Blown over the back

Another day of windy soaring at Mt Oates, starting off well and ending much much better than it so easily could have...

The forecast was for easing Southerly winds but I knew that the valley shape would make that SW-SSW winds on the hill. I'd seen some eagles soaring at great heights well out in front of the hill and, bearing in mind the forecast, I was keen to get up there as soon as I could and hopefully connect with the lift band out the front.

The launch was fine - pull the wing up hard, half-a-dozen quick steps towards and under it, quick turn, final line check, all good, lean forwards and we're off - but I had little initial forward movement. I didn't want to use the bar, so just kept brakes off and slowly crawled forwards and upwards. Once I got above the first tree-line the lift increased noticeable, as did my forward speed. This was lots more relaxing - and I started to sweep a bit wider and explore the lift some more. Swinging left and pushing out a bit I came across some great lift - and it felt like more than just good ridge lift...

Treating it like a thermal blown by strong winds I was soon well above takeoff, and knew I'd guessed correctly. However I ventured a bit too far to one side and lost it and although I pushed well out in front of the hill looking for stronger lift upwind I didn't find any. Nearly down to launch height I turned downwind and toplanded to get a better feel for what was going on.

Although I had a ripping downwind speed once I had landed the wind on the hill felt too light to stay up (I was puzzled by the apparent low windspeed on the hill, and didn't register that the wind gradient had changed significantly while I was in the air).

25min later the wind on the hill had picked up to a good soaring strength and I relaunched. Again I initially experienced little forward speed, but this time when I reached the tree-line and the lift improved, the wind strength picked up dramatically with height and I started flying backwards. Conscious of the dangers of using speedbar at low altitudes I tried to reduce the induced drag and wait out what I though was a short gust. As I got higher and my backwards speed increased I realised that it wasn't just a gust - there was now quite a sharp wind gradient with high windspeeds above it. Big-ears reduced my climb-rate but increased drag and pushed me back past the takeoff.

I could see I wasn't going to be able to topland, and flying directly downwind would lead to a large patch of bushland (and rotor and that low altitude) so I turned and headed crosswind to a cleared paddock over a slight crest of the hill (unfortunately covered with trees), knowing that the rotor wouldn't be as bad there and hoping that keeping the wing cells partially into the wind would help.

I knew I'd have to fly through some rotor, and it was easy to tell when the wing hit it- as I was flying over the second last big gum tree before cleared ground (the last one was big, dead, and horribly spikey looking) the left side abruptly lost pressure - a quick hard jab kept it open but I noticed it felt soft and mushy right side twisted back a bit, then snapped under in a small asymetrical collapse. A small thing in normal flying, but I was only 60m above the ground, very conscious of the big dead tree just ahead, the hard ground below, and the wing above me trying to do a helicopter.

I don't perfectly remember the sequence - too busy trying to apply the right brake inputs - but I checked a hard dive forwards and to the right, the right side recovered and I swung under the wing in a slight left turn, flared, and thumped down onto the ground between the big gum and the big dead tree. Wing fine, pilot shaken by how easily it could have ended badly, very thankful to be ok, and a little wiser regarding weather observation and wind shears.

One thing I will say is I was very glad to be flying this wing and not my DHV1-2 - I believe the extra sensitivity of the wing gave me advanced warning of the air ahead and the directness of handling allowed me to recover control before I impacted the ground.

A scary lesson that I really hope I never have to relearn.