This video brought back memories of a flight I had and a lesson mother nature taught me about the science of rising air :). Towing on the Prairies of Alberta, Canada. I had just bought my first vario and got into a thermal at about 800 ft. AGL. My vario showed 400fpm as I entered the thermal. I remember thinking, wow, this is like cheating. I circled trying to find the core of the thermal... 400 became 700fpm, then 1000. At 1400fpm I thought, wow, I'm going to make it to cloudbase for the first time. As I made it to cloudbase, my vario was screaming 1500fpm. I decided I would circle one more time just to see and feel the wisps of cloud. Of course it was the middle of july and approximately 80 degrees on the ground. That one more circle, put me into the cloud. I looked down to see the ground and noticed that their was Sleet on the knuckles of my gloves. I decided it was time to get the hell out of there and dove to the VNE speed of my Sport 2. (70mph) I looked over at my vario and it was reading 400fpm UP. It took a few very long seconds to realise what was going on. Of course I questioned my vario's accuracy. Hell i was diving at 70mph, how could I still be going up! Here's the best part. My mind flashed back to 6 months earlier sitting on the toilet, reading the latest Hang glider magazine...specifically, the article on what to do if you get stuck in cloud suck! So the solution was super simple. Instead of trying to dive out of the thermal and creating all that lift with the extra speed I was pouring on to get away. I put my glider into a very high bank angle side slip and spiraled down away from the "Thermals" that were now converging to start forming a thunderstorm. Once free of the good lords grip... I went on to the see the longest cloud street I have ever witnessed. Made a 35 mile cross country flight that day with my new found knowledge. I will remember the sleet on the front of my gloves as long as I live. Thank you for sharing your video and I am so glad you had a flight to remember... with a happy outcome :) All the best, warm winds and no sink! S.C.
😮😮 what a story! Reminds me of a sailplane guy who told me one of the same, everywhere he looked the cloud base was below him due to the dished upward base he was sucked into. He popped dive brakes and went pure vertical at Vne. As that particular sailplane was actually designed to perform that maneuver. Haha.
I hate cloud suck, felt it a few times when I didn't want to and the same thing happened to me. Thanks for the advise about high bank angle side slip, I will practice that.
As I always tried to teach my students: it is infinitely preferable to be on the ground wishing you were in the air, than to be in the air wishing you were on the ground.
Literally from the very first frame of the flight portion of this video and seeing the storm behind you, I knew this was going to be a wild ride. As a private pilot, we are taught to stay at least 20 miles away from thunderstorms. So to fly that close to a thunderstorm in a rinky dink hang glider is a bit crazy. And then to turn back toward the storm and get sucked up a second time was even more cray-cray.
My thoughts exactly. First 5 seconds of the video I was thinking that looks like some really active cloud formations in the area. Plus with that much rising air, it's also falling somewhere too.
At the beginning of the video you mentioned the decision to fly was based on beautiful clear blue skies above you! Sorry, but I don't see ANY blue sky anywhere in your video, only overcast skies. Your poor pilot decision-making created this whole incident and it could have been avoided.
At the start of the video you are mentioning that after the thunderstorm had passed there was "beautiful blue skies above, a decision was made to fly". Throughout the video there is never any blue sky to be seen. Wishful thinking and resulting bias judgement could have ended both your lives. Take another look and be more honest before flying next time. 5:46
Every bad end starts by bad decission. You are luck that it ends with smile. Next time don´t go to fly with thunderstorm on horizon. I´m very glad for you share this video. It can save many peoples when they will need to solve similar problem. That idea with legs saved 2 lifes.
Flying off a hill top with 6 others here in New Zealand quite a few years back. The other 6 had 5min plummets, scratching around for lift. I had over an hour almost vertical in my harness, with the bar as far back as I could get it. Finally spat me out at 9000ft. Scary!
