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topic: Joe Greblo (52 articles)

Hang Gliding Renaissance?

March 27, 2018, 8:19:04 EDT

Hang Gliding Renaissance?

The committee

David Glover|James Bradley|Jayne DePanfilis|Joe Greblo|Mike Meier|PG|Steven "Steve" Pearson|USHPA

James Bradley <<jb183>> writes:

Before the recent USHPA board meeting in Golden, Colorado, there were two several-hour sessions about creating a new future for hang gliding. Led by Bruce Weaver and facilitated by me, they were also attended by Matt Taber, Jayne DePanfilis, David Glover, Paul Murdoch, Martin Palmaz, Joe Greblo, Steve Pearson, John Harris and Nick Greece. They weren't official USHPA sessions, just some of us sitting down in a room for the first time.

These notes are mine and do not necessarily represent the thoughts of everyone in the room, though we had a pretty united look at it.

I believe the success of this effort will depend on

1. A real willingness to change, including things we/you might not feel like changing

2. A real willingness to experiment, try new things that no one has tried, learn from what happens and try again

3. Serious time and effort from volunteers who are already busy with other things in their lives

4. Some good luck that we can’t anticipate, but that #1-3 might put us in the way of.

Here’s a sketch of what we did:

(1) Identified issues: then moved on, because focusing on what’s wrong leads only to incremental changes

(2) Drafted a “success fantasy”: it’s 6 years from now and our efforts have gone very well, what does hang gliding look like in the US?

(3) Grouped the qualitative success fantasy elements into categories so we could consider approaches to each

(4) Teased out “First Steps" to do now that might have a chance of leading to the 6 year goals being realized in 6 years; all of these are experiments

(5) Made individual commitments to accomplishing all of the identified First Steps, by July 15 of this year.

Among those commitments was one by Steve Pearson of Wills Wing, to create a beginner hang glider model that is much easier to launch and land. A few days later Mike Meier of Wills Wing sent a note to a small list suggesting that as hang gliders have chased more performance they have become much more difficult to fly—ever since 1975! I’ll let him decide when to share his detailed thoughts more widely, but he appears to agree that among current gliders even the beginner models are much too hard to launch and land, meaning they are dangerous and therefore require a high skill level to teach (high skill at both teaching and hang gliding). With this in mind our conversation included a fundamental reimagining of how hang gliding is taught and learned in the beginning stages, looking toward making it much easier to start and run a hang glider flight school than it is today, including the equipment, skills, planning and business prospects. What if it were easy enough that a moderately experienced hang glider pilot could get their instructor rating, buy a complete package of gear including teaching manuals and student workbooks, and start a flight school on any flat piece of ground with excellent student fun and safety?

We also had a frank discussion of the past and current culture of hang gliding, which has often not been inclusive, even of new hang pilots. Of course it’s far from everyone who has acted this way, but negative interactions are unfortunately the most memorable. Personally I’ll never forget a hang glider pilot screaming “no frame no brain!!” during one of my first paraglider launches in New England in 2007, and I don’t remember anything else about that day.

Culture change is hard. This piece alone might need disciplined determination from every US hang glider pilot, not just to be welcoming and inclusive yourself, but to no longer tolerate another hang glider pilot acting like a dick. You have to be willing talk to those people. This difficult effort is required because we don’t have time to wait for a generation to die off.

I hope the whiteboards memorialize most of our discussion, and as they were aimed at the people who were there they might be hard to follow. I encourage you to contact your colleagues who were in the room to fill you in. Most especially, if you would like to participate in this effort to reinvigorate hang gliding, please contact Bruce Weaver, who is leading the charge, at bruce (at) kittyhawk (dot) com.

I believe two things are vital to remember:

The age profile curve of USHPA’s hang glider membership means that we will see dramatic drops in hang gliding numbers over the next few years, even if our efforts are successful. We have to remember to measure our success by other metrics than whether the blue line continues to slope down for awhile. It will, that's out of our control and it needs to be expected in the plan.

This isn’t going to be a quick fix. It’s going to take a sustained and determined effort by people who are willing to fail.

I came out of the meetings with a lot more optimism about hang gliding’s possible future than I had before we started.

For the whiteboards here: http://ozreport.com/pub/images/HGmtgWhiteboardsMarch2018.zip

Long Way Down

December 4, 2015, 7:46:36 MST

Long Way Down

At Big Sur

Joe Greblo|video

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=45435

Thanks to Joe Greblo. Shot at Big Sur.

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Commercial hang gliding school insurance

August 24, 2015, 8:40:41 MDT

Commercial hang gliding school insurance

The USHPA doesn't provide this, but they help

Joe Greblo|USHPA

The USHPA provides 3rd party liability insurance for individual pilots and individual instructors. They are covered. It also provides site insurance and event insurance (again 3rd party liability) to cover landowners and meet organizers. Participants in events are also covered if they sign waivers.

The USHPA does not provide commercial 3rd party liability insurance to hang gliding schools and businesses. The schools and business can acquire their own, and I'll bet that they get it from First Flight just like the USHPA does.

Recently which ever insurance company provided insurance that Joe Greblo purchased (and was required for him to run his training school at Dockweiler beach) was not going to renew Joe's school's policy. Even more recently with the help of the USHPA, and I assume Mark Forbes who is the chairman of the USHPA insurance committee, Joe's policy was extended for another six months.

The USHPA, and again I assume Mark, is working on a longer term solution past the extension.

The general availability and cost of 3rd party liability insurance is always a concern of the USHPA BOD. Our membership dues primarily go for this insurance. Insurance rates are determined by the history of claims and court actions. If there is concern about how things are playing out with our sports and liability, it can affect us all.

The USHPA doesn't talk in public about what is going on behind the scenes.

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Joe Greblo, still helping flightless birds »

November 13, 2014, 7:41:52 PST

Joe Greblo, still helping flightless birds

John Oliver misses the point

David Glover|Joe Greblo|video

http://youtu.be/9PK-netuhHA?t=56s

In the first minute or so. Thanks to David Glover.

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Wills Wing Alpha »

July 31, 2014, 8:30:19 MDT

Wills Wing Alpha

Why

Joe Greblo|record|Steven "Steve" Pearson|weather|Wills Wing

Steven Pearson <<Steve>> writes:

I was just reading the Alpha thread on the OzReport forum and I thought you might be interested in the conversations that motivated me to start development and why I think products in this category are long overdue.

If we could reduce the training time to become proficient enough for a first high flight by 25% then we could retain a significantly higher number of prospective pilots. This is especially the case in areas of the country with seasonal and irregular weather patterns. In many cases, obtaining the last day of training before solo takes weeks or months when you consider the constraints of weather, work, family, money, and other scheduling issues. This of course is compounded by longer delays leading to remedial and recurrency training.

Pilot skills and hang glider technology have evolved far beyond what most of us even imagined in the early years of the sport. Consider the mind-boggling cross country distances, the format and task selection a modern hang gliding contest, the monster loops and rolls in aerobatics, and the extraordinary airworthiness and controllability of the modern hang glider. Somehow that progress has unfairly diminished the simple but remarkable achievement of simple free-flight, like launching from a modest mountain site and gliding to a controlled landing below. I would argue that this event alone challenges the imagination and life experience of many non-pilots and is worthy of celebration. Who among us doesn't remember their first high flight, or even the first time our feet left the ground for the briefest interval?

In 2011, John Harris at Kitty Hawk Kites hosted an event in associated with "Soaring 100" to commemorate Orville Wright's soaring record of 9 min 45 second which was unmatched for the following 10 years. A number of distinguished pilots and designers from the early years of hang gliding contributed some fun and interesting presentations. Ken de Russy talked at length about the merits of the standard Rogallo which as we all know was neither the first foot launched aircraft or the most airworthy but was unquestionably the catalyst for the dynamic and exponential growth of hang gliding in the 70's.

In fact, hang gliding has done nothing but diminish in participation since that time. There are innumerable reasons for that decline but the point I'm trying to make is that the attraction and joy of free-flight is unrelated to performance. We often have the expectation that more performance will result in better experiences when more often there is an inverse correlation. In my experience, dune gooning on a small sandy ridge on a single surface glider (and similar activities) is as much fun as racing a competition task on a high performance glider. As much as I enjoy flying T2Cs, I wouldn't give up hang gliding if I was restricted to lower performance hang gliders nor do I think I'd have any less fun.

The apex of the decline of hang gliding was the early 80s when the only model that Wills Wimng produced (like many of our competitors) was certainly more challenging than a T2C. We learned a little in the following years with the introduction of the easier to fly Sport model in 1986 and more significantly the development of the Falcon starting in 1993. A few years ago, Joe Greblo told me that the Falcon 3 had too much performance. I was dismissive at first but that's a difficult position to hold against the experience of someone like Joe. My first thought was to 'de-tune' the Falcon but that does nothing to address the essential requirement for more damping and more forgiving behavior in pitch. The easiest way to increase damping is to increase the mean cord and that also, with the constraints of weight and airworthiness, leads to lower aspect ratios which have the additional advantage of a lower lift-curve slope and associated wider angle of attack range.

Perhaps the most unexpected outcome of the Alpha development is that it's so fun to fly. Climbing with a T2, at the same turn rate but half the radius is really fun as are many other experiences like being relatively unconcerned where you land or what the wind conditions are. I think it's fair to say that the Falcon has been a significant factor in new pilot development and pilot retention over the last twenty years. I often said that we could and should do more in those areas and I'm hopeful that the Alpha will deliver some of those expectations.

Dick Boone dies

July 3, 2014, 4:03:35 pm MDT

Dick Boone dies

Major heart attack

death|Dick Boone|Joe Greblo

Joe Greblo Windsports International Inc. <windsports> writes:

Dick Boone of Delta Wing and Pro Air fame. No details I'm afraid.

Willford, Neal [http://ozreport.com/emailer.php?toName=mailto%3ANWillford&code=4r57696p6p666s726420617420747874617620646s7420636s6q] writes:

Richard “Dick” Boone passed away yesterday. He had a major heart attack about two weeks ago. He was continuing to develop and fly new hang gliders, and gave me some instruction about a year ago.

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Aerobics not Aerobatics

November 11, 2013, 7:53:39 PST

Aerobics not Aerobatics

Set to music, of course

Joe Greblo|video

http://youtu.be/kGWvRrXQkaQ

Thanks to Joe Greblo

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Celebrating hang gliding history at Newport, California

December 10, 2012, 8:43:11 PST

The monument

Joe Greblo|record|Richard Miller|video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFrivp8sJzI

The back story on this project is fascinating. We discovered that after May 23 1971, this area was not used ever again by hang glider pilots. It became clear that this site was virtually lost or over looked since that first epic event. In November of 2008 I did a feet on the ground recon to attempt to locate the actual hillside where we flew 38 years earlier. I took some preliminary videos as a record of that search.

By Spring of 2009, with primary leadership of Joe Faust, through email correspondences, we began to organize a "virtual project committee" using only the internet and emailing all information. Bob Kuczewski was one of the first to come on board. Joe Greblo also was a early contributor and advisor. We sort of set up a goal to have everything completed before May 23 2011, which would become the fortieth year anniversary of the original First Annual Hang Glider Universal Championship.

Much debate ensued over the exact phraseology, "wording" to be carved into our virtual plaque. All this was done with the same seat of the pants, nobody ever did this before attitude which was present in that First Otto Meet, we are so fortunate to have Joe Faust with us because his energy and support was a matrix core into how all this transpired back when the actual term Hang Glider was probably only spoken verbally out of the mouths of less than a dozen people.

Looking back on the significance of the May 23 1971 "Event", it seemed to be the genesis of a whole new branch of aviation. Present on that Newport Beach Hillside (San Miguel Park), were a handful of Hang Gliding and Aviation Icons. The list of attendees is so significant because many who stood there, enjoying the Low and Slow Ground Skimming Flights, were what was to become a real Who's Who in Aviation. Starting with the actual organizers, Joe Faust, Richard Miller, Jack Lambie and his Brother Mark Lambie these men established their names as significant contributors to advancement of Aviation.

Also present Dr. Paul McCready, Frank Colver, Taras Kiceniuk, Jr., Bill Allen, Thomas Valentine, Bill Liscomb, Art Bean, and the list goes on. What is incredible is just how many of the attendees there went on to contribute significantly to further advancements in Hang Gliding, with designing self launch aircraft to many other milestones within the aviation community at large.

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Youtubers go tandem with Joe Greblo

June 1, 2012, 10:18:31 pm EDT

Youtubers go tandem with Joe Greblo

Their own channel

Joe Greblo|video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcheXxaVFzY&feature=youtube_gdata

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=27945

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Leroy Grannis hang gliding photos on auction

November 8, 2011, 8:12:27 PST

Leroy Grannis hang gliding photos on auction

This coming weekend

Joe Greblo|photo

http://www.liveauctioneers.com/search?q=Leroy+Grannis&addfq=

Joe Greblo writes:

Leroy Grannis passed away this year and some of his hang gliding photos have found their way to a gallery auction. Since he was a famous sports photographer that specialized in hang gliding and surfing, these photos may be desirable to many pilots.

