PIO - Pilot Induced Oscillation
This weekend I finally understood why Sport2 was not a novice glider. I obviously accepted that fact from the beginning, but when I started flying Sport2, everything was relatively the same. Even adverse yaw on landing that I experienced right away, wasn't too bad... until I flew in thermal, midday conditions. Holy smokes!
Let's start with the tow. It was a rather windy day. I picked a mild cycle, and coming out of the airport at Tanner-Hiller wasn't a problem. I kept glider in position and everything was as usual. Then, we cleared the trees, and a rollercoaster started. While I was trying to keep behind the plane in proper position, the glider would get away from me and oscillate from side to side. Then I remembered to relax, and everything would going smoothly for a second or two... and then another bump hit, and everything would start again. At 1600' AGL, I felt, it was going only worse - larger oscillation cycles, and more effort to fall in line and stay there. I got so frustrated, I released.
When I got back on the ground (no, I couldn't find anything that would get me up from that altitude), Rhett told that I was actually doing ok, and I should have stayed with it, and practice. He was pretty amused that I got pissed at myself and released off the tow. Well, at least I made someone to smile :-)
On the second tow, I stayed with it, trying not to overcontrol, and figuring out how to deal with yaw. Before my second launch, Nick told me to try changing pitch a bit to break oscillation. I tried that, and it worked. It also allowed me to relax more when things were going sideways. Rhett gave me a ride to 5K AGL. I kept PIO-ing and recovering until air became very smooth around 4K. In smooth air, towing was super easy. Glider was practically flying by itself.
On landing, I had a similar issue, I wanted extra speed for bumpy conditions, but as soon as I started speeding up, oscillation would start as well. I had to slow down to break the cycle. Touchdown was still amazingly easier than on Falcon, even with a bit of crosswind and thermal activity.
Overall, a great weekend of flying with Hang Glide New England. I learned a couple of things, and had fun. Later in the day, we also got a robotics demo, and one of the pilots was doing BBQ for everyone at the airport. BBQ after a day of flying - life is good.
Here is a video (with robot demo at the end):
- RAD - stupid name for a robot
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