My instructor got sucked into a cloud at 17,000 feet and came out at 26,000 no oxygen glider covered in ice.. landed in a box canyon in a spiral when he came out. Lucky to have survived that one!
@@humnpwr he was more than qualified. He started flying in the 70’s was a US hang gliding association board member and set distance records. You’ve obviously never flown in big air out west in the mountains.
@@coryturner9140I was already a private pilot in the 60’s and also an honorary member of United States hangliders association in Ontario with an honorary mountain flying certificate. As I introduced the sport in Blue Mountain Collingwood in early 70’s 😂😂😂
@@coryturner9140 I’ve had a pilot license since the 60’s. Very important is to check the weather before you fly. Stay at least 15 nm away from thunderstorms, anvil tops. They will shred an airliner to pieces in seconds and your Instructor allowed himself to be drawn up inside one??? I was given an honorary mountain flying license and membership to The United States Hang Gliding Association in early 70’s for introducing the sport in Ontario Canada.
@@humnpwr the only way to set distance records is to fly on the edge when the cumulus clouds are popping… when the mountain tops are over 10,000 feet the air gets big fast… you don’t even need clouds to make for a dangerous situation. You get katabatic winds in the evening at the same location and the whole valley is going up during the glassoff period and we’ve had people stuck at 11,000 ft after the sun has set…king mountain Idaho is a well known big air location…
I'm a glider pilot and would not have thought that the Rogallo wing would have been that good in a thermal. Glad you had a safe landing. I learned the physics of a large CU cloud. I was flying a 1-26 and ended up in the cloud, entering at cloudbase. The convection currents inside this cloud drew me in, gaining some altitude. I quickly responded and leveled by sense, then nosed down, finally punching through the cloudbase. Cumulonimbus clouds, though, have a hell of a lot of energy and getting sucked up in one can run you up thousands of feet.
Interesting problem to have. I remember reading an account about two sailplane pilots who jumped out of it as it was getting sucked higher. One opened his chute when he cleared the cloud, the other when he was only a thousand feet. The first one spent the next hour or so going up and down. Frozen from the cold and blacking out with the altitude. He had a frightening day.
That would have been a serious no go for most certified pilots. You really need to learn a bit about aviation weather, and think of your passenger before you go up. Maybe you're willing to take the risk, but your passenger isn't informed and can't make an informed decision. You're lucky. This one ended well. Don't go up with a passenger in conditions like that again. It may not end so well.
Had it happen back in the early 90s. It is amazing how fast the excitement of great I am going up turns to, oh shit I am still going up. Actually thought about cutting the hang loop and using the reserve or breaking the glider. That Pac Air was stronger than I ever knew. Great job staying calm and keeping the student calm as well.
Great job keeping out of that. I'm PG pilot and got sucked into an OD storm cell once. It was the single scariest experience of my adult life. 11 m/s lift in sopping wet rain and turbulence you wouldn't believe. I ended up stalling and back flying down and out 3000ft before I was out of the white room and got to safety. Just wild
That sounds way worse than my experience. I must say though, big ears didn't do nothing with my old wing. My new one has reduced line count so might be nearly as good as a stall. Glad to hear you survived!
@@sandrainthesky1011 Big ear (or full assymetric collapse) on one side and spiral on the other. It's a great method to descend fast without the G forces of a normal spiral dive.
@@suppenkaschper4686 you might want to simply convey information, rather than playing 20-questions. The comment you saw isn't at the top of the comments, for me. Did they say something similar to me?
@@zippythinginvention just sort them with top comment first it has the most likes here. this is the comment: As I always tried to teach my students: it is infinitely preferable to be on the ground wishing you were in the air, than to be in the air wishing you were on the ground.
dark clouds: let's go flying.. can't be that bad. :) At least you weren't under a paraglider. Also there I learnt: getting away is the way, not getting down. Because you won't make it down without getting away first..
