A diary of my experience paragliding Mt. Banyak, East Java
Straight from my one week holiday in Malang, this is one of the activity that I did: Paragliding. Paragliding is the recreational adventure sport of flying para-gliders. It is a lightweight, free-flying, foot-launched glider parachute with no rigid primary structure. The pilot sits in a harness suspended below a fabric wing comprising a large number of interconnected baffled cells. Wing shape is maintained by the suspension lines, the pressure of air entering vents in the front of the wing, and the aerodynamic forces of the air flowing over the outside. Since it is a tandem-based ride for me, I am attached in front of the pilot.
Sitting comfortably (and taking pictures obviously), para-gliders fly can last many hours and cover many hundreds of kilometers, despite not using an engine! I was always into the adrenaline of things, and so I was asking "this is it, we were jumping off the platform and just gonna fly here there?" My pilot was apparently challenged, so he did these maneuvers:
Big ears
"Big Ears" maneuver Pulling on the outer A-lines during non-accelerated, normal flight folds the wing tips inwards, which substantially reduces the glide angle with only a small decrease in forward speed. As the effective wing area is reduced, the wing loading is increased, and it becomes more stable. However, the angle of attack is increased, and the craft is closer to stall speed.
"Big Ears" maneuver Pulling on the outer A-lines during non-accelerated, normal flight folds the wing tips inwards, which substantially reduces the glide angle with only a small decrease in forward speed. As the effective wing area is reduced, the wing loading is increased, and it becomes more stable. However, the angle of attack is increased, and the craft is closer to stall speed.
This was okay and fun and I did enjoy the view...
B-line stall
In a B-line stall, with the specific lines used to initiate a stall.This puts a span-wise crease in the wing, thereby separating the airflow from the upper surface of the wing. It dramatically reduces the lift produced by the canopy and thus induces a higher rate of descent. The B-lines have to be held in this position, and the tension of the wing puts an upwards force on these lines.
This was okay too and I enjoyed the maneuvers...
Spiral dive
The spiral dive is the most rapid form of controlled fast descent; the aggressive spiral dive achieved a sink rate of 25 m/s -- I have to confirm it again with my pilot! Imagine water went fast down the drain... aghhhh... This maneuver halts forward progress and brings us almost straight down. My pilot pulls the brakes on one side and shifts his weight onto that side to induce a sharp turn. The flight path then begins to resembles a corkscrew. After a specific downward speed is reached, the wing points directly to the ground. My pilot reaches his desired height, and (maybe) trying to make me enjoyed all the maneuvers he had, and so he ends this maneuver by slowly releasing the inner brake, shifting his weight to the outer side and braking on this side. Spiral dives put a strong G-force on the wing and glider The G-forces involved can induce blackouts, and the rotation can produce disorientation.That was what I feel, a bit headache but in the same time my heart start to pound and I feel like this is the maneuvers that I am looking forward to since I start to run the jump off pad (mind you, I have to do a second jump-off start because the first one I was running real fast and pull (well drag) my pilot before he got the chance to catch wind :)
When we landed, the pilot said that normally other jumpers would just throw up and some would just faint. I just feels hungry! and I am super pumped!
thank you all for stopping by and viewing the post...
xxx
