Learning to Fly

Titanic’s Maiden Voyage

Guto, Jussara and I had spent the day cleaning the bach and getting everything ready for the party so when we finally made it up the hill it was after 4pm. After months of waiting my new wing was finally waiting for me up there though, so I wasn’t going to miss the chance to test it out. There was no wind at all and we were going to have to do alpine starts off the southern ramp.

The wing is an Ellus II M which Thiago had been flying for the last 2 years. I had always thought it was in great shape, but when I looked at it again I began to notice a few small patches, and the lines seemed smooth from age. I was without an accelerator as well as I had sold mine with my Prymus and I feel naked flying without one.

I was a little nervous taking off alpine with strange equipment but I didn’t want to miss the chance. The lines are a little different in that there is a seperate part of the A riser for pulling in the ears, but I managed to pull the glider up straight and took off without any problems. I gave a pull on the brakes before take off as the wing was advancing and noticed that my pull might have been a bit hard for the new wing, but it didn’t affect it to much.

Once flying and with no accelerator I had plenty of time to inspect the wing before getting close to the southern landing spot. I could see a few patches in it and a few pieces of grass inside it that needed cleaning. Flying in a straight line it didn’t seem at all different to the Prymus II, so I felt I needed to try something a little different.

As I got over the landing area I decided to do a few wingovers. I started right with my body weight and then left and used a bit of brake to help. The pendulums were getting bigger and bigger but it just didn’t feel right and I wasn’t sure what I was doing wrong. On about the 4th pendulum rocking up to the left I tried adding a bit of outside break to see if it would help, but I knew instantly I had screwed up. The wing lost momentum and the left side folded up about 40-50%. What was left raced forward in a dive and I pulled on the brake slightly to secure it and it eventually opened out again. It opened out a little more slowly than my Prymus had done which was a little disconcerting at the time, but I was about 300m above the landing area so I knew I had time.

I spun round and did a few smaller curves into land to stop me from thinking about my mistake. Guto and I then packed up and went back to the bach with Jussara to get the party started.

Total flight time: 5mins