Knee

Does my body remember how to land? (Francisco Grande, Casa Grande, Arizona)

The test flight above on the Wills Wing T2C 154 was my first flight that would include a foot landing since I ruptured my posterior cruciate ligament, torn my medial collateral ligament, tore up my hamstrings (muscle and tendons), cracked my tibia, and did soft tissue damage to my ankle on February 29th.  I was a bit apprehensive hoping that the landing would be uneventful.

I didn't want to have to run it out, as I can't run so well yet.  I didn't want to pound it in, as I didn't think that the leg could take a pounding.  I didn't want to twist my ankle or knee stepping in a hole of some sort, ripping up my MCL's.  No desire to hyper extend my leg as there was no PCL to stop that.

I put on my DonJoy brace as a prophylactic measure to stabilize the MCL and the PCL, in much the same way the Motocross guys who do the big aerial jumps put on these exact same braces to keep from damaging their knees.

I wasn't sure I would remember how to foot land (it is so different than landing on your wheels).  I just came in straight and did everything in the manner that I had four thousand times before.  Adding the little touch of going monkey and bringing the glider down quickly to get it into ground effect.  I find that I just have so much feel and control for the glider with my feet when I'm a few feet off the ground.

I let my feet drop, waited till the glider slowed down and then flared for a nice landing in no wind.  Easy as pie and no stress at all on my knee.  Let's hope I can continue doing those kinds of landings throughout the week.

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