Ozone Delta 2 XC/SIV Video - Annecy/Bassano

XC/Thermalling: Bassano, Italy 
Kelly Farina @ Austrian Arena 

XC/SIV: Annecy, France 
Jocky Sanderson @ Escape XC 

Wing: Ozone Delta 2 

Track: I just tell myself - Balligomingo 

Flying Fast Forward 2013 on Vimeo

Triumphant return? Not so much.

The Facebook group discussion begins.

 Saturday evening:

"You flying tomorrow?"

"Not sure, you?"

"Depends on the weather."

"Me too."

"Pemberton looks like will be blown out with the Whistler Express."

"Yeah. So you flying?"

"Not sure, you?"

"Depends on the weather."

Sunday morning.

"You flying today?"

"Not sure, you?"

"Depends on the weather."

Talk of kiting in Vanier Park (now a 2 hour drive from where I live) and the conversation fizzles into indecision.

Looks like flying is not a priority for the regular crew today. 

A day of yard work or visit the local hills?

Hills. Definitely hills. 

Pack up the car and drive to Woodside, full well expecting it to be blown out with the forecast 15 kt S/W meteo. FlyBC's lot is deserted @ 1130 (even with Jim away, folk typically show up to arrange rides) which might have something to do with the flags near the camp ground flapping madly in a strong south.

Passing the Koffee Kettle parking lot, a collection of cars are parked and what looks like Rus' FJ is just cresting the climb from the LZ. The iPG students must be getting a LZ walkthrough before visiting launch to find out that conditions are likely not flyable. Visiting launch on a non-flyable day like this offers a unique lesson in of itself-> being able to sense when one should not fly is arguably more important than knowing when one could fly. 

The LZ tour continues on towards Bridal Falls. Passing through Agassiz, I spot the unique climb-fall-climb profile of a wave cloud above the highest portion of the SW to NE running ridge line. 

This does not look promising.

Then a wing pops into view, and another, and another. All in all, five wings are visible. Not far from launch, but making forward progress against the wind.

Given that the grand Canadian tradition of chucking students off on DHV 2 wings fell out of favour a few years ago, odds are a few might even be EN B's.

There is hope for the day.

A few FB messages and truck loads later, a group congregates on Bridal launch with aspirations of an hour or two of air time. The majority are the 'old timers', comp-esque pilots of varying experience (Alex, Martina, bi-polar curve - 'Do I fly a HG or PG today?' Martin, and 'Boombox Bacon Bra' Patrick from the States), though a few intermediates (George, Lee) looking to play with the 'big kids' round the flying group out. In addition, Nicole is out to enjoy sun and conversation while kindly lending her good hand in helping folk lay out.

Still in 'European Flying' mode (conditions only get worse, so get set up quickly), the kit is laid out, hooked up and donned.

Alex launches, turns a pair of figure-eights just to the left and climbs out of sight up on the ridge. Aside from a single tip tuck, the air looks fine. Martin, George, and Lee follow, though require a bit more boating back and forth to capitalize on a climb. In amongst this is an abort on my part as I get used to the 90 degree cross that frequently presents itself at the eastern edge of the Bridal 'bubble'.

Attempt two and we are off.

The leash for the pod slipped loose, can't ... get ... in.

ARRRGGGG!

Fly away from hill.

Five minutes of fighting results in the footplate flipping in amongst the straps and speed system.

Increasingly creative use of metaphors and a realization that I have been futzing around pretty close to where the reserve handle is.

Switching hands and tracing along the left side of the speed bag, the plate is flipped back through and feet are in the pod.

In this time, I have sunk into the rotor from the ridge/mound just to the west of launch. Two hundred meters up and left with very few options to try to climb out when most of the surrounding air is being driven down at -2.5 to -3.0 m/s. Getting creative with landing zones at Bridal is ill advised on the best of days, so scratching along the base of the ridge with hope of finding some Franken-lift in amongst the rotor is quickly ended and I head to land.

Livid.

Crossing the Rubicon and gloriously entering Rome?

Not today.

But...

It is at this point that I realize some of the growth that did occur while training overseas. Through this whole ordeal no mental effort went into managing the wing in the midst of the churned up lee-side thermals. I simply flew it with little concern for what the air was or was not doing, reacting as needed, when needed.

Strangely enough, I am more at ease and feel more in control of this EN C wing than I ever felt with my previous EN A or B wings. Then again, maybe that is normal?

Kelly once pointed out that with a wind above X kph, a windward face of a mountain will begin to trump the sunward face. Perhaps a similar analogy can be used here: with recent flying experience exceeding Y hours of airtime, currency will begin to trump a wings rating.

Idiocy: Canadian Style

The picture (courtesy of Jim @ FlyBC, whose group was safely on the ground) of Revelstoke pilots trying to outdo Bassano in tempting Darwin.

