How To AVOID THIS "HORSESHOE" Paragliding Launch MISTAKE

How to avoid "horseshoe" paragliding take off fail. If your paragliding wing tends to rise with the tips first, forming a horseshoe shape, there are mainly two reasons for this occurrence. Firstly, your paraglider may inherently possess this tendency. Secondly, your wing might be set too straight on the ground. The solution involves placing your paragliding wing on the ground in a slight "U" or "C" shape. By pulling up the middle part of the wing, you encourage the middle to pop up and catch air first. Additionally, some pilots inadvertently exacerbate this issue by pulling the “outer" A risers - causing tips to lift first! So if you have split As - make sure you pull inner A risers (only or just more).
We always say, take off is a very important stage of paragliding and it is important to be extremely focused! Starting with evenly spreading your wing in a slight "U" or “C” shape. Make sure there is no knots and twists in the lines. When you are positioned under the centre of your wing, you start running and pulling inner A risers. Never be aggressive! As the wing rises, make necessary adjustments by moving beneath the centre of your wing, adjust pulling force on As if needed, and use brake lines if required once the wing is above your head.
If you have any extra tips, tricks or experiences to share, please do so in the comments below. We greatly appreciate your comments! Together, we can help, learn, and motivate one another to fly safer and longer.
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[@flybubbleparagliding]

If your paragliding wing tends to rise with the tips first, forming a horseshoe shape, there are mainly two reasons for this occurrence. Firstly, your paraglider may inherently possess this tendency. Secondly, your wing might be set too straight on the ground. The solution involves placing your paragliding wing on the ground in a slight "U" or "C" shape. By pulling up the middle part of the wing, you encourage the middle to pop up and catch air first. Additionally, some pilots inadvertently exacerbate this issue by pulling the “outer" A risers - causing tips to lift first! We always say, take off is a very important stage of paragliding and it is important to be extremely focused! Starting with evenly spreading your wing in a slight "U" or “C” shape. Make sure there is no knots and twists in the lines. When you are positioned under the centre of your wing, you start running and pulling inner A risers. Never be aggressive! As the wing rises, make necessary adjustments by moving beneath the centre of your wing, adjust pulling force on As if needed, and use brake lines if required once the wing is above your head. Please share your experiences or tips in the comments below! We greatly appreciate your comments! Together, we can help, learn, and motivate one another to fly safer and longer. 🙏

[@markmcgoveran6811]

I saw a person flying under a reserve parachute. He pulled the strings correctly and he made the tips of the parachute into a big u-shape similar to this and it slowed his descent considerably instead of the down planing problem. Is there any way to make that shape after you're flying under the reserve shoot. Most of these reserves claim a 5 m per second drop rate and that is 15 miles an hour. If I do have to throw my reserve how do I get my wing to make that shape so I can cut that sink rate

[@user-jx1yk5sc5x]

This is a big issue with the Alpina 4. Especially at high altitude and no wind where you have to run harder. Even with a curved layout it was not fixed. The only way to stop it is by holding the middle A’s as close to your ears as possible and not with your arms out wide. Just like when you reverse launch the A’s stay closer together which stops this horseshoe

[@flybubbleparagliding]

Thank you for sharing your experience with the Alpina 4 🙏

[@christopherdunlap88]

I had the same issue with my Alpina 4. I found that instead of the horseshoe layout, utilizing more of a "V" (upside down of course) layout quickly remedied the failing forward launches.

[@theeyeinthecloud]

For me with delta 4 just pulling the inner As (A1 left and right) works perfectly (I usually do reverse launches) and opening mainly the center of the wing will contribute too.

[@brezhou29]

Same with Rush 6 and Swift 6. Inner As only, otherwise the tips inflate much earlier than the center.