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Nickelodeon Green Screen shot

May 20, 2010, 8:48:39 EDT

Nickelodeon Green Screen shot

I wonder what the background will be

Joe Greblo

Joe Greblo sends this shot used for Nickelodeon:

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The flightless birds return

May 4, 2010, 8:32:50 EDT

The birds

They're back on air

Joe Greblo

http://ozreport.com/12.111#5

http://ozreport.com/13.117#0

Joe Greblo writes:

The ad agency is negotiating with us to re- air the Washington Lottery hang gliding commercial for another year. It won the award for the best TV commercial in America, as well as a Silver Lion (3rd best) at Cannes.

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The USHPA mentor program

November 30, 2009, 9:00:05 PST

The USHPA mentor program

So far only seven mentors

Joe Greblo|Pat Denevan|PG|Steve Wendt|USHPA|Wayne Michelsen|weather

Let's get with the program.

The Mentor program: http://www.ushpa.aero/info_mentors.asp

http://www.ushpa.aero/faq_mentors.asp

What is the USHPA Mentor program?

The USHPA Mentor program supports advancing pilots by pairing them with more experienced pilots who can introduce them to the local flying community, introduce them to new sites, help them evaluate weather and other local conditions, develop flight plans and help them have safe and successful flights.

What is the purpose of the USHPA Mentor program?

The Mentor program helps advancing pilots progress their flying and decision making skills while introducing them to new sites. Also, the USHPA Strategic Plan recognizes there is a large loss of members after they achieve their Novice and Intermediate ratings. The Mentor program attempts to keep pilot interest so they remain in the sport longer, and hopefully, permanently.

Why do we need a Mentor program?

As explained above, the Strategic Plan addresses the problems associated with the erosion of our pilot population. The Mentor program helps USHPA retain pilots by keeping them connected with other more senior pilots and exposing them to the camaraderie and pleasure of free flying.

Who is a USHPA Mentor?

A USHPA Mentor is a USHPA pilot appointed by an Examiner. Hang gliding pilots are appointed as hang gliding Mentors and paragliding pilots as paragliding Mentors.

What are the requirements of a Mentor?

A Mentor is an Intermediate or Advanced rated pilot. A Mentor does not need to be a rating official (Instructor or Observer), though a Mentor has many of the same qualities as a rating official and therefore rating officials may be good Mentors.

A Mentor must be practiced at judging pilot skills and provide advice to help a pilot stay within safe boundaries.

A Mentor must be able to easily communicate and have a friendly and supportive demeanor.

How do we identify pilots to be Mentors?

USHPA chapters are encouraged to nominate pilots as Mentors to support their local flying community and help pair Mentors with advancing pilots.

This program has been going for two years now. Only seven pilots are signed up as mentors. That would indicate that the program has failed to meet its objectives. Can you help redesign the program so that it can meet those objectives?

In order to grow the hang gliding membership the USHPA needs to retain members, and they have indentified an area where there is large membership loss. We all know that the transition from student in the care of an instructor to a hang 2 on your own is difficult, dangerous and lonely. This is a weakness that this program is trying to address.

It is my understand that Wayne Michelsen <Wmichelsen> is the architect of the program. You can contact him with your suggestions. Here are a few of mine:

1) Identify a personal incentive for the mentor and provide it.

2) Talk to successful instructors and ask how they deal with this issue. Contact Matt Taber, Joe Greblo, Rob and Diane, Pat Denevan and Steve Wendt, for example, and see what they think.

3) Look at the balance between burdens, sticks, and carrots. Put in more carrots.

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USHPA Secretary reports on the BOD meeting

March 30, 2009, 8:37:47 EDT

USHPA Secretary reports on the BOD meeting

An unofficial report

Connie Locke|Dave Broyles|Dennis Pagen|Joe Greblo|Mike Haley|PG|record|Rich Hass|Steve Kroop|USHPA

Connie Locke|Dave Broyles|Dennis Pagen|Joe Greblo|Jon James|Mike Haley|PG|record|Rich Hass|Steve Kroop|USHPA

Rich Hass «richhass» writes:

Our first day of meetings started in a full-scale blizzard. Many of the directors are having a very tough time getting here. Several have been forced to cancel. My notes below are from the handful of committee meetings I attended. Please note, these are my own personal notes and are not vetted by committee chairs or anyone. The exact wording of motions, for example, should be close but the wording may differ when the chairs prepare their reports.

Site Committee

Mark Gaskill did an excellent job of describing his experience in working on the Point-of-the-Mountain project. Many of his ideas will be incorporated into the site development guide that Jon James has put a lot of work into. The Site committee will recommend adoption of the Site Development Guide.

Bob Kuczewski attended the meeting, asking for Site Committee support for adding the Torrey Hawks to the Soaring Council. The Site Committee did not agree with Bob's premise that the best place for resolution of hang gliding and paragliding issues is at the Soaring Council. There was a strong preference for both hang gliding and paragliding pilots to work within the framework of our own flying community and not involve public officials or members of the Soaring Council. The Site Committee turned down Bob's request for support.

Safety and Training Committee

Much time was devoted to the role of the accident reporting system and the need for confidentiality. Dave Broyles, chair, believes the system will only have integrity if 100% confidentiality can be assured. There are conflicts with the need to report accidents that may involve 3rd-party liability to USHPA counsel and USHPA's insurance carrier. These motions came out of this discussion:

PARAPHRASE of the MOTION: (Dave Broyles) Joe Greblo and Dave Broyles will direct the Executive Director to ask Tim Herr (USHPA lawyer) to review the safety reporting program and determine if USHPA can protect the integrity of the reporting program. (or words to that effect…) PASSED

PARAPHRASE of the MOTION: (Dick Heckman) Notification of requirement that instructors report accidents be included in renewal material. PASSED The term, 'Instructor Administrator' will be established and other terms dropped from the Standard Operating Procedures documents.

PARAPHRASE of the MOTION: To revise the titles for USHPA officials responsible for issuing ratings for a common terminology. The new term will be ‘Instructor Administrator’. The position of Special Observer is scheduled to be phased out at the end of the year. The effect of this change is that only instructors will be able to issue H1, H2, P1, and P2 ratings.

Executive Committee

The EC discussed the need to have a plan in place to address budgetary shortfalls in the event the economy takes a toll on membership renewals. Mark Forbes and I will prepare recommendations for potential cuts, should they become necessary. At the moment, USHPA is operating ahead of budget and there is no immediate danger.

The EC discussed the pros and cons of allowing USHPA meetings to be recorded by anyone. At Tim Herr's suggestion, the EC adopted the following resolution:

PARAPHRASE of the MOTION: (MF/LT) No recording devices can be used at USHPA meetings without unanimous prior consent of the participants at the meeting. PASSED by unanimous consent.

Regarding Torrey Pines, the EC is unhappy with the way the dispute has been handled, to say the least. The EC did not feel that it should focus on this issue at the Spring Meeting when there are committees (and an open session) where this should more appropriately be addressed--if it is addressed at all.

PARAPHRASE of the MOTION: The EC requests that Bob K. take his request to the appropriate committee within USHPA and ask the committee to review and make a recommendation to the full board if the committee deems it is appropriate. PASSED by unanimous consent.

Paul Montville asked for EC support in reallocating a portion of the marketing budget in order to establish a better financial arrangement for USHPA with the marketing coordinator. This change will create a retainer than can be terminated by either party.

PARAPHRASE of the MOTION: To allow the ED to reallocate the budget to allow for this change. PASSED by unanimous consent.

Finance Committee

There wasn't a whole lot to discuss at this meeting. We did consider one financial request:

PARAPHRASE of the MOTION (LT/BH) To investigate the cost and feasibility of digitizing the USHPA film archive. If it is deemed to be a reasonable and prudent cost, Finance Committee will make a recommendation to the EC. Passed w/o dissent.

Competition Committee

My complete, unabridged notes are as follows:

Dunlap PG National Meet—Both Jugdeep and Connie Locke have had a tough time communicating. JA has asked to have Connie dropped as a co-organizer and meet director. Connie Locke believes this comp will be in jeopardy if the local flying community is not involved. Connie Locke is that connection. Connie Locke does not want to be taken off and believes her commitment to the landowners and locals.

PARAPHRASE of the MOTION: (Dick Heckman) To reject both requests for changes to the Dunlap sanctioning application. PASSES w/o dissent.

PARAPHRASE of the MOTION: (Rich H./Dick Heckman) To Request that the co-meet directors agree to binding arbitration with the Urs K. and Dave Wills as to how the meet will be managed. Both parties must agree by noon tomorrow to binding arbitration and the binding arbitration must be substantially complete within one week. If the parties do not agree to participate in the mediation, the sanctioning will be pulled. PASSES w/o dissent. Mike Haley will call Jug and let him know what the CC has decided.

Competition Validity Discussion

In a discussion of Greg Babush’s proposal, Mike Haley believes points are only available from the top-15 pilots. Rob Sporer believes we need to listen to comp pilot feedback, not worry about points for the lower-tier pilots that aren’t affected by NTSS standings.

PARAPHRASE of the MOTION (Steve Kroop/Rob Sporer) Use the existing validity system through 2009 and until a new system is fully evaluated. Dennis Pagen suggests withdrawing the motion until the revised proposal can be fine tuned to adjust for counting the top 15 pilots only or a way to push the values down further in the rankings. Steve Kroop wants input from the competition community (pilots and meet organizers) before voting on a proposal.

Steve Kroop agrees to withdraw his motion.

Dennis feels the current system has too steep of a curve, there is room to move the curve down, bring more pilots into the calculation. (Steve Kroop agrees.) Dennis liked the Babush compromise except upon learning that the calc only counted the top 15 pilots.

PARAPHRASE of the MOTION: (Pagen/Hass) Table to validity issue until later in the meeting in order to give committee members an opportunity to fine-tune the Babush proposal. PASSES w/o dissent. Dennis remembers that Riss made a proposal which Steve modified. Dennis’ original proposal involved normalizing each meet to 1,000. Steve suggested normalizing the results for each day.

PARAPHRASE of the MOTION: (Pagen/Kroop) To choose the national hang gliding champion from a combination of King Mtn. and Big Spring based on the total sum of the daily score of the pilots. These daily scores will be normalized to 1000. The national champion in each class will be chosen from the combination of both meets provided; a minimum of 10 class 1 pilots compete in both meets; a minimum of 3 female pilots compete in both meets; a minimum of 5 class 5 pilots compete in both meets; otherwise the national champion will be chosen from the King Mtn. meet for 2009. PASSED w/o dissent but with 3 abstentions.

PARAPHRASE of the MOTION: (Pagen/Grubbs) To approve Josh Cohen’s scoring system for scoring the paragliding nationals provided; the definition of ‘fully valid’ shall be 900 points; and provided the sentence “for each event, the first 7…” shall be struck. PASSED w/o dissent.

PARAPHRASE of the MOTION: (Kroop) The Competition Committee will only accept sanctioning applications with a single meet organizer. The signor of the sanctioning application shall be the meet organizer, who has primary responsibility for the meet. PASSED w/1 dissenting vote.

Closing Comments for Day 1

Being an optimist, I am reasonably confident that the Comp Committee will find an acceptable compromise that can be voted on and implemented tomorrow. Steve Kroop isn't so sure. We were both at the same meeting. Steve was talking and I was listening, I should add, which may account for our different takes! Steve and others did a very good job of representing the feelings of the comp pilots, I should add. Yes, there continues to be mistrust and some confusion over what is being proposed but the big picture isn't all that far off, in my optimistic opinion. I really want to see this resolved with a common-ground solution when we go home tomorrow. USHPA looses if we don't.

Rich continues later:

The Competition Workgroup and Competition Committee was unsuccessful in getting a revised validity scoring system in place for several reasons (in my opinion). First, none of the counter-proposals were well prepared. They had elements of vagueness and there were some important elements that just weren't ready to go. If everyone had tried, they could have worked through these issues and prevailed but there was limited common ground and not much interest in working together. It is very unfortunate, in my opinion, as there was room for a win-win solution.

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Joe Greblo launching

March 23, 2009, 9:21:06 EDT

Joe Greblo launching

Just walk off the hill

Joe Greblo|video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQGUm9Ay_Vc

Careful pitch control. Thanks to Greg Angsten.

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Keeping your hands low

March 13, 2009, 8:46:39 EDT

Keeping your hands low

How about some control on landing?

Belinda Boulter|Joe Greblo|Quest Air

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=14994&start=34

Joe Greblo wrote:

Pilots coming in for landing with high hands, are often unable to prevent thermal or gust induced stalls. Clearly the same must be held true on launches.

I don’t know about you, but when launching or landing in turbulent conditions, I want to have the ability to leave the ground at a very low angle of attack, and to do so I need to be able to pull in as much as possible. To do this it’s critical that I keep my hands low on the down tubes.

So in conclusion, I’m not sure about whether these horizontal launches are as safe as upright flight, but I’m sure we’ll find out. I feel very confident about our need to keep our hands low during launches and landing approaches.

Every notice the pilots coming in with their hands three quarters of the way up their down tubes from 200' AGL?

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=14994&start=36

I wrote:

Now, regarding having your hands low. Last summer I was flying in Big Spring at the Big Spring Internationals and on one windy day we flew 215 miles to the north to goal. Coming into land I knew it was very windy and rough. Therefore even as I rotated up in my harness I kept my hands on the base tube and flew it all the way to the ground that way landing on my feet with no step, of course, as the wind was howling.