Why would a Paraglider have been worse? I don't know much about hang glider but paraglider have multiple ways to loose hight fast if needed. Accelerated Big Ears , Spiral Decent or B Stall. I never saw a Glider reduce its wingspan at will.
@@matthiaswindrich9697 only big ears get you moving away. And you're far slower than a hangglider. I've done all maneuvers in trainings but their decent rate is too slow to efficiently fight a cloud. Yes, also the spiral.. wouldn't want to try spiralling in an emergency situation. Best is to avoid. Really. I've pulled rather big ears for some 10- 15 minutes already, it's not relaxing if you have to come down.
@@matthiaswindrich9697 If you can get a 20m/s spiral dive (70km/h without forward speed), you would not last more than a couple seconds. Maybe a minute. This is the fastest way to get down. Big ears will get you around 3-5m/s sink. B-stall ca 10m/s with no forward speed. Maybe throwing the reserve? That'll get you again 5m/s. Thunder storms can generate cloud suck with 100km/h or more, Inside the cloud it can reach over 200km/h. Thats terminal velocity for human bodies.
@@instrumentenfreakyea - though I've never reached that kind of velocity with a b-stall on my paraglider.. not saying it couldn't be possible. Also check in the video how long the hangglider needed to escape..
@@dernicolas6281we have to find the best way and I want to know the descent rate of a 50% collapse with a spiral on the opposite side of the collapse. Or also just a very deep stall (not backfly) But yes, much better to avoid the situation!
Non flyer here. If the updraft was due to moisture being drawn up from the delta, why would you not head inland, away from the river? Perhaps I'm missing something here....
I liked this video a lot; as a PG pilot I've always thought you can just yank the bar and honk downwards at a 40 degree angle at 90km/hr. I fly tandem too and I guess a hangi tandem is a bit of a truck, meant to fly stable and damped. Kudos to miss Brooke smiling all the time! All the best, fly free my friend.
Tandems are indeed too stable in pitch. Several luff lines from the king post to the trailing edge hold it up at speed, pitching up the glider. The overall design is not made for steep dives. In his situation I'd try both legs over the bar, hands on nose wire, asking for the passenger's help in doing the same.
Watching the video i found myself wondering why decided to fly given the conditions and why having escaped the storm, you flew back towards it. So glad you were so lucky.
Wow, you definitely got some extra air time out of that flight, glad it worked out👍 In the 80s I fought a thunderstorm thermal above Mingus Mountain in Arizona and it sucked me up to 11.500 before I got out to the S/E but landing sites in the forest are a different story. I’m still alive and I’m glad you both are too👍
1970'S SEAGULL PILOT HERE..... 🤣🤣🤣🤣 THE PHRASE DONT MESS WITH MOTHER NATURE, COMES TO MIND. (also from the 1970's!!) 👏👏👏💪 hanging your leg over the cross bar was CLASSIC! 😉
Good save bro, you are pretty cool under pressure. I want to learn how to hang glide it looks awesome and very peaceful which would be the greatest attraction to me besides the act of flying which I love. Glad you two are ok and made it back safely.
This happened to me and my buddy at High Rock Maryland. Being at cloud base and trying to find sinking air but can’t is something that will never be forgotten. No thunderstorms but big cumulus clouds and 50 mph horizontal winds at cloud base (15 mph at launch and eventually 40 mph gusts after takeoff). A real butt puckering day.
That sucks. No doubt! Just because a storm is forming is no reason to cancel the lesson, afterall we don’t want to disappoint the ladies or give them the impression you’re not macho. I know, I’ve been there too.
This is a gliding school??? 1. Launching with these clouds that near? 2. Taking a student with you in this risk? 3. Thinking this is a thermal - over the water at daylight, under a shadow already? 4. Just trying to get down instead of away? 5. Take a chill because you are descending a little bit while the danger is still there? Wow, I would never take a single lesson with you. Yeah, we do mistakes. But not 5 in a row while being responsible for someone.