Sadly, the test for judgement typically comes with a harsh failure outcome.

Ozone Delta 2 SIV: Accelerated Symmetric, Accelerated Asymmetric, Small Wingovers.

Accelerated Asymmetric proved to be a non-issue and easily managable - no kittens died as a result of an asymmetric being pulled while on bar.

Collapses experienced outside of SIV environment have thus far proved to be equally as boring.

The wing appears to resist turning, even in normal flight until it has built up some speed. This may explain the effort needed to start a carve in a thermal, or post collapse behaviour in level flight.

On the contrary, once the wing has settled into a bank angle, the effort needed to keep it there is relatively little.

Such a dichotomous behaviour has drawbacks, as the transition from a tight 360 to a nose down spiral tends to happen very quickly in surprising contrast to the time/effort needed to originate the turn. But this is a wing meant for XC pilots that intend to remain fairly current (100+ hours/year) - so this sort of behaviour should not catch the pilot unaware.

That all said, the only real 'quirk' the wing has is the tenacity of a cravat in resisting recovery.

Video of manoeuvres on Vimeo.

Ozone Delta 2 SIV: Full Stall (plus cravat clearing)

Raw footage from Annecy of an early attempt at full stall that was allowed to thrash a bit too much and horseshoe, enabling the left wing tip to become trapped in the lines.

Stabilizer pull cleared the first bit but had no impact afterwards. Correction finally required 30% asymmetric, hand over hand on stabilizer, and brake pumps to re-inflate.

The brake pressure at the stall point is extremely pronounced. Simply put, there is no excuse for a pilot 'accidentally' stalling this wing.

Camera is leg mount GoPro with wide-angle, so the pulls are a lot deeper than it appears at first glance.

Subsequent stalls resulted in varying degrees of cravat, though were addressed much more quickly/aggressively.

Delta 2 Full Stall Video on Vimeo

First day back at the local paragliding hill...

...and this is what the parking lot by the LZ looked like.

Pilot: OK.
Wing: Unknown.
Top of 100 foot tall tree: Gift Wrapped.

And the view from the top (no paragliding photo is complete without the essential foot in shot):

Paragliding Safety: Homeward Bound

Eleven thousand meters over the arctic circle, in a metal tube hurtling through the atmosphere at an appreciable fraction of the speed of sound.

I look back on my experiences over the past four weeks, a few epiphanies come to mind:

Seize every chance to learn.

Every pilot, novice to master, has something to share.

There is only one rule in the air - land safely.

EN/LTF testing is a non reproducible experiment in a non realistic environment.

Too much emphasis is placed on the rating of a wing as opposed to finding the right wing for a pilots experience, skill, and flying environment.

"I fly a 'B' wing because it's safe", are the words heralding an eventual tree ornament.

If we get to the point where we are relying on the passive safety of our wing (aka rating) - we have already failed in terms of judgment and skill. See 'eventual tree ornament' above.

We are loathe to blame the pilot, yet quick to blame the wing, the wind, the phase of the moon.

We don't take collapses in calm air over lakes.

The air does not appear in front of you, state it will pull your risers in three seconds, allow you to get ready, confirm you are ready, then do it.

Safety starts and ends with the puppet.

The first flights on a new wing should involve turning it inside out in a safe environment. If it scares us then, imagine what it will be like blowing out 100' from a cliff face at midday.

SIV is as much about learning what kind of pilot we are as what kind of wing we fly.

An SIV flight where nothing goes wrong offers only a limited learning opportunity. The best SIV flights are the ones that go off script. A flight that starts with the wing shouting 'F it, we'll do it live' will teach the most both about the wing and yourself.

Group SIV courses are great for the first three or four times, after that - individualized instruction is the way to go. By that point, you know what needs addressing.

Never give up. But know when it is time to go land.

Leave lift only when there is a clear, readily reachable landing option at all times during transition.

Leave lift only when there are at least two ways to climb out waiting on the other side.

It takes two to have a mid-air collision, but only one to avoid it.

All eggs in one basket (gliding to an isolated source of lift) should be an option of last resort and best saved for the final push to goal.

Boredom and fatigue are the primary causes for an XC flight to end. Being able to pre-order a beer via radio is a close third.

The Swiss are great civic planners, the Italians - not so much.

The Italians have a great sense of humor, the Swiss - not so much.

Annecy is a great place to go see.

Bassano is a great place to go fly.

Whoever said pimpin' ain't easy, didn't paraglide.

A blow out is natures way of saying, 'you are in the wrong place at the wrong time of day.'

Never, ever break the Golden Rule.

If you want to learn what the Golden Rule is and how not to break it, start by liking Austrian Arena's Facebook page.

Paragliding is just an excuse for people to get together on a hill to enjoy a view, and in a field to enjoy a beer.