A very inexperienced P2 pilot made a non traditional approach to the North Side bench landing area. It was characterized by a pointing downwind to start the approach and the pilot ( presumably ) was overwhelmed by the high ground speed and dramatic altitude loss that ensued. Pilots usually do one of two things at this point. 1) they point straight down wind ( under react ) and land going down wind 2) they over brake and cause a spin/ stall event.
This pilot over braked and suffered a back injury of unknown severity.
A few things about this:
1) there is only one advisable approach to the landing on the north side bench and starts with the pilot facing NE by the fence on the north side at a reasonable height ( not too low and not too high ) a soft 30 - 80 degree turn over the bench followed by a return to an into wind heading before touch down ( all of this depends on the amount of wind )
2) for some reason, just about any other type of approach doesn't work and looks scary
3) if you need to make an emergency turn, make sure it is done with weight shift - this will drastically decrease the odds of a spin event. The only way to make sure that you use weight shift in an emergency is to use weight shift every - single turn. If your head never moves outside the riser in a turn then you have room for development. Pilots that are athletic in the harness enjoy, easier turning, better precision, less risk of spin and better performance in an emergency.
No comments:
Post a Comment