I also flew on a windy and gusty day at the Bogong Cup in January and came into land with a full warning from Belinda about the gusts at the Mt. Beauty airport. I pulled in hard and was getting bounced around quite a bit as I came down to the right of the asphalt runway in the grass. Just before I touched down, I raised my left had and put it low on the left down tube, within a foot of the base tube. I was very deliberate about keeping it low.

I then moved my right hand from the base tube and just as I touched the right down tube I was hit hard from the right by a gust. While pointed north still as in my approach the glider was moved sideways over 100'. The left corner bracket contacted the runway and was scraped from left to right, again indicating my orientation to the north at ninety degrees to the gust.

The left side of the knuckle on the Don Joy brace that I wear to protect my left knee contacted the runway and one can see the scrapes on it that were there instead of being on my skin or deeper.

The leading edge undersurface panel at the left tip was scraped with three small holes forming. The glider rotated after contact on the left side with the runway about ninety degrees, but I was able to hold it from going over until three pilots ran out to help me.

I believe that if I had kept my right hand on the base tube all the way to the landing (I assume on my feet) that I would have been able to counteract the gust from the right and landed with less incident.

Joe writes in response:

You point out that there are times when changing the hands on the downtubes can be dangerous; especially during landings. You've illustrated a recent bad landing because of it. I couldn't agree more. To me it's like playing Russian roulette. If I change hands near the ground enough times in turbulent air, I will be put out of control at some point. This is why I don't want to change grips or hand positions, or make body position changes whenever I'm in what I call the "danger zone". The danger zone is any place that immediate, positive command and control is a necessity. Clearly that's take off and landings at least. By the way, this is also why sometimes it's dangerous to flare and why pilots need to know how to run out landings.

Discuss Keeping your hands low at the Oz Report forum   link»

Support for the Oz Report classifieds

February 6, 2009, 8:12:50 AEDT

Support for the Oz Report classifieds

Hey, it's a service after all

Joe Greblo|Jonathan Dietch

Jonathan Dietch «res007jc» writes with his generous donation:

Your free classifieds helped me sell another glider today. A Falcon 3 170 that I took cross country yesterday. It's to make room for a Falcon 3 195. I am waiting from Kraig to leave his Malibu 188 with Joe Greblo so I can demo it. I missed my chance last Sunday at Torrey Pines.

Discuss Support for the Oz Report classifieds at the Oz Report forum   link»

The second Sylmar fire

November 15, 2008, 3:05:05 pm PST

The second Sylmar fire

Joe's on the front line again

Joe Greblo

Fire strikes twice. http://ozreport.com/12.204#3

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13988

Chris Smith sends:

Over 200 homes burned last night. Joe Greblo fighting embers off the Windsports club house and moving all the gliders stored there to the LZ. He has been a real hero here for the past few months of fires - he has been here since 10:30 last night.

Discuss The second Sylmar fire at the Oz Report forum   link»

Joe's little birds

June 3, 2008, 12:27:07 pm EDT

Birds

Joe Greblo's flying work with chickens, etc.

Joe Greblo|video

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11874

http://www.coloribus.com/paedia/reels/2008/6/2/512151/view/

Requires Apple Quicktime.

Go here for alternates for Quicktime here: http://free-codecs.com/download/quicktime_alternative.htm .

This is a fantastic video.

Discuss Birds at the Oz Report forum   link»

Joe gets a little chicken

May 12, 2008, 8:39:16 EDT

Chicken

He needs someone to fly with

Joe Greblo

From «Joe Greblo».

Discuss Chicken at the Oz Report forum   link»

Goodbye ⁢Just Fly »

Mon, Nov 5 2007, 8:12:58 am PST

Just Fly

G.W. hangs it up

Highland Aerosports Flight Park|Joe Greblo|Just Fly

G.W. Meadows «gw» writes:

I would like to announce the planned closing of Just Fly. It is with great sadness that I have made the decision to take my last step out of the hang gliding business. The only reason for this is that it's simply time to move on. My passion for hang gliding has waned over the last few years and so I have decided to exit the hang gliding arena. I am happy to announce that the guys at Highland Aerosports in Maryland will take over the distribution of the finest helmets made in hang gliding - the Icaro line - as well as other hang gilding gear that Just Fly offered. This will be a seamless transition as all of the Just Fly product line has been warehoused and shipped from Highland Aerosports (http://www.aerosports.net/) since 1998.

It has been a tremendous honor to work with companies like Icaro from Italy, Aeros from Ukraine, Firebird from Great Britain, Metamorfosi from Italy and Plastiqual from Belgium. I appreciate the business of each and every customer and dealer. I also would like to thank my original partner in Just Fly - Joe Greblo.

At the same time, I would like to give a big thumbs-up to all the hard working hang gliding entrepreneurs out there struggling to make their business work. It's a tough business and passion for it is about the only thing that can keep you going. You have my utmost respect. You are the only hope for our sports.

While not always being a very profitable business to engage in - hang gliding has brought to me - the best friendships a man could ever imagine. To all my friends out there reading this: You're greatly appreciated.

"Count all your blessings - remember your dreams"

G.W. Meadows was the first advertiser in the Oz Report and a great supporter of the Oz Report. We appreciate all the help that he gave us.

Discuss "Goodbye ⁢Just Fly" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Flying in Ecuador

October 31, 2007, 5:47:47 pm PDT

Ecuador

And landing in the water

Jamie Shelden|Joe Greblo|Manfred Ruhmer

http://naughtylawyertravels.blogspot.com/

Flying was awesome again yesterday at Crucita, but the landings weren't the greatest. The problem is that the flying is so great that you never want to land. And, unfortunately, the landing field gets smaller and smaller as the day went on. High tide was an hour later than yesterday, but it was still a few hours too early. There was very little beach left at 4pm when we all decided to land.

Most of us pulled it off ok anyway, but two landed in the surf. The first one was super scary because Jack and I were the only ones there to try to pull him out....and I am already quite afraid of the waves. By the time the second one came in, nearly all of us were on the ground and so we were right there ready to pull her out. The first glider was destroyed, the second one survived, just a little wet.

At another site few hours away the Canoa Ridge Race that starts on Thursday. I will try to do updates to the blog each night or at the latest, the next morning.

Lots of new people here this year - it's cool to see. Kris and Joe Greblo just arrived this afternoon and flew with us today. Also, Scott Orland, another LA pilot. Claudia from Colombia (Manfred's old girlfriend) is also here. So, I actually have some competition for the women's division this year ;-)

Discuss Ecuador at the Oz Report forum     Digg This  Reddit  DelIcioUsdel.icio.us

Dockweiler

August 28, 2007, 8:55:04 MDT

Dockweiler

The beginner sites

Harry Martin|Joe Greblo|Richard Miller|USHGA

Harry Martin «harry» writes:

Here's a bit of history that may interest some folks...

Click on above.

This  is a copy of a water color image I painted for the Dockweiler Beach 34th Anniversary Hang Gliding Reunion Fly-in. This water color was auctioned off as a fund raiser to help preserve the Dockweiler Beach Hang Gliding site in September 2000. Painting was signed by early hang gliding pioneers such as Richard Miller, Paul McCready, Bill Bennett, and others. The image highlights the early plastic and bamboo gliders originally flown at Dockweiler Beach. Check out some of the very low USHGA membership numbers.

I recall that the painting was auctioned off for a very steep price and I do not know who won or where the painting is currently located. The bidding was furious at the end. I recently located the scanned image on CD and thought pilots may be interested in seeing it. There was a write up in Hang Gliding magazine, but I do not believe the painting was ever published.

Joe Greblo was instrumental in organizing the event and to my knowledge continues to work hard at preserving what is left of our precious beginner level flying sites. Without his efforts, I'm quite sure the Dockweiler Beach and other flying sites would have been forever lost to land developers. Fund raising and PR events go a long way in helping to preserve flying sites.

http://www.cafepress.com/hmcartoons/3551383

Discuss Dockweiler at the Oz Report forum     Digg This  Reddit  DelIcioUsdel.icio.us

The three legged stool

May 4, 2007, 1:24:13 pm EDT

Three legs

What makes for a successful hang gliding community (one that is growing).

Blue Sky|Joe Greblo|Lookout Mountain Flight Park|PG|scooter tow|Steve Wendt

Traveling around the world I have had some small opportunities to visit hang gliding communities and to see what makes these communities successful. Most often I am attending hang gliding competitions, which are normally not taking place within active hang gliding communities, but I do spend time outside of competition and have in the past year visited Newcastle, NSW, Australia, Santa Barbara, California, San Bernardino, California, Sylmar, California, Richmond, Virginia, as well as numerous other locations.

It is my very strong impression that there are three major elements that make for a successful hang gliding community. They are: 1) excellent local flying sites, 2) a strong hang gliding club that protects and supports those sites, 3) a dedicated, experienced, and insightful instructor who "feeds the bottom" bringing in new members for the club and community. Now there are other elements which support these three (which I will get into later), but I will concentrate on these three first.

If you don't have a great place to fly, then you are not going to be flying and the primary purpose of the hang gliding community is lost. In San Bernardino it's Marshall and Crestline launches and the Andy Jackson flight park (landing area). In Newcastle it's the many coastal and inland sites within an hour of downtown (sometimes within a couple of minutes). In Richmond (actually northeast of Richmond out in the rural areas), you'll find BlueSky (http://blueskyhg.com) with its flight park where towing provides the way to get into the air.

You've got to have some place to go after you learn to fly. You've got to be able to go flying when the urge arises. You need a good spot that is not all that difficult to go to. The more different spots and the more accessible they are, the better for your community.

Most hang gliding launches and landing areas are not owned by the hang gliding clubs or hang gliding pilots. They are either privately owned by individuals or corporations that allow for our use of these sites, or they are owned by government agencies that have their own agendas. The local hang gliding club is necessary to represent the interests of the local hang gliding community to these other bodies. Or, where the land is owned by the hang gliding club, it is necessary to provide the vehicle for management of that land.

The local club in addition provides a social environment that can strengthen the community. Leaders arise and situations are successfully dealt with further strengthening the community. The Sylmar Hang Gliding Association (http://www.shga.com/), Newcastle Hang Gliding Club (http://www.nhgc.asn.au/), and the Crestline Soaring Society (http://www.crestlinesoaring.org/) are fine examples of clubs that take their responsibilities seriously.

The club at BlueSky is a bit different as its flying site is owned (leased) by one individual, Steve Wendt. The local pilots often belong to the Capital Hill Hang Gliding and Paragliding Club (http://www.chgpa.org/). The club at the flight park is informal and social, providing pilots with a social environment on the ground before and after flights.

The third leg is the instructor. Sylmar has Joe Greblo at Windsports (http://www.windsports.com/index2.html). Marshall has Rob and Diane McKenzie at High Adventure (http://www.flytandem.com/index.htm). Newcastle has Tony Barton at Air Sports (http://www.air-sports.com.au). BlueSky has Steve Wendt (http://blueskyhg.com). Without these very competent instructors there is no renewal of the club or the community. New pilots need to be brought in to enjoy our sport and to bring additional enthusiasm to build the community and protect the sites.

The instructors require instruction sites that allow for new students to learn safely and quickly and those are all available to them at or near these sites. Joe has a dune training site at Dockweiler State Beach Flight Training Park (http://www.windsports.com/beach.html). Rob and Diane teach on the little hill that they built at the Andy Jackson flight park (http://www.flytandem.com/price.htm), the landing area for Marshall and Crestline. Tony Barton teaches on the sand dunes near Newcastle (http://www.air-sports.com.au/courses.html) and with scooter towing. Steve Wendt teaches with scooter towing at Manquin and on the hill at Harrisonburg (http://www.blueskyhg.com/Lessons.aspx?pnlid=3). Having these excellent training sites is crucial to the success of the instructor.

There are many locations that don't have these three vital components for a successful hang gliding community and therefore they don't grow or their growth is not what it should be.

These locations are not the only ones with successful hang gliding communities. Southern New York Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association and FlyHigh (http://www.flyhighhg.com/), Morningside (http://www.flymorningside.com/), Draachen Fliegen Soaring Club (http://members.aol.com/dfscinc/index.htm) and Cloud 9 (http://members.aol.com/cloud9sa/home.htm) , Tennessee Tree Toppers (http://www.treetoppers.org/) and Lookout Mountain (http://www.hangglide.com/), Wings of Rogallo (http://www.wingsofrogallo.org/) and Mission Soaring (http://www.hang-gliding.com/), exhibit similar characteristics, for example. I'm sure that there are numerous others that I haven't visited.

Billboard

December 14, 2006, 7:16:22 PST

Billboard

Using the symbol of hang gliding

Joe Greblo



Thanks to Joe Greblo for sending in this shot of a billboard near Sylmar.

Discuss Billboard at the Oz Report forum

Spot Landing Contests - testing the "wrong" skill?

Thu, Dec 14 2006, 3:13:42 pm GMT

How about a run out before the flare?

Spot landing

Joe Greblo|spot landing

Do spot landing contests with their requirement that the landing spot be the place where you first touch the ground emphasize the "wrong" landing technique? That is do they say that the coolest landing skill is the ability to flare and then land with a no stepper, as opposed to touching down and then flaring?

Perhaps the landing first technique is a "better" approach. One that can be more consistently applied, is safer, more available to all pilots. If that's true, teaching pilots to flare first may just be pushing more pilots out of the sport and helping its demise.

Joe Greblo argues that the "landing first before the flare" approach greatly extends the flare window making a difficult skill, timing the flare, much easier to learn. The flare window opens up and the student can flare without the chance that they will flare up and off the ground.

