Learning to Fly

The Accident

Daniel, Guto, and I got up the ramp a bit before 11am. It had been a long week at work and I was telling the lads on the way up I was needing to clear my head. We hadn’t seen anybody flying as we drove up so our hopes weren’t that high.

It was blowing an easterly cross wind across the ramp but there were patches when it would swing round to the northeast and look flyable. Every time it swung round we would get our hopes up it would fix and I even prepped my glider in anticipation. There were about 30 pilots on the ramp waiting for the conditions to improve. Two of the guys who had been going well lately in the competitions decided to test the water and took off. They weren’t getting any real height but had managed to stay up for a half hour or so, which gave a few more some courage. I decided to follow suit and tried to inflate my wing. The first 2 attempts I botched completely as I was expecting the wind to be much stronger bu due to the gusting was caught off guard. I felt for a minute that maybe I should abort as I obviously wasn’t at full potential, but decided to press on.

Although I had been prepped for a while and was still at the front of the ramp, I let Cruz take off first, as there were already a half dozen pilots flying and nobody was having much luck, and I thought I could follow his lead if necessary.

I took off went to the right and then swung round to the left along the ridge. I had been losing height the whole way as the lift had dropped away almost completely. I saw some other pilots struggling too, and decided to head over to the left side of the ramp near the northwestern landing spot. As I got there I found a weak thermal.

I had already lost a lot of height and was pretty low. The landing looked very rough with the wind blowing across it and it looked like I would have to land in the wake which I knew would be rough. I could see Cruz a little higher than I was, and circling over the alternative landing spot slightly higher up the access road. It looked like he was in the same thermal, so I decided it must be stronger higher up and I should give it a shot. At least if it didn’t work out, I could land at the alternative landing spot which was a little higher and better lined up with the easterly wind.

I circled twice as I worked my way over the line of trees, neither gaining nor losing much height. As I got halfway through the second circle I dropped out of the thermal and caught the downdraft. I had been moving toward higher ground, and as such was already only about 30m above the ground and when I started to drop quickly. I realised I wasn’t going to make the alternative landing site and had to prep for a rough landing. I tried to turn around left into the wind but I just started dropping faster and decided it would be better to take the hit and land downwind. I was expecting to tumble and roll a bit but I braked as hard as I could and only manged to get one foot under me and stopped dead with a thump.

I knew it was serious as I couldn’t feel anything below my waist, but I managed to quickly unhook my harness to avoid being dragged, put my legs in the recovery position, and radio Daniel for help before I passed out.

Total flight time: Less than 10 minutes

Mezzanine

Daniel, Guto, and I got up the ramp a little after midday. The forecast was for a perfect day of solid northeasterlies, but it had been blowing a light norwester since sun up. Nobody was excited, except for the fact it was the weekend.

We socialized a bit on the ramp until the wind dropped a bit and it was nearly 2pm. Although there was a solid inversion layer covering the southern side of the ridge, I didn’t want to sit on the ramp all day. Daniel and I unpacked and prepped our gliders. As we were doing so Fabinho took off and got high in a thermal just to the south west of the ramp. He seemed to have passed the inversion layer but I watched him head toward it without rising and then turn back.

I prepped my kit and waited for a solid breeze before taking off. Daniel was already ahead of me and had swung round to the south. I could see a couple of buzzards over the spot where Fabinho had got his height so I popped over that way for a look. It was pretty rough and I was only hitting bubbles and losing height quickly so I swung round to the south and followed Daniel.

I was a bit behind him and rather low but I could see him hitting the begining of a thermal ahead of me so I knew if I made it there I would be ok. Daniel started turning to the right as he entered the thermal and I could see a buzzard above him that was on his left. I guessed he could feel what was happening better than I but when I saw him hitting the descending air pocket I called out on the radio for him to head left.

I got to the thermal and it was turbulent and strong. I went up at 2m/s until I got to the level of the ramp, where it just cut out. I didn’t want to hang around where there was nothing as I was in a shadowy area if the wind was to pick up so I tracked along the ridge toward Cesar and a couple of other pilots who were closer to the city.

I found a few other messy thermals on the way and managed to keep getting back up to around the level of the ramp but never any more. It was frustrating, but I looked down and saw Daniel had never got back the height he had lost and was having to land just past the stud farm, so I knew I shouldn’t be complaining.