[@E620SE]

I don't get why ozone doesn't care about launching characteristics

[@Canis__Lupus]

to avoid horseshoe place your glider in a horseshoe shape :)

[@flybubbleparagliding]

😂😂

[@valerimihaylov843]

I have Ozone Delta 4 and it also have a similar tendency, mainly noticeable in light or nil winds. But that is not a wing to fly in weak conditions, just wait for the next termal gust and go. 😉 If there no termals, it's time for beer, not for flying! 😃😃

[@p66pur]

Must be a delta 4!!😂😂

[@flybubblecarlo]

In this video, it's a Rush 6. However from our testing (and what we've seen a lot with other pilots) the Swift 6, Delta 4 and Alpina 4 also have a similar tendency, mainly noticeable in fickle, light or nil winds. From our testing, the Rush 6 does it the most. I was quite surprised. The techniques discussed in this video, or even a reverse V, help a lot. Actually we've found they are pretty much necessary with these wings. On the plus side, we've found they behave much better - actually pretty well - in stronger winds.

[@Florian24]

Queen 2 is opposite, straight layout makes it come up good. curved layout makes it horse shoe on pull up

[@flybubblecarlo]

Thanks for sharing! 🙏 This just goes to show: as with all gear, not two wings are the same - and what works for one doesn't necessarily work for another! 🤓

[@AMJB100000000]

Hey Carlo it would be awesome if you could do a review of the rush

[@flybubblecarlo]

Noted 📝🫡

[@flybubblecarlo]

ps. We've been meaning to do a review of the Rush 6 and Swift 6 ever since they first came out. We've flown them both a lot, just not managed to complete reviews of them for one reason or another - like most of the gear we test, due to limited resources, time and money. 🤔

[@flybubblecarlo]

pps. We'd like to release reviews of everything we test, however we don't have the resources to do that, especially time and money (we're a micro freeflight business, setup and mostly run by Nancy and myself, with the help of a few others). To give an idea, we only manage to publish reviews of around 10-20% of the gear we test. 🧪

[@olamarvin]

My local sail slinger, who happens to shift mostly some certain Swiss stuff, said that horseshoe is typical of Ozone Rush. Perhaps this applies to the models beyond and below the high B as well. It seems to do a little horseshoe-ish squiggle even when you're absolutely nailing it. The horseshoe is perhaps the cost to some other stability or performance benefit?

[@flybubblecarlo]

From our testing, and watching many others launch, it's clear to us that different wings have different behaviours and tendencies, sometimes very different, even within the same class. Some wings definitely have more of a 'natural' tendency to inflate more evenly - and more easily - compared to others. This certainly makes some wings easier to launch, especially in less easy conditions i.e. not an ideal laminar breeze. For example, some wings definitely have this tendency to front horseshoe on launch - some to a surprising degree, for the level of wing - especially in light, fickle and nil winds, as seen in this video. These wings require 'special techniques' i.e. more specific technique than others, making them less forgiving to launch in less easy conditions.

[@flybubblecarlo]

It's noticeable in real life that pilots with wings that are less forgiving to launch - which require more exact or special techniques - will on average have more failed launches, as we have seen very many times. For example, in Colombia recently, with very many pilots launching in not so easy conditions - often light, variable and thermic - we saw as usual that pilots with certain wings, known for less-easy launch characteristics, had more failed launches than others. Of course this is also majorly influenced by the pilot. A pilot with very good launch technique will launch almost any wing in almost any conditions and make it look deceptively easy. Is it the wing, or is it the pilot?

[@flybubblecarlo]

As for why some wings are easier to launch than others - sometimes much easier, even within the same class and with very similar performance - I can only assume that either the designer has chosen to prioritise other aspects over the launch i.e. the cost of some other benefit, as you wrote, or some designers are better at this aspect than others? Or perhaps a bit of both?

[@olamarvin]

@@flybubblecarloThanks for the thorough reply!

[@mmmmkkk]

unlucky that even during the presentation that Delta still starta in a slight horseshoe shape ;⁠) Some wings just have this tendency. And then if you take off with stronger wind you don't get to chose the initial wing shape.