Sure the flare first and then land technique looks cool, but is it really hurting the sport?

See here: https://OzReport.com/10.227#0 and for discussion here: https://OzReport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5096

Discuss "Spot Landing Contests - testing the "wrong" skill?" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Use your feet as your rudder

November 28, 2006, 9:52:51 PST

Rudder

Sometimes you can actually just yaw your glider

Joe Greblo

Joe Greblo, he of flaring after you land fame, was telling me about another technique that he has been encouraging his students to use. He reminds me that while hang gliders don't have rudders while they are in the air, they do when you are on the ground. With your feet on the ground you can yaw your glider to balance it. You are not restricted to just roll and pitch movements when you are on the ground.

This additional axis which you can use to control your glider can be used successfully when you are approaching launch, on launch, and when landing, if you get your feet on the ground. For example, say you are coming in to land, close to the ground, one of your wings gets popped up. You have the choice of controlling your glider by weight shift (the roll axis), or getting you feet on the ground and then yawing the glider to straighten it back out.

Which one you would choose to use depends on how fast you are going and how close to the ground you are. The wing popping up action most often happens when you have slowed down and are about to put your feet down. Instead of trying to save the landing with weight shift or an aggressive flare, just lower the angle of attack and run out the landing, while you yaw the nose toward the lifting wing.

Discuss Rudder at the Oz Report forum

Saturday at Kagel

November 25, 2006, 10:08:05 pm PST

Kagel

Cu's a popping and this apparently only happens in the winter in LA

Joe Greblo|PG|USHPA

http://ozreport.com/data/kmz/SylmarLZ.kmz

http://ozreport.com/data/kmz/MainKagelLaunch.kmz

www.shga.com

After a good day on the Friday after Thanksgiving, four dozen or so pilots showed up for flying on Saturday at the Sylmar Flight Park. The cu's started early (before 8 AM) in Century City so it was looking good to me. Joe Greblo was a little worried about a northwest flow that might make it un launchable but by 9 AM he thought that that wouldn't be a problem.

I got to the LZ in plenty of time for the 11 AM shuttle with Joe and took the middle seat with three extra big guys, that meant I had to shove my butt way forward to the front edge of the seat and talk with Joe all the way up.

The cu's were still happening at we got to launch and the air was forecasted to be 27 degree Fahrenheit at 6,100'. It was cold at launch at 3540'. But I set up my borrowed Wills Wing T2 - 144 right away. We were the first pilots to get to launch.

After putting on extra clothing, I headed out to launch with Joe on my wires. It was gusted as well as strong at launch and I had two wire men holding on until I yelled clear and ran off. I was the first to launch by quite a margin.

The lift was light just in front of launch and I held on for a while before punching forward and to the left a little to get under the cu's. The preferred direction to climb up from launch is to go to the right and all the folks on the launch were wondering why I was going in the "wrong" direction. Not being a local I didn't know any better and headed for the nearest cloud.

Bam! 700 fpm! This is late November in the Northern Hemisphere and I'm going up in smooth 700 fpm. It was easy to thermal with the T2 - 144, and it seemed as natural at the Falcon 3 - 170.

It was time to put my football (gridiron) receiver gloves on. I went further out front to the south to get away from the lift so that I can have smooth conditions to get my gloves on, then found 300 fpm to 6,400'. There were a few little bumpetts, but these only told me that I bet this place could be a handful in the summer. The wind was 8 mph out of the southwest.

I waited around at cloud base for some locals to launch and climb up to me. One launched and did come in under me at launch level, while another tried to go to the right to get up, and later had to come out front under me. The word on launch had been that pilots were going to go cross country and as I hadn't set up my radio, I said that I would just follow them.

Andy came up next to me and signaled that it was time to go (only one other pilot have even launched) so off I went following him. We zoomed southeast well in front of the ridge line under the clouds which seemed to want to be away from the hills.

It was easy to cross a couple of canyons going over first Little Tujunga Canyon and than Big Tujunga Canyon, before getting to as vast array of microwave towers nine miles southeast of the launch. The cloud base at the towers was 5,400' and the lift was light.

It was funny to look to the south west and see all the "civilization" and then to look to the north and west and see wild country full of steep mountains with few or no places to land. The mountains go on for a long long time. Just check out Google Earth. The ranges are about twenty miles wide.

The views reminded me in places of flying in Dinosaur, Colorado with the steep canyons. The steep mountains reminded me a little of the Alps. A dry version of the Alps with little spots of civilization at the bottom. It was very wild in the mountains.

It seemed quite possible to keep right on riding the mountains east back to Marshall in San Bernardino and on to Palm Springs. Just stay in the mountains and there aren't airspace issues. There does seem to be an issue of LZ's though as you pass north of Los Angeles. Maybe. Maybe not.

The T2 - 144 handled the light lift near the towers with no problem. I had pulled on the VG to 3/4, but not all the way when gliding fast (but only to 42 mph) on the way out. I was getting used to the feel of the glider with the VG on, which I hadn't been able to do at Marshall in the light conditions there. It will take a while before I'm comfortable with full VG.

I was thermaling mostly with 1/3rd VG. That didn't seem like a problem at all. The glider was feeling fine with the bumps and I was relaxing more and more as the flight went on.

After getting back above the wispies at the microwave towers I headed back northwest leaving Andy to play there. The wind was out of the southwest so it was a bit more work getting back, but plenty of lift. Long before I hopped over little Tujunga Canyon I noticed that most of the pilots were in the LZ . A couple of pilots had been dragging behind us to the microwave towers, but only a few.

There was plenty of lift under the still forming cu's way out from the ridge line past the LZ, but after an hour and a half in the air, I needed to get down to go meet my mother in Pacific Palisades. Again the Wills Wing T2 - 144 was a snap to land. I just did a fast aircraft approach and had no issues with a no wind landing. Using the Joe Greblo, flare after you land system.

The LZ was chocked full of hang glider pilots and one paraglider pilot. Sure looked like things were doing well in this part of the hang gliding community (200 club members). Joe Greblo is pumping out students and that is what is keeping this sport alive in this area. Without these students the whole enterprise is doomed.

The USHPA has to get with the program and make sure that instructors are successful in as many places as possible throughout the country.

Wednesday at Kagel

November 22, 2006, 10:11:28 pm PST

Kagel

Just an extended fly down with a dozen pilots.

Joe Greblo|PG

http://ozreport.com/data/kmz/SylmarLZ.kmz

http://ozreport.com/data/kmz/MainKagelLaunch.kmz

I'm visiting my brother in Century City, not that far from Santa Monica (home of the homeless), not far from the intersection of Interstate 405 and Interstate 10. It is just a thirty minute drive along the freeways (when the back ups are the other direction) to the Sylmar LZ, located in a little residential area in the San Fernando Valley next to the mountain sides (see the Google Earth files above).

The fog had been thick in the morning, there were thick upper level clouds, the smog was thick in the valley and on the coastal plane. The top of the inversion was below launch. Still there were two shuttles going up to the main launch with a dozen pilots. I wonder what this place looks like on a good day.

I rode up with Joe Greblo who normally charges $15/ride to the top. The ride to the top was quite a bit more involved than the short ride to Marshall. The dirt road is better, but significantly longer.

Joe produces lots of students at his school at Dockweiler Beach (http://www.windsports.com/index2.html) and some of the pilots with us today were his students out for a sled ride and a little instruction from Joe. Phil Bloom was there also and he grabbed a Falcon 3 to fly with the rest of us on this sled ride day.

The day use fee at Kagel is $5, which is a bargain. The launch is (for those of you without Google Earth) a simple earthen ramp down a steep hillside. It is located along a steep ridge line that heads off to the west. It's a no brainer to just turn right and work the ridge line.

It's an easy glide out to the LZ even if you get low in the mountains. The LZ is a grassy irrigated area next to a wash. Hang 2's and earlier are told to land in the wash, but the grassy area is plenty big enough for normally skilled pilots (the rule is you have to be a hang 4 to land there).

Everyone was very friendly and the atmosphere was quite relaxed in the LZ. I just called Joe's number (see his forecast page here: http://www.windsports.com/kam_ad.html) and arranged to go up on the shuttle.

Monday and Sunday were big days at Kagel with altitude gains to 8,000'.  http://www.shga.com/forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=497.

Kagel and the Sylmar Flight Park are obviously located in the middle of a major metropolitan area. This creates the paradox that there is a population available to become hang glider pilots, but there is always a threat from the surrounding population that could take away the flying site.

There are many fewer paraglider pilots at Kagel than at Marshall. Joe felt that was because in the summer the conditions were much more turbulent there, and the paraglider pilots could only fly in the evening. The Sylmar club, like the Crestline Club has about 200 members.

I hope to go back to Kagel over the next few days.

Discuss Kagel at the Oz Report forum

No Flare Landings

November 11, 2006, 5:27:50 pm PST

No Flare

We go back and look at a classic.

Joe Greblo

I started off the discussion here: http://ozreport.com/4.050#1 and it continued here: http://ozreport.com/4.051#1 

Joe Greblo jumped into the discussion with this article: http://ozreport.com/4.59#2 in which he wrote:

The main problem I have with flaring at an angle of attack lower than stall is that this airspeed provides the wing with a slight surplus of energy that is occasionally converted to excessive, undesirable, altitude when coupled with incorrect flare timing, or an unpredictable gust of wind. Stated differently, with this technique, as the pilot begins to flare, the wing will produce greater lift before the wing stalls and reduces lift.

The bad part here is if you get a gust at the moment of flare, your glider will climb to an altitude proportional to the velocity of the gust. The second problem with this technique is that when timed properly, semi-prone and even prone positioned pilots are rewarded with successful landings.

1. This technique puts the pilot into a severely stalled angle of attack while at high wing loading.

2. This technique puts the pilot into a prone position (relative to the wing) during the highly loaded stall.

3. If we could greatly reduce wing loading during the stall, we could greatly reduce the stall speed

4. During stall, directional control is dramatically reduced.

5. If we could control the relative wind during the landing flare, we could reduce some of the negative aspects of the landing flare. I.e. the magnitude of the stall break.

The solution requires 3 simple actions from the pilot.

1.  Delay the flare by holding steady altitude (your feet 2 inches above the ground) in your ground skim until it cannot be held any longer.  This is when the glider truly begins to stall (mush) and it will settle you gently onto the first step of your run.  The fact that you've induced the onset of a stall will insure that the glider will not climb even with an unexpected gust.

2.  Keep the feet under you, remain upright, and begin to run as soon as the first foot touches the ground.  This will unload the glider, eliminate it's high wing loading, and control the relative wind to provide a maximum angle of attack of 90 degrees as opposed to 180 degrees associated with the tail sliding flare. This guarantees you will be on your feet in an effective running position and reduces the powerful and nasty stall behavior of the glider during the flare.

3. Accelerate your run and flare fully and completely at the moment the glider sets your weight on your foot.  With this technique, you will come to rest in only one or two steps.  If the terrain allows you to take more running steps, feel free to run out your landing with a gentler, more progressive flare.  If you desire not to flare fully, that's ok too as this technique allows pilots to utilize a complete range of flare magnitude.  They can flare fully if the wings are level and the terrain won't allow a run, they can flare slowly and progressively to stop the glider whenever they want to, or they can choose not to flare at all.

More here: http://ozreport.com/4.063#5 and http://ozreport.com/4.065#1. I've used no flare landings for years now.

Discuss No Flare at the Oz Report forum

The Old Tin Cup »

March 7, 2006, 8:57:47 EST

Not born to pander

Davis Straub|Joe Greblo|PG|video


Every now and then I receive a little flack when I color outside the lines (the lines I drew to begin with), and add a little spice to the Oz Report with some "political" comments (that is not hang gliding politics). For example, a few of you didn't like my link to the "Asshole" video (I thought it was really funny and the best song I had heard in a while). Others didn't like me defending press freedom by publishing the infamous cartoons that were originally published by a right wing Danish publication. I do like getting criticism from both ends of the spectrum.

Joe Greblo wrote:

I'm confused. Every time I start to send you a check, I read some liberal political wisecrack, or political video you've posted. That immediately makes me put my checkbook away. Do any other pilots feel this way?

David Duke wrote:

That was one of the greatest music videos I've seen! Thanks for being courageous enough to stand up against these Nazis. I hope the tide is finally turning against them. After I saw it, I had to check to make sure that I sent in my support to the Oz Report- I sent in $25 on 2/6/06. I think I'll send you some more.

I publish the Oz Report as a service to the hang gliding (and somewhat to the paragliding) community. Do you see it as a service? Do you use the service? Then, simply, pay for it. That's how it works.

I'm here to publish a lively and interesting e-zine and blog that provides a valuable service to the community that I am a member of. I think I do that. I've done my part. Now it's your turn.

If you like and/or read the Oz Report, use the Oz Report forum, use our connections to Google Earth, sell or buy gear, download videos, won't you do a little something to help support us? $20 per year (or more if you find the value here) for a year subscription:



If you want to send in a check it's:

Davis Straub
PMB 1889 PO Box 2430
Pensacola, FL 32513

Where are they now? »

Fri, Feb 25 2005, 12:00:07 pm EST

Google?!

Gregg "Kim" Ludwig|Joe Greblo|Larry Tudor|Nick Kennedy|video

where are they now

A number of you have. written in to ask about other pilots, just as I asked you to. Here are a few:

Joe Greblo «info»? Check here: http://www.windsports.com/index2.html and/or search for "Joe Greblo" on the Oz Report.

