How to Top Land a Speed Wing or Mini Wing, Tips for Top Landing, and a Speed Soaring Top Land Crash

How to Top Land a Speed Wing or Mini Wing. And one of my Top Landing Crashes..
So, you are a speed flyer think you want to learn how to top land. Top is a great skill which can get you out of trouble. However, it can be super dangerous. Everyone I know that can top land… Has crashed top landing. Now, this does not make crashing when learning ok. So, try and figure it out without crashing, and or hurting or killing yourself. Have fun, Don’t die.
This is a video where I show you How to Top Land a Speed Wing or Mini Wing. There are many things I didn’t cover and these are just my opinions not necessarily the right way. Get a lot of different people’s opinions and make your own conclusion about best practices.
Know your limits! Progression is awesome, but do it slowly. Don’t be afraid to ask other pilots questions if you are unsure.
If you know some better techniques, leave them in the comments!
If you are going to be Dumb, at least be Smart about it!
Camera:
Patrick Kessler Drone footy and Other Shots in Hawaii
Shay Kay Stall practice at POM in Utah
Josh Charles POV shots
Music By:
Keven Macleod Hiding your Reality
Keven Macleod Twisting

[@lucywucyyy]

man that must be some strong ass lift for a speed wing to fly like that

[@saleplains]

i fly hanggliders not paragliders but the concepts are largely similar. one thing thats important to remember when hovering/near hover or any other situations with high airspeed but negligible ground speed is the lack of momentum/inertia. While the wing is flying in airspeeds equivalent to what you would see out in free air the lack of momentum means that small drops in the wind can easily stall you and without that forward momentum you can lose orientation with respect to the wind super quick. ive seen a lot of people get yawed 30 or 40 degrees in a momentary loss of wind and then when the wind comes back half a second later they get shot downwind fast and have a hard time recovering. this makes that point in the approach where you still have a lot of altitude but very little ground speed quite dangerous and over time you should really try to minimize that portion of the approach imo

[@phDJOlogy]

Thanks for sharing this! It's always nice to see content that might just help keep someone safer.

[@thomasini]

Nice work Josh! This is one of the best instructional videos I've seen yet, especially in the miniwing department. Make more please!

[@8Livingthedream]

Thom Thanks for the good review! I’m sure I will put a couple more together in due time. Any suggestions that you would like to learn about?

[@thomasini]

@@8Livingthedream more mini wing stuff would be really great. I'm mostly interested in technique and safety tips. Would love to know more about your gear too like reserve, harness, protective gear etc.

[@x78340]

Phenomenal content. Thanks!

[@MrNapopo13]

Please keep up the good work, I like the ending with the haters comment as there will always be haters, but as a newer speed pilot it’s super hard to find info. And if many are like me we are going to do it with or without the info but every bit helps and it’s appreciated! Thank you

[@8Livingthedream]

Aaron Napoleon Thanks Buddy!

[@Bob_just_Bob]

Great video thanks,

[@user-vr6qp6mn1b]

Many thanks! Very high-quality and visual training videos! Very talented! You are one of the best!

[@VanningAintNoJoke]

Very informative! Thanks for making this!

[@marceberhardt2141]

Very informative. Thanks for taking the time to make this.

[@8Livingthedream]

Marc Eberhardt my pleasure, thanks for the comment. Glad you liked it!

[@speedflying_kid]

This is soo helpful !!! Thanks a lot.

[@swairspeedfly3238]

awesome video, thank Bro! 🤘🏻🤗

[@marcopuerto2316]

Excellent tutorial thank very much

[@JERFALCON]

Sick vid man. Let’s fly together soon! 🤙🏼🦅🏴‍☠️

[@theresnobodyhere5778]

Awesome skill flying ,great tips,i.m not skilled enough or brave enough to glide the cliff tops

[@8Livingthedream]

Theresnobody Here thx bro🤙

[@SteveWrightNZ]

If you get the wing to pendulum back and forward real hard as you touch down, with your timing perfect you can punch it right through the stall and the wing and you are safely on the ground in a blink. You can pendulum it a lot harder than you might think - right back into the stall, and well forward into the surge.