I got to the city and got another strong thermal there but after a couple of minutes it died too and everyone, there were about 5 of us, was forced to land at Moacir’s. It was a really rough landing due to the turbulence, but I saw others landing worse than I did, so I figured it was par.

I spoke to Fabinho afterward and he said that the inversion layer was cutting all the thermals off at the level of the ramp, but it didn’t exist on the western side of the ramp which is why he managed to get so high. I had always thought of an inversion layer like a ceiling, but he made it sound more like a mezzanine, much more localized than I had imagined.

Total flight time: 45mins

Plan B

Despite the forecast of another day of strong NE winds turning NW, Daniel and I got up the ramp early. We arrived a little before 10am and spent the next 2 hours waiting for the wind to drop. There were only a couple of campers there when we arrived, but by midday the ramp was full, and the wind had dropped enough to make taking off possible.

I prepped my glider, but the wind was shifting north and looked like it was going to turn northwest. I wanted to take off and get some height before it turned and I was stuck on the ramp. Adenar took off first and was getting thrown around a bit, but I decided to join him. I was surprised that nobody else was following, but after flying for the first 2 minutes I realized why. There were no thermals strong enough to get any height and we were left struggling back and forth along the ridgeline in the changing wind.

An eagle came and started attacking Adenar and then came after my wing. I left the ridge and saw some buzzards starting to circle a short way out. I went through some strong descending pockets to get there but was sure it was going to be the elevator to the clouds. As I got there I started to rise strongly but it quickly vanished as did the buzzards and I was left looking for a way back to the ridge. I was already too low and had to land.

I packed up my glider and got a lift back up to the ramp with Márcio. It didn’t take long and on the way up I saw various other pilots who had taken off and were forced also forced too land.

As I arrived at the ramp the wind shifted round to the northwest and Daniel took off from the lower southwestern ramp. Several pilots battled for a while and it was Eliana who finally made it up above the level of the ramp. Then several others took off and went in her direction.

I waited for a long time for Daniel to get a lift back up as he had bombed out pretty quickly with the rest. The wind had started to go round to the south though and then a strong thermal popped up in the northwest. Geraldo and I grabbed our gliders quickly to catch it. As I inflated my glider Lucas came over and started telling me good spots he had seen thermals in the south. They would have made a good plan B but I was too focused on the thermal right in front of me and didn’t listen much.

As I took off I caught a bit of the thermal and rose a few meters before it disappeared. Geraldo and I didn’t have any choice but to head round to the south. We searched around and followed some buzzards, but never found any thermals.

As I was folding up my glider I realized I really should have taken off with a prepared plan B, as things aren’t always what they seem to be.

Total flight time: 25mins

Stress relief

Saturday was blowing a strong wind all day and everyone ended up going down to the chácara for a bbq and I went to the office to get a few things done. Today looked like it was going to be the same but about 2:30pm the wind started to drop a bit. The ramp was full of people wanting to fly but nobody wanted to be the test pilot that took the leap.

I decided that I wasn’t going to miss out this weekend and I was going to be that guy. I prepped my kit during one of the low patches and Simone came up to me with a worried look on her face and told me I could prep but I shouldn’t take off yet. Although I didn’t think it was that bad, I began to second guess myself, and decided I should wait for another low just to make sure.

About half an hour later there was another low, and Daniel and I prepped and went down to the front of the ramp. There were about 30 tourists and pilots all seated on the grass watching us and it made me a little nervous. I wished I had just taken off earlier when I had first thought it possible, before the crowd had formed.

Daniel was a little in front of me so I told him to go first. I didn’t want to miss the low and urged him forward. I felt bad pushing him out first, as its really his decision, but I was feeling pressured too. As soon as he had taken off and was out of my way I inflated my wing. I was expecting a strong pull from the wind but I forgot to take a step under the glider. It gave me a jerk, but as soon as I was under it and had spun round to face the wind I felt that the wind wasn’t quite as strong as everyone had been saying. I felt much more confident, and even did a small swan dive take off to keep the crowd happy.

The wind was strong but there were solid thermals and in about 5 minutes I was 500m above the ramp. I realized that I was pretty stressed from waiting all Saturday and most of Sunday to fly and although I wanted to get some height and get away from there and the crowds I decided I shouldn’t miss the opportunity to get a little adrenaline and clear my head.

I pulled in hard on the right brake and went into a steep spiral. I was slightly in front of the large rock to the right of the ramp and could feel that everyone was watching me. As such I wanted to exit the spiral as cleanly as possible. I started out with the left brake slightly, and then as the tip got up above the horizon I pulled in hard to do another half turn and come out smoothly.

