Critique my launch?

hhmm… thought I could post video here? how? ah… Youtube.

Am I doing this right? :slight_smile: I don’t really have any opportunity to fly with others and there’s not a lot of opportunity to record my launches from the ground.

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Dead wind launches can be tricky. Your wing came up crooked and you did a pretty good job changing course to fix it. Working on feeling the wing could help you correct it sooner but even better would be to prevent it. Your right lines got pulled first as evident by this screen shot:

I like to walk forward and feel with my hands how centered I am. If you start PERFECTLY centered you will have better success.

You are leading with your hands. It’s easier to feel the wing if you lead with your chest with your hands back. I start with my hands below my shoulders and follow the risers up as the wing comes up. Notice my hands here vs yours:

With the X4 I feel comfortable adding power for just a moment as soon as the lines are tight. The thrust hits the wing and pushes it up. It doesn’t push me forward much because it hits the wing and cancels out the forward motion. With this technique the wing pops up quick and straight every time. I don’t recommend this technique for beginners. Don’t apply thrust too early or it will push you on your face. I don’t feel comfortable doing this with the SP140 or other paramotors where the prop is several inches behind the cage.

Here is a video of my dead wind launch technique:

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Thank you Paul. For sure with no wind the only way the wing comes up off center is if I pull it that way. I remember my first few launches my instructor correcting my centering. Seems I’ve slid back a bit. I’ll try to pay more attention to that.

The hands up thing I was taught to do but I think more as a way to prevent me from driving my hands forward ahead of me. Hands more back than up, lead with the chest. More like a PG forward launch.

Need to practice this on a nill wind day without the motor. Yeah…kiting! :slight_smile:

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maybe my video will help you a little. it is important to pull the wing of the stabilos towards the middle. you can see everything else in the video. the video is from 2015.

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I’m no instructor but when watching the video you fail to keep your hands above your head after releasing the A’s. By doing so, you’ll gain ground speed quicker and then can stab the brakes when ready for liftoff.

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Does anyone else have difficulties getting into their dudek seat? Mine is always pushed up after launch, i’ve tried various settings of the harness but that seat board always gets pushed up, I can’t just sit back after launch, always have to push the board under and flip the part under my legs forward (the speed bar part of harness gets flipped backwards).

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Same but I thought it was just me. I have to reach behind my back and push the seat down. You can see me do that in the video. But I have the same problem in my Icaro freeflight harness as well.

Got two short flights in this evening (one battery pack each). First launch was nil wind. I pulled off center still but managed to correct it and fly away.

Second launch was downwind! Barely a breath of evening katibatic orf the hill to the north but enough to just feel it on the back of my neck. My field isn’t suitable for launching north due to tall trees. Setup as perfectly as I could. Carefully centered myself. Hit it hard and pulled the wing straight up. Tried to remember hands up, and legged it! Stabbed brakes and I was off.

Still should do a nill wind kiting session. The tips were helpful. I got a flight in that I may have otherwise missed. A drone pilot was following so we shall see later if my technique was better.

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