The wind sock goes from limp to a south, to a southwest, back to limp. The wing 'breathes' with the rise (the nose rising, A's tensioning ) and fall of the cycles (nose rolling over, A's going slack).
A cycle presents itself - going from a south to straight in southwest. Pull up and the high AR (aspect ratio) of the wing makes itself felt. Half the wing orients south, the other half more west.
Having experienced this a few times while kiting the Delta2, I ease off the right side brake and let the lagging side 'snap' back into alignment. Kite for a second to let the wing settle, turn, and kite another second to be sure everything is good to go (an instructor from Germany mentioned letting the wing settle a second after it reaches the apex).
The cycle ebbs as I start the run. Airborne, touchdown, airborne, touchdown, airborne and away.
Long runways and weak days go hand in hand.
Two tries and I'm in the pod of the Skywalk RangeAir. The RangeAir is an extra light airbag XC harness. I have been a huge fan of airbag based back protection after watching a low airtime pilot spin a wing at tree top height, have it surge, pendulum him underneath then drop him hard. Running over, I fully expected to find a corpse. Instead the pilot was standing up and brushing himself off. The airbag harness absorbed the brunt of the fall.
The catch to an airbag system is that it needs to be inflated (by ram air) for it to work. Maybe not particularly well suited to those who are likely to suffer a drop launching such as a student who lacks the kiting skill to manage a wing or a comp pilot who doesn't have the luxury of being picky about the cycle they launch in. But for those in the middle, it is a viable option if weight and pack volume are limited - hike and fly pilots along with the globetrotting crowd come to mind.
As for the effectiveness of airbags - give this spreadsheet a gander. The lower the G force value listed (in column H), the lower the impact force passed onto the pilot. 'Schaumstoff' is foam based back protection (as opposed to airbag).
Back to the RangeAir, comments sent back to the dealer include:
Two additional features of note - the reserve is front mounted, which satisfies the growing comp requirement that the reserve be reachable by either hand. The front mount also eliminates the possibility that pilot weight in a hammock harness (as opposed to those with a seat board) will interfere with reserve extraction. There is also the matter of an underseat reserve potentially placing a non compressible perch between the pilot and the ground. The first thing that will hit may well be that un-deployed reserve, prevent the remainder of the body from absorbing any impact - driving the entire impact force up into the spine. Something to think about - is the underseat reserve under your spine or your upper legs?
The second is the flight deck/front mount reserve container that is held in place by attaching to the chest strap. This helps eliminate the possibility of launching without having the leg straps done up. I had crossed paths with a fellow Impress3 owner who had launched with the flight deck secured but not the leg straps. The small snap shackle held them in long enough to get into the harness, but the shackle design would not have held them long if they could not hook their feet into the speed bag (based on comments from a harness designer back in 2012).
Back to the flight.
After a few beats back and forth, there isn't much out here yet. I try my goto trigger, the spine to the north. There is some lift, but not much. Time to push out.
The vario shows a south wind @ 8kph (2 m/s). Climbs are also 2 m/s. Add that to a 1 m/s sink.
Quick mental math time: 2 m/s horizontal vs. 3 m/s vertical. Move upwind, but not much today.
And I find it, 5 seconds of climb along a southerly course. A turn right and I fall out the side. Get it around quick then begin to widen the turn. More chirps from the vario. Tighten it up and we have a core.
399 m.
400 m.
401 m.
401 m.
400 m.
An inversion establishing or did I just lose the core altogether?
Widening the turn again, looking for a way to keep climbing.
The Carrera starts 'sniffing'/edging right. I align the wing with it and feel myself being sucked in.
Another climb, this one breaks through and gets me to 460m, but has me pretty far north. Zero chance of making Riverside, still a chance of making the Ranch. Time to push out, keeping some margin for error on a day the winds are forecast to climb quite a bit. Not a lot to be found, again bouncing off an invisible ceiling around 400 m.
Eventually, gravity claims both the wing and I as we set down at the Ranch.
The afternoon is punctuated with a bit of kiting in the growing valley winds. Attempts at A+C'ng the Carrera is met with frustration as the wing repeatedly tries to horseshoe. Hopefully the C+ addresses this, as this is my go to technique for stronger mid afternoon conditions.
No point in fretting about it until I have the new line set installed.
Otherwise a good day to be back in the saddle.
A cycle presents itself - going from a south to straight in southwest. Pull up and the high AR (aspect ratio) of the wing makes itself felt. Half the wing orients south, the other half more west.
 |
| Herding wingtips. |
Having experienced this a few times while kiting the Delta2, I ease off the right side brake and let the lagging side 'snap' back into alignment. Kite for a second to let the wing settle, turn, and kite another second to be sure everything is good to go (an instructor from Germany mentioned letting the wing settle a second after it reaches the apex).
The cycle ebbs as I start the run. Airborne, touchdown, airborne, touchdown, airborne and away.
