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9.6.3 CLIMBING
Once you are safely airborne, continue heading against the wind, using brakes to correct
the direction.
Do not try to climb too steeply.
In a flight the LIFT 450 behaves more like an airplane than a paraglider, and it is good idea
to regard it as such. If there are no obstacles present, it is by far safer to fly level for a
while after take-off, clearing the ground gradually, gaining some speed before converting it
to height with a brief application of brakes.
Another reason to avoid climbing too steeply is the risk of engine failure at low altitude.
LIFT 450 in a steep climb does not stay behind as much as conventional paraglider.
Besides, you should always be able to land safely in case of engine malfunction, so it’s
better not to take unnecessary risk and always fly with a safe margin of speed and height.
Depending on the power unit geometry, it is possible that after take-off you will notice a
propeller torque (known as P-factor).
It will try to turn you around, so counter-steer with a brake, trimmer set or harness cross-
bracing.
When climbing steeply with high power output, beware of the possibility of stall.
Due to considerable vertical distance between thrust axis and wing chord - the range of
safe power operation is closely associated to your skills and equipment.
Power-unit induced oscillations
:
Certain configurations of engine weight, output and propeller diameter can cause
oscillations, during which the pilot is being lifted to one side by the torque effect, swings
down due to his weight, and then is lifted again and so on.
To avoid this you can:
•
Change the throttle setting.
•
In
addition pilot reactions can often be wrong or come too late, increasing
the
problem instead of solving it.
•
In this case the safest way to deal with this question is to close the throttle and
release the brakes.
•
Less-experienced pilots especially tend to overreact.
•
This is called a pilot-induced oscillation, and
the
proven solution is to
leave the
brakes alone
.