[@8Livingthedream]

Steve Wright haven’t tried that one yet. Makes sense though🤙

[@99Isopropyl]

Incredible video. I'm working in Northern Canada far away from anywhere that I can fly and videos like this are getting me through my rotation! I appreciate you being open with all the knowledge. I mostly fly in British Columbia with my girlfriend and we're both relatively new to the sport and can't always make it down to Cali or Idaho to fly so our progression amounts to getting tips here and there or watching videos on KZbin. We're dying to start soaring, but it's hard to gauge the right winds when we've never done it before. If you're ever around BC shoot me a message. I know plenty of short hike and flies and launched the top of Mackenzie peak at Revelstoke a couple months ago, and my girlfriends has a few hundred flights at Whistler.

[@ozoneswiftak]

Always careful. It is easy to break you spine on rocks. From stalling. Good vibes and pay attention to speed of wind. If its fluctuating, dont get heavy on breaks

[@8Livingthedream]

chad rocca good advice🤙. Thx for commenting🤘

[@turkeyphant]

What site is this?

[@cluelessbeekeeping1322]

You are SUCH a good pilot. I ~ALMOST Flew from that spot at 3:07 (RC Glider), but we met some hang glider guys and they took us up to the top of Makapu. One of the best days of my life. Wow, it was magnificent. (well before paragliders were popular). Do you know Walter?

[@8Livingthedream]

CluelessBeeKeeping Thanks! I think I do, does he fly RC gliders at makapuu a bunch?

[@cluelessbeekeeping1322]

@@8Livingthedream I don't know, he used to live in Austin, TX & flew hang gliders. He's one of the coolest guys you'd ever meet. If you see him, ask him the name of that book that had an orange hobie hawk on the cover. (I'm trying to find this book it was filled with lots of mechanical mixers and other neat mechanisms, like how to make a fowler flap system on an RC lane) This guy: kzbin.info/door/bISoDsHN93FJhV6Owumqew

[@cluelessbeekeeping1322]

Looks like he's posting again, I'll ask him (some people don't read or respond to their messages).

[@valentinhotzeneder3833]

Wow, where is this nice place?

[@ericoschmitt]

Do you even take a reserve chute on this kind of flight and wing? I’m HG pilot, so I don’t know much about these speed wings.

[@ShaharBenDavid]

Hey Josh, just bought an 8.5m pre-owned speedwing only for ground handling practice. What wind speed do you recommend to practice in? I'm a paragliding newbie.

[@8Livingthedream]

Shahar Ben-David depends how much you way. Still start in light winds up to maybe 10-15 mph and work your way up slowly. 🤙

[@patrickswayze2596]

just to also weigh in, its great to get as much ground handling as you can! I'm PG4 and an CFI, and I still round handle new wings as often as a I can even after 12 years of PG flying, and 22 of skydiving, however, a mining, say 12-28m2 compared to your average A or low B wing are two different instruments dude! You'll jump on an A wing and they are infallible! Literally designed to repair anything you do or conditions change etc in the sky, but I remember jumping from my BGD Epic (low B) to my Base (high B), and the absolute difference in how much more aggressive and responsive the jump up was blew me away. I'm confident now after all these years competitions and teaching to fly any wing, but you'll still see me ground handling often, but minis are so easy to ground handle they don't give you a true sense of what you're in for when you do eventually train and get certified... Safe flying and blue skies dude

[@CoIoneIPanic]

@@patrickswayze2596 you lost me at "Patrick Swayze"

[@peterphil9686]

