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Wingovers
Wingovers are induced by flying
alternating turns; each time letting the
pendulum effect increase the bank angle.
BEWARE! The UP Trango
X-light² is an agile glider,
and it is quite easy to
get to an excessively
high angle of bank in just
a few turns. Practice
wingovers gently at first, as
there is a chance of quite large collapses
at high bank angles.
Also notice that a wingover flown with
more than 130 degrees bank angle is
classified as illegal aerobatics in some
countries!
Emergency Steering
If for some reason the UP Trango X-light²
cannot be controlled with the brakes, for
example if the brake handle has come off
the main brake line, it can be steered and
landed with the rear risers. Be aware that
when rear riser steering, the glider is a
great deal more responsive to pilot input,
and the stall happens very suddenly.
Further references
Rain-induced deep stall
There are two reasons why flying with a
wet wing increases the risk of deep
stalling:
First reason: A paraglider flying in heavy
rain will soon grow significantly heavier
and thereby undergo changes to the
centre of gravity and the angle of
incidence. This may lead to deep stalls.
Note that older wings will absorb more
water than newer ones due to the coating
on older wings being more permeable
– this means that the critical mass may
be reached sooner on older wings.
Second reason has to do with the
actual rain drops on the top surface – if
enough large rain drops form that the
entire top surface is covered, but they
don’t join together to either flow off or
become a homogeneous mass, the
surface will become so rugged that the
airflow separates and the wing stalls.
This phenomenon has been observed
on hanggliders and gliders for years
but only recently have we discovered
that paragliders may also be affected.
It is more likely to happen with new
wings where the cloth is still highly
hydrophobic and the drops thus do not
penetrate but remain on the surface.
We know from computer simulations
and practical tests that this is
physically possible but we also
suspect that it occurs very seldom in
real life flying.
In both cases the brake line travel
becomes very short and even small
input may suddenly induce an airflow
separation; in some cases even a gust
or a sudden thermal may change the
angle of incidence enough to cause
the deep stall.
If you find yourself flying in
unavoidable rain we strongly
recommend that you avoid any sudden
movements or radical brake line input,
that you do not pull Big Ears or B-stall,
and that you steer clear of turbulence
and avoid a deep flare on landing.
WARNING! Avoid flying
in very humid air or in
rain. A wet canopy
may have very
unpredictable flying
characteristics, one of
