rule when the glider starts to lift pull in a little and continue to run like **** until you run out of hill. If you find your half way down the front of the hill and cant run any faster you can probably get away with easing out a touch. Too much airspeed on take off is seldom a problem but trying to rely on instruments rather than just feeling the glider is frought with danger. Happy and safe flying

Chris Hopkins

It's probably because you're trying to push the glider along by the uprights (downtubes?).

This tends to raise the nose, of course, leading to the problem you describe.

What you SHOULD be doing to TOWING the glider along by the hangstrap, and just using the uprights to control the pitch.

Also, trying to accelerate too quickly leads to the uprights being pushed forwards, also.

I've often seen guys doing a death-defying scurry with a jackrabbit start, and end up stalling off the hill 'cos the nose was too high.

TAKE YOUR TIME

Assuming there is enough wind to lift the glider off your shoulders, lean forwards through the control frame slightly, and steadily accelerate your run, taking longer and looonger strides - think of the old 6-million-dollar man TV show...

But DON'T RUSH it. Neither pull nor push on the uprights - leave 'em more or less alone. Provided the glider is trimmed right, you should be picked off the hill nicely, as you TOW the glider forward by your hangpoint.

If anything, pull in slightly - too much airspeed at this point is far better than too little.

Using any sort of device is NOT the solution - get your technique right, and start feeling what the glider is telling you.

The glider, after all, is probably the best pitch-indicator you can get - and the only one that matters.

If the nose is too high, the glider will resist acceleration, and it should be immediately obvious to you that your launch is too slow.

If it isn't, may I suggest you go back to the training hill, and get the instructor to watch you do a few launches, and help you to sense what is going on?

- Rod Buck

That's a pretty big assumption. Even if there is enough wind to lift the glider off your shoulders, you don't want to START your run that way. Your shoulders act as a pivot point so that you CAN control the pitch. Everything after that I agree with. Jackrabbit starts are what usually cause you to pop your nose. A steady acceleration and then let the glider lift off your shoulders.

My two pennies worth is this:

I ALWAYS begin my launch run by takin three, count em three, walking steps and I accelerate from there. My hands don't HOLD the downtubes, they wrap lightly around them. This allows the glider to rise off my shoulders while my arms and hands remain stationary. I have full control but no forcing goes on.

Ah well, I speak from the sunny shores of the good old UK - where it is ALWAYS windy......

agree with you on nil-wind starts about the shoulders, then.

We don't do many of them!

I was merely cutting out the early stages of the launch, and getting to the bit where there is enough airspeed (either wind or pilot-induced) to lift the thing off the shoulders...

- Rod Buck

Spot on, Danny

- Rod Buck

Flight,

This thread made me wonder just how do I control the nose of my glider on launch? Sitting at a desk, it comes to me that I really don't know anymore. I have a recent photo of me launching my GhostBuster and it shows my arms wrapped around the downtube but doesn't really tell what I'm doing at the point the glider begins to fly, which by the way is immediate. Next flight I will try and remember just what the heck I'm doing. Now to put things in perspective, I have over 2,000 launch and landings, so it has become second nature. Out of curiosity I went back last winter and counted the number of different gliders I've flown over the past 24 years and was surprised to find that I had flown 58 different rag wings, 2 rigid and 1 paraglider. Took paraglider lessons about 5 years ago out of curiosity. Decided I preferred a wing that wouldn't collapse.

Anyway, I will try and recall just what it is that I do during the entire take-off process. Oh, the 3 step method may work on some sites, but on many it won't work, so you must know how to control the nose. I do know that once the glider supports my weight in flight, I allow it to set it's own trim as I work to zip close the harness. That is unless the lift is light, then I work the small stuff until I'm comfortable that I'll stay up, then mess with the harness.

But the thread does make me wonder... safe flights to all!!

Dan

Although I don't fly any more I have a distinct memory of how I used to take off and how I was taught.

Lift the glider on your shoulders and steady it with your hands on the uprights. Get someone to check the air is clear above takeoff. Take a few steps, lean forward and run like hell into the wind if there is any. When the wing lifts, transfer at least one hand to the bottom bar. Pull in a little and run some more. (As the wing has lifted off your shoulders you must now be pulling on the hang loop). Ease the bar forward a touch and take off. Put both hands on the bottom bar.

Seem to remember it worked for me.