Having the motor quit is no big deal if you've followed the admonition to always stay within glide range of friendly terrain. Sometimes, though, even the best plans leave you needing to stretch your glide. The PPG bible covers this in nicely except for one situation--the shoreline situation.

When paralleling a long landing zone, like a shoreline, there are some special considerations.

Look at the diagram at right. You're cruising north at 20 mph in the face of a 10 mph headwind. The motor dies. Anywhere along the green area is safe landing territory. Which is your best option, A, B, or C?

If you answered anything other than B, read on.

When trying to make a fixed point over the ground with steady winds down to the surface, it's always best to make your ground track exactly towards the point. In the example, if you were going for a specific point, you would choose A, provided that was where you wanted to end up and indeed, your heading would be as illustrated--somewhat into the wind. But if you can land anywhere along that safe landing area, Choice B is best.

If you're thinking that the most direct route, a tangent to shore, is best then you're still thinking about a point. We have the entire shoreline to work with. Yes, you'll travel over more water but ALL your progress will be towards shore instead of burning some fighting the wind.

Consider if the headwind were 20 mph. You would be standing still out there over the water all the way to splashdown. But if you head west, due west, now you are going 20 mph towards shore while drifting 20 mph to the left (south). Yes, you'll land way down the shore but at least it's shore. Actually, your glide ratio, relative to the shore line, is identical in this situation than if there is no wind whatsoever.

When faced with a long landing area like this, your best bet is to fly a heading that's towards the area but perpendicular to it. Then just accept where you drift to.

Choice C is never best even though you build in a tailwind. The increased distance more than counters any benefit from a tailwind.

Tacking to go Upwind

Another misconception you'll hear is the idea of "tacking" left and right to improve upwind penetration. That's entirely false. A sailboat tacks into the wind by virtue of having water to push against. A paramotor is flying through the air in what we call wind. With no ground to push against, tacking has no benefit.

The Gist