The next level after basic aerodynamics: how the wing feels in your hands and what to do with it in rough air. We cover active piloting through its feedback channels, working with pitch and roll, ground handling, launching and soaring in demanding conditions, flying in turbulence and the angle-of-attack margin. The second half of the module is the SIV course: how it is run, why the water, the boat and the radio are needed, which exercises are given there, what collapses, cravats, stalls, spins and spirals look like, when to throw the reserve, and why one course does not yet make a pilot safe.
⏱ 90 min📖 22 sections✓ 50 questions
Active piloting: what it is at the level of feel, and how to learn it
In the basic module we covered active piloting as a set of rules. The wing goes back — release the brakes. The wing runs ahead — check it. That is correct, but it is not yet a skill. The skill begins where you stop reciting the rule to yourself.
Active piloting is a continuous loop. You feel the wing all the time, you predict its next movement all the time, and you correct it slightly all the time. A reaction is an answer to something that has already happened. Active piloting works ahead of the event.
Reaction answers what has already happened; active piloting is a continuous loop that stays ahead of the wing
The three levels everyone goes through.
With your head. You know the rule and apply it half a second late. The wing has already moved and you are already behind.
With your eyes and body. You notice the start of the movement and answer in time. Still with effort, and still narrating it to yourself.
With your hands. The hand answers before you have consciously registered the event. Your head is busy with the route, the wind and the landing field.
Three levels of skill: in the head with a half-second delay, with eyes and body on time, with the hands before you are aware of it
The third level does not arrive on its own with hours. It arrives from the number of deliberate repetitions. An hour of working the wing on a slope gives you more than three smooth evening flights in still air.
How to learn deliberately. Take one element per flight. Today, pitch only: for the whole flight you keep the wing overhead and do not let it go forward or back. Tomorrow, roll only. The day after, hands on the rear risers on the glides. One element at a time sinks in; three at once does not.
The second technique is a spoken debrief after the flight. Right there at the landing field, tell yourself three things: what the wing did that you did not expect, what you did in reply, and what you should have done. After twenty such debriefs you will start to see recurring mistakes rather than isolated incidents.
One element per flight and a debrief out loud on the landing field: surprise — response — what should have been done
A fine point for pros. Active piloting is measured not by the number of movements but by their timing and their size. In rough air an experienced pilot makes more movements than a beginner, but every one of them is shorter and smaller. If your shoulders and forearms are tired after a flight, you were not working actively but heavily: holding the brakes deep and constantly instead of making short, precise inputs. Tired arms are a diagnosis, not a sign of good work.
Hard work versus active work: deep constant brake travel versus short precise impulses
Reading the wing: brakes, harness, sound and eyes
The wing talks to you through four channels at once. Each has its own speed and its own accuracy. A pilot who can tell them apart gets his warning a second earlier than everyone else.
The brakes. These are your angle-of-attack sensor. The pressure in the brakes rises — the angle of attack is rising and the speed is falling. The pressure has gone — the wing has accelerated and is running ahead. Keep a constant light contact: the brakes taut just enough to feel the lines move.
The harness. This is your G-load sensor. Pressed into the seat — the load has grown, the wing is slowing or you are entering lift. Gone weightless — the load has gone, and in a moment the wing will surge forward. The feeling of weightlessness always comes before the surge.
Brakes are the angle-of-attack sensor, the harness is the g-load sensor; weightlessness always comes before the surge
Sound. The noise of the airflow in your ears is a crude but honest indicator of airspeed. The noise has risen — the wing has accelerated. It has gone quiet — the speed has gone and you are close to a stall.
The eyes. The slowest channel. By the time you have lifted your head and worked out what the canopy is doing, the event has already unfolded. With your eyes you read the air ahead: ripples on the grass, dust, the movement of other wings, the edge of a cloud.
Four feedback channels and the order of trust: hands and hips — ears — eyes — instrument
Channel
What it tells you
How fast
What to trust it for
The brakes
angle of attack and its change
instantly
the main channel in rough air
Harness and seat
G-load, roll, the start of a surge
instantly
the first to report weightlessness
The sound of the airflow
airspeed
with a small delay
a check before a stall
The eyes
where the canopy is, and the air ahead
with a large delay
planning, not reacting
The order of trust is this: hands and seat first, then ears, then eyes, and only last the instrument.
Table of channels: what each one reports, how fast, and how much to trust it
A fine point for pros. The pressure in the brakes depends on the square of the speed. On an accelerated wing the same few centimetres of travel give two to four times more force than at trim speed. So “the usual force on the brakes” is a deceptive guide: on the speed system it corresponds to a completely different angle of attack. Go by the change in pressure relative to the current background, not by its absolute value.
Brake pressure grows with the square of airspeed: on the speed bar the same centimetres take two to four times the force
Case study. A smooth glide, you are on half speed system, and suddenly both brakes go slack. What is happening to the wing: you have entered sinking air, the angle of attack has dropped, and the wing is about to go forward and tuck its leading edge. What the pilot does and why: takes his foot off the bar and briefly takes in the rear risers. First remove the cause — excess speed and a small angle of attack — and only then think about heading. There is nothing to wait for from your eyes or your vario here: they will report it only after the collapse.
Case study: brakes went mushy at half bar — foot off the bar, a short pull on the rear risers
Pitch: entering a thermal and leaving it
Pitch is the movement of the wing forward and back relative to the pilot. Most trouble starts in pitch: a forward surge takes the angle of attack away and gives you a collapse, while going back adds angle of attack and leads you towards a stall.
