| Paragliding: Cross-Country Flying 101 (I) |
compilots writes "
Cross-Country Flying 101 by Will Gadd, with input from many top pilots who patiently and repeatedly answered the question, "What's important for successful XC flying?"
The first step toward successful cross-country flying is simply leaving the security of the local hill and venturing out into the wide world. It doesn't matter if a an XC flight ends one or 100 miles from the start point, but that it was attempted. For every flight that ends in a new LZ requires the same basic set of skills: An appreciation of local conditions, constant analysis of immediate air conditions in flight and, above all else, a safe place to land at the end of a flight.
Flight Planning
The planning of an XC flight is often as or more important than the actual flight. For example, task committees at competitions set tasks every morning armed with the best information they can gather on wind speeds, possible cloud development, barometric pressure, satellite photos and every other scrap of information they can muster. As your own task committee, get as much information as possible before setting your task. There are also days that simply aren't good for going XC; rather than forcing a day to meet your goal, set your goal around the day. Assuming the day looks reasonable for XC flying (no thunderstorms forecast for noon or other large-scale problems), a good map of potential routes is essential, preferably one with airspace restrictions, mountain ranges, major roads, powerlines, railroads and other feature visible from the air.
Information from any local source about XC flying always has to be examined with an eye toward who is giving it, but I like to pump local HG and PG pilots about where they have been and what happened. For example, they may know that a local canyon turns into a death venturi about noon every day, as well as good thermals or areas where the powerlines make landing all but impossible. After establishing the general conditions for the day and area, the next step is to set some kind of goal and state it: "I'm going to fly from Aspen to Leadville." Even if you don't make your goal, you'll still learn something about XC flying, while you're guaranteed not to learn anything if you're boating around with 20 other pilots at the regular hill. XC flying in a group has advantages, but it's often difficult to get anyone to go with you. Break the herd mentality and go anyhow, but try to tell someone generally where you're going in case you don't show up later. In many states, a fishing license covers rescue costs for the purchaser; it's a small investment that can go a long way.
Because paragliders go upwind very poorly, upwind flying should be kept to a minimum. Understanding local wind conditions such as the difference between morning, afternoon and evening valley flows versus predominate winds aloft can be critical. Using Aspen as an example, the wind usually flows down the valleys in the mornings and evenings and up the valleys in the afternoons, often in direct opposition to the winds aloft. If you're flying XC in valley terrain, generally plan your flight to go with the wind aloft, but realize that the wind low in the valleys may be very different. The windward side of a high mountain ridge may well be the lee side of a ridge facing the same direction in the valley and vice versa; it usually only takes getting rotored hard once to appreciate this phenomena.
Say the wind is out of the West, and you're flying a valley that generally runs from south to north, with the top of it at the North end. It's evening, you're getting low and returning from a long XC, and you're coming down the valley from the north. A long spine sticks diagonally out into the valley from the East side, it's in the sun, and it's about a perfect glide from where you are now. You know the wind is from the west aloft, so you head for southwest side of the spine, arrive there very low and get hammered because the valley wind, with a strong valley flow, is pumping down the valley, essential from the North. You get rotored into the trees, it gets dark, you have a lousy walk.
Note: Part I : Part II : Part III"
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