Flying from sinking air into lift is just the opposite: Without any pilot action,
the angle of attack would increase and the wing would pitch up. The pilot can
feel this, by an increased brake pressure. In this situation, the pilot should
release the brakes to reduce the pitch movement.
To generalize:
If the brake pressure decreases and if the wing pitches down, the pilot should
apply more brakes. If the brake pressure increases and if the wing pitches up,
the brakes should be released.
With proper active flight control, the pilot can avoid most of the collapses and
keep control in every moment. The best way to learn this is of course flying,
but ground handling definitely helps to improve the feeling for the glider. A
good training exercise is to stabilise the wing above your head with the brakes,
without looking at it. This helps as well for improving the forward launch.
Turning
A smooth turn is an interaction of inner brake, outer brake and weight shifting.
The difficulty is finding the right amount, which is important if you want to
climb efficiently in thermals.
The MENTOR 3 turns quite sensitively, so only small inputs are needed for
performing precise turns. Tight and quick turns or fast changes of turning
direction without unwanted pendulum movement are quite complex and take
some training. It should be the goal of every pilot to master these skills
perfectly.
Attention:
If you can’t use the brakes for steering the glider you can use the C-risers
instead. (This might be necessary for example, if the brake lines tangled up due
to a bad pre-launch check or less likely, if the main brake line tears).
The MENTOR 3 can be turned quite well with the C-risers combined with
weight shifting. You can also land the glider nice and smooth just with the C-
risers. Don’t pull the C-risers too much, to avoid a deep stall!
Landing
Landing the MENTOR 3 is very easy. In turbulent conditions we recommend
applying brakes (approximately 20% of the available brake travel) during the
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