Larry Tudor «o_voador»? I spoke with him a few years ago. He was doing technical support for Oracle (as I recall) and living on the front range north of Denver. Anyone talk to him lately?

What about Ted Boyse and Rich Grigsby?

And John McNeely? Here's a recent notice: http://www.hvraptors.com/schedule.html. Gerry Farrell asks:

John McNeely has received several "Order of the Raven" awards and also is the first human to soar with a trained bird: a Red Tail hawk, as showed on the documentary called "The Hawk and John McNeely" produced in the late 70's by film-maker Hugh Morton. Does he still fly hang gliders?

Jeff Campbell? Here's a report: https://ozreport.com/7.177#2. Nick Kennedy has forwarded a message to Jeff. Gregg Ludwig writes:

He did a remarkable video in the early days from New Zealand or some far away place using the old swing seat arrangement. My non flyer friend showed the video on our ski trip to Montana several years ago. I have see many movies, but will never forget this one and the pilot's name, Jeff Campbell. The video tape is probably still at my friends log cabin near Big Sky ski resort.

USHGA - Election Results »

Fri, Dec 17 2004, 3:00:00 pm EST

Jim Macklow wins after a strong campaign.

Aaron Swepston|Bill Bolosky|David Jebb|Ed Pitman|Gene Matthews|Jayne DePanfilis|Jim "Jimbo" Macklow|Joe Greblo|Laurie Croft|Paul Voight|Ray Leonard|Rob McKenzie|Rob Sporrer|Steve Kroop|Steve Mayer|Tracy Tillman|USHGA

Jayne DePanfilis «jayne» writes:

Region 1

Bill Bolosky 46
Aaron Swepston 1
Gene Matthews 1

Region 2

Jim Macklow 91
Ray Leonard 64
Ed Pitman 24
Ron Smith 1

Region 3

David Jebb 54
Rob Sporrer 3
Joe Greblo 2
Peter Michelmore 1
Rob Mckenzie 1
John Hurst 1

Region 4

Steve Mayer 63
Jennifer Beach 2
Jim Zeiset 2
Ed Bennett 1

Region 7

Tracy Tillman 39
Neil Roland 1

Region 8

Gary Trudeau 48
Matt Carr 2
Jeff Nicolay 1
John Szarck 1

Region 9

Felipe Amunategui 40
Randy Leggett 2
Jim Rowan 1

Region 10

Steve Kroop 58
Laurie Croft 1
Christian Thoreson 1

Region 12

Paul Voight 58

There were a total of twelve invalid votes. We received only one vote so far after the December 15th deadline and this vote is invalid.

Congratulations to the newly elected regional directors and to those incumbents who were re-elected as well! The effective date for the newly elected regional directors is January 1st.

(editor's note: Now the questions are, what is his agenda, program, ideas for change? Maybe he'll write and tell me.)

Instructor⁣ Training Seminars »

Mon, Aug 2 2004, 5:00:02 pm EDT

A revised schedule.

Fly High|instructor certification|Joe Greblo|Lookout Mountain Flight Park|Malcolm Jones|Pat Denevan|Paul Voight|Rob Kells|USHGA

Rob Kells «Rob» writes:

I am happy to report that we've scheduled an eighth certification program in Colorado.

Unfortunately the dates I listed previously for Mission's program were incorrect. This list has all the programs with the correct information.

USHGA Hang Glider Instructor Training Seminars

Ashland Oregon August 20 - 22 FAR UP HANG GLIDING 4945 140th AVE SW Rochester, WA 98579 USA Voice: (360)-357-5203 Fax: (360)-357-5203 Jim Reynolds

Ellenville New York September 24 - 26 FLY HIGH HANG GLIDING 5163 Searsville Rd. Pine Bush, NY 12566 USA Voice: (845)-744-3317 Paul Voight

Milpitas California September 25 - 27 MISSION SOARING 1116 Wrigley Milpitas, CA 95035 USA Voice: (408)-262-1055 Pat Denevan

Denver Colorado October 14 - 17 AIRTIME ABOVE 1372 Sinton RD Evergreen, CO 80439 USA Voice: (303)-674-2451 Mark Windsheimer

Orlando Florida October 15 - 17 WALLABY RANCH 1805 Deen Still Rd. Davenport, FL 33837 Voice: (863) 424-0070 Fax: (863) 424-0070 Malcolm Jones

Georgia / Tennessee October 22 - 24 LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN 7201 Scenic Hwy Rising Fawn, GA 30738 USA Voice: (706)-398-3541 Fax: (706)-398-2906 Matt Taber

Southern California November 5 - 7 WINDSPORTS 12623 Gridley ST Sylmar, CA 91342 USA Voice: (818)-367-2430 Fax: (818)-367-5363 Joe Greblo

Whitewater Wisconsin December 3 - 5 FREE FLIGHT AVIATIONS N463 City Hwy N Whitewater, WI 53190 USA Voice: (920)-728-2231 Tommy Thompson Sr.

Discuss "Instructor⁣ Training Seminars" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Hang Gliding Instructor Certification

Tue, Jul 20 2004, 3:00:03 pm EDT

We need more and new instructors. The USHG Foundation is helping to provided low cost certification.

Fly High|Joe Greblo|Lookout Mountain Flight Park|Malcolm Jones|Pat Denevan|Paul Voight|Rob Kells|USHGA

Rob Kells «Rob» writes:

I think one of the biggest problems we have in the sport is the lack of access to quality instruction.

The USHGA foundation is working with a number of schools to help sponsor lower cost regional hang gliding instructor training programs at venues around the country. The administrators will be Paul Voight, Pat Denevan and Jim Reynolds, all of whom are amongst the best in the business.

If you are interested in becoming an instructor, or renewing your instructor rating, you are encouraged to contact the sponsor of the program closest to you.

USHGA Hang Glider Instructor Training Programs:

Ashland Oregon August 20 - 22 FAR UP HANG GLIDING 4945 140th AVE SW Rochester, WA 98579 USA Voice: (360)-357-5203 Fax: (360)-357-5203 Jim Reynolds

Ellenville New York September 24 - 26 FLY HIGH HANG GLIDING 5163 Searsville Rd. Pine Bush, NY 12566 USA Voice: (845)-744-3317 Paul Voight

Milpitas California September 17 - 19 MISSION SOARING 1116 Wrigley Milpitas, CA 95035 USA Voice: (408)-262-1055 Pat Denevan

Orlando Florida October 15 - 17 WALLABY RANCH 1805 Deen Still Rd. Davenport, FL 33837 Voice: (863) 424-0070 Fax: (863) 424-0070 Malcolm Jones

Georgia / Tennessee October 22 - 24 LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN 7201 Scenic Hwy Rising Fawn, GA 30738 USA Voice: (706)-398-3541 Fax: (706)-398-2906 Matt Taber

Southern California November 5 - 7 WINDSPORTS 12623 Gridley ST Sylmar, CA 91342 USA Voice: (818)-367-2430 Fax: (818)-367-5363 Joe Greblo

Whitewater Wisconsin December 3 - 5 FREE FLIGHT AVIATIONS N463 City Hwy N Whitewater, WI 53190 USA Voice: (920)-728-2231 Tommy Thompson Sr.

Back in the saddle

Tue, Jun 8 2004, 8:00:06 pm EDT

The love of hang gliding resumes.

James Lawrence|Joe Greblo|sailplane

James Lawrence «skypix» writes:

You do a great job with Oz Report and I wanted to add my support.

I was active in the sport from 73 to 81; competed at a pretty competent Hang IV level, for a recreational pilot who got out maybe twice a week...but in places like Sylmar, Crestline, Fort Funston, Telluride, Silverton CO (a booming site!), Durango CO, Grouse Mountain World International two years running (finished in the top 20 both years, flew with Steve Moyes, Bob and Chris Wills, and lots of other hotshot pilots from the US), and lots of other great places back then.

Then I built a Pterodactyl and got into ultralights big, dropped hg; edited Ultralight Aircraft magazine until ABC's 20-20 half sunk the industry; for the last 15 years I've been shooting aviation photography for plane&pilot and Pilot Journal magazines, writing coffee table books on nature photography and conservation etc.. Lots of flying in noisy airplanes for air to air photography but not much joy of flying.

I did go on a short nostalgia kick with Joe Greblo in LA back in 96 just to see if I could still fly; I got about 12 hours soaring in about 10 flights, worked my way up through a Formula and realized I could still speck out with the new ships and all those hi tech gliders and gear, just flying clean with no instruments. It really is like riding a bike...but those landings with the new gliders...wow! That's a different story.

I just recently started sailplane lessons here in upstate NY, where I live now ...and the HG bug bit me again. And without ever flying one, I'm buying an Ultrasport 147 used (I weigh about 170) with less than 20 hours on it, to work my way back up the skill ladder, and I have absolutely nada in the way of instruments, harnesses, helmets, gloves etc. Fun! I get to go shopping!

I'm going to hook up with a local school and take a refresher day on the bunny hill, get my ratings, maybe rent a glider for a day and refresh the soaring chops, then fly my Ultrasport from the training hill to check it out...and start working my way back up the ratings again.

So when I stumbled across your report, realized I'd found a great way to catch up with what all the "youngsters" are doing these days, and stay current. Thanks for the professional and cool way you're doing it.

Discuss our love at the Oz Report forum

Intermediate ⁢instruction »

Sat, Oct 25 2003, 4:00:03 am EDT

intermediates

Fred Wilson|instruction|Joe Greblo|PG|sailplane|Scott Weiner|USHGA

Scott Weiner «cloudbase» writes:

REGARDING KEEPING INTERMEDIATES

The Hard Way:

I've lived in California for 27 years, first in Temecula, managing production at UP. Many, many times I took along beginners and intermediates to help me at the testing hill, and we'd spend hours discussing whatever I knew about. I shared an office with Roy Haggard and Mike Quinn, so whatever I didn't know that was knowable, they knew. I don't know about how intermediates move forward there (Elsinore) at the present. Back then, it was slavish imitation of experts. The "E" itself is a wonderful educator. One must thermal a bit low, and very intentionally, to get up, and then it's pretty easy. The hill offers immediate feedback. I remember in 1976 meeting the E for the first few times. The locals smiled indulgently, telling me it took all of them a few times, and then when they got it, they got it. All true. Also, manufacturers were all so local. Your "crew" was your co-glider pilots. Still somewhat true. In general, we all imitated the experts. That was all there was to do.

The Right Way:

Wishing to make a living, I came to San Diego to go to grad school. The UP dealer in San Diego, Howard Mitchell, taught many students. He had a ritual called, at first, The Thursday Men's Flying Club (Later 'corrected' when Teri Mynahan and Karen Thorpe joined us, forever improving…everything). We'd travel to the local mountains with Howard's huge crew truck, and all intermediates were well treated and invited to tag along with more experienced pilots. We were all radio'd together. A couple of us took tandem riders. EVERYBODY GOT BETTER. It was free. We kicked in gas money. Many novices, intermediates, and experts were flying together every week. The novices got better quickly, the intermediates became expert, and the experts with the right stuff became resources, who knew the up and comers, their physical nature and temperament, and even their specific flying weaknesses. And everyone got real, pretty much. Meaning, it was hard to posture as if you're too good for anyone else because you thermal better. Any such attitude was horribly mocked by others. Outcome? Among the vainglorious, expert status would accrue only to the better-behaved centers of the universe.

Howard phased out of hang gliding and into paragliding when UP went away, and subsequently died in an airplane accident. San Diego lost its intermediate-to-expert machine, and on many days the local sites are nearly empty. There is still a shop in San Diego, but its location and maybe more prevent its taking the place of Howard's shop. Our local organization is great, puts out a great newsletter, and deals well with the local, very difficult politics. But our attrition is noteworthy, and many elders are retiring to sailplanes.

Another Good Scene:

Let's look for a minute at L.A. I spent four years there recently at Law School, 50 % midlife stuff, 50 % lifetime wish and sabbatical. Did I fly there? Hell yes. Joe Greblo's Windsports provides so many of the supports that Howard did. And even though there are a gijillion people in L.A., the numbers there are pretty strong compared to anything I've seen. Joe and Hungary Joe escort trips, towing clinics, all sorts of delights. Joe, by the way, sets up a driver situation for Kagel on most every flyable day. It was NEVER a problem getting up the mountain.

USHGA is irrelevant (ever, ever more so) as regards pilot population in hang gliding. Shops, sites, and clubs are where the action is.

Fred Wilson «safety» writes:

There is an interesting article from the HGFA president on keeping Student and Novice pilots in the sport http://www.hgfa.asn.au//skysailor/Issues/0201/presrpt.htm

Discuss "Intermediate ⁢instruction" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Retractable bridle »

Sat, Nov 16 2002, 6:00:02 pm GMT

bridle

The clever folks in New Castle have come up with a retractable bridle that works off some pulleys and bungees up in the sail. The line runs through a pulley on the bottom of your keel just in front of your hang point.

After you release from the tow line you undo a snap shackle that connects to your waist line and the bridle line retracts into your sail. I’ll have pictures soon that will give you a better idea of how it works.

