SAFA Skysailor Magazine

SKY SAILOR 33 January | February 2020 himself with the wing flying inverted. The pilot had a great deal of altitude and time to consider a number of possible options, before deciding reserve deployment was the way to go. The reserve came out of the harness, but did not open immediately, requiring three or four pulls on the bridle to deploy. This was the first time the pilot had deployed a reserve in flight, but had done this at repack events. It is really important for us as pilots to know our gear and make sure it is maintained in ready-to-go condition. This applies especially to reserves. Make sure you have a repack of your reserve by a suitably qualified person every six months. If you do it your- self, ensure you use approved rubber bands – you cannot just use ordinary stationery supplies. Want to learn more? Theo De Blic is a renowned acro pilot who has had a bit to say about reserve deployments in episode 58 of Gavin McClurg’s Cloudbase Mayhem podcast [cloudbasemayhem.com/episode-58-theo-de- blic-and-becoming-a-professional ]. Go to the 12m 50sec mark. For those interested, Matt Wilkes also talks about some of his aviation oriented medical re- search in Episode 43 of Gavin McClurg’s Cloudbase Mayhem podcast series. Supervising pilots and advice on thermalling for low-hours pilots We have seen some more events involving low hour pilots making tree landings at Mystic. Karl Texler has put together some pointers that I’m going to reproduce here in full: 1. When you first encounter a thermal low over ridged terrain, unless another pilot has mapped it for you, you won't know for sure where the lift ends and the sink starts. (Note: Thermals don't last forever, so if the pilot is already above you, the lift may already be gone where you are.) 2. Initially, it's safest to do figure 8 turns in the lift until you are both well and truly clear of terrain and you know where the thermal is located. (Doing a figure 8 means you can set yourself up to be always turning away from terrain.) You should only start circling once you've established where the lift is, and you are well clear of the terrain. 3. If there is any wind, the thermal will have a lean. Since you will usually be flying on the windward side of the ridge, this means the thermal will tend to lean toward the slope. This means the downwind edge of the thermal will often be the edge closest to the slope. If you fall out of the downwind edge of a thermal when circling, you can expect sink plus headwind when you've performed your downwind turn and are trying to get back into the lift. That means your glide over ground may become very poor. Keep that in mind when you are making piloting decisions close to ridged terrain. 4. If you're above the ridge and you fall out of a thermal on the downwind side while circling, and you see the terrain starting to rise in front of you while you're trying to push forward to get back into the lift, start planning an escape route immediately. If you continue to fly towards rising terrain, hitting it becomes inevitable. It could be something as simple as aiming for a lower part of the ridge (which often gets you out of the prob- lematic sink anyway). If the ground is falling away from you, even if you are in turbulence, this provides you with the best chance of sorting yourself out and avoiding terrain. 5. On an inland site, your first priority is to stay safely clear of terrain in the first stages of your flight. Your second priority is to always make sure you have a good glide to a safe landing option. If that landing option is to a permitted landing area, the local pilots will really appreciate it! The NEVHGC website provides access to very comprehensive information on landing and no-landing zones. 6. At this stage, I'll add a disclaimer: This advice is not intended as instruction. If, as a licensed pilot, you have concerns about your ability to make safe piloting decisions, please obtain further instruction only from someone who has been duly endorsed by SAFA to deliver such instruction. Many thanks, Karl. That’s it for this issue. Until next time, fly safe.