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After analyzing some student accidents, including one fatality, I've
changed the way I look at beginner wings. I don't do reviews of them
typically because I'm not very interested in flying them personally but
have noticed something about training: the wing can kill you.
Even as beginners, many of us fancy ourselves as "good pilots" with
good instinct. The problem is that paragliding is unique in that
instinctive reactions are opposite to what we feel. I refer to the
left-right pendulum that bedevils new pilots and even some experienced
pilots.
Instinctive reaction to
upset is opposite to what we feel. Relying on such
instinct during early training can be fatally wrong.
As the wing rolls right, where does your body go? Yup: left (see
below). So the
new pilot feels his body go left and instinctively pulls right
brake--exactly the wrong input. He'll aggravate the bank and then, as he
starts to swing back the other way, will do it again, aggravating
matters even worse into a
potentially catastrophic wingover. This is why instructors must make
sure their students are willing to go hands up when commanded to because
that may be the only input that stops them from subconsciously making
matters worse.
What to do?
The single best action a new pilot can do is start on a very
benign-handling wing. Resist the temptation to start on a hotter wing
known for better handling. That might be OK after your PPG2 rating but,
until then, your survival odds will be dramatically improved with a
benign wing. It should be easy to inflate only because that will improve
your success. Ideally it will come up easily in no wind and not tend to
front tuck. But more than anything it should have VERY forgiving
handling such that pulling a LOT of brake will not likely cause a spin
and will barely turn.
The Prima seems to be a good choice. There are others, no doubt, but
I'm familiar with the Prima. The Power Atlas would be a good choice if
it inflated easier. Of course, if
you can launch a Power Atlas in no wind, you can launch anything.
These are sometimes called school wings because they are so forgiving;
even if you pull the wrong brake they won't let you go too far. Of
course the trade off is that you won't won't turn much, either, so your
training area must be plenty big.
So if you're thinking about training, besides finding a reputable,
USPPA certified school, see about training on a "school" wing that has
very benign handling. You may indeed have good reflexes but they won't
do you any good, and may even do you harm if you rely on them in this
situation. Insist on a very benign beginner wing, it may mean surviving
training.
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I wondered why students were struggling so hard to
get this wing overhead. Looking at this picture, you would assume, as I
did, that he's pulling too much A's. True, he *IS* pulling a lot, and
yes, the leading edige is curled up.
So I tried it. What I found was that the only way
this wing would even come up is to pull that much A's. It comes up
slower than it should which isn't surprising given the deformation.
Letting the trimmers out helps but that makes it
particularly susceptible to front tucking.
Pick a beginner wing that has very benign handling
but that ALSO inflates reasonably easy. Nothing will matter if you can't
inflate it.
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