Discuss "Retractable bridle" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Felix in America

Sat, Nov 16 2002, 6:00:01 pm GMT

Christof Kratzner|Felix Ruehle|Joe Greblo

Felix Ruehle <felix_ruehle@yahoo.de> writes:

Christof and Felix have just arrived in SF. We will have a pilots meeting for all pilots at Saturday the 16th 9:ooam at Mission Soaring Center. Subjects of the meeting are:

- all about the last version of the ATOS with V-tail.

- maintenance: we will forward all our experiences from rigid wing checks

- spins and tucks

- landing and take off technique

- if possible, we will shorten the program in order to go demo flying (weather forecast looks good) detail information phone 408.262.1055

Further A-I-R meetings are next weekend in LA and San Diego. We will have ATOS aerotowing demos, even for those without a tow rating. Pilots may qualify by getting a tow lesson the same day.

For detail information please contact Joe Greblo (<windsports@earthlink.net>)

Those who like to meet christof and felix during next week on the way down to San Diego, can contact us under <felix_ruehle@yahoo.de>

Discuss "Felix in America" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Felix from AIR going to California

Tue, Nov 5 2002, 1:00:01 pm EST

Joe Greblo|Pat Denevan

Joe Greblo «windsports» writes:

Felix is coming to the west coast in 10 days to run some info clinics and demo the Atos C. It's an opportunity for owners and pilots to meet him and ask him questions. He will be working with Pat Denevan while in the Bay Area and me in southern Cal. He arrives in San Francisco on November 15th and departs Southern California on November 25th.Those interested can contact Pat at «mission» or me at «windsports».

Pilots can get updates from Pat Denevan at his email address or check our happenings page at http://www.windsports.com/kagelkamframe.html.

Flying at Dockweiler Beach

Sun, Sep 16 2001, 8:00:01 pm EDT

Joe Greblo|PG

Ken Munn «AirMunn» writes on his three-day lay over in Los Angeles after piloting a flight from Cincinnati to Los Angeles:

Looking for things to do, I rounded up my First Officer and headed down to the beach. Started talking about hang gliding during the walk and decided to head on down to Dockweiler Beach. Met up with Joe Grebo, got my FO to fill out all the necessary red tape (filed for IFR flights) and over to the dune for a pretty cool day of ground skimming. Sure wish I had a place to teach up in Carson City like this. The place is the perfect training hill.

Here are a few shots of the day. http://paragliders.cc/dockweiler_beach.htm.

I'm thinking when you stay within 10 feet of the ground not even the biggest jerk from the FAA would consider you busting the rules. Joe Greblo warned everyone they would be shot down if they exceeded 15'agl.

ATOS news

Fri, Mar 23 2001, 3:00:03 pm EST

Florida|Joe Greblo

If you are a 130-145 pound pilot, you might want to contact Joe Greblo «windsports». He just got in a new small ATOS and it's available.

BTW, I do believe that there will be some regular sized ATOSes available after the Florida comps. European pilots bringing over goodies that they were rather sell here for a reasonable price than take back on the plane to Europe.

Speaking of which, I am given to understand that Swiss Air will put your ATOS on the plane as checked luggage. I'm sure that this is the only airline in the World that will do that. I wonder what class you have to travel in. This is now the Swiss rigid wing pilots got their gliders to Brazil.

Flew my new ATOS today. Didn't change the configuration but did a few modifications to reduce drag. Also doubled up the bungees. The word was that the air had a few rough edges. Didn't notice that on the ATOS. It felt quite solid.

Took a late evening flight also in very light lift. Stayed up for an hour in <50 fpm thermals when all others went to the deck. It handled perfectly.

Tomorrow I fly George's very differently tuned ATOS (which he says is perfect), and he'll fly mine. We'll see.

Stalker/Combat demos in southern California »

Wed, Mar 21 2001, 7:00:05 pm GMT

Aeros Combat|Aeros Stalker|G.W. "GeeDub" Meadows|Joe Greblo|John Borton|Torrey Pines

At Joe Greblo's request G. W. Meadows <GW@JustFly.com> sends the following:

G. W. Meadows will be doing demos at Kagel this weekend with Joe Greblo of Windsports.

The following weekend he will be at Torrey Pines with John Borton of Thin Air Designs.

All interested parties in demos can contact:

Joe Greblo 818 988 0111
John Borton 858 454 2298
G. W. Meadows 252 480 3552

Discuss "Stalker/Combat demos in southern California" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Caged glider records to go to Class IV »

Wed, Mar 21 2001, 7:00:04 pm GMT

CIVL|Sarah Fenwick|Stewart Midwinter

And existing caged glider records stay in Class II.

Sarah Fenwick <civl@ntlworld.com> sends out the following:

The Bureau, in consultation with the FAI, has examined and discussed the options available with regards to current Class 2 World records and the new class definitions (class 2 & class 4). It has been decided that 'Grandfather' rights should apply. Therefore the existing Class 2 record list will not be changed. However existing Class 2 records established with Class 4 gliders (according to the new definition adopted at the 2001 Plenary meeting) will also be recognised as valid Class 4 records. To take an example, the current Swift records established by Stewart Midwinter would therefore appear as both Class 2 and class 4 records. The new class definition will then be applied to all new record claims.

Currently we are assuming that this means that all records set by caged gliders this summer will go into Class IV. We are checking with CIVL to be sure that this is the case.

Discuss "Caged glider records to go to Class IV" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Playa del Rey

Fri, Oct 6 2000, 4:00:06 pm GMT

Bill Lapworth|David Jebb|Eric Raymond|Finbar Sheehy|George Stebbins|Grant Hoag|Harry Martin|Joe Greblo|John Greynald|John Scott|Lee Gardner|Mark "Forger" Stucky|Owen Morse|Pat Denevan|Paul MacCready|Richard Miller|Rob Kells|Steven "Steve" Pearson|Tracie Terrell|video

Bill Lapworth «Dancebert» writes:

Joe Greblo says:

I want to thank you for making the Playa del Rey Hang Gliding Reunion one of the funnest events of my hang gliding career. More than 300 pilots, ex pilots, designers, manufacturers, authors, editors, photographers, family and friends of hang gliding attended this 8 hour event. Some came from as far away as Germany, Hawaii, Florida, and Massachusetts.

It was incredible for me to see the designer of the Bamboo Batso, Richard Miller, poised in the launch postion that he developed at this site in 1966; to see Taras Kiceniuk Jr. launch his Icarus 5 rigid wing, and to see Chris Wills, barefoot, helmetless, and smiling under the 15th standard rogoll that Wills Wing ever built. These were sights I thought I'd never see. And it was great to see you all smiling and having fun. Thank you all for making it such a success.

Kris and I hope that it was fun for you and that you re-lived some hang gliding memories, re-kindled some old friendships, or met some new ones.

With my failing voice at the event, I failed to meet some of you, to thank you for coming and bringing your own sense of history. But most importantly, the reason I organized the event was to try and show you a good time and to illustrate the importance of your contributions to today's hang gliding industry. Without the true hang gliding pioneers, we would not have the sport we have today. All of us in hang gliding should thank you. I also failed to thank all the good people that helped organize it. Their names are at the bottom of this letter.

… is planning an article in Hang Gliding Magazine for the November issue, so be sure to look for it. There will be lots of pictures. Also, many people expressed an interest in getting a reproduction of the Harry Martin Reunion Artwork that was auctioned that was the centerpiece of the charity auction and also a video tape of the event.

Pilots Harry Martin and Mark Neisser have reproduced the artwork and a video tape and are offering it to those interested (SEE PHOTO). They're not very expensive, the watercolor illustration is signed by more than 40 hang gliding pioneers including Richard Miller, Paul McCready, Taras Kiceniuk, Chris Wills, Mike Riggs, Bob Keeler, Bill Bennett, Frank Colver and others. All proceeds will benefit the county's Lifeguard Youth Programs.

The tape is about 10 minutes long it features the event, and some of the people and machines that flew.

Either of the items will be sent anywhere in the

U. S. for a minimum donation of $10. each plus a $3.00 shipping and handling charge. Simply call in a credit card to (818) 988-0111, or send a check to Windsports at 16145 Victory Blvd. Van Nuys, CA 91406.

A photo of the 11" X 17" artwork is attached to this email.

Thanks again for stepping into our time machine and joining us on our journey back to the 1970's.

PS. We're talking about a bigger event in 2003 for the Wright Bros. 100 aniv.

2000 REUNION ATTENDANCE LIST; Arthur "Birdman" Bean, Russ Velderrain, Dr. Paul MacCready, Tyler MacCready, Brad Hall, Donnita Hall, Mike Riggs, Mike Arrambide, Lee Gardner, Mike and Linda Meier, Rob Kells, Tom Vayda, Bill Watson, Steve Pearson, Richard Miller, Bill Bennett, Chris Wills, John Lake,Gary Valle, Matt Colver, Brian Allen, Bob Keeler, Rex Miller, Taras Kiceniuk Sr., Taras Kiceniuk Jr., Ted Ancona, Robbie Skinner Adkins, Phil Ray, Tom Peghiny, LeRoy and Kaite Grannis, George Radmiller, Walt Neilsen, David Vincent, Pat Denevan, Pork Roecker, Pill Warrender, Lynn Miller Warrender, Rich & Sherry Grigsby, Barry Gordon, Kevin Kernohan, Bob Van Wagoner, Sir Gilbert Roberts, Dugan Yeakel, Brad White, Bob & Bonnie Skinner, Mark West, Bob Trampenau, John Mc Vey, Scott G. Spure, Yusuke Yamazake, Kevin Kernohan, Tom Price, John Lasko, Dusty Rhodes, Guy Lindberg, Harry Martin, Ed Horton, Rich and Betty Pfeiffer, Wayne Yentis, George Follman, Eric Raymond, Pete Plumb, Gilbert Roberts, Les and Marilyn King, Jim Griffis, RC Freund, Mark "Forger" Stucky, Bob Thronburg, Kenny Westfall, Michael Remenih, Jeff Campbell, Judy Neilsen Cunningham, Lars Isaacson, Mike "Pelican" Helms, Melinda Kelly, Linda Velderrain, Richard Velderrain, Richard Seymour, Peter Van Den Berg, Geroge Stebbins, Fred Weinmann, Supine Jim Heaton, Jerry Carson, Matt Hlavac, Todd Bohlman, Milford Wayne Donaldson, Bill Lapworth, Dale Lofton, Gregg Patronk, Gary and Leslie Pickett, Rusty Russ, Ric Lee, Bob Reynolds, Fred Klein, Bob Chase, Robert Coffman, Mary B Dahlsten, Mike Knapp, "Lincoln" Kroll, Rome Dodson, Megret Stief, J Shelley, Murray Travis, Russel D. Travis, Paul Ciotti, Mike Dowdall & Ann Marie, Steve Morris, Judi Nielsen Cunningham, Phil Ray, Richard Allisen, Jeff Carlisle, Al Bowers, Doug Clark, David Ruiz, Alan Sakayama, Ray Morgan, Mark Axen, Steve Wallick, Ken and Ursula Howells, Bob Wirth, Jerry Katz, Charles Golden, Rick Perkins, Dick Snyder, Colin, Perry, Danny Black, Alan Chucalate, Mary Hobson, Dave and Katie Ganzer, Tom Obrien, Viet Tran, Rick and Susan Zimbelman, Craig Baker, Kit and Susan Carson, Adam Swetnick, Noren Meck, Toby Fazio, Jack Mackie, Matthew Winn, E and Jennifer Faulkner, Jim Mart, Russ Richard, Grant Hoag, Steve Clark and Family, Miguel De Jesus, Grant Smith, Matt and Kathleen Spinelli, Russ and Jay Farber, Jim Fawcett, Steve Schuster, Granville Ames Beals, Stee Corbin, Dan and Erick Idy, Gary Smith, Geza Azabo, Norman Tietze, John Volk, Jackie Tercell, Dan Armstrong, Rick Gustavson, Kimo Ward, John Halcrow, David Ductor, David Low, Biff & Sue Renkert, Diego Miralles, John Scott, Tom Cornelies, Daisy Palacios, Yves Lempereur, Jeanne Boyd, Bob Palosocik, Joe Aldendifer, Oscar Higgins, Bill Dill, David Froschauer, Dan Fleming, Larry McGee, Paul Csengeri, Greg and Stefanie Holcomb, Douis and Diane Durand, Bill Gray & Family, Gerald Poppy, Mark Harrah, Wayne Spani, Dave Mackinder, Finbar Sheehy, John Rittenhouse, Joey Fresquez Jr., Oliver Limacher, Marty Bivens, John Stevens, Bob Wyler, Howard Vermillion, Andrew Ainslie, Ed Horton, Lisa and Peter Rist, Emily Brown, Larry Chamblee, Will Ramsey, Mike Foutch, Kimberly Winick, Marth Yee, Nicholas Stonawski, Maynard Pogue, Gerald Sobel, Barton Davidson, Bob and Betty Buxton, Kate Freemantle, Frank Harmon, Aaron Estrada, Ike Bayrahtor, Bill Wylam, Herr Albert Hans Beller, Sandy Van Brunt, David Jebb, Juli Brock Connoy, Dan Fitzgerald, Owen Morse, Joe Engelhardt, David Simmonds, David m. Batz, Brad "Buba" Elze, Steven Alan Fry, James Gardner, Robert Millington, Tammy Burcar, John Greynald, Rich Schleicher, Charles Yang, Ray Lee, Tom Harrison, Chris Lee, John Kiffe, Tracie Terrell, Steven Huckert, RC Dave Freund, (sorry if we missed you).

