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Page two. New takeoff site. Today was blowing a light SE and after sitting in traffic jams on the M25 south of London and then driving around for a few hours trying to decide on a decent take off site I decided on a large gently sloping field just north of Brighton. This field was perfect for both takeoff and landing in this direction. The only problem was that it was getting near to dusk by this time and things would have to be moved along quickly if I was to get in the air at all. This was the first time that I'd actually rigged the whole thing myself and it took longer than I thought that it would. There is a lot more stuff to carry around than with conventional hang gliding. You normally just have your glider and harness bag which you can carry at the same time if you have a walk to the rigging area.
So, once I'd rigged the glider and the wasp and attached them both together with the fuel connected it was time to fire it up. With a pull on the choke and a couple of turns of the starter it kicked into life. I spent a couple of minutes warming up the engine before I got into the harness and picked up the glider to launch. The wind was only about 3 miles per hour at this point and the light was really starting to fade. I levelled the wings and bit down on the mouth throttle. As I started to accelerate forward I felt the glider lift and I applied full power as I continued to run. I was very quickly airborne and seemed to have a very good climb rate although I couldn't tell you what it was, I'll figure that out on future flights. I managed to find the foot throttle more easily this time and I climbed without turning up to about 700 ft and then leveled out. I had decided to fly the wasp without the use of the limit lines this time to see if there was any difference from my first flight. As soon as I began to turn I realised that there was a major difference in feel and handling from my previous flight with the lines attached. It felt like someone had given me my glider back. It handled great. I think the limit lines must have restricted the movement of the wing and made the whole thing feel really stiff. This was much better. I flew a few tight 360's just to celebrate getting my good handling back. The bar position was a bit further back due to the extra weight at the rear but this didn't matter. At least it was handling like a normal glider. This gave me much more confidence in the wing. I didn't feel like there was really much difference in the feel of the wasp harness from my normal hang gliding harness. I couldn't tell that there was an engine at the back except for the obvious noise. It was really getting a lot darker now so I cut back to tickover and began to lose height to come in to land. On the way in I gave the engine a little blip with the throttle but this just made it cut out. These two stroke engines seem to be a bit temperamental. I tried a re-start but it wasn't having it and I was getting low anyway so I left it. With the handling easier now I was able to make a much more accurate approach to the field with tighter turns and on the last 100 ft I aimed straight at my chosen spot and pulled on more speed. At about 30 ft I got onto the uprights and got my feet down to land. Once I was skimming the grass I felt the legs begin to drag behind me and I started to flare. I stopped really easily and quickly with no fuss or drama. It was a short flight but a really useful one. Now I know that my glider flies well with the wasp without the limit lines and that makes me much happier about flying with a powered harness. I'm looking forward to some longer and higher flights now. |
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