I had been in quite quickly and so I came out quickly. The brake I used to come out was quite forceful and the other side of the glider lost form and started to fold up slightly. I wondered if I should have used some outside brake as well to control that or if a weight shift would have been enough. I wanted to get high enough to practice again, but the thermals had paused, and it took another 40 minutes before I got high again.

When I finally caught another good thermal it was directly above the ramp and drifting over the back. By the time I had gotten up 500m above the ramp I was way over the back of the hill and with the strong wind I knew getting back would be a problem. Another glider had taken off and was slightly ahead of me, and I thought it was Cesar, heading for cross, so I followed him.

We flew for a good 10 minutes straight, heading toward Santo Antônio do Jardim, without hitting a single bubble of rising air. I realized I had made a mistake but there was never any chance of turning back.

As I got close to the ground I started to find a few bubbles and kept myself aloft for a minute or so, but then had to land. There wasn’t any clear area I could see, so I went for what I thought was a small corn plantation. Turned out not to be as I landed in a field of Sunflowers.

I spent the next hour untangling my lines from the sunflowers and folding my glider. I then got down to the road and hitched a lift with Paulinho to the entrance to the chácara. We passed and picked up the other pilot who had gone with me, and it wasn’t Cesar, but another visiting pilot who didn’t know the area.

Total flight time: 1h

Falling Over Backwards

Jussara, Gabi, and I got up the ramp just before 2pm. The wind was fairly strong and coming NNE. When we arrived the first pilot had just taken off and had been shaken around in the turbulence so much that nobody else had followed. It was another 20 minutes before 2 other pilots took off, and they went right along the ridge to escape the turbulence, but were still a bit shaken and came down about 15 minutes later.

The wind was starting to offer a few lows that would allow a cleaner take off and I didn’t want to miss my chance to fly so I prepped my kit and went to the front of the ramp. I called Daniel, Márcio and Stéfano to come with me but they were waiting for it to calm down a little more.

Xuxa came over to help me check my wing and I noticed the left tip was tucked through the lines which made me worry about how I would have pulled it out once airborne. I tried not to think about it too much and inflated my wing in a low patch. It has been so long between flights lately that I had forgotten to run back under it and got pulled back with a jerk. It was quick and I was shooting up quickly in the strong uplift. I realised that if I hadn’t fixed my wingtip I would have been in trouble.

I flew out to the right along the ridge as there were 2 small clouds forming over that way. As I got to the first big rock I found my first thermal and it was bubbly but strong. I got up a bit higher and then worked my way over to another one further along the ridge. After a bit of effort I was 800m above the level of the ramp and could see the others getting inspired and preparing to take off.

I flew back over the ramp and Daniel yelled out that he was on his way, and I went back over to the right to get some more height so we could head over the back of the ridge. I flew around for another hour or so but Daniel never managed to get the height necessary to get over there and I didn’t want to head off alone so I went back over toward the ramp and dropped down in a tight spiral. It was good and I tried coming out of it the way Kurt had described in his book, ‘Manual do Parapente Obediente’ (Obedient Paraglider Manual), waiting for the wing tip to get to the level of the horizon and then pull in hard on the brake I used to enter to do another full turn. It worked well, but I think I could have let the wing tip get slightly above the horizon before starting on the brake.

I flew around a bit and then went in to top land on the ramp. I didn’t want to go too far back because of the strong wind, and the first time I ended up passing over the ramp without getting close to touching down, but the second time I went much further back. I flew in close over the shop and spun round left to land well back on the ramp. I came down quickly but touched down well. I didn’t manage to get to the B-risers quickly enough though and got pulled over as I deflated the wing.

I had something to eat and talked to a few of the guys. I felt good about my flight, except for the landing that obviously needs more practice. The wind was becoming less turbulent though and I wanted to play around a bit so I took off again. My take off was terrible as I hadn’t stretched my wing out enough for the strong wind and it lifted a bit twisted. By the time I had straightened it I was already on my ass, but it lifted me quickly.

I flew out forward from the ramp as the wind was strong and I knew I would be carried back toward it. I then started my wingovers with a progressive right turn, as I had seen in the videos and then released the brakes to let the glider dive. As I reached the bottom of the dive I pulled in hard on the left brake and put my weight to the right to maintain tension in the upper lines. I alternated this a few times with varying success. Each time I would go further out from the ramp and get a bit more height and then start again. Once I didn’t put enough tension in the right side with additional brake and the wing tip folded in, but I quickly reopened it.