A lot of people are saying she was “brave”. I don’t think this is accurate at all. I think she had no understanding of the danger she was in! Let’s hope she reaches an understanding of just how close they came, that day, to a full on disaster… before she flies solo or gets her license!
@@DrAElemayo Are you sure? I see him praising her for “being brave”… maybe he has no clue either? LOL at the very least he should be commenting something like: “yeah you see she’s all smiles, but once we got down on the ground I TAUGHT her, that there was little to be smiling about and here is why….” Instead of posting this video with no explanation of her reaction and then passing it off as “Brave”!!
Happy ending! phew that was tense. Theres noting quite like being up in the air when you really want to be on the ground, its not a great feeling, I've had it a few times. Nice to see a water landing, Ive not seen one before x
Anyone who's flown a small aircraft knows what those puffy clouds you're flying under mean on humid summer days. A Cessna 152 could take constant pitch and throttle control to reasonably stay at the designated altitude. Some days were *bumpy*. I can't fathom deciding to take to the air and then stay up with a big squall line clearly visible on a hang glider. Seeing anything like that in the distance meant, "we're getting away from that".
There is a story from yesteryear, of a bunch of pilots in Italy flying a site at the N end of a lake (Como?) in Italy on a sunny, blue-sky day, in the 80's(?). A fast system came up the lake and a big Cu popped over the site, which rapidly developed into a CuNim with the associated massive lift. Some were able to land, but a number were sucked up into the cloud, and as I recall, like about six were found frozen solid miles downwind later and some had harrowing tales. I have been flying since 1972 and I cannot remember the details, but perhaps someone else recalls this. I could tell you a few stories of my own experiences. File under: Tandems I had to stand on the control bar, WITH the student.
No surprise that a person who spells "lethaly hazardess" and "excelerating" is putting themselves in danger. This type of person shouldn't be anywhere near a student.
Disagree. He worked his way out of a very dangerous situation. The spelling errors are awful in this video, but they don't represent any measure of flight skills - this man worked his way out of a situation so bad it could have killed him and his passenger.
This happened to me many years ago. I was flying a WW HP2. Took off from the launch above Falkland BC Canada by myself. Had a great flight, flew most of the way back to Vernon BC, crossed the valley and flew back past Falkland to Westwold, buzzed the guy in the forest fire look out on the south side of the valley, crossed the valley and made my way back to launch. I was ~6000ft asl when i got to launch and hit this big thermal. I thought I'll ride it to the top and then go and land. It would be the end of a perfect day. My vario was pegged at 1100 FPM (Ball 500). I did perhaps 3 360's glanced at the altimeter and saw I was at 9600 feet. The light went on in the back of my head,, something ain't right here. Rolled it up onto one wing and saw I was beneath a developing Q nim. I pointed he nose at the ground, VG off, and the vario is telling me I'm doing 200 FPM up. Despite doing maybe 40 or 50 MPH at a 30-40 degree downward angle,, I was going up backwards. It took me 30 to 40 minutes to get out from under that Q nim. I managed to keep my cool until I landed. I then started shaking uncontrollably. The next day I was there was several of the local pilots. I told them what had happened and they did not seem concerned and were not concerned about the towering Q's developing across the valley. Well I though these guys know the site,, let's fly. We ended up having to fly back to Salmon Arm to avoid the Q nim's.
I've been cloud sucked while thermalling with a powered paraglider. It was like riding a wild bucking bronco. My glider was above me, beside me, behind me and under me. I spotted a bright spot to my left and added full power to advance towards it. I popped out of the cloud about 2500 feet above cloud base. The whole incident was less than 30-40 seconds.
Although the decision to fly that day was questionable in hindsight, kudos to the instructor for keeping a level head in the situation. He got them out safe, live and learn. Well done.
