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In February of this year, while synchro spiraling with Phil Russman, I
flew through his wake—a wake strengthened by
the 2 G's we were
pulling. My wing surged below me and took a minor
collapse. Even though I recovered quickly, it highlighted
the increasing risks and declining margins I was accepting. There I was,
doing a precision, high-energy turn within a few hundred feet of the ground
and necessarily close to my partner's wake. Something had
to change.
Among the changes was a commitment to recover higher,
only do such maneuvers with a
reserve
parachute and lastly, go to a maneuvers
clinic. Chris Santacroce has a reputation, well deserved it turns out, for
putting on these over-the-water training courses that he
calls "Throw Down Sessions." Timing was impeccable
because Phil Russman was planning one with some of his students.
Steep, high speed, or high G maneuvers (where you feel heavily weighted
in the seat) carry enormous risk. Enormous! You can build
up to them reasonably safely but, if you're not already proficient,
don't expect a clinic to make you so. Doing a maneuvers clinic will
speed your advancement by showing what works, what's dangerous, what to
practice and what to avoid.
The clinic would also serve to help me conquer some long fears while
better understanding this little, uncertified wing that I fly. Plus it's
always valuable to get input from skilled pilots in another realm of
flight that I never explore: I wanted to try the SAT aerobatic maneuver.
During my first maneuvers clinic, in 2000, I chickened out of the stall
and spin. I wanted to change that this time around plus I wanted to see
how the spice handled parachutal stall, an admittedly unlikely mode for
this wing.
Is it Worthwhile for a Motor Pilot?
Paramotoring seems to be about twice
as safe as free flying and that's probably due to the
benign weather we typically seek.
We don't need strong enough conditions to stay
aloft and
therefore avoid what seems to be the major risks of flying paragliders—strong
weather.
Motor pilots are more likely to crash into something
(water, wires, trees, another pilot, etc.) through no fault of the weather
or collapse of wing but rather their own decision making. If you stick with flying in the benign
parts of good-forecast weather days, your likelihood of needing expert skill
in handling in-flight collapses or other maladies is extremely
low. Yes, you can be
surprised by the weather but the majority of paramotor crashes are
unrelated to weather. Those that are
were nearly always from launches
in already-strong
conditions where the pilot ignored obvious warnings.
If you primarily sky putt
up high (nothing wrong with that), then a maneuvers clinic will
have limited benefit. It will be fun, it will be eye opening and it will
expand your horizons, but it probably won't actually impact your overall risk
much.
On the other hand, if you tend to explore your
abilities, doing steepish turns, foot drags, any significant low flying or
have a broad range of conditions you fly in, the clinic should be considered
nearly essential.
How Much Experience Should I Have?
Before going doing this one I would have said you
would be best to have probably 100 flights and be able to consistently
spot land at a high P2/PPG2 level. That means regularly nailing a spot
within 40 feet power off. After watching a number of new pilots go through
the clinic, and see how much they learned, I think those minimums may be a
bit steep.
For sure you want to have decent landing skills
because you'll be landing on a beach in sometimes confined areas. You'll
want to have at least 50 flights so that you know what's going on but you
don't need to be already doing steep maneuvers. But even new pilots will
learn a lot. The courses are tailored to your skill level and you won't do
anything the instructor doesn't feel you're ready for. Don't expect to do
spins, stalls, SAT's or other similar maneuvers but you'll learn enormously
from the ones you do. Those maneuvers are actually pretty worthless, anyway,
from a pilot skill perspective. The most useful learning comes from turn and
collapse recoveries, pitch oscillations and a few others.
 What Do I Need To Bring
What you bring depends on the clinic you attend. But
all the clinics that I'm aware of require a free-flight harness with
reserve, hook knife and some kind of radio. Chris was able to use FRS or
2-meter. You'll want to have a speedbar so as to learn on that. If you
don't have a free flight harness consider renting one. I don't know if
they do that or not.
The instructor will tell you what else will be
required as some things depend on the locations.
Bring the wing you fly with the most. If that's a
motor wing then use it. If your wing has any special limits, like some of
the reflex wings, let the instructor know about them. He may or may not be
familiar with those, especially the dynamic nastiness some reflex wings
display with speedbar
deployed and trimmed slow. That condition
is
common in free flight and some maneuvers coaches (instructors) may not be
aware of it yet.
Go with an open mind. Don't plan on impressing
anybody with tales of derring do, just sit back, soak it in and learn. No
matter your level of experience there is a lot to learn.
Safety
The decision to launch is all yours. If you don't
feel comfortable with a situation, don't go. There were occasions with our
group where hasty decisions led to
launching in conditions we
probably should not have. The more experienced the pilot, the more
latitude the instructor will give you. Remember that the one fatality during a clinic resulted
from a gust front that blew a participant into power lines.
The decision to do a particular maneuver is all yours. But once
started, you must listen intently and react
as instructed.
The clinics seem to enjoy a good safety record.
According to Steve Roti of the U.S. Hang Gliding and Paragliding
Association, there has not been a reported fatality during a formal
clinic. The wire accident was only related to the clinic in that she was a
participant but hadn't started doing any maneuvers. A number of pilots
do go
in the water, maybe one in 3 clinics has someone go in the water, but
that's not a huge deal. With a dry change of clothing, you can be
flying in a couple hours.
Which Clinic?
I can highly recommend
Chris Santacroce's clinic
although there are numerous others that have earned sound reputations. His
easy, unassuming demeanor left the ego behind and presented a good
environment for learning. He has done about every maneuver in the book
but, more importantly, he's probably seen them all including their
undesirable permutations. That makes him
most likely to call the correct recovery when poop meets
fan. Ken Hudonjorgenson also
came with extremely high recommendations. |
How Safe Is It?
Mishaps do happen, pilots do occasionally
get wet but they appear to have about the same safety record as regular
paragliding. As of May, 2007, there have been
approximately 3 fatalities during formal over-the-water clinics with only 1
in the U.S. and that happened outside of the maneuvering or tow. It does not appear related to
the clinic beyond simply being another opportunity for flight—a P2
paraglider pilot wound up flying into power lines after a gust front came
through and she was unable to penetrate back to her landing zone.
There are some additional risks in the
towing but they appear to have only resulted in scrapes and bruises.
How is that Towing?
Surprisingly easy. Our group was a bunch
of motor pilots and they adapted quickly to it. Take your time getting set
up properly, do a check, have your buddy do a check and only accept benign
conditions. When the wing comes up, follow the A's and be ready to check the
surge, especially on easy-inflating wings such as the MacPara's.
The boat does all the work. It's like a
power forward but without the cage to muck things up. Even if the wing comes
up crooked, run towards it while giving just enough brake correction. That
happened to me on one crosswind launch and it was reasonably easy to
control.
The most serious mishap was when an
experienced pilot hooked in wrong and wound up lifting off backwards. He did
an amazing job flying the wing backwards and kept it under control until he
chose to release at about 150 feet AGL. He turned back forward and would
have made a normal landing except for his choice of attempting a return to
the LZ. He didn't quite make it around and landed downwind. Thank goodness
for soft sand and bush.
Another incident happened to another
experienced pilot who tried launching in a strongish 90° crosswind—very
challenging because, when the boat starts pulling, the wing wants to fall
opposite to the pull. That's what happened and he couldn't get it back. He
ended up dragging it over a fire pit which tore it up pretty good.
One of my launches was with a quartering
tailwind of a about 2 mph and it turned out to be no problem but I
distinctly recommend avoiding that. |