I repeated this over and over until I was reasonably comfortable doing it, but I was still sure that it wasn’t perfect. I played around a bit and once even got quite high, so I was looking down at my wing. I must have been close to or slightly above 90 degrees, but as I looked at the lower part of the wing I saw the lines starting to slacken. I realised I wasn’t ready to get that high yet and decided to call it a day.

The wind was quite strong and I had to land using big ears. The landing was easy, but to pull in the B-risers I had to release the ears and got pulled backwards again. We all went down to the Baiana to get something to eat and talk about the afternoon.

Total flight time: 1h45m

Bird Strike

I had seen the forecast and the wind was supposed to be a strong northeasterly in the morning and swing northwesterly in the afternoon. I didn’t want to miss my chance to fly this month as things were pretty busy, so I got a mototaxi up the hill early and got there just after 9am.

The wind was just a little too strong when I got there and I waited about 30 minutes as I slowly prepped my kit and took it right down the very front of the ramp to prepare for take off. There was absolutely nobody on the ramp when I got there, but as I readied for take off a few tourists and then Max showed up.

I waited for a low in the wind and pulled my glider up. It sprang up like a rocket and I was about 100m above the ramp in just a few seconds. I struggled to push out the accelerator as far as possible and slowly crept forward out of the area of risk of being pushed back behind the hillside.

I went out toward the right and as I passed the big rocky hillside I turned back and saw an eagle beating its wings hard and rising up close behind me. I thought it odd with the wind being so strong that he was using so much effort to rise up in a hurry and wondered why.

In less than a minute I knew the reason. He had gotten up above me and started dive bombing my wing. He got the right tip and then went back and tried for the left side. I pulled hard on the brakes and released just as he was attacking making the wing pop out with a snapping sound that scared him off. It was quite a strange experience and I was a little worried that it had ripped a hole in my wing but I didn’t want to land to check it out and not be able to take off again.

The wind was still quite strong and Daniel had arrived and I could see him and Max trying to take off in it. Soon all 3 of us were flying but it was nearly an hour before anyone else managed to take off.

I flew right along the ridge near Andradas and could feel some thermals starting to form. It took nearly 2 hours but I managed to get into some strong thermals and get up to 3000m and into the clouds. As soon as I hit 3000m I had already seen some clouds forming all the way out toward Pinhal so I decided it was time to turn and make a break.

The first 10 minutes I just dropped and didn’t hit a single upward air current, but as I was getting down to around 2000m I found another thermal and rose back up. I didn’t have anyone to pick me up if I landed anywhere far from the main highway so I had to play safe, but the sky above the highway was quite a blue patch. I steered left of the highway and followed the ridgeline round to Pinhal catching thermals up to 3000m and then flying forward til I found the next one. It took another hour but I was soon approaching Pinhal.

The sky was blue over Pinhal, but I was tired, cold, as I had forgotten my gloves, and needed a toilet break, so I was happy to land in a small field about 3 blocks from my house. Plenty of small children came out to see and helped me fold my glider. I could see a few other gliders that had caught up passing overhead, but walked home happy.

Total flight time: 3h

Forced Exit

I had been in São Paulo this morning and got back a little earlier than I had expected, so I decided to sneak up the hill and see if I could get in a quick flight. It had been a nice afternoon but by the time I got up the hill it was about 4pm and the wind had died almost completely. I wanted to fly, even if it was just going to be a short flight so I talked to Ademar about driving the car down to pick me up.

As I was getting ready to take off from the southern ramp Mário and a few other pilots started turning up. It seems I wasn’t the only one who had the idea of a quick afternoon flight. Soon there were 8 of us prepping our kit on the ramp. The wind was very light and although we all had hopes it would pick up, nobody wanted to wait.

Mario took off first and I went right behind him. It was a completely uneventful flight to the southern landing spot that reminded me of my first few flights over a year ago. I have now flown 3 or 4 flights with my new wing however and the glide ratio and speed in the air I feel haven’t changed at all. I wanted to feel what was different so as I got above the pond before the landing spot I pulled in the right brake and entered a spiral. I made it a bit faster than I had done before but I had only done a few turns and was rapidly approaching the ground so I released the brake and it didn’t seem to come out by itself. I then pulled the left brake to pull it out and had to do so harder than I was expecting. It came out and I braked the right side to control the exit, but it seems I had forced it out a little too quickly, or controlled it a little less than I should have as a wave raced through the glider with a loud wapping sound.

