- Nancy from Flybubble,
just flown from Taucho and landed on the beach
'cause I'd like to talk you through my equipment
and show you the Lightness 3 at the same time.
(pulsating music)
So, we got the chest strap coming down
and a little ball that holds the flight deck
and a clip here as well which is a really great introduction
over the Lightness 2
which didn't have that,
which just holds,
especially when you've got a large flight deck like mine,
it supports the weight very nicely.
Then we've got a security system
so a little ball releases everything,
so that's that
and you've got two pass through buckles
so it's actually, well I find it very simple
to get in and out of.
I think at first some pilots do struggle
when I've done harness fitting sessions with pilots,
they sometimes struggle to put the buckle
through first time,
but actually it's once you've done it a few times,
it really is quite good.
I have to confess I don't normally fly in sandals,
but I have changed my footwear 'cause it's hot here.
(Nancy laughs)
Don't show my feet too much.
I usually try and grab my flight deck at this point
because I don't like to drop the whole thing on the floor
(upbeat music)
and some other accessories
that I've been using for my flying which work really well.
So we've got the Flybubble bandana,
(popping sound)
new Flybubble speed arms as well and
(whistle sound)
(crowd cheering sound effect)
to reveal the hairy chest.
This is a new feature on the,
it's an optional extra on the Lightness 3,
the idea is that when you're flying
the wind is deflected over your head
to make it more of a comfortable flight
and make you less tired
and I think it does work well.
So it's an optional,
you can try it and see if it works for you or not.
So to take it out it's got,
it comes out as a flat pack
(bag zipping)
and we give you a nice bag for it to be stored in,
slide that back into there.
So on my flight deck, got a velcro panel
(velcro separating)
and I do add a security onto there as well
just so that I don't lose my whole flight deck.
The harness has the option of an advance radio top holder
and I'd love to use it,
but my radio's too big.
So this is my radio I use,
so I have to use this holder
which works very well for my radio.
But if you had the advanced one
it would sit very nicely on here,
but you need a smaller radio than this.
This is my laptop holder if you like,
but for for my flight instruments.
So slide those in there.
So you've actually got quite a good storage area in there
for stuff
and I think it's really important that you do,
it's really important that you do use it.
You can see that this part of the harness is not supported,
but when you put those items in there
it gives you a really nice sort of curve there.
In flight I store my phone in the front of here as well,
so I'm gonna take that out.
(upbeat music continues)
There's my bag of just stuff that I keep
and then there's also the rucksack
which I rolled up nicely to go in the back.
So that's the Lightpack 3 and I'll show you in a minute
how that all goes into the bag.
The drinking system, I don't have a hanging one
I just use a platypus,
but you can attach your bottle and slip it in there.
I tend to
use these and I tuck that actually under there,
so when I'm packing away,
it doesn't go into anything.
(bag zipping)
So on here you've got a velcro panel
for a small Mini-Vario,
currently testing the Skytraxx Tweety
so that's, hence that's on there
and,
oh another thing to show you as well
is our slide over Brummel hook covers.
(upbeat music continues)
The reserve container, very neat, very compact
and I've got a High Adventure Beamer 3 in here
and pre-flight check,
just wanna make sure that yellow cord's going through there,
but it's as you see very neat.
(wind bellowing)
So I'm gonna tell you a bit more
about the Advanced Lightness 3,
about how it feels in the air
and so first of all, I love it
that would be probably my secret straight away
that I do love the harness.
I love the feeling that it gives me,
which is a hammock feeling.
So I have got a bit used to that
as I've been a pilot that's been flying the Lightness 2.
So the hammock feeling,
you feel that you're being held in place
and I feel that I can move and glide with the harness,
with my glider and the harness,
everything flows really nicely.
With thermals,
so for example if it's lighter, weaker thermals
I feel that I move with the harness more
and I really,
I push myself out and roll with the harness
and it responds really well to that,
it rocks and rolls with you.
So in the light thermals,
you might be trying to have to sort of really crank up
and find the sort of smaller cores
and work bits of lifts,
so using the harness I feel like I'm rolling
into the thermal
and rolling back out of it again
to try and get the sweet spot.
With a stronger thermal
and perhaps a wider thermal,
then you can play around with the feeling
of rolling into the thermal with the harness
and then rolling back out again, quite a relaxed feeling.
I find the support around my whole back very supportive
and very comfortable.
For the last couple of days,
we've had quite sort of strong conditions,
it's been high pressure
so the thermals have been quite punchy at times
and I would say you probably get a little bit more
of a rock and roll feeling sometimes with the thermals
and so I find with the way that I can then use the harness
to help me with that is to really move with the harness
and I find myself pushing more against the foot plate
and trying to sort of push myself round into the thermal
and really hold onto that core.
I do find sometimes that I like to just bring my legs in,
bring myself more into a core ball.
So the feeling I get with the Lightness 3
while doing sort of mild wagger, some wing overs
and general sort of mucking about with the wing,
just having a bit of fun,
the harness feels really comfortable
and I would say has less roll than the Lightness 2,
it feels maybe a little bit more stable.
I definitely feel there's a bit more comfort
than there is with the Lightness 2,
more support with the back.
So this, using the speed system is really easy,
you have a webbing loop
over the sort of rope
so you've actually got two steps I should say,
so we've got two steps
and then webbing now instead of just thin line
which makes it super easy to get your boot
or trainer onto the webbing loop
and I find it very easy to push
and to actually, and also to keep it more straight
they've centralised the attachment point
which actually makes it really easy
to keep her a straight sweeper.
So I haven't got any kind of adjusting to keep on course
which is really great.
I use Hanwag sky boots (laughs)
and they are great for hooking onto the webbing
on the speed system
and yeah, they make it really easy,
so I don't have any problems.
The actual getting in and out of the pod as well,
I find that very easy.
I pay attention to my body position on launch,
keeping a good stance
and keeping the harness in the right place
and when I launch,
I'm hooking my foot on straight away and yeah,
not having any issue getting in or out of the pod.
(wind bellowing)
Okay, so now I'm going to show you
how to pack everything away into the bag
so I tend to put the risers,
I try and keep them off the floor wherever possible
especially if there's dusty, dirty ground,
put the risers into the body of the harness
and you've got a couple of ways you can do it
with the flight panel,
put the flight panel in first
and put your foot plate over the top
and that all makes that nice and flat
and everything sort of stays inside the harness as well,
so that's kind of ready.
(bag zipping)
So with the harness
it always feels a little strange to do this,
but it's what you're supposed to do.
So from this point here
when you've got your fold of the foot plate
is actually push the harness into a folded position
at that point
and then you're gonna lift the whole thing up
and onto your glider
and at this point, keeping it all nice and central,
good old knee comes into play
(screaming sound effect)
and ends up pushing the harness down
into the bottom of the harness.
(sped up talking)
Now, pretty much in the bottom there
and I've got no problem.
I forgot to mention I'm cheating very slightly
'cause I'm using, I've got a medium harness
but I'm using the 91
litre Lightpack 3
rather than the one that you would normally get
which is the 83
because it makes it just that little bit easier for packing.
I have a full face helmet
and I'm usually carrying extra stuff as well.
Helmets are a great storage place.
Windshield slides down between the harness and the glider,
so that just slots in actually pretty easily,
that's going into there.
Now you can see because I've got the larger rucksack,
(bag zipping)
I have no stress in closing the zip (laughing)
and it's super comfortable to carry.
(upbeat electronic music)
Ready to go again.
(upbeat electronic music continues)