Almost Failed Hang Glide Launch in Monroe Utah

[@Theworldofhanggliding]

The importance of never stopping your takeoff run prematurely. Very well done !

[@Robbo1966]

Just seeing this and my thoughts, keep your hands on the down tubes until in the air then transition to base bar, your right hand was on the down tube and left on the base bar this might have had an influence on the launch and turn to the right. thanks

[@RBWARNER]

That is indeed one of my biggest takeaways. Thanks for the comment!

[@17999msl]

Something about the cross wind on the south launch. A bunch of us had weird launches on it, but yours was sketchiest by far. I can’t stop watching it for some reason…

[@flytavo]

Great save Rick. I had 2 weird launches in the same spot last time. I should post them for learning purposes.

[@EridanTheEnchanter]

Other's have comments about weird launches there, so a cross flow over the rocks could be the cause. I'm looking at it frame by frame (press , and . to step back and forward): your sequence doesn't talk about removing the left hand from the down tube to the base bar. The nose drops immediately after and the right wing drops right after that, almost as if it were a reaction to the transition (or is the timing a coincidence?). You can see your CG move forward when looking at the carabiner and the harness main. Whether it was the air or the transition, the transition put you in a disadvantaged position. I had a similar looking launch at Valle once that was ultimately caused by a prone transition (the harness forced it). Either way, really good job on running it out and investigating the issue.

[@RBWARNER]

Thankyou for the reply. That's a great point about putting my hand on the basetube early. That is not good practice and I'm lucky that didn't prevent me from ultimately flying away. One of my takeaways from this situation is to wait until I'm safely away from the mountain before I start that transition. (Back to what the instructors teach :)) While the hand on the base tube might been a factor in the event, I don't think it was the primary mechanism that caused the extended frantic run at the end. What I couldn't see in the video- I can only recall from memory- was that I lost that comforting vertical acceleration (previously described as loss of lift in my video description) just before my nose dropped. To be clear the vertical acceleration is something that happens on a good launch when we run harder than we need to and convert our excess airspeed into altitude moments after our feet leaving the ground. The vertical acceleration peaks for only a few seconds- as we approach our maximum ascent rate- before going down again. In technical speak it's the uphill portion of the phugoid aircraft mode, and the subsequent downhill is dampened out by pilot pitch commands. So when I felt that vertical acceleration I thought I had excess energy (margin for any error) and that's when I felt comfortable to put one hand on my basetube. It was at that moment that the vertical acceleration abruptly ended and I used up all of my margin. About the carabineer- it did move forward relative to the down tubes when my hand grabbed on the basetube. Several frames later I pushed out the control frame and my carabineer moved back aft again. With my carabineer aft again (and cg back) the glider still wouldn't fly until I ran off the end of the available runway. My logic is: since I needed to run more steps with a higher ground speed to take off the second time compared the first time, it's possible that my aerodynamic lift was spoiled causing stall. My right wing dropping could be an indication of that i.e. flying through rotating air. A more common and traditional cause is a decrease in airspeed leading to stall however I think this is not likely as I remember feeling good wind and the streamers looked vibrant. Further it wasn't until after I cleared the end of my runway that I felt the (delayed and now unusually large) vertical acceleration as I climbed burning off my newly acquired excess airspeed. So I'm leaning toward thinking my lift was spoiled leading to partial stall- with the exact reason unknown (although we have good hypothesis). PS I'm glad your Valle launch worked out. I know several other pilots (and I bet you do too) that have had spooky launches at that site. While you may have identified the basetube as the culprit in your situation, some other pilots have identified the treeline causing rotor and what feels like flying into a huge hole. Several of the best pilots I know ended up missing the treeline below by a matter of feet. Do you have video of your launch?

[@tahoetun]

During the Red Rocks Competition, we pioneered a new launch a couple hundred feet and uphill to the pilot's left. Not only does it face slightly more into the right cross wind, but it also seems to stay clear of the rotor from the right. Try it out next time. Much better!

[@RBWARNER]

I heard about that! Glad to have the better launch available.

[@Les__Mack]

Scary stuff. In paragliding school I had a buddy get an A line wrapped around the go-pro on his helmet. We went down an embankment and crashed into sticker bushes. Scratched up and banged up but otherwise okay. About 50' down. Very steep and hard to get down to him. Glad you did okay.

[@TheGrundigg]

School allowing a gopro and especially a go pro on a helmet is pretty stupid. When you're learning focus on flying not on looking good for insta...

[@Les__Mack]

@@TheGrundigg Yes, absolutely held true for this trainer.

[@bake162]

Tail end of a thermal possibly

[@tahoetun]

Interesting. Good AOA, solid run, good headwind. Why didn't it want to fly? Was it more crossed than it looked in the video? Nice job none the less!

[@RBWARNER]

Yeah.... I think that while it was blowing up at launch (at least in the lowest 5 - 8 foot layer of air that blows the streamers and I can feel on my face) there was a general flow into the mountain range that was cross- relative to the slope I launched on. i.e. micro weather vs. macro weather. I think the general cross flow caused a rotor above my wing from the ridge on my right... spoiling my lift. It wasn't until I was clear of that ridge that I got lift and rocketed up! What trickery!

[@georgehunter2813]

The launch area air mass may have been in a shear condition. You were standing at the wafting shore interface of it when you launched into it. You launched from behind the active ridge lift interface.

[@alexmark1982]

Yeah that’s weird.. Good launch!

[@jwm239]

...wondering why that pilot dropped hands to basetube so soon...and during last part of the launch run...?!

[@RBWARNER]

pilot error

[@dj-flights7376]

Wow major nose-up just, any concern about a stall there?

[@RBWARNER]

Not initially concerned about a stall. With the 10 - 12 knot breeze on launch, I was setup to do a nose-low launch. With a nose-low launch my AoA must increase to flight attitude take flight.

[@MelindaGreen]

Looked fine to me