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Controlling Roll/Yaw Oscillations on Flex Wing
Hang Gliders
A Disscusion of Causes and remidies for a common Flying Situation
By Mike Meire
With the permission of Wills Wing and Author
All high performance flex wing hang gliders have some degree of susceptibility to high speed roll / yaw oscillations. This can be a problem when flying fast, especially in turbulence, and when aerotowing. In aerotowing, it is usually a greater problem towing behind a trike, as opposed to a Dragonfly type of tug, since the tow speeds with a trike are usually higher. The faster one is flying, and the more turbulent the air, the more skill is required to control or avoid these oscillations.
Minimizing or avoiding oscillations is a matter of using proper flying technique. The oscillations are not "pilot induced" as they are sometimes called, but to some degree they can be "pilot controlled." Specifically, what is required is that the pilot fly "ahead of the glider" instead of "behind the glider." Flying ahead of the glider means being able to sense, by feel, what the glider is about to do in the future rather than observing what the glider has already done. The pilot must be sensitive enough to the glider that he can feel through the pressures on the control bar, and by sensing very small attitude changes, that the glider is about to begin veering to one side. He must also be sensitive enough to be able to feel when the glider is beginning to respond to a correcting control input. Pilots without this sensitivity will instead only be able
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