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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 powered flight the HYBRID TANDEM 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 pull on the brakes.
Another reason not to try climbing too steeply is the risk connected with engine failure at low altitude.
HYBRID TANDEM in a steep climb does not stay behind as much as conventional paragliders.
The HYBRID TANDEM does not have SRS (prevents or delays possible stall), so low speed at low altitude carries inherent danger of
stalling
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), which may
induce a turn, which increase with amount of power, this can be countered with steering, and asymmetric trimmer settings.
When climbing steeply with slow trim settings and 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 connected 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,
•
Adjust the cross bracing to counteract the torque (if present),
•
Shift yourself to the other side of the harness and/or
•
Change the trimmer setting.
The best method is to fasten opposite cross-bracing, or apply some weight-shift.
Such oscillations usually occur at full power - the greater the engine output and propeller diameter, the bigger the swings.
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.