That's funny. I think I know the situation he was talking about. I immediately thought about it and thought, "you need to get your knees over the control bar." I read about it back in the 90s. Maybe '93 or so when I was hang gliding. I think the story was in Hang Gliding magazine. Guy was flying in the West. He was caught in something. I don't think it was a thunderstorm, though, but it was a major updraft and the sun was setting (you don't want to fly at night!) and he couldn't get down and he finally got his knees over the control bar to pull it back. The risk with that is you can fall through the control bar and if you do, then you go into a dive that you'll never recover from because you won't be able to get back over the control bar. Probably a lot less risk with a second person who can stay on the back side of the control bar.
You should have lost your license for this, everyone’s comments are to light hearted. It was clearly a no fly day, but either your wallet or ego failed you here and came close to killing an innocent customer. Thanks for posting it , but the music and smiling high 5 at the end don’t serves the lesson well.
Not a hang glider pilot, but have done small planes and I'd have thought: Thunderstorm, especially where I can already see lightning? Stay on the ground. I mean, would you even want to land in the water with lightning strikes hitting nearby?
I got cloud sucked at Ellenville. I was bouncing on the hang strap from turbulence and thought the glider would break. I remember the pain of holding the bar in. Your ordeal was much smoother than mine. Never fly when storms are forming in the area.
This is why these things need a rearwards facing 600shp PT6 turboprop to get away from these storms. On another note you are very lucky your passenger kept her cool and didn't panic. A fun story she has to tell people now!
I like the sounds of aviation, the talk, the air rushing through the cables, the engines, the propeller slicing through the air. I don’t really like bad music dubbed over the real sounds.
As a glide pilot I am intrigued by where the first thermals came from (before cloud suck). You are over a mega river with forests along the banks. Forests tend to give off lift late in the day and Grey clouds build up late in the day. I am assuming that those Forests were super hot during the day and this flight occured late in the day. . Make me curious about install remote thermometers in the forest areas.
I almost lost one of my friends like this, I think he is the person you were thinking about. He was sucked in to a cloud and was covered in ice before his glider broke and he fell though the cloud. when his glider came out of the cloud he was inverted. He also lost his parachute and crashed with the still broken glider. He was lucky to survive! SO NEVER FLY IN CONDISIONS LIKE THAT!
It happened to me once, when I took off from Pedra Grande in Atibaia (São Paulo - Brazil), a thermal caught me, but I was still quite inexperienced... my instructor told everyone in our team to descend quickly, because a CB was coming, and it was very dangerous to fly in those conditions. I couldn't descend and the instructor said that we should dip the wing and bank to the right or left, do this a few times and we would get out of that dangerous condition... I did what he said and landed in a pasture almost a km from the landing! Conclusion: these rain clouds are very dangerous for free flight.
but I have to say I LOVE how by the end of the video your student was right up there flying on the bar with you instead of tandeming behind you. What a way to learn!
Have never seen the float/tow thing before. That's cool . Your passenger did great. Perhaps she didn't know how close to 'bad" this could have become. Nice solid/stable wing. Good one ya, glad this had a happy ending.
Hi as a hangglider XC pilot I would recommend standing onto the bar, this will increase your speed a lot. Even more compared what you did. Especially with a biplace glider this is easily possible.
I got stuck going up at the point where I was tired and needed to land. Quite scary. It was just before sundown and so time was limited. I don't know how I knew to do this, but I put the glider into a steep turn that was not coordinated. It took a while, but I was able to spiral out of the lift.
Did you have an airspeed indicator? If not, how did you know your airspeed relative to the wing's redline? What I see in the video looks like a handheld GPS unit to me. Glad you both survived unharmed! Thanks for sharing.
Please check the weather conditions before your next flight. I would never have taken off in these weather conditions (I'm a paraglider). A thunderstorm front like this pushes a huge wedge of cold air in front of it. These are the gusts before the thunderstorm that you can feel on the ground. This wedge pushes the existing warm air powerfully upwards on a broad front and gives the feeling of insane thermals. Good that you managed to get out of it.