I pendulated slightly and then made my approach in to land. I swooped in with a bit of speed and braked hard to land well. Mário and I went back up the hill to drop Ademar off and pick up Mário’s 4x4 before heading home.

Total flight time: 10mins

Low Pressure

Jussara and I got up the hill a little before 2pm after having watched the end of the All Whites world cup match at the Baiana. It had been really windy yesterday and I had waited all afternoon for it do drop without luck, so even though it was blowing northwesterly today I had to give it a shot.

The wind was light and some pilots had flown in the morning with varying degrees of success. I saw Fabinho as I arrived and he told me the pressure had just dropped and the thermals were finally starting to take effect.

The ramp was almost deserted but I saw 2 pilots taking off from the southwestern ramp and they went straight into a thermal. I raced to get ready and inflated my glider low on the southwestern ramp. It came up normally and I spun round expecting to be lifted by the wind. It came a little slower than I had expected, but as soon as I was flying I started into the thermal activity. It was stronger than I had thought and I was soon rising at 1.5-2.3m/s.

The air was pretty turbulent and I kept popping in and out of the thermal but in a couple of minutes I was 400m above the ramp. With the conditions dodgy as they were I didn’t feel much like hanging around, and I also wanted to make the flight quick so I could watch the brazilian world cup game, so I headed out over the southern landing spot.

I had only passed through descending pockets on my way out there, which was a little downputting, but I was still at the level of the ramp when I got there, so I decided to play around a bit instead of trying to get somewhere else.

I had watched several instructional videos on wingovers yesterday and thought I should give it a good go to see if I could get it right after last weeks failed effort. I started a progressive turn to the right with plenty of weight shift. I then shifted my weight to the high side and waited for the glider to swing down before braking up the other side. I tried 3 times, and 1 of them I pulled harder on the brakes and felt the glider dive with a lot more energy into the turn. It was a good feeling but I worried a bit about how I would come out the other side, and slowed down a bit which threw me off.

I had then lost plenty of height and turned into the wind to land. The wind at ground level was stronger than I expected and I inched forward and dropped down quite quickly to land in the valley.

I packed up and waited for Jussara to arrive before racing off to Swisstool to see the game with Fernando and Gina.

Total flight time 15mins

Giving Something Back

Daniel, Andre, Angélica, Alan, Carol, Jussara and I got up the hill a little after midday. It had been pretty cold in the morning but the sun was shining bright with a light southerly breeze so we were expecting to see some good thermals.

When we got there though we only saw 2 pilots flying, but everyone else was getting ready. Daniel and I prepped up and he took off first. I had to wait in line as there were several pilots ready to take off at the same time, and by the time I was flying Daniel had already bombed out in the southern landing spot.

I didn’t want to have the same fate so I looked to Gilmar and some of the other top pilots who had just taken off to see which route they had taken. I followed them to a solid thermal above the dairy farm and circled my way back up to the level of the ramp. The thermal then started to die out and I went back in direction of the ramp to see if I could land back up there but I heard Xuxa telling Marquinho on the radio that it was pretty turbulent and to stay away.

I tried doing a few wingovers but with my hangover from the night before I couldn’t seem to get my head around it and ended up just doing a small spiral in front of the ramp. The new wing seemed much slower to come out of the spiral, and I didn’t want to push it, especially so close to everyone, and I ended up losing quite a bit of height.

I then struggled on for about 20 minutes trying to get back up without success. I noticed the new wing is a little more sensitive in the thermals and I have to move my body a lot more in the harness to acompany the movements of the wing. I circled round and round in tight with Fabinho and Gilmar trying to get the same lines they were, but they seemed to always gain a little more height than I did by opening and closing the radius to go through different bubbles.

After a while I got tired and decided to head toward the landing spot. On my way I thought that the first thermal we had tried had been idle a long time in the sun and could have started up again. I detoured over to check it out and sure enough it was just starting. It was weak and I only managed to maintain my height for the first minute or so and then it started. As I started to rise I could see all the other pilots who were still flying notice and come over to join me. I felt kind of good that instead of following the other pilots to find the thermals I was actually showing them one.

I then cruised in and joined Daniel at the southern landing spot where we packed up before heading to the Baiana for a late lunch.

Total flight time: 1h