PARTIAL GLIDER LIST 2 Batso's, 2 Icarus 5's, 2 Icarus 2's, 1 Easy Riser, 1 Waterman biplane, 1 Quickarus, Mendij hand painted Delta Wing Mariah, Mendij hand painted Eipper Cumulus 5, Seagull 3, Seagull 7, Seagull 10m, Eipper Std. Wills Wing Standard, Various standards, Manta Fledgeling, UP 269 Condor, Wills Wing 330 Trainer, Wills Wing Fusion SP, Swift, Atos and more

SPECIAL THANKS to Lynn McLaughlin for spearheading this event and handling media and Pr. Richard "Cabbage Head" Seymour and Steve Wallick for building the bamboo "BATSO" Bill Lapworth for "Getting the word out to the masses" and more. Toby Fazio, George Stebbins, J. Shelley, Lisa Wendt, Kelly Vinolus, for welcoming guests and "running the joint". Granville Ames Beals, for being the "Auctioneer". Mark Neisser for web site development and videographer. Wayne Yentis for videography Mike "Pelican" Helms and Melinda Kelly for professional photography Grant Hoag for bringing the Escape Country Phoenix 6 and Gil Levne for his Atos All the pilots who brought gliders and memorabilia.

Reunion at Dockweiler Beach

Sun, Jun 11 2000, 9:00:07 am GMT

Al Waddil|Barry Gordon|Bill Allen|Bill Lapworth|Bill Liscomb|Bob Keeler|Bob Lovejoy|Bob McCaffrey|Buck Buchanan|Chuck Stahl|Craig Gilbert|Dan Poynter|Dan Skadal|Dave Cronk|Dave Kilbourne|David Arambide|Debbie Renshaw|Dick Boone|Dick Snyder|Donnita Holland|Don Stern|Doug Fronius|Eddy Paul|Eric Fair|Gary Valle|George Uveges|Gerry Albiston|Greg Yarbenet|Herman Rice|Jack Schroder|Jeff Jobe|Jim Galbraith|Joe Faust|Joe Greblo|John Bovaresko|John Lake|Keith Nichols|Larry Newman|Larry Witherspoon|Lloyd Licher|Mark Lagenfeld|Mark Swinge|Mike Arambide|Mike Mitchell|Mike Quinn|Mike Riggs|Paul McCready|Peter Brock|Richard Miller|Robbie Reed|Roy Haggard|Sean Dever|Steve Patmont|Talbott Jones|Taras Kicniuk jr.|Terry Cummings|Tom Peghini|Tom Price|Trip Mellinger|Virgil Dahrens

Bill Lapworth, «Dancebert», writes:

Joe Greblo is planning a fly-in/party/historic reunion at Dockweiler Beach, Los Angeles, this summer, and wants to invite as many west coast hang glider pilots from the olden days as possible. If you have any contact information (e-mail, phone, snail mail) for anyone on this list, please send it to me, I'll consolidate and forward to him.

Details of the fly-in are still being worked on, including the date. Ideas under consideration include vintage wing display and single surface glide ratio contest.

Richard Miller, Bob Keeler, Mike Riggs, Al Waddil, Gerry Albiston, Robbie Reed, Trip Mellinger, Tom Price, Dick Boone, Tom Peghini, Lloyd Licher, Gary Valle, Debbie Renshaw, Dick Snyder, Larry Witherspoon, Dan Skadal, Eric Fair, The Wills Family, Peter Brock, Roy Haggard, Eddy Paul, John Lake, The Paul McCready Family, Dave Kilborne, Donnita Holland, Joe Faust, Bob Lovejoy, Dave Cronk, Taras Kicniuk Jr., Bill Liscomb, Chuck Stahl, John Bovaresko, Citrus Heights, CA, Mark Swinge, Talbott Jones, Buck Buchanan, Terry Cummings, Carson, CA, Craig Gilbert, Garden Grove, CA, Don Stern, Jim Galbraith, Bill Allen, Steve Patmont, Dan Poynter, Mark Lagenfeld, George Uveges, Larry Newman, Keith Nichols, Sean Dever, Greg Yarbenet, Herman Rice, Virgil Dahrens, Mike and David Arambide, Bob McCaffrey, Mike Mitchell, Jack Schroder, Mike Quinn, Barry Gordon, Doug Fronius, Jeff Jobe, and other west coast vintage pilots

Flytec 4030 – readers respond »

Thu, Mar 30 2000, 3:30:01 pm GMT

Flytec 4030|Joe Greblo

Joe Greblo, <windsports@earthlink.net>, writes:

Sorry to read that you don't get along with the Flytec instrument. Just some feedback from southern California. The Flytec is the most popular brand out here, probably because they find it easy to use and the quality has always been so high. One of the other varios you like may be a good instrument, but our customers have had so very much trouble with them for months and months and months that it is hard for me to imagine they could ever work well. As you know, it's easy to get gun shy when you've had a lot of trouble with something.

When I read your comments about the Flytec, it really does sound like your likes are much different than mine. I had great difficulty understanding the complexities of the Graphics Comp menu's and you found them quite easy. Whereas the Flytec and Brauniger are easy for me to use.

When it comes to reviewing hang gliding products there's one thing I learned long ago. Fair reviews require a thorough and working knowledge of the product being reviewed. This is especially difficult when looking at a product with the habits and experiences given by differing products over a long period of time.

I love my MacIntosh and won't get near a PC. You'd hate to hear my review of a new IBM, but I'm certainly in the minority.

John Hamelin, <john.hamelin@snet.net>, writes:

I have a comment about the 4030. I agree with you about the manual.

I had a bad time of it when I tried to reset the time. Some of the directions were good but, the instructions sucked. I found that the page that told you how to set the time, was not the page that told you that you had to erase the contents of memory first. You can not adjust the time with anything in memory! I got VERY pissed at the fact that I was doing the correct button sequence, but not getting the time to change. It was an illegal action with any flights stored on memory.

After I (finally) found the trouble I was OK. I didn't call Flytec because I felt inadequate. Thanks Davis, for giving me the courage to bitch:-)

Discuss "Flytec 4030 – readers respond" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Escape – tossed around in the surf

Sat, Mar 25 2000, 4:00:02 pm GMT

James "Jim" Zeiset|Joe Bostik|Joe Greblo|Jos Guggenmos|Josef "Joe" "Hangczech" Bostik|Mike Barber|Paris Williams

Joe Greblo, <windsports@earthlink.net>, writes:

When it comes to reviewing hang gliding products there's one thing I learned long ago. Fair reviews require a thorough and working knowledge of the product being reviewed. This is especially difficult when looking at a product with the habits and experiences given by differing products over a long period of time.

With that in mind, the following is, not a review, rather a report.

I've been flying a lot of different rigid wing and flex wing gliders of late. That is one of the great things about this Wills Wing Fly-in. So many folks are here that you just get all these opportunities to try something else out. I've flown different gliders every day this week.

Jim Zeiset had Rob bring down a Guggenmos ESC, which Jim imports from Germany. The ESC is an evolution of the E-7, which I've reported on previously, for example, https://OzReport.com/Ozv3n54.htm.

The ESC has a stiff curved wing tip (no fiberglass or carbon fiber rod here) and a higher aspect ratio that the E-7. Also the spoilers are moved back a bit from the high part of the camber. They are still quite small relative to the spoilerons found on the Ghostbuster and ATOS.

The E-7 weighed in at 68 pounds, as the lightest rigid wing glider. The Jim's ESC is 72 pounds (bigger wing), and the ESC that Rob brought down weighs 80 pounds. Joseph Guggenmos has added additional resin to the leading edges to reduce the chances of car top damage – the kind that you will find on your Ghostbuster or ATOS is you aren't very careful with extra padding.

I got the chance to fly the ESC at Jim gracious offer last Thursday. The day before we had a nice north wind at about 10 to 15 miles per hour. I flew a borrowed Exxtacy 78 miles in just over two hours before I made a crucial error (flying too fast) and landed in Florida cowboy country.

Thursday was not so nice a day. There was a 22-25 mph wind out of the northeast instead of the north. We would have to push south as much as we could to keep out of the Tampa TCA. The lift was obviously quite strong as the clouds started streeting up early. There was no need to take off early as we would just hit the coast before the lift ran out anyway.

On Wednesday I had taken off first at 11:30 AM, made a 500' save two miles south of the Ranch, and then just connected the dots. On Thursday, we were willing to wait until 12:30 PM.

George went up first in his ATOS, pinned off at 1,000' and the tug was right back down for me. I also pinned off at 1,000' as the lift was rowdy and there was plenty of it.

Mike Barber, flying a La Mouette Topless, saw what we did, and said no way was he going to pin off that low in such a strong wind. You would be blown down wind so fast that you had to get up or else. So what happened, he pinned off at 1,000' because he was tired of being tossed about on tow. The lift was good for him and he also got up.

Towing the ESC was fine even in the rowdy conditions. It was great to see that I didn't have the yaw problems that I had had on the E-7. The ESC did get a bit more tossed around than what I normally expect on a rigid wing, which are much better than flex wing gliders, but it wasn't too bad.

Off tow, I soon found myself holding on for my life as I tried to learn to fly this new rigid wing in what appeared to me to be very turbulent conditions. Realize that only two more pilots were willing to fly from Wallaby Ranch that day – Paris Williams and Joe Bostik. Everyone else (many, many pilots) looked at the wind speed and stayed on the ground.

Mike has said that the thermals are too broken up when the winds get over 20 mph in Florida. The thermals may have been broken up, but they were definitely there, and I was riding 'em as though I were out west. The conditions and this glider (couldn't tell the difference) were a handful.

I followed George to cloudbase and headed south to Auburndale and a nice patch of lift between the lakes and over an orange grove. Got one wing picked up and I was put into a spiral dive for ¾ of a turn. George was right above me and commented to himself that the ESC could sure turn quickly.

Meanwhile in the ESC I was having a difficult time getting it to respond to my commands. It seemed to have a mind of its own, and with the conditions appearing to be the strongest I had ever been in in Florida, I was just hoping to calm things down.

After climbing back to cloud base, I pushed south to get toward highway 17, which heads south in the middle of the state. All of this was familiar territory, and I headed for the western edge of orange grove to find a thermal coming out a brown field on the edge of a pond.

The thermal was a screamer and my borrowed demo Flytec 4030 was pegged, for about half a turn, and then nothing. Back again, the same. OK, maybe I'll just go someplace else and get some nice consistent lift. I landed shortly afterwards next to highway 17. Happy to be down on the ground.

Can't say as I had proper conditions to evaluate the glider. Perhaps I should have taken a flight at around 8 AM (but it was blowing then also). It did seem a lot more like a flex wing glider than an Exxtacy, ATOS or Ghostbuster. It is quite small at 142 square feet, so it is sized more like the ATOS and Ghostbuster.

Of course, Joseph has again created a beautiful glider with his excellent craftsmanship. Carbon fiber keel as well as leading edges and spars.

Hopefully I'll get other pilots who've had experience flying this glider to write in. I'd love to hear if they thought it handled more like a flex wing than other rigid wing gliders.

To get a sense of the day, after the flight I asked Mike Barber and George Ferris, what they thought about the turbulence. Mike, flying a topless flex wing glider, said he experienced very turbulent conditions. He had slack wires a number of times and diving turns when a wing was lifted. He was spit out of thermals often. Even observers on the ground at Wallaby noticed this happening to Mike.

George said that the day wasn't all that turbulent, and that he had experienced worse turbulence on a day that we flew together to the coast. On the Exxtacy I hadn't noticed any strong turbulence that day.

Soon, I'll report on the Raptor II, which I got to fly yesterday, in somewhat calmer conditions. At the moment I'm wondering about this test pilot bit.

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No flare landings

Sun, Mar 19 2000, 7:00:01 am GMT

Christian Mackin|George Stebbins|Joe Greblo|landing

George Stebbins, <stebbins@asn.net>, writes:

1) Christian Mackin says that "Ground speed (No wind) even at the slowest stall speed is well above anyone's running speed."

That just isn't true. When the glider has some of the pilot's weight off of it, it's stall speed is lowered. Many times I have seen someone running across the ground with the glider, and have done so myself. One can run at 10-12 mph, and the glider is flying. It just isn't lifting the pilot up yet. Try it, it works.

2) I fly at Kagel, where Joe Greblo teaches, so I get to see the technique first hand. We have several topless pilots who land using Joe's technique most of the time. They have no problem using it even in no wind. It turns out to be easier to teach new students to use it than to convince more experienced pilots to try. Too many years of bad habits and things that our subconscious just "Knows" are wrong…

3) I agree with the comments of others that the full-flare landing is still an important skill, not just for down-wind landings. I have landed on terrain, where my feet where obstructed, and if I had tried to walk, let alone run, I would have pitched forward onto my face. Only a no-step landing works in these circumstances. However, I believe that it is a more difficult, and thus a more advanced skill that can be learned once the basics (Greblo run-out landing included) are mastered.

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No flare landings

Fri, Mar 17 2000, 3:00:05 pm GMT

Christian Mackin|Joe Greblo|Peter Gray

Christian Mackin, <ccmackin@home.com>, writes:

Ground speed (No wind) even at the slowest stall speed is well above anyone's running speed. I think the likelihood of falling on your feet is high if you do not have perfect flare timing. Why not just go to trim, and flare normally when slowly added forward bar pressure does not produce an altitude gain?