Disinterested as we are in hearsay, my question to you is about your actual experience of significant collapses flying trimmers in Vs trimmers out on your various trimmer supplied wings. I am awear of the fear of larger collapses and the consequences of collapses on smaller wings with higher wing loading. So please no justification just honestly tell us how often do you actually get collapses in the trimmer out position? I understand we are loath to get collapses in any position but particularly trimmer out because wind velocity is higher and leading edge wing loading is increased which can enhance dynamic stall frequency say in big maneuvers ... In practice I don’t find collapse frequency to increase trimmers out/ open ( high speed, high decent). In theory: Given that trimmers out de-weights the rear wing, the CoL center of lift and CoG move forward with secondary pitch back of the chord and increase AoA of the leading edge. This increass of the AoA will be countered by braking which moves CoL rearward again neutralising/ normalising the AoA initially then with deeper brake close to stall the AoA may on some wings reduce from trim angle. Hence in theory the trimmers out does not increase frequency of frontal collapse. Though like reflex wings WHEN it does collapse (in bad air) it will collapse bigger with more excitement and rotation because of the weight on the leading edge and speed... It is well understood that trimmers increase speed and decent like bar ( like regular non trimmer speed system) but the initial input is opposite (trimmer vs bar) with reversal of secondary sequential effects... secondary effects are the nuanced counterbalance to balance our flying pendulums...

[@8Livingthedream]

Peter Phil I love thinking about this stuff, haha. I have only had one full frontal collapse on a mirage rs 11m. My trimmers were at the Diamonds. About 1/3 out. That didn’t have anything to do with the collapse. It was caused by being light on the wing during a recovery and flying into a rotor when soaring. It re-inflated within about 10 ft actually. I agree with you the wing responds to a collapse more violently with a steeper trim.

[@8Livingthedream]

Peter Phil fun stuff to think about

[@mickbrett1608]

Do you have a rough gauge for how far back you can top land with more right angled cliff tops for a given wind speed ?

[@8Livingthedream]

Mick Brett Not really, you could try kiting and just walk backwards and see where your wing collapses. Or throw grass up in the air to watch the rotor. Good question, if you find an answer let me know!

[@mickbrett1608]

@@8Livingthedream I've always presumed the rotor started at the cliff edge with steeper cliffs and dunes, or I've experienced offshore wind direction at the cliff top when the wind is onshore...

[@8Livingthedream]

@@mickbrett1608 kzbin.info/www/bejne/sH-oqpluZdGaaKc

[@8Livingthedream]

this one kind of explains rotors. Not the cliff vs less angle, but still some good info..

[@mickbrett1608]

@@8Livingthedream cheers !

[@CovertMessiah]

Great video! I am a P3 and I want to refine my skills, and I am looking for a good instructor to help me with wing overs, spirals, Back fly, and sats. Can you recommend anyone? Thanks! P.S. Never mind the haters, because they have little minds.

[@8Livingthedream]

Thanks for the comment! I'm not sure about the advanced pg maneuvers. I'll see if I can find out for you though. Sounds like an SIV type of course. Sounds fun!

[@8Livingthedream]

My friend Just VanBoer is organizing an SIV/Acro training with this awesome pilot Veso in April or May. Hit him up he is on FB and he also runs Horseshoe Bend Flight Park in Idaho. Tell him Josh Charles sent you.

[@gigaprose]

Wonder what a wind speed should be to allow soaring on such small wing. 12 m/s or even greater ?

[@8Livingthedream]

Not used to m/s, but we usually fly small wings from 20mph up to 37 mph. I think thats between 11-16 m/s. Thanks for the comment!

[@gregmaggard1623]

@@8Livingthedream I flew that spot yesterday. The day before was about 23mph. The top was more. I only brought a mirage 15 with me and weight 200lbs. Would it have worked? 😆

[@lucywucyyy]

i used to think the arm flapping was something people did for fun to pretend your a bird, didnt realise it was an actual method

[@andreassolbakken7116]

Love that video! thanks for making a suupersweet instructional video! is all the places in utah? :D

[@8Livingthedream]

Andreas Solbakken thanks for the comment! Glad you liked it. No, most of the footy is from a place called Makapuu on the island of Oahu. Living in Park City for the winter speedriding😁

[@CoIoneIPanic]

I will never strap my ass to one of these but if i did it would be on the most windless day of the year and then the wing would just go plop on the ground like Charlie Brown's football and then I can tell everybody about the time I tried paragliding.

[@gmy33]

I ll take it you ve flewn little clouds ??

[@scottyflintstone]

why don't you use back protection?

[@8Livingthedream]

I do:) I use one of those POC soft foam ones.

[@thekraioz7147]

RIP :(

[@8Livingthedream]

Not dead yet;)