My God!!! You're so totally right!!!
When he's prone with his hands on the basetube the glider's all over the sky! At one point it actually goes UPSIDE DOWN!!! And that's in clean air!
But when he's upright in trashy rotory air the glider stays PERFECTLY LEVEL!
The contrast is ASTOUNDING! I stand SO corrected.
But seriously, folks...
It's the same dude filmed by the same dude at the same place flying the same approach on a topless with a different paint job 117 days prior.
On both flights he rocks up before he's on final.
But THAT DOES *NOTHING* TO ALTER HIS CG and HIS HANDS STAY ON THE BASETUBE.
This time he goes right up at 1:16, left up a second later, begins his flare a second after that, and has his nose planted in another three seconds.
So from both hands on the basetube to flare initiation we're talking a whopping TWO seconds - one fewer than the other landing three months later.
I repeat...
NOBODY - high or low - goes upright for better roll authority.
When someone wants better roll authority the first thing he does is pull in. And when you're upright with your hands on the downtubes you can't pull in worth shit.
And that's why you see highly skilled flyers - like Brian here - minimizing their hands-on-the-downtubes time to what is necessary to flare and stop the glider.
And that's why you see really smart pilots - regardless of skill level - totally eliminating upright hands-on-the-downtubes time and letting the glider land when it wants to. If you wanna maximize the control and safety and minimize the difficulty of your landings...
Christian Thoreson - 2004/10
Thus wheel landings, the safest and easiest way to consistently land a hang glider...
...stay prone with your hands on the basetube and put it down on the wheels whenever you're looking at suitable terrain.