[@flybubblecarlo]

It's actually a Rush 6 in this video, but we've found the Swift 6, Delta 4 and Alpina 4 have a similar tendency.

[@flybubblecarlo]

We've actually made this video especially to help pilots with wings that have this tendency. 🆘

[@flybubblecarlo]

I guess that pilots who fly wings which don't have this tendency may be wondering what fuss is about, or thinking their technique must be perfect! 😉

[@mmmmkkk]

@@flybubblecarlo Scala has the same tendency but I simply stopped fighting it as it has almost no negative influence on the take off. Can't say the same about A4/D4 known for the heavy start . Also unless it's no-wind the initial shape on the ground quickly stops having any influence. And yeah, seeing the colors I quickly assumed Delta but didn't pay attention ;⁠)

[@flybubblecarlo]

​@@mmmmkkk Agreed, the Scala also has a similar tendency for the wing tips to come up first. From our testing, not as much as the Rush 6, as seen in this video, Swift 6, Delta 4 and Alpina 4. As you say, with the Scala although the tips tend to come up first, this mostly doesn't lead to a failed launch; the wing fills with air and the middle catches up, most of the time. With the Rush 6 in light or nil wind we've found (and seen with many other pilots) that if your layout and launch are not very good / near perfect then this tends to lead to a failed launch. On the other hand I've found the Rush 6 etc to be very good to launch in stronger winds, but even then it's best to get the tips down before pullup and launch using only the middle As.

[@flybubblecarlo]

Those with wings that don't have the tendency to front horseshoe like this will find they don't need to use any special techniques like this - not even in a nil wind or even light tail wind - and so may be wondering what the fuss is about i.e. why there should be any need for such special techniques at all. 🤔 For these wings, just not having a bad layout or using bad technique is all that is required. 🤓

[@johannesbumann2217]

Was sehr gut geht: Die inneren A-Leinen oberhalb! der Leinenschlösser greifen und aufziehen .

[@flybubblecarlo]

Thanks for sharing your tip! 👍 For English speakers, as this is an English speaking channel: "What works very well: the inner A-lines above! Grab the line locks and pull them up." 🤓

[@flybubblecarlo]

Those with wings that don't have the tendency to front horseshoe like this will find they don't need to use any special techniques like this - not even in a nil wind or even light tail wind - and so may be wondering what the fuss is about i.e. why there should be any need for such special techniques at all. 🤔 For these wings, just not having a bad layout or using bad technique is all that is required. 🤓

[@pgnewfoundland]

new helmet?

[@flybubblecarlo]

No, that was my old main open-face helmet, an Icaro Fly. 🪖 I still have it, but it was getting old after many years use. Eventually Nancy insisted I get a new one. 🆕 My new main open-face is an Icaro Nerv 2, the blue one you see in most of our newer videos. 🎦 I really like it. We also have Supair Pilot helmets, for when we're going ultralight. 🪶 Well, you did ask! 😜

[@pgnewfoundland]

@@flybubblecarlo Cool thanks for the answer and thanks for all the great videos.

[@steveo726]

How about pulling into wind may help also

[@flybubblecarlo]

Great tip, thanks! 😏 Yes, pulling up into wind does help... if there is any wind. 🤓 If there is no wind, best to pull up facing down the hill, I find. 😉

[@svetre87]

Easier solution: don't buy ozone :D

[@E620SE]

😂

[@WuTangChillaBee]

Didnt we all learn this in school??? 🧐🙈

[@flybubblecarlo]

I guess you and some others did however, watching many pilots launching, it seems that some did not or have forgotten. 🤓 Those who already know it all can skip. ⏭ Those who don't may benefit. 😸 (And those with wings that don't have this tendency may wonder what the fuss is about. 🤔😏)

[@philipbuhler8567]

Even more like a deltawing.

[@vmlinuxz]

Stay away from horses if you don't want a horseshoe. Duyhhh.

[@flybubblecarlo]

Neigh! 🐎🏇🐴🎠🧲