Long runways and weak days go hand in hand.
Two tries and I'm in the pod of the Skywalk RangeAir. The RangeAir is an extra light airbag XC harness. I have been a huge fan of airbag based back protection after watching a low airtime pilot spin a wing at tree top height, have it surge, pendulum him underneath then drop him hard. Running over, I fully expected to find a corpse. Instead the pilot was standing up and brushing himself off. The airbag harness absorbed the brunt of the fall.
The catch to an airbag system is that it needs to be inflated (by ram air) for it to work. Maybe not particularly well suited to those who are likely to suffer a drop launching such as a student who lacks the kiting skill to manage a wing or a comp pilot who doesn't have the luxury of being picky about the cycle they launch in. But for those in the middle, it is a viable option if weight and pack volume are limited - hike and fly pilots along with the globetrotting crowd come to mind.
As for the effectiveness of airbags - give this spreadsheet a gander. The lower the G force value listed (in column H), the lower the impact force passed onto the pilot. 'Schaumstoff' is foam based back protection (as opposed to airbag).
Back to the RangeAir, comments sent back to the dealer include:
A few observations - the weight and pack volume phenomenal. I can fit the harness + reserve in the Gin concertina bag with the Carrera. The reduction allowed me to drop to a 90L pack (from a 130L) with the possibility of dropping to a 70L. The loss in overall weight has me on the cusp of downsizing to a small wing.
Setup is a bit fiddly. I found the best way to accommodate is leave everything attached and loosen the shoulder straps for step in/out. Extra attention to the speedbag closing lines is needed in this case during donning - they like to pop loose.
The speedbag is very easy to get into post launch - I don't need my foot leash like I do with the Impress 3.
The chest strap appears to be non adjustable. I found out how much wider I normally run the Impress 3 in comparison when I near line twisted myself up leaning in aggressively on entry to a tight core.
I am leaning towards saying the Range Air provides more feedback vs. the Impress 3 but need more airtime to be sure.
Two additional features of note - the reserve is front mounted, which satisfies the growing comp requirement that the reserve be reachable by either hand. The front mount also eliminates the possibility that pilot weight in a hammock harness (as opposed to those with a seat board) will interfere with reserve extraction. There is also the matter of an underseat reserve potentially placing a non compressible perch between the pilot and the ground. The first thing that will hit may well be that un-deployed reserve, prevent the remainder of the body from absorbing any impact - driving the entire impact force up into the spine. Something to think about - is the underseat reserve under your spine or your upper legs?
The second is the flight deck/front mount reserve container that is held in place by attaching to the chest strap. This helps eliminate the possibility of launching without having the leg straps done up. I had crossed paths with a fellow Impress3 owner who had launched with the flight deck secured but not the leg straps. The small snap shackle held them in long enough to get into the harness, but the shackle design would not have held them long if they could not hook their feet into the speed bag (based on comments from a harness designer back in 2012).
 |
| RangeAir |
 |
| Flight Deck/Front Mount Reserve Container |
 |
| Reserve Container Flipped. Leg straps tread through. |
 |
| Two step speed system. |
 |
| Speed bag closing loops |
 |
| Opening for hydration bladder. |
 |
| Velcro and securing tab for Spot or micro vario. |
Back to the flight.
 |
| The trusty spine. |
After a few beats back and forth, there isn't much out here yet. I try my goto trigger, the spine to the north. There is some lift, but not much. Time to push out.
The vario shows a south wind @ 8kph (2 m/s). Climbs are also 2 m/s. Add that to a 1 m/s sink.
Quick mental math time: 2 m/s horizontal vs. 3 m/s vertical. Move upwind, but not much today.
And I find it, 5 seconds of climb along a southerly course. A turn right and I fall out the side. Get it around quick then begin to widen the turn. More chirps from the vario. Tighten it up and we have a core.
 |
| Bring it around. Bring it around. |
399 m.
400 m.
401 m.
401 m.
400 m.
An inversion establishing or did I just lose the core altogether?
Widening the turn again, looking for a way to keep climbing.
The Carrera starts 'sniffing'/edging right. I align the wing with it and feel myself being sucked in.
Another climb, this one breaks through and gets me to 460m, but has me pretty far north. Zero chance of making Riverside, still a chance of making the Ranch. Time to push out, keeping some margin for error on a day the winds are forecast to climb quite a bit. Not a lot to be found, again bouncing off an invisible ceiling around 400 m.
 |
| Not much from the farm buildings today. |
Eventually, gravity claims both the wing and I as we set down at the Ranch.
The afternoon is punctuated with a bit of kiting in the growing valley winds. Attempts at A+C'ng the Carrera is met with frustration as the wing repeatedly tries to horseshoe. Hopefully the C+ addresses this, as this is my go to technique for stronger mid afternoon conditions.
No point in fretting about it until I have the new line set installed.
Otherwise a good day to be back in the saddle.
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