Slow Motion Hang Gliding Launches - Nov 19th 2009

[MYNAMEISFRANKENSTEIN]

love your videos alta8bird. keep em coming and enjoy the fall

[GFGameplay]

that looks fun! :D

[shark14416]

most of the pilots launching here jumped on the base bar too early. Airspeed people, airspeed. One day like nearly on teh vid a stall will occur on launch, WOnt be pretty

[GyGergely]

Cool! I'm just starting hang gliding. This video partly motivated me to do it, so thanks :)

[anthowes]

Yeah those are bad take offs!

AOA is wrong! Jumping into the glider! Wings not level!

Just a matter of time and there will be a crash!

[anthowes]

@anthowes But the video! IS GREAT

[sdgegg]

Thanks for "trying" Lucas. This Video is awesome! As all other hang-gliding videos you made ;) I can't afford to start hang-gliding right now, but I'm looking forward for next year. Meanwhile those videos are a bless :) Keep up the generous work you make sharing your sport with us. It is really appreciated.

[LucasRidley]

@sdgegg Glad you're enjoying my videos. Look forward to seeing your videos once you start flying!

[DZFoxtrot]

How long does you average hang glider flight last? I started skydiving last fall but after the initial rush of exiting the plane I find myself wanting to spend more time in the air. I've started to look into sailplane piloting and paragliders. No hang gliding around where I live.

[alta8bird]

@DZFoxtrot If you like flying face first like skydiving, and going fast, then hang gliding is the way to go. My longest flight is over 5 hours, I've traveled over 100 miles on several occasions, and reached heights of 12,000' - Send me a message if you want more info, also check out my other hang gliding videos on youtube. Good luck

[DZFoxtrot]

@alta8bird Isn't hang gliding a pretty new sport? Wikipedia mentions something about some pilots carrying a parachute? Do you carry one? How does it work with a hang glider? I was surprised by how safe skydiving was, how safe is hang gliding?

Hope you don't mind me spamming your video with questions, maybe they'll be of help to others.

[alta8bird]

@DZFoxtrot I'm going to send you a message because I won't be able to answer that in 500 words.

[CkerCky]

@alta8bird do you mind sending me the same thing?

It's pretty interesting :)

cool video btw

[twatsquadband]

well, the look of the video is really nice,

but what you can see here is a great to see how not to start a hangglider.

everything has been sain down below.

show them so they can learn from it, if you didn't already do it.

safety first :)

well then, long flights and happy landings (and well done takeoffs in future^^)

[regidelta]

up !!!

[goldish345]

fun

[Highrockman]

there are a couple of things going on here..first the runs in some of the cases are slow need to be more aggressive..the pilots are not controlling their pitch and angle of attack through out the launch sequence..I would suggest going back to the training hill and work out a better launch sequence and have them judged by somone who is a trainer...

[NMERider]

A lot of accidents waiting to happen on that ramp. And to think that I thought only SoCal pilots had challenging launches. Those make ours seem pretty tame and that's not, a good thing. Please keep documenting these things to raise awareness.

[peerhoffmann]

Second glider too much open, 3 to early down, 4 open, 5 open, 6 left side to much open

[Phreephlight]

6 Perfect. left side looked big cause of camera angle

[peerhoffmann]

Looks like very bad launches

[alta8bird]

So what do you think? Why are they bad?

[IBinADrochnFljiga]

Especially the 2nd, 3rd and 4th have very high angles of attack during their launch. This produces a lot of drag and they kind of stall into flight (which can have nasty consequences). I guess it is because they are used to jump of the platform instead of running down a hill. There is no gradual progression from running to safe flying (safe = not at minimum speed).

[IBinADrochnFljiga]

Great video quality though! Very nice downwind leg with the sun and the trees...

[MaartenSpoek]

Yes, most of them are bad, especially the second, just waiting for disaster, and others like the other commentators say. But anyway, concrats on the D7. I've got the D5 mark2 which is limited to 30fps. I'll post some more footage of that later.

[MaartenSpoek]

Yes, 2nd, 3rd, 4th are the worst. 5th is also not so good. These guys think they fly and grab the bottom, but you can clearly see that the hangloop is still slack. So when they dive to the bottom they give ballast to the wing, which is than stalling and in response dives to pick up enough speed. In one case diving into a turn, which is even more dangerous if not corrected correctly. Sorry for my bad english.

Btw, what lens did you use? The sunlight flares are the best I've seen on a camera.

[tontar]

@alta8bird I know, I know! Because some of them don't control their angle of attack, it is too high, and then they jump into the harness and the glider mushes down to pick up speed, some of them looking like they nearly clip the end of the ramp. Is this standard fare at Lookout? Oh, by the way, I always love your videos, but so many of the launches you film are creepy.

[LucasRidley]

@tontar - thanks man! Yea, I agree about those launches - that's why I film them :)

[coolgeorgiaboy]

looks like a great day, thanks for sharing

[Domingo0022]

Very cool

[designbydave]

Copy Cat ; )