Spiral Dives - Ozone OCTANE FLX Betriebshandbuch

Spiral Dives

If you turn your glider in a series of tightening 360's it will enter a
spiral dive. This will result in rapid height loss. To initiate a spiral,
look and lean in to the direction you want to go, then smoothly pull
down on the inside brake. The Octane FLX will first turn almost 360
degrees before it drops into the spiral. Once in the spiral you must
apply a little outside brake to keep the outer wing tip pressured and
inflated.
Safe descent rates of 8m/s (500 ft/min approx.) are possible in a spi-
ral dive, but at these rates the associated high speeds and G-forces
can be disorientating, so pay particular attention to your altitude.
To exit the spiral dive, return your weight shift to a central position
and then slowly release the inside brake. As the Octane FLX deceler-
ates allow it to continue to turn until enough energy is lost for it to
return to level flight without an excessive climb and surge.
The Octane FLX shows no tendency to remain locked in a spiral dive;
however some parameters could interfere with its behaviour. These
might include: wrong settings of the chest strap, total weight in
flight outside of the certified weight range, or being in a very deep
spiral at a very high sink rate. You should always be prepared to pilot
the wing out of such a spiral dive. To do so smoothly use opposite
weight shift and apply a small amount of outside brake and the glider
will start to resume normal flight. Never attempt to recover from a
spiral with hard or quick opposite inputs as this will result in an ag-
gressive climb and surge.
IMPORTANT: Spiral dives with sink rates over 8 m/s are
possible, but should be avoided. They are dangerous and
put unnecessary strain on the glider. Spiral dives cause
disorientation and need time and height to recover. Do not
perform this manoeuvre near the ground.
INCIDENTS
Deflations
Due to the flexible form of a paraglider, turbulence may cause a por-
tion of the wing suddenly to collapse. This can be anything from a
small 30% (asymmetric) collapse to a complete (symmetric) collapse.
If you have a collapse, the first thing to do is to control your direc-
tion. You should fly away from the ground or obstacles and other
pilots, or at least not to fly into them... Asymmetric collapses can
be controlled by weight shifting away from the collapse and applying a
small amount of brake to control your direction. This act will most of
the time be enough for a full recovery of the wing.
Once a glider is deflated it is effectively a smaller wing, so the wing
loading and stall speed are higher. This means the glider will spin or
stall with less brake input than normal. In your efforts to stop the
glider turning towards the collapsed side of the wing you must be
very careful not to stall the side of the wing that is still flying. If you
are unable to stop the glider turning without exceeding the stall point
then allow the glider to turn whilst you reinflate the collapse.
If you do have a deflation, which does not spontaneously reinflate,
make a long smooth progressive pump on the deflated side. This
pumping action should take about 2 seconds per pump. Pumping too
short and fast will not reinflate the wing and pumping too slow might
take the glider close to, or beyond, the stall point.
Symmetrical collapses reinflate without pilot input, however 15 to
20cm of brake applied symmetrically will speed the process.
If your Octane FLX collapses in accelerated flight, immediately re-
lease the accelerator to slow down to trim speed and after approxi-
mately a 90 deg turn the canopy will reinflate and return to normal
flight.
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