One time almost 45 years ago, I got trapped in the under belly of an cumelus nimbus with my hangglider. I had to take several stalls and sideslips to ascape it. When I finely came out of it, I was compleately relocated. I had a nerve wereaking landing in a small opening in a woods field. But he story is only recorded in my mind.
Think of a paper airplane flight. There are three basic (straight flight) patterns it can take. 1. Smooth straight flight (balanced front to back). 2. Diving flight (weight is moved forward). 3. Stalling flight (weight is too far back). This stalling flight has a repetitive swooping pattern (meaning several peaks and curved valleys). Each peak is a stall. After a stall, it dives, picks up speed and then starts to climb because there is too much lift. But in climbing it loses speed and then "oops, too slow" and then it stalls, drops the nose and then starts picking up speed again, repeating the whole process. If you move weight to the front of the paper airplane (like a paper clip or two) you can make the airplane stop stalling and dive faster. A paper airplane made to dive will always get to the ground faster than one than one that has a repetitive stalling flight pattern. Now put your paper airplane in a huge vacuum where the air moving upward goes faster than the airplane has the ability to go down. This pilot is trying to move as much weight forward as possible to dive as fast as possible. I hope that makes sense. Also, one more very important thing to consider. Speed equals control. If you have no speed you have no control. No control equals no choices until you gain speed again.
Cloud suck is pretty wild, happens in planes too! Flying gliders under really strong clouds - its like someone grabs the tail end of your plane and tries to pull you up like its a claw machine.
I once flew in the Alps on a hangglider competition when similar thing happened - it was getting dark and there was lift everywhere, The only - and right solution was to abandon the competition and fly as fast as possible (bar at the knees) to where there was the most light. You don't want to spiral down with that altitude above ground which you usually have when flying in the moutains - you will be too exhausted and you don't want to land when the gusts from the thunderstorm will hit you in the landing pattern. Good thermals always mean there is a risk of local cells, so always keep watching the meteo conditions during flight. Interesting the glider with floats - how do you get ashore with it after landing?
I just chewed off my last fingernail, cheers dude 😂 If memory serves right, there’s a chapter on her experience of being sucked into a cloud in Judy Leden’s autobiography Flying With Condors, an excellent read for anyone interested, it’s more than just a book, it’s an adventure Fly safe 💚
My second solo flight as a 16 year old Air Cadets in 2-33 glider was similar. First it was cool, then I realized I had a problem. Learnt a lot that day.
I'm looking at the sky and I'm seeing a no flying day ! Customer got her money bet she didn't think she was going to 16 thousand ft mind pmsl 🤣 lucky people
This video brought back memories of a flight I had and a lesson mother nature taught me about the science of rising air :). Towing on the Prairies of Alberta, Canada. I had just bought my first vario and got into a thermal at about 800 ft. AGL. My vario showed 400fpm as I entered the thermal. I remember thinking, wow, this is like cheating. I circled trying to find the core of the thermal... 400 became 700fpm, then 1000. At 1400fpm I thought, wow, I'm going to make it to cloudbase for the first time. As I made it to cloudbase, my vario was screaming 1500fpm. I decided I would circle one more time just to see and feel the wisps of cloud. Of course it was the middle of july and approximately 80 degrees on the ground. That one more circle, put me into the cloud. I looked down to see the ground and noticed that their was Sleet on the knuckles of my gloves. I decided it was time to get the hell out of there and dove to the VNE speed of my Sport 2. (70mph) I looked over at my vario and it was reading 400fpm UP. It took a few very long seconds to realise what was going on. Of course I questioned my vario's accuracy. Hell i was diving at 70mph, how could I still be going up! Here's the best part. My mind flashed back to 6 months earlier sitting on the toilet, reading the latest Hang glider magazine...specifically, the article on what to do if you get stuck in cloud suck! So the solution was super simple. Instead of trying to dive out of the thermal and creating all that lift with the extra speed I was pouring on to get away. I put my glider into a very high bank angle side slip and spiraled down away from the "Thermals" that were now converging to start forming a thunderstorm. Once free of the good lords grip... I went on to the see the longest cloud street I have ever witnessed. Made a 35 mile cross country flight that day with my new found knowledge. I will remember the sleet on the front of my gloves as long as I live. Thank you for sharing your video and I am so glad you had a flight to remember... with a happy outcome :) All the best, warm winds and no sink! S.C.
