That Fun Landing Thing

I had a great landing at Hendry's Beach on December 11th. I had secured a 7/8"-diameter by 5-foot-long PVC tube to each lower-rear flying wire so that when I came in to land, I could switch my hands from the control bar to the PVC tubes, after leveling and waiting to flare.

This allowed me to push my body back much further on the flare. I had been using this technique, switching my hands to the rear cables, but the PVC tube was easier to grab firmly and regrab to push even further back (to parachute if the flare went too high.

When everything had stopped, I was on my feet, the back of the keel was on the sand and the glider was standing almost straight up!

For the first time ever, after landing a double surface glider I was pulling the nose down from a wedged-up and -back position!

I recommend this idea to anyone having "uncasual" landings. It is convenient that the lower rear flying wires are quite end-wise to the glide angle, so adding the plastic pipe to them adds little drag, and what it does add aids tracking in a true tail effect being aft of the CG and in the optimal level with the CG "sub-fin" position.

If your glider tends to yaw near flare, it may not be safe to switch
hands late in the landing.

Before trying a "push-tube," or "rear-cable" landing, try flying your glider this way at altitude in the landing-upright mode to get used to weight-shifting with the hands further back. Also, if you put on tubes, check to see if the slight weight added to the rear of your glider slows your cruise speed, requiring a forward CG adjustment.

Drilling 1/4" holes a quarter-inch from the four PVC tube ends makes it easy to rope-tie the tube to the aft tang and to the control bar corners, or to the cable. My push tubes stop a foot from the control bar corners.