I asked for input from glider pilots on what they saw in the video. Kenny out of Utah came up with the following:
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Originally Posted by fernmanus
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I was wondering what some of the glider pilots noted in the video?
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There are a few things I noticed:
1. He has an old kite with no depower, so he had no way of controlling the altitude of his flight. When a gust picked him up, he had to go with it or quickly detach himself from the kite.
2. He was panicking while in the air. The panic was evident in his body gyrations. Fortunately, he managed to keep the kite overhead most of the time and even more fortunately, he did not land on one of those massive boulders nearby.
3. He landed fairly hard. An experienced glider steers the kite quickly back and forth to slow descent and land as soft as a butterfly.
4. He goes uphill. I have had this experience a few times when I have been out on a very large kite and the wind picked up. Fortunately, I had a lot of depower, so I could control my altitude. Guys like Alex Petersen or Billy Bordy have used these type of conditions to go well over 100 feet above the ground. The difference is that they make a decision instead of unintentionally going high - plus they do it with control.
5. The best part of the video is the guys freaking out in the background. They sound like crazed tribal warriors. |