When Paragliding GOES WRONG You Better Have This - Steerable Reserve Test (Beamer 3)

[@freeflightbrighton]

Well presented video Carlo well done. Regards Rob

[@flybubblecarlo]

Thanks Rob! 😁🙏🙂

[@ppgtraininguk]

Great job 👍

[@flybubbleparagliding]

Thank you! 🙌 Cheers! 🦅

[@flybubbleparagliding]

A friendly reminder why it is a good idea to fly with a reserve parachute. When you are diving towards the ground intentionally or unintentionally and you end up loosing the control - it feels really good to have that extra layer of protection. As always at Flybubble we work hard to make sure we test all the gear that we sell to gain knowledge and experience so we can give you the best advice and match you with the best gear for your flying style! Beamer 3 steerable reserve test = CHECK! ✅🥳

[@Stephane1995]

Not sure I like the instructor's recommendation of just pulling one brake as it causes the wing spin and possibly wrap around the reserve lines.

[@DarrenGoodlad]

I'm sure Pal Takats knows what he is doing...

[@markmcgoveran6811]

@@Stephane1995 I'm allergic to this one side severe breaking problem I'm a new pilot I'm still ground handling and I seen two people were right the brakes turn lumos one side and spiral in 100 feet hit the ground before they can fart. I saw a guy who jumped out of an airplane with a paraglider and they let him because he had an airplane skydiving reserve rated shoot .

[@flybubblecarlo]

​@@Stephane1995 I must admit I wasn't sure about Pal's recommendation of pulling one brake, for much the same reasons you wrote, but in the end I decided to trust him - Pal has a great deal of experience with throwing reserves, far more than most and probably one of the most - and as you can see in the video it worked well. Although the wing did start to spin (as often seems to happen regardless, from watching many reserve deployments) I was able to 'climb up' the lines without too much effort (and I'm not that strong) and gather in the wing in not too much time (not too bad for a first effort, I think). 🤓

[@flybubblecarlo]

@@DarrenGoodlad I have to say I was seriously impressed by Pal's level of knowledge when it came to reserves (and just about everything related to flying). He was definitely not just saying the same old things I often hear from some other SIV instructors (some of which I don't agree with). No gimmicks. No sausage machine. Just doing his best to communicate his knowledge and improve the pilot's skills. Plus we had 1:3 instruction. Not cheap but worth every penny. I've been flying 30 years, have thousands of hours airtime, instructed for 25 years, run SIV courses, am quite happy doing SIV on my own, and still learned loads from him in just a short space of time. He's also definitely teaching his own thing, not just repeating what others say. Shame I can't afford to go on more of his courses! 😆

[@chrispewkreme]

I was always curious how a reserve parachute works. It seems like they are meant ot save your life but by no means are they as smooth landing as designated parachutes you see in skydiving. Awesome stuff! Looking to get into paragliding soon

[@RichardfBarber]

Interesting... Is flybubble recommending a B3 as a sole reserve? I purchased a B3 for a trip to Pakistan (2nd hand as Im a cheapskate), but then spoke to a number of high profile SIV instructors/schools and acro pilots they almost universally said they would not have a rogallo as their only reserve. In their eyes risk of it not fully inflating are too high and also unlikely to work effectively in a midair situation. I ultimately chose a steerable square (not perfect either) and the maxim I heard from a repacker "You tell me the incident and I will tell you the reserve to pack..." still stands true. Really interested in Flybubble's take on this and the pros and cons of each type as you see them?

[@abadonael]

Once you fell in the water - one could see that the wind started to drag you. Any tips what would you have done, if there was no rescue boat?

