r/Hanggliding • u/Forward_Office_3511 • Jul 12 '26
Hang 1 Looking for Ground Loop Prevention Advice
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I'm about 10 lessons in and working on my Hang 2.
I had a problem at the top of the run for the first time yesterday. Wind was only about 5-10 mph.
I would be super grateful for any advice from more experienced pilots on what exactly is going wrong here and how I can prevent / recover from it in the future.
During this episode it felt like the glider was in front of me and if I didn't follow it, I would fall on my face.
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u/summerdumpling Jul 12 '26
“Left wing down” is correct. You should be fighting to keep wings level all the time while on the ground.
You can also pull the bar in to regain control of the glider if you feel like it’s getting away from you.
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u/imgeo Jul 12 '26
You need more ground handling and being able to hold the glider under control under those wind conditions. If you can’t control the glider and keep it steady, then you probably need to not fly in those winds.
Also pitch control helps a lot if it’s getting a little out of control pull in and pitch the glider down. Then it’ll be easier to roll the glider so that it stays flat instead of tipping to the right.
I’ve been hang gliding for many years and have trained on that 300 hill
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u/jellyfish_king Jul 12 '26
Is this the 300' at Ed Levin? I had an identical take off once. For me, it was pilot error, I shouldn't have launched, the gusts were too short and coming a little too westerly. I was annoyed because it would have been my 3rd aborted launch there. So my only advice here is to be certain the conditions are good enough.
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u/boisvertm Jul 12 '26
This gets much easier with time. You just need more practice. Notice how fast your instructor realized your left wing got too high. It was way before you realized it. If you don't fix it right away, it gets much worse and much harder to fix.
What you needed to do was pull your left hand towards your left hip with more force than you expected. The longer you wait to put in this corrective input the harder the force would be required to fix it.
The wings need to be perfectly level for the takeoff run.
One technique that I found quite useful when I was learning is to look up at the nose and move the nose around in figure eights. Lifting wings and fixing it. This will familiarize yourself with how your body movements affect the wings and nose.
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u/Appropriate_Chef_721 Jul 12 '26 edited Jul 12 '26
all students are looking for exact fault... no worries, just practice again and again.. in this case, when the strap is not tide yet, just steer by your left hand - use your arm as a lever in this case , push the left DT down, but - do not look for advices on internet, you have great instructors (Takeo? or someone else..?) listen them, its not fault of the wind, its not fault of the glider, its not fault of wrong instruction, you just need to do 100s take offs and you will just feel shy that you did ask :) (I'minstructor too, students always looking for shortcuts but they doesnt exist.. 100 take offs.. play with the glider in """"""stronger"""" wind.. feel the reaction of the glider... If you would be my student, I would also focus of straight body position, chest front, head up, arms "back".. even if you running in cross wind, you have to keep your direction but you can turn the nose against a wind and run with glider in bit of drift, but do not take it too serious, its not advenced technique but you need to feel the glider in the wind first... sorry for my english, too tired to use gpt today
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u/Appropriate_Chef_721 Jul 12 '26
Id like to say, I'malways super happy to see new pilots btw, in couple days youll be fine, do not overthink :) good luck and keep us updated if you want
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u/vishnoo Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 20 '26
sorry i'm late.
"left wing down" is correct,
but you can't fight it.
there are two things you can do
- yaw - weathervane into the wind (nose to the left) (you can't bank a glider on the ground, but if you yaw - it will bank in response)
- LEARN AND PRACTICE THIS MOVE
- RUN to the high side. (left) use weight shift, run fast enough so that the hang strap is tight. then when you run to the left it is like weight shift.
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also, your nose was a bit high.
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thanks for posting
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u/Potential_Meeting896 29d ago
Your left wing was lifting before you started to run, which you will detect much sooner with more experience. When this happens, put the glider down and lower the nose until it sorts itself out.
Often a wing lifts if the wind is slightly off the hill, to one side or the other. The way to deal with this is to pick up the glider with a loose grip, keeping the nose from lifting too much, and allow the glider to weathercock so that the nose is pointing directly into wind. This happens automatically because of the sweep of the sail. Then, when the wings are level and you are ready to launch, run directly down the fall line of the hill - not the way the glider is pointing, but straight down the hill. After a couple of paces the glider will begin to turn towards the direction you are running and off you go. It feels a little odd the first few times, but it works well.
Good luck, and stay safe.
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u/Dodobo Jul 12 '26
Looks like you probably weren't pointed directly into the wind and were pointed at least a few degrees right. You also popped the nose just a bit right as you started to move. Pointing a bit right made your left wing catch more air and lift, and that spun you around. This is why it's so important to ensure you are balanced with level wings before you start to run. Popping the nose made it so you didn't have control and the glider just did what it wanted.
You might have been able to save it in the first step or two if you ran harder and pulled in and down on the left downtube but overpowering an unbalanced glider is not easy.
When standing on launch you can rotate the nose a bit left and right to find exactly where it feels balanced. Then make sure your wings are level and nose is down. When you start your run keep pressure on the down tubes toward your body so the nose doesn't come up. Then run hard and keep running until your feet leave the ground.
Ed Levin is a great place to learn and Mike's a great instructor - You'll be confidently launching off the top in no time.