Joe Greblo, <windsports@earthlink.net>, responds:

Christian is not recognizing that the glider is producing some lift during the landing run, just like it does during the take-off run. Obviously pilots can run 20 plus miles per hour launch and it's not just because of gravity and slope steepness. it's because they can take incredibly long strides due to the lifting forces provided by the wing. I often tell students that I can run 50 miles per hour on take off IF I have a slope steepness that matches the flight path in a 50 mph dive.

Peter Gray, <petergray8@home.com>, writes:

I enjoyed Joe Greblo's writing about "no-flare" landings. He articulated a lot of what I've also been trying to get across to students. Since I agree with most of his analysis, I would only add a few comments.

My approach with students has been to stress two things. First, pilots should be proficient in a range of landing techniques, including but certainly not limited to the classic full-flare stand-up style (which I would refer to as a "hard-flare" landing). Second, a key part of learning to do something "right" is to experiment with doing it slightly "wrong." Once they're competent with the basics, I encourage students to deliberately flare slightly too late or too early just to feel what happens and what it takes to pull it off. I also try to make sure they understand that an aggressive flare is inappropriate at best in strong or rough conditions.

Joe makes a great point about aggressively running on touchdown, which goes against the instinctive braking reaction that causes so many unnecessary nose-ins and tip-drops. We have tended to teach, "be ready to run if you need to," which I now see as inadequate advice. Just last Sunday I watched a student, Ajay, making numerous competent landings in the normal range of timing and pitch attitude, but about half the time he would then drop a tip (almost always the left one) or drop the glider onto its wheels. I figured that this was something he would get over with practice, but later when we watched videos another student, Duane, pointed out that Ajay tends to brace himself against the landing, and he usually leads with his left foot. Bingo, that's why the glider rotates around his first contact point and the left wing drops! If we can get him to accelerate forward instead, I suspect his landings will become magically easy, and he won't need to strive for that "perfect" style that doesn't require any running.

The main reason I still believe that hard-flare landings should be in everyone's tool kit is that this is a valuable technique for landing downwind, whether that happens by intention or mistake. As Joe noted, a hard-flare landing is just a whipstall close to the ground. A whipstall leads to a rapid pitch rotation, but before that happens the glider will briefly tailslide. Twenty years ago when I was doing certification test flying, I was somewhat startled, watching the 8mm films afterward, to see the streamer on my front wire reverse direction for one or two seconds. That was following a fairly moderate whipstall from best L/D speed. We see the same thing on videos of student landings in calm air with a hard flare: when they touch down they are often going backward at 3 or 4 mph. Not much, but downwind this could make the difference between successfully running it out vs. nosing in.

I would make a few points about using a hard flare for this special purpose:

1) no matter how good you are at landing according to bar pressure rather than groundspeed, you're unlikely to flare too early going downwind; 2) even if you do flare too early, the wind gradient will reduce rather than aggravate any climb-out tendency; and 3) it's fine to say "if I have to land downwind, I'll just put it on the wheels," but that assumes wheel-landable terrain, which rules out most of the available LZs east of Chelan, for example.

Like the hard flare, the precisely-into-the-wind-at-all-costs landing is another "ideal" that has contributed to lots of glider damage and some injuries. By understanding and practicing the full range of safe landing directions and styles, we can be more able to make the right choice when the textbook example is the wrong one.

As a footnote, one reason that hard-flare landings are widely seen as the ideal to strive for is that spot landing contests (and cheering/jeering crowds) reward that style and penalize run-out landings. I can't think of a simple solution for this, but at least we should be aware that just because a technique is best for winning spot contests doesn't mean it's the right one for everyday use.

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Joe Greblo on No Flare Landings

Mon, Mar 13 2000, 3:00:02 pm EST

Davis Straub|George Ferris|Joe Greblo|Wills Wing

I was very happy to receive a message from Joe Greblo after he read my series of articles on No Flare Landings. Joe is a very well respected hang gliding instructor, among many other things, in southern California.

Joe had a set of notes that he sent, with the proviso that they weren't really finished, or ready for publication. When George Ferris read them he thought they were great. I really wanted to publish Joe's thoughts.

Well Joe and I cleaned up his notes a little bit, and while they are still a bit rough, they'll do for now. I think that Joe really speaks to a revolution in our thinking about hang glider landings and I hope you will read his notes carefully. Joe can be reached at «windsports».

Congratulations on your discovery and welcome to the world landing hang gliders without full flares.

As a flight instructor, this subject has plagued us for years and gotten worse with glider evolution of the past 15 years. The historical solution to bad hang glider landings has been to try to increase the pilot skills to keep up with the higher wing loadings, taller and wider control bars, shorter chord lines, the lower twists, more rapid pitch rotations, relentless energy retention, etc.

You've noticed something that only a few instructors have been teaching for years. That is that a modern hang glider should no longer be landed like a parachute. This worked fine for standard Rogallos and lower aspect ration wings, but in retrospect, we probably should have abandoned this technique in 1980 with the introduction of gliders like the Wills Wing Harrier, Duck, UP Comet, etc.

Instead it would be safer in general to land hang gliders more like airplanes by "greasing them in", so to speak. There's a bunch of reasons for this that take a bit of explaining, and I've not yet been able to put them in the form of a good article, but I'd be happy to give you a call and discuss them with you if you are interested.

It's rather encouraging to note that this (what I'll call more modern) landing technique has really taken hold at one of our flight parks (in an undisclosed location). About 30-40% of the pilots are landing this way now and they swear by it. Not as many whacks around the l/z.

The main problem I have with flaring at an angle of attack lower than stall is that this airspeed provides the wing with a slight surplus of energy that is occasionally converted to excessive, undesirable, altitude when coupled with incorrect flare timing, or an unpredictable gust of wind. Stated differently, with this technique, as the pilot begins to flare, the wing will produce greater lift before the wing stalls and reduces lift.

The bad part here is if you get a gust at the moment of flare, your glider will climb to an altitude proportional to the velocity of the gust. The second problem with this technique is that when timed properly, semi-prone and even prone positioned pilots are rewarded with successful landings.

1. This technique puts the pilot into a severely stalled angle of attack while at high wing loading.

2. This technique puts the pilot into a prone position (relative to the wing) during the highly loaded stall.

3. If we could greatly reduce wing loading during the stall, we could greatly reduce the stall speed

4. During stall, directional control is dramatically reduced.

5. If we could control the relative wind during the landing flare, we could reduce some of the negative aspects of the landing flare. i.e. the magnitude of the stall break.

Since the beginnings of our sport, it has been taught that the perfect landing is one in which all forward ground speed is eliminated before the pilot's feet contact the ground. As gliders evolved into wide, span efficient, high lift wings, perfect landings have become more and more difficult to achieve.

No single subject has occupied the minds of instructors and pilots more than that of "how to land a modern hang glider". There have been more articles, more lessons, more clinics, more dialogue, on this subject, perhaps than any other subject in hang gliding. We have the "crescendo technique" and the "2-step flare". We've had articles on hand position, body position, flare timing, etc. And what seems common to all this rhetoric is the realization that a good no-wind landing requires flaring the precise amount at exactly the right moment. Too early and it's time for new downtubes. Too late and your friends are wishing you luck (or yelling WHACK!)

Ah, that moment! That elusive little moment. You better not miss it or else! If only we could broaden this moment, and give us a wide window of opportunity to flare the glider. Naw, that's not possible, is it? You bet it is! And to understand how, one needs to look closely at 2 things. How a hang glider stalls, and how landings have traditionally been taught.

For years, many instructors have taught pilots to begin their flare at an angle of attack that is lower than incipient stall (mush). In light winds, this flare is quite quick and dramatic, resulting in the landing position in which the pilot is in the prone body position relative to the keel as required to land on his/her feet.

At some point during this landing, the pilot has assumed a prone position relative to the keel. In fact, this prone body position is a necessary component of a good zero wind landing. If, then we must get prone sometime during this flare process, it's not surprising that some pilots assume the prone position sooner than others.

Hang gliders are designed to drop the nose when they stall. That's a good thing and you wouldn't want it any other way. Another fact is that the rate the glider pitches down during stall recovery, and the force of the nose down rotation, is related to angle of attack. The higher the angle of attack in stall, the further downward and more powerfully the nose will rotate during recovery. Based upon this we can certainly understand why pilots struggle more with no wind landings than when landing into a moderate breeze.

To further complicate things, hang gliders have evolved to reasonably high aspect ratios as compared to the easy to land gliders of the 1970's. And high aspect ratio wings rotate about their pitch axis much more quickly than low aspect wings (Pulses, Dreams, Falcons, etc). Manufacturers have tried to remedy these problems by locating the apex of the control bar further rearward giving the pilot more authority during the flare when the glider would like to powerfully recover from the extremely high angle of attack associated with the no wind flare.

But they have not found a way to prevent the glider from trying to rotate it's nose downward during this severe stall event as this is an important part of the gliders pitch stability. We all know what would happen if you fully flared your glider at 1000 ft. agl (please don't do it to find out!) It will pitch down violently and uncontrollably and possibly tumble ass over teakettle! But isn't this what we are trained to do when we land in no wind? Of course it is!

Why doesn't the glider pitch down violently and uncontrollably and tumble during a no wind flare? The answer; it simply doesn't have time. Hopefully our feet are on the ground before it begins this process. But don't be fooled, if your feet are not on the ground quickly, you can be assured that the glider will try to recover from this stall. And if you give it the time and space, it will do it just as violently as it would at 1000 feet.

Whoaa Nelly! But what would happen if you hooked into your glider in your l/z, ran with it on flat ground until your harness straps were tight and your glider lifting, and flared hard? I'll tell you. The nose easily remains up with little pitch down forces. Even in zero wind!

Hmmm, in the first example, when the glider is at altitude and dramatically stalled, it pitches down with extreme force and magnitude, but in the second example it doesn't. What's different in these two examples? Only wing loading and the direction of the relative wind (angle of attack)!

If, during your flare, you dramatically reduce wing loading and control the direction of the relative wind, you can eliminate the powerful forces of rotation about the pitch axis. In doing so we can eliminate one of the major causes of the nose and control bar hitting the ground.

Another relationship between wing loading and the stall, is stall speed. Stall speed increases with wing loading. Reduce wing loading and you reduce stall speed. If you could eliminate wing loading entirely, your wing could never stall! If it never stalled, it would never pitch down in its attempt at stall recovery. Hence, even with a very pitch stable wing, it would be easy to keep the nose up on landing.

Back to landing problems. We recognize the time to flare as an elusive moment. Can we broaden the moment so that we can flare early or late and not be penalized with a bad landing? Unfortunately, the only way to flare early without the danger of climbing is to cause such a quick and complete flare action as to produce an accelerated stall. Although this may be a valuable skill to possess, it is a difficult and dangerous task to practice. Therefore few pilots will ever avail themselves of this useful skill, hence early flares will almost always increase your danger. But we can eliminate the usual landing problems associated with flaring later, at slower airspeeds.

Many pilots who have tried flaring later than the "magic moment", find that they still have bad landings. Most often this is caused by their expectation that the glider will rotate upward, ultimately placing them on their feet in the perfect stand-up (but prone with respect to the glider) position. By waiting for the glider to drop the pilot onto his/her feet, the glider remains at a high wing loading through this dramatically deep stall. Remember, high wing loading means high stall speed; and deep stall means quick and powerful stall recovery forces. Since the pilot has waited until the glider is without excess energy, it will not climb the amount necessary to rotate the now prone pilot to his feet and he lands on his belly, or tries to run it with his feet too far behind him.

The solution requires 3 simple actions from the pilot.

1. Delay the flare by holding steady altitude (your feet 2 inches above the ground) in your ground skim until it cannot be held any longer. This is when the glider truly begins to stall (mush) and it will settle you gently onto the first step of your run. The fact that you've induced the onset of a stall will insure that the glider will not climb even with an unexpected gust.

2. Keep the feet under you, remain upright, and begin to run as soon as the first foot touches the ground. This will unload the glider, eliminate it's high wing loading, and control the relative wind to provide a maximum angle of attack of 90 degrees as opposed to 180 degrees associated with the tail sliding flare. This guarantees you will be on your feet in an effective running position and reduces the powerful and nasty stall behavior of the glider during the flare.

3. Accelerate your run and flare fully and completely at the moment the glider sets your weight on your foot. With this technique, you will come to rest in only one or two steps. If the terrain allows you to take more running steps, feel free to run out your landing with a gentler, more progressive flare. If you desire not to flare fully, that's ok too as this technique allows pilots to utilize a complete range of flare magnitude. They can flare fully if the wings are level and the terrain won't allow a run, they can flare slowly and progressively to stop the glider whenever they want to, or they can choose not to flare at all.

Speaking of southern California »

Thu, Oct 28 1999, 10:00:04 pm GMT

Dragonfly|Grant Hoag|Joe Greblo

Grant Hoag, 949/260-6160, <ghoag@brwncald.com>, writes that Joe Greblo, 818/988-0111, has a new beachfront training hill only site that is open every day but Monday. Also that Hungary Joe is providing Dragonfly towing operations in CA's south central valley near Porterville near Bakersfield.

It sure would be good to have a permanent flight park in southern California (as well as northern California). I'd love to hear more about these sites so that I can help publicize them.

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