😮😮 what a story!
Reminds me of a sailplane guy who told me one of the same, everywhere he looked the cloud base was below him due to the dished upward base he was sucked into. He popped dive brakes and went pure vertical at Vne. As that particular sailplane was actually designed to perform that maneuver. Haha.
Wow, wonder why this didn’t work for him. What were you flying.
Did you boil to death when you landed? How is it even possible for it to be that hot?
I hate cloud suck, felt it a few times when I didn't want to and the same thing happened to me. Thanks for the advise about high bank angle side slip, I will practice that.
@@DrAElemayo80 degrees Fahrenheit.... not Celsius
As I always tried to teach my students: it is infinitely preferable to be on the ground wishing you were in the air, than to be in the air wishing you were on the ground.
ahhh, but nearly as exciting!
My instructor repeatedly told me this same thing. Wise words.
I fly RC and it’s the same mantra, saved many models by simply choosing not to fly when the conditions look sketchy
@@RobR386 yes, exactly the same thing....
well it's often much easier to grant the latter wish
Literally from the very first frame of the flight portion of this video and seeing the storm behind you, I knew this was going to be a wild ride. As a private pilot, we are taught to stay at least 20 miles away from thunderstorms. So to fly that close to a thunderstorm in a rinky dink hang glider is a bit crazy. And then to turn back toward the storm and get sucked up a second time was even more cray-cray.
It's all according to plan when you want to show off for the young hot student and create a "life and death situation" to help get in her pants.
I mean how else does one get RUclips clicks right? I'm surprised a trainer would choose to take their student up in this weather...
@@davinderc Judging by the amount of grade school spelling errors, I don't think this guy was planning that far ahead.
I'm actually stuck in an updraft right now, but the 5G signal is great. Wish me luck!
down yet?
@@recursiveidentity nope
Hpw ab now
@@LILHerbie1964I heard he's still up there
I love a good 1000 feet per second suck. Helps you sailplane for longer. Why are hang gliders sissies and never cover much distance?
You could see that storm very clearly and you chose to go up.....
And wouldn’t have made it back down if that storm had been moving in a different direction.
He went way overboard! It's an outrage!!!!
That’s my point of view
He showed off in front of a female student. That’s all there is to it.
😮😮😢@@pjnj042
A major part of learning to fly certified aircraft is studying meteorology and knowing when not to fly, especially if you’re taking passengers.
My thoughts exactly. First 5 seconds of the video I was thinking that looks like some really active cloud formations in the area. Plus with that much rising air, it's also falling somewhere too.
experience is the name we give to our mistakes
@@flutetubamorg im farily new to flying, and my first thought was "why the hell are you taking off with that storm so close behind you"
@@DancingFlnger and life inside?!
Next time, just look for lift. Whenever I do, all I find is sink.
🤣
😂
Story of my life.....
I wash dishes for a living. Happily. 😊
@@yongyea4147 lmao
At the beginning of the video you mentioned the decision to fly was based on beautiful clear blue skies above you! Sorry, but I don't see ANY blue sky anywhere in your video, only overcast skies. Your poor pilot decision-making created this whole incident and it could have been avoided.
