hey today we're gonna talk about top landings, coming in at an angle
coming up the slope I'll show you a few variations and demonstrate
to you how you can come in for a very cool smooth top landing in light
conditions. let's check it out!
that's the wake from the other pilot passing in front of me. so you must be careful when
somebody's turning just in front of you, that you don't get turbulence from their wing.
I'm watching the guy in front of me here turning again he's gonna create wake
just behind the wing so I would expect to fly into it in about 3 2 1
somewhere there. it's quite gentle as it had time to dissipate. look first, take an
easy turn letting the other guy stay close to the ridge.
I should be able to come in for a top landing now. I've got traffic coming towards
me but I'm on the right so I've got right-of-way, the other pilots need to move out
That's fine. I've still got a good line coming in for my
top landing. there's a little bit of a hazard I don't want to put myself into
the trees so I want to be sure that I've got enough height to get in there and
that's kind of touch-and-go on this line. legs down early, keep the speed up,
keep it coming straight in and I'm gonna flare when I feel it's the right time.
the trick is to not do any turns at the end just keep it straight even if you're
landing crosswind you can flare and make it nice and soft
Keeping a nice line, giving a bit of space for everybody and the guys
turning in front means maybe I can shift over the ridge give them some space
somebody launching off to the left. I could come in for a top landing again
from here somewhere. in a moment ... just waiting for a good
moment in the traffic.
so this is a higher top landing approach I'm now coming in with more height I've
come in a little bit from the back, set it up nicely and then take a line in
from here. Again in a straight line, legs down early, keep the speed high, keep it
straight and just when you're ready, flare, touchdown, no big movements just a good
flare right at the end.
more of that
looking for a gap to come in here we need this other pilot to go past me
and then I can dive in. I'm gonna come from upwind now
so now I'm coming straighter into the slope, faster. A good flare, earlier,
and touchdown.
as long as you give yourself enough speed you can flare and touch down
smoothly even if you're going up the hill. cool, so what I'm trying to do with
this top landing approach every time is to come in on a straight line you want
to set yourself up, however much height you have, set yourself up on the finals,
very long finals, so you're not making adjustments close to the ground as you
are going through that turbulent area. you want to pick a line depending on your
altitude that brings you in to your landing spot and then just keep it
absolutely straight if you come in with lots of speed and you put that flare in
when your feet are this high off the ground, you're gonna get a nice round out and a
touchdown that'll be smooth enough and soft enough
even if you're going uphill but the trick is to keep the line absolutely
straight and to come in with speed. I'm doing different variations here just to
show you the different angles. the ideal top landing of course is coming around
behind launch and just coming in on a nice steady glide into wind and keeping
everything nice and slow.
this would be a more traditional top landing approach coming over the ridge
line with a lot of height looking at the windsock, going on behind the windsock
and then turning and picking your line fairly early, legs down early, straight
into wind and from this position now I can afford to play more with the brakes
because I'm nice and slow I've set it up nicely and I can just come down here low,
slow down and touchdown. Another normal top landing approach, drift over the ridge
like this, so ridge soaring poorly basically, you
taking a line that brings you over the crest, that gives you a chance for a turn level with
the windsock then running yourself back a little bit, legs down and make sure
you're turning into wind slowly with lots of height. okay this would a good moment for
a butterfly landing, just keeping it off the stall point. A thing to bear in mind is
that the launch area is likely to be turbulent because you're going into that
ground wash behind little obstacles: trees, rocks, changes in terrain. so
that's why I'm getting my legs down really early on any top landing approach
and I'm coming in with full speed. I'm not slowing it, slowing it, slowing it ... like this.
A thing to be careful of if you've got a slope like this is to avoid
putting out your hand on the slope side that's a natural reaction that
pilots do when slope landing as you kind of try to push the slope away as it
comes up just at that last moment and the trick is to just focus on your hands
keep them absolutely steady and straight and flare them out level. sometimes
what I'm doing at the last instant is I'm turning the glider into wind but
that's only like the very end of the flare I've already flared and then I
leave one brake on to turn the wing around. you definitely don't want to do
that as you initiate the flare because you're gonna spin the wing. so I'm coming
in with hands high, flaring like that and then I'm releasing just to spin the wing
around into wind.
all right this is going to be another fast approach, coming in upslope.
legs down early, keep it nice and fast, keep it straight,
flare it in, one hand up to swing it around
I'm a bit low this time, I don't think I'm gonna come in because this would put me
in the wash behind the trees. I don't really have enough height to swing
through clearly so let's do another pass.
well it's all good, I've got a good approach coming in from here
and I'm gonna overshoot you I think but coming in straight, bringing it in fast,
straight through long flare, slow it down, touchdown.
I overshot you! you can see it's the flare that's important, the
angle is not that important. I hope that helps you with your top
landing setup, that makes it safe. remember to practice this somewhere
really cool like this, we're so blessed here we've got such big sites to come
and mess around on but do it somewhere where the airflow is nice and smooth
be careful of slowing the wing down too much and remember to get your legs down
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