Wills Wing Alpha 180 Owner's Service Manual page 27

with a proper landing. If you develop good habits and the skills to fly precise approaches now, it will
make your transition to higher performance gliders easier later on.
Once established on a straight final approach, with wings level and flying directly into the wind, you
should fly the glider down to where the basetube is between three and six feet off the ground. At this
altitude, let the control bar out just enough "round out" so that your descent is arrested and your flight
path parallels the ground. The remainder of your approach will consist of bleeding off excess speed
while paralleling the ground and keeping the wings level and the nose into the wind until it is time to
"flare" for landing.
Prior to the landing flare your body position should be generally upright, but slightly inclined for-
ward, with your head and shoulders forward of your hips and your legs and feet trailing slightly
behind. Your hands should be at shoulder width and shoulder height on the uprights. You should be
relaxed, with a light grip on the bar, and your weight should be fully supported in your harness and
not at all by your arms. There are several options for when to make the transition from prone to this
semi-upright position. Some pilots favor going upright with both hands moving to the downtubes
while still at altitude prior to the start of the approach. Others transition at the start of the approach to
a semi-upright position with one hand on a downtube and one hand on the basetube, and complete the
transition by moving the other hand to the downtube just a few seconds prior to flare. Still others fly
with both hands on the basetube until established on final glide, and then transition one hand at a time
to the downtubes prior to flare.
Whichever method you use, there are a few important principles to observe. The first is that you
should not make any change in hand position unless you are flying at or very near trim speed. At
speeds faster than trim, you will be holding the bar in pitch against substantial force, and if you let go
to move your hand the glider will pitch up and roll towards your remaining hand. The second is that
while moving either hand, you have no control over the glider. You should move only one hand at a
time. Even so, if you can't make the transition in the position of each hand quickly and reliably, you
should transition both hands while at altitude, before you start your approach. Otherwise, if you fail
to make a quick transition, you could be out of control close to the ground, and suffer a turbulence in-
duced change in heading or attitude without sufficient time to recover. Many pilots make the mistake
of trying to change position while flying fast and close to the ground, and experience a dangerous loss
of control as a result. A third principle to observe is that if you are using a "pod" type harness, you
should unzip and confirm that your legs are free to exit the harness at least 500 feet above the ground
and before you start your approach. If there is any problem finding the zipper pull, or dealing with a
stuck zipper, you don't want to have to try to fix that problem while also flying the approach.
Finally, you should not attempt to get into a fully upright body position at any time during the landing
approach prior to the actual landing flare. Most modern harnesses will not allow you to hang in a fully
upright position without pulling yourself up on the downtubes, and this is something you should NOT
do. The mechanism by which you attain an upright position at the moment of touchdown is to ex-
ecute a strong flare, which causes the glider to slow abruptly, causing you to swing forward and into
a standing, upright position underneath the glider. The more upright you try to be prior to the flare,
the more you move your shoulders back relative to the center of mass of your body, which effectively
shortens your arms and weakens your flare authority. Keep your head and shoulders forward, and
your feet and legs back, with your body in a semi upright position, until it is time to flare, and then
flare from this position.
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