Niviuk KOUGAR 3, User Manual, Page: 16 / 31

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5. LOSING ALTITUDE
Knowledge of different descent techniques could become vital in
certain situations. The most suitable descent method will depend on the
particular situation.
To become familiar with the maneuvers described below, we recommend
practicing within the environment of a licensed training outfit.
5.1 BIG EARS
Big ears is a moderate descent technique, able to increase the sink rate
to –3 or –4 m/s and reduces the ground speed by 3 to 5 km/h. The angle
of attack and effective wing-loading will also increase due to the smaller
surface area of the wing.
Standard technique
To perform the ‘Big ears’ maneuver, take the outermost line on each
A-riser and simultaneously, smoothly pull them outward and downward.
The wingtips will fold in.
To re-establish forward speed and the correct angle of attack, accelerate
once the ears are pulled.
Keep the ears pulled in until you have lost the desired altitude.
Let go of the lines to re-inflate the tips automatically. If they do not, try
progressively pulling one brake then the other. We recommend inflating
the wing tips asymmetrically, without major change to the angle of
attack, especially when flying near the ground or flying in turbulence.
Beware of the risk of stalling!
The action of reaching for the 3A3-lines to make ears, can inadvertently
mean pulling the brakes. The same can happen when we are holding
the tips down with the outermost 3A3-lines, it is possible to accidentally
affect the brakes. This can obviously lead to a significant speed
decrease.
In paragliders with a very pronounced arc, pulling big ears means an
increase in drag. On a very arched wing, the ears do not fold, they just
hang. The increase of drag is more pronounced than on wings with a less
pronounced arc.
The KOUGAR 3 is designed with little chord, which is good in normal
flight conditions. However, this same damping is what can cause us to
have problems to regain normal flying speed after a high increase of the
angle of attack and the added drag of the ears.
These particularities, together with turbulent thermic conditions, could
cause an unintentional stall.
The solution: big ears may still be applied but you must be fully aware
of the above-mentioned points and act accordingly. To avoid the stall,
simply use half speed-bar (this is sufficient) to increase the speed and
decrease the angle of incidence. This should allow you to maintain
sufficient speed to prevent the stall. Take care not to pull the brakes while
making the ears as this will make a stall more likely!
5.2 B3 TECHNIQUE
On the new generation paragliders the application of big ears can create
a high degree of trailing edge turbulence. In addition, with the length of
the chord and the arc of the wing, the ears have a tendency to “flap”,
increasing the turbulence and causing the paraglider to lose too much
airspeed, making it necessary for the pilot to recover it, either using the
speed-bar or releasing the ears.
This new rapid descent technique was first discovered by our Niviuk
team pilots in 2009 while flying a competition prototype wing, which,
because of its line plan and high aspect ratio would not allow big ears to
be applied. In fact, big ears on 2-liner wings can often prove difficult.
With the current 2 or 3-liner wings, the inability to pull big ears, or the risk
involved in doing so, concerns many pilots who want to have a controlled
rapid descent technique. For the above reasons we recommend using