[@flybubblecarlo]

Great question! 🤓 I think the most important tip BY FAR is that if you have anything more than a low risk of landing in water then it's wise to fly with a very reliable, good-sized automatically inflating life jacket - even if there is a fast rescue speed boat ready (or three of them, as in this case). If you don't have a life jacket then it would be quite easy to drown, as has sadly happened in too many cases over the years (of course one case is too many but there have been more than that). 😢

[@flybubblecarlo]

Another tip, if you are expecting to land in the water then remove any elements from the harness which might cause you to float face down e.g. back and side protectors, anything buoyant in the rear storage pocket. For this reserve test I removed the foam back protector from the harness. Another reason to do this is that foam protector elements soak up the water and take a long time to dry. 🤓

[@flybubblecarlo]

As you can tell from my previous two answers, I think there's only so much you can do in that situation. However, in answer to your question: First, inflate your life jacket (if it hasn't already inflated). I had disabled the auto-inflation of the auto life jacket I was wearing for this reserve test to save the gas cannister, since I knew there were three rescue boats waiting, for me and others. If not wearing a life jacket and the rescue boat doesn't get to you fast then I think the chances of drowning are high on this kind of situation. Whilst waiting for the boat to arrive, I think the key thing is to not panic and thrash around too much (which uses up air much faster and means you're more likely to get more tangled up in the lines). Better to be as calm as possible. Focus on floating and taking breaths when you can, not inhaling water, when not being dragged under water by the reserve in the wind. On the positive side, the video makes it look worse than it is as the camera is on my leg, just above my knee.

[@flybubblecarlo]

To my knowledge there's not much you can do to disable the reserve. You can hope that it gets wet and ends up in the water, but from what I've seen and experienced I don't think that's likely; when the rescue boat arrives it takes some effort for them to disable it. With a steerable reserve I guess there might be a possibility to go hand over hand up one of the sides, but I'm not sure about that. Anyone else have experience with this?

[@abadonael]

@@flybubblecarlo thank you for the answers! It is indeed something to think about, like, would it then be a priority to start unstrapping yourself before hitting the water? Or to practice this unstrapping like i dunno, different navy seals do? :) So you can do it fast, with closed eyes and in stress

[@nicolapoco1561]

would like to know the story of the previous reserve throw, will you ever tell us Carlo?

[@flybubblecarlo]

Maybe one day - it's a pretty good and scary story... from my younger, competition flying days. 😏 Very lucky to have survived that one! 🍀

[@JulienVitre]

Nice video, this beamer seems really interesting. The whole concept is based on the fact that you can kill your collapsed paraglider and put in in a place where you can free both you hands to steer the beamer (your lap in the particular case). In the event where you fly a pod harness, I think it might be a bit trickier though. What's your thought on this? Thanks

[@flybubblecarlo]

@JulienVitre Hi, glad you like the video. As I mention at the end of the video, whilst it's best to gather in the wing - to get the best control and performance from the Beamer 3 - it's not essential. You can still steer the Beamer 3, and it will still glide, with the wing not gathered in. I mainly wanted to try gathering the wing to see how difficult this was to do (easier than I was expecting it to be, using Pal's recommended technique). If you don't gather the wing in then it's best to disable it, but again this is not essential. One generally agreed good way to disable the wing is to use the B risers - ideally ASAP, before the wing starts to spin (which can make pulling the Bs very difficult or impossible). I'll answer your question about the type of harness - open vs pod - as best I can next. 🤓

[@flybubblecarlo]

@@andrewmisplon Yes that is an excellent demonstration, well worth checking out. 🤓

[@flybubblecarlo]

@JulienVitre About the type of harness: Whilst it is probably easier to stuff the wing between your legs (which is best but not essential for the Beamer 3) with an open harness, it is also possible to do with a pod harness - stuffing it between your legs and into the speedbag (aka pod). Once stuffed, a pod harness has an advantage over an open harness: the wing is more likely to stay stuffed inside the speedbag, rather than starting to unravel in the airflow (as seen in this video). However of course it is important to get your legs out of the speedbag - and, as much as possible, out of the lines - before landing in the water. This will reduce the chances of your legs betting badly tangled up in the lines - in which case it's time to activate the life jacket and hope the speed boat arrives quickly! 🦺🚤🛟🏊‍♂

[@JulienVitre]

