PPG Beginner mistakes

Keith Pickersgill

The biggest mistakes that newbies make when converting from PG to PPG;

1) leaning forward on the take-off run. No need to lean backwards, but run as upright as possible. 

2) running on quarter-brakes like a slope-launch. When launching off level ground, build up your speed on zero brakes. When you reach takeoff speed, just a light touch on the brakes to lift-off. Much less than slope launching. Once airborne and climbing, slowly ease off the brakes. 

3) flying on brakes is a big no-no under power. Level flight and climbing must be done on zero brakes. Only slow the wing down when flaring for landing. 

4) turning: don’t try to flat-turn like thermalling. You want the wing to bank over, then the motor pushes you around the wind, a bit like a slingshot.

5) They tend to sit way too soon - on a slope, and without a propeller to smack the ground, that is not usually much of a problem, but its more critical when PPG off level ground - wait for a positive climb rate before lifting your feet -  you might touch down once or twice just after you think you are flying, so keep your legs down, ready to run a bit more until you are definitely climbing.

6) Newbies tend to be afraid to use all the power for launching - once you decide to go onto power (more about that later), you need one-hundred and plenty percent power, everything the motor has got, unless you are an experienced pilot and you have surplus power, then you can do a low-power launch.

The correct power input to launch off level ground, whether its a forward or a reverse launch (excluding short-field technique which I'll cover later), is to stay completely off the power until you are running with the wing fully overhead, not hanging back, and not off to one side, and you still have enough runway in front of you... up to this point, its not yet a launch, its still just a pullup... you need to make that tactical decision, when to go onto power, with everything under control and enough runway ahead, then you go to full power!!!!

Things tend to go wrong in the time from when you start applying power, until you actually lift-off.  You want to reduce that to the shortest possible period of time and the fewest possible steps, to reduce the risk of damaging anything. 

So once you decide you have everything under control, go to full power and sprint the next few steps, on zero brake, then once the motor starts to peak, apply just a tiny touch of brake to lift off.

Short-field launch is different. If there is enough wind, then obviously you need very little runway - you can pullup in reverse mode, walk downwind to where the wing's leading was laying on the ground, turn around, apply power but resist the thrust for as long as you can, then burst into a sprint. In only 10kph, this can reduce your takeoff run to under 5 steps.

Its the light or zero wind launches off a short field that needs a special technique...

Firstly, 90% off pulling off a successful forward launch in zero wind, is the wing preparation ands layout. Off level ground, this is far more critical than off a slope.

Get that perfect leading-edge curve. Fold the closed cells concertina fashion on top of the adjacent open-cells (preventing one wingtip coming up before the other). Stretch out your lines, make sure they are free of snags and twigs. Then stand halfway to the side between the center and the one wingtip, take only the main brakeline in your hand, and pull that towards the risers lying in the center, fully stretched, getting the wingtip section to curve a bit more. Repeat the other side. 

Then, strake all the line, so that all the slack on the non-A lines lie near the risers, and not near the wing. You want every line coming off the wing to run dead straight towards the risers, with any slack lying by your feet. 

Then hook in, make sure you are absolutely centered to the wing, shoulders square to the wing, look at your Left wingtip (if you fly left-hand throttle and turn out to your right on a reverse pullup), without twisting your hips or shoulders (biggest mistake!). All of that applies to all forward launches off level ground.

Now for the short-field launch, lean slightly forward, bring the motor up to 30% to 40% power to warm it up (leaning forward so that you do not blow the carefully prepared wing into disarray), then while holding that power level, very very slowly come upright, watching the wing over your shoulder, until you see the leading edge feeling the wind. If your A-lines are taught as they should be, you an move forward mm by mm until you see the prop-blast entering the leading edge, inflating the wing while it is lying on the ground. Hold this for a few moments, until you see the bottom skin lift up off the ground, indicating the wing is pre-inflated on the ground.

Now, you dump the power down to idle but immediately start a hard takeoff run.

Don't wait for the revs to die down.

If you do this right, the wing will absolutely leap up off the ground and be fully overhead in 2 steps or less! Be ready to tap the brakes if it wans to overshoot, which is likely on some wings, but then ease off the brakes once the wing is stabilised. As soon as the wing is fully overhead, go to full power and start sprinting.

If done correctly, you are off the power (from pre-inflating the wing on the ground) and back onto full power in about 3 seconds, and will launch in less than 8 steps on most wings.