"beautifully blue skies"
Takes off in clouds and grey sunlight
On her way home she Goggled “Drone Flying for Beginners.”😊
At the start of the video you are mentioning that after the thunderstorm had passed there was "beautiful blue skies above, a decision was made to fly". Throughout the video there is never any blue sky to be seen. Wishful thinking and resulting bias judgement could have ended both your lives. Take another look and be more honest before flying next time. 5:46
Hats off to the passenger, she endured the marathon exceptionally. Without nausea, without panicking, and with limitless patience. Respect.
She simply didn’t have the intelligence to realise how close she was to death.💀
I would love to hear the actual audio instead of the music
You wouldn’t hear anything. There’s actual audio at 9 minutes, it’s just creaking and distant voices.
That would still be better than that ridiculous rhythmic soundtrack.
Every bad end starts by bad decission. You are luck that it ends with smile. Next time don´t go to fly with thunderstorm on horizon. I´m very glad for you share this video. It can save many peoples when they will need to solve similar problem. That idea with legs saved 2 lifes.
Someone needs a long course on meteorology, principles of flight and decision making
He also lucked out with such a calm passenger. She did great too!
Flying off a hill top with 6 others here in New Zealand quite a few years back. The other 6 had 5min plummets, scratching around for lift. I had over an hour almost vertical in my harness, with the bar as far back as I could get it. Finally spat me out at 9000ft. Scary!
Which hill top in nz ?
@@obee1kanobeeTapawera. Out of Nelson
My instructor got sucked into a cloud at 17,000 feet and came out at 26,000 no oxygen glider covered in ice.. landed in a box canyon in a spiral when he came out. Lucky to have survived that one!
Time to look for a qualified instructor
@@humnpwr he was more than qualified. He started flying in the 70’s was a US hang gliding association board member and set distance records. You’ve obviously never flown in big air out west in the mountains.
@@coryturner9140I was already a private pilot in the 60’s and also an honorary member of United States hangliders association in Ontario with an honorary mountain flying certificate. As I introduced the sport in Blue Mountain Collingwood in early 70’s 😂😂😂
@@coryturner9140 I’ve had a pilot license since the 60’s. Very important is to check the weather before you fly. Stay at least 15 nm away from thunderstorms, anvil tops. They will shred an airliner to pieces in seconds and your Instructor allowed himself to be drawn up inside one???
I was given an honorary mountain flying license and membership to The United States Hang Gliding Association in early 70’s for introducing the sport in Ontario Canada.
@@humnpwr the only way to set distance records is to fly on the edge when the cumulus clouds are popping… when the mountain tops are over 10,000 feet the air gets big fast… you don’t even need clouds to make for a dangerous situation. You get katabatic winds in the evening at the same location and the whole valley is going up during the glassoff period and we’ve had people stuck at 11,000 ft after the sun has set…king mountain Idaho is a well known big air location…
I'm a glider pilot and would not have thought that the Rogallo wing would have been that good in a thermal. Glad you had a safe landing.
I learned the physics of a large CU cloud. I was flying a 1-26 and ended up in the cloud, entering at cloudbase. The convection currents inside this cloud drew me in, gaining some altitude. I quickly responded and leveled by sense, then nosed down, finally punching through the cloudbase. Cumulonimbus clouds, though, have a hell of a lot of energy and getting sucked up in one can run you up thousands of feet.
Interesting problem to have. I remember reading an account about two sailplane pilots who jumped out of it as it was getting sucked higher. One opened his chute when he cleared the cloud, the other when he was only a thousand feet. The first one spent the next hour or so going up and down. Frozen from the cold and blacking out with the altitude. He had a frightening day.
What happened to the sailplane?
@@HGAviator They parachuted out of is and lost sight of if. Not a clue if the account mentioned it.
That would have been a serious no go for most certified pilots. You really need to learn a bit about aviation weather, and think of your passenger before you go up. Maybe you're willing to take the risk, but your passenger isn't informed and can't make an informed decision. You're lucky. This one ended well. Don't go up with a passenger in conditions like that again. It may not end so well.
This is perfect long distance sailplaning weather. Embrace the