@@flybubblecarlo thanks for your detailed answer. I agree that once neutralised and stuffed in the pod, the glider is actually probably more secured than in an open harness configuration. I am a little concerned about the extra steps and complexity ( kill your wing, start to grab it back, get your legs out of the pod, stuff your glider in the pod…) in a high-stress context :-) But don’t get me wrong, I actually also have a Beamer (light version - which - luckily - I never had to use, and I am convinced about the advantages of a steerable chute against a non-steerable one, but I just wanted to point out that before being able to grab the Beamer handles and actually steer it towards a safe landing spot, there are quite a number of things to think about and do. Great instructional video nonetheless :-) Thanks

[@johnfargher1]

Lifejacket didn't auto inflate?

[@glidewatch]

"You can still steer the Beamer 3 even with the wing ungathered." 4.43 Could you clarify this? Thanks.

[@safranpollen]

The Problem at this SIV , only one man in the boat🔥 If Something goes.wrong, Nobody can JUMP into.the water to help the Pilot🤨

[@flybubblecarlo]

Solution = three speed boats 🚤🚤🚤👍👍👍😀😁😎 + a good quality, good-sized automatic life jacket 🦺 triggered by contact with water 💦 (which I had purposefully disabled for this reserve parachute test 🧪🪂🏖 to not waste the gas cannister ⛽). I could have easily manually 👋 inflated the life jacket 🦺 if I wanted to - and did consider it 🤔, as I was being dragged through the water 🏊‍♂ due to the strong valley wind 🌬🍃 - but in the end I decided not to as the rescue boat 🚤 arrived very quickly and I didn't feel in any danger of drowning 🛟. It wasn't easy getting out of the water and into the boat with all my clothes and gear wet through! 🤓

[@flybubblecarlo]

ps. But I certainly agree that in a situation where there isn't multiple rescue boats ready to save you there should be at least one more person in the boat ready and able to assist. It's quite an effort pulling someone out of the water.

[@flybubblecarlo]

pps. However, I'm not sure how good an idea it would be for someone to jump in the water to help the pilot. Firstly because I'm not sure they will be able to help you that much from in the water; much better leaning out of the boat, to hold and pull you up (which requires quite a lot of strength!). Secondly I think they might be putting themselves in danger, with the risk of them getting tangled in the lines, possibly making the situation worse.

[@safranpollen]

@@flybubblecarlo I have had in case ot this, only one man in the boat, a.nearly deadly.situtatiin at 2014 . I oulled the rescue at the end just to try it . Rescue ooened, the Wind was over the Lake real strong.. I fal into the water , the Airbag oulled ne immediately around. I am a real good swimmer, so I could manage to turn Back. I wanted to Open my upoer Tlock belt but the life West was so big.and strong filled with air, it was impossible to open Iit in case of the pressure..... I deleted the rest cause i see in your answers, you have not any imgination or idea what can happen worse without a second guy with a rescue west ....

[@flybubblecarlo]

@@safranpollen thanks for sharing your experience and thoughts 🙏 - it sounds like that was a very scary situation for you! 😱 I'm not sure but it seems like we are actually agreeing overall but somehow my answers are not so clear for you - perhaps a language thing, sorry. 🙇‍♂ No need to delete parts of your answer if you don't agree with what I write. My reason for sharing this video (and others) is for all to learn from my experience - including my mistakes and holes in my knowledge - not to prove that I am right, which would be not so wise, IMHO. 😇 However, to put things into perspective, I have been flying and instructing paragliding for over thirty years, without thousands of flights and hours airtime, run and instructed my own SIV courses, seen many others pulling pilots from the water, and sadly known of pilots who drowned 😢 so I have at least some idea of what can happen and go wrong in these kinds of situations. However I also know enough to know that I still have plenty to learn. 🤓

[@brokenarrow007]

I think it's never a good idea to drop in the water when paragliding... I get chills when I imagine hundreds feet of lines drifting around you, getting entangled and drowning after a while. Same with the emergency parachute, I think there is a good chance it just wraps around you glider and your done. At least nice to have a backup when racing to the ground where certain hospital awaits you...