Land Skimming on the Pulse

Last Saturday, I transitioned to my first intermediate wing, the Pacific Airwave Pulse 9 meter.

Setting up a Pulse 9m is pretty similar to setting up a Falcon 140. The most important difference is to make sure the foam sitting under the wing's leading edge is not creased before tensioning the glider. The Pulse also has a nose cone, a detachable king post, and a few extra battens that are inserted underneath the wing, but those differences are impossible to overlook when you're setting up.

I launched my glider from the 40' hill. I belly landed my first flight and ran out the second. On my third flight, my instructor Justine noticed that I was pulling in after my launch. So the next time out, I let the glider fly at trim and promptly crashed. My right wing dipped into the hill shortly after take off and I was spun completely around. I cut my arm on the ground but fortunately the wing was undamaged.

Justine took a test flight in my glider and determined that the trim was set too slow. She adjusted my hang strap a quarter inch closer to the nose of the wing, and my next flight was perfect.

Afterwards, we tried to figure out why I couldn't sense the glider was trimmed improperly. Several variables probably affected my judgment: it was a post-frontal day at Ed Levin so the wind conditions were faster and more cross than normal, I was flying a glider I had never flown before, and I was running downhill strong enough to overcome any stalls.

Next time out, I want to take 3-4 more flights on the 40' or 50' hill and then advance up to higher altitudes. Then, I will hopefully be able to evaluate how the Pulse performs compared to the Falcon.