Normal Flight; Active Flying; Turning & Thermalling Using Weight Shift; Deflations - Ozone vibe Betriebshandbuch

Normal Flight

Flying at 'trim speed' (hands-up), your glider will achieve its 'best
glide' speed. Apply the brakes approximately 30cm to reach the min -
imum-sink rate. To increase your speed for headwind glides, use the
accelerator bar which will give you an increase in speed of up to
14km/h.

Active Flying

All good pilots react to the feedback their gliders send them, and are
constantly adjusting their speed and pitch to match its movements in
the air. As the glider pitches in front of them, they use the brakes to
slow it down. Equally, as the glider drops behind them, they release
the brakes to speed it up. These movements can be symmetric or
asymmetric so they may be applying both brakes or one. These sub-
tle adjustments keep their gliders flying smoothly and directly above
them. These are skills that can be learnt by playing with the glider on
the ground too.
Although your Vibe has been designed to be difficult to accidentally
stall, excessive or heavy handed use of the brakes can cause the Vibe
to stall. The stall point on the Vibe is very well defined, you will feel
a noticeable drop off in brake pressure as it begins to stall. If you are
flying slowly, and you sense this drop off in pressure, let up the
brakes immediately.
Turning and thermalling using weight shift
To familiarise yourself with the Vibe your first turns should be grad -
ual and progressive.
To make efficient and co-ordinated turns with the Vibe first look in
the direction you want to go, then lean into it. Your first input for
directional change should be weight-shift, followed by the smooth
application of the brake until the desired bank angle is achieved. To
regulate the speed and radius of the turn, use the outer brake.
Warning: never initiate a turn at minimum speed (i.e. with full
brakes on) as you could risk entering a spin.

Deflations

Due to the flexible form of a paraglider, turbulence may cause a por-
tion of the wing suddenly to collapse.
Asymmetrical collapses can be controlled by weight shifting away
from the collapse and applying a small amount of brake to control
your direction. However, there are some important issues to consid-
er when dealing with asymmetric collapses.
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 col-
lapse.
To reinflate a collapse, make a long, smooth progressive pump on the
deflated side. This pumping action should take about 2 seconds per
pump. Pumping too fast won't reinflate the wing and pumping too
slow might take the glider too close, 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 Vibe collapses in accelerated flight, immediately release the
accelerator to slow down to trim speed.
Prevention is better than a cure
No pilot and no glider is immune to collapses however active flying
will virtually eliminate any tendency to collapse.
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