Entering a thermal. The wing meets the rising air before the pilot does. The angle of attack rises sharply, the wing slows and goes behind your back, and you swing forward. The pressure in the brakes rises at that moment.
Release the brakes — completely, not halfway. The wing needs speed to catch up with you.
Let the wing come forward and re-establish itself overhead.
Check it at the forward point with a short, measured input if it overshoots.
Only then start the turn. Turning with the wing behind your back is a straight road to a spin.
Entering a thermal: the wing drops behind you — hands fully up, let it catch up, check it at the front point, then turn
Leaving a thermal. The picture is mirrored. The wing comes out of the climb into calm or sinking air, the angle of attack drops, the brakes go empty and you go weightless. The wing runs forward and down.
Catch the weightlessness — it is the signal a fraction of a second before the surge.
Brake both sides briefly at the moment the wing passes the forward point.
Bring your hands back up as soon as the wing moves. A hand held down kills the speed and adds angle of attack.
Leaving a thermal: catch the weightlessness, a short pull at the front point, hands up straight away
Phase
What you feel
What the wing does
Hands
Approaching the lift
the pressure grows, you are pressed in
slows, goes back
up, give it speed
The edge of the lift
weightlessness, the brakes go empty
runs forward
a short pull, then up
Beyond the edge
the airflow noise has risen
accelerated, going down
check it, come off the speed system
Pitch by phase: approaching the thermal, the edge, past the edge — what you feel, what the wing does, what the hands do
A fine point for pros. A surge has to be damped at the forward dead point, not at the start of the movement. If you pull the brakes while the wing is still accelerating forward, you add energy to its return swing and get a see-saw that you are driving yourself. An experienced pilot lets the start of the surge go past and meets the wing at its furthest point with one short input. That is the difference between damping an oscillation and pumping it up.
Damp the surge at the front dead point: an early pull pumps the swing, a pull at the far point kills it
Case study. A powerful narrow thermal; you fly into it at speed and the wing goes sharply behind your back. You instinctively pull the brakes to “hold it”. What is happening to the wing: the angle of attack is already excessive and you are adding brake travel to it, bringing the wing towards a stall behind you. What the pilot does and why: hands all the way up, and wait for the wing to overtake him and settle overhead. Pulling the brakes helps in a forward surge and harms when the wing goes back — these are two mirrored cases and they must not be confused.
Case study: wing behind you — the instinct to pull leads to a stall; the right move is hands all the way up
Roll: how to read it and how to work with it
Roll is the movement of the wing sideways relative to the pilot. In thermic air it arrives together with pitch, and that makes the picture harder: the wing goes forward and falls to one side at the same time.
How roll shows itself. One brake goes softer than the other — that side is losing its load. One side of the harness is thrown up while the other stays put. You are rocked sideways and pulled round in an arc.
How roll shows itself: one brake goes softer, one side of the harness is lifted, you are pulled along an arc
The order of work never changes: weight first, then brake. Weight shift adds no drag and brings no stall closer. A brake adds both.
Weight towards the loaded side. The one where the brake pressure is higher.
A short input on the soft brake. The aim is to bring the load back to the unloaded half, not to turn the glider.
Release at once. Holding the brake after the load has returned means slowing the wing for no reason.
The order never changes: weight to the loaded side, a short impulse on the soft brake, release at once
Roll damping. A paraglider damps roll by itself — through the pendulum, and because the raised side flies faster and makes more lift. Your job is to help, not to hinder. The main mistake here is the opposite of intuition: the pilot shifts his weight towards the raised side, because that is where his body is thrown, and rocks the wing instead of settling it.
A paraglider damps roll by itself; the main mistake is weight towards the lifted side, where the body is pulled
Situation
What you feel
Weight
Brake
The wing falls to the right
the left brake is softer, you are rocked to the left
to the right, towards the loaded side
a short input on the left
One side is thrown up
an asymmetric push upwards
towards the raised side, if you are entering a thermal
no brake until the wing is overhead
Bank in a turn
a steady G-load, both brakes loaded
inwards, and hold it
meter the inside brake
Roll on exiting a surge
weightlessness on one side
towards the loaded side
as little as possible, so as not to stall it
Roll: four situations — what you feel, where the weight goes, which brake
A fine point for pros. In real air pitch and roll almost always arrive together, and the order in which you deal with them is strict. Pitch first, then roll. A wing at a normal angle of attack forgives almost any roll input. A wing at low speed forgives nothing: a short brake input that would restore the load in level flight will, on the way out of a backward surge, stall that side and turn you into a spin.
Case study. You are turning a thermal at about forty degrees of bank and a gust throws the outer side up sharply. What is happening to the wing: the inner half loses its load and the glider falls into the turn. What the pilot does and why: shifts his weight outwards, adds a short input on the outer brake and releases the inner one. Instinct demands a harder pull on the inner brake to “hold the turn”, but the inner side is already at low speed and a high angle of attack — and that is the ready-made recipe for a spin.
Case study: the outer wingtip is lifted in a turn — weight out, a short impulse on the outer brake, release the inner
What follows is for our students
The full module text, the practice sessions and the exams are open to those who train with us. Access is included in the course fee: it runs for the whole course and for three months after it ends.
If you are training with us now, or have trained with us before, sign in with your access code. If you are a pilot from another school, access can be bought separately.
Language: the sections above are in English. Behind the code the full module text and the question bank are currently in Russian — the English versions are being prepared.
The material prepares you for the theory exam of the national paragliding federation, but it does not replace practice with an instructor. The pilot licence is issued by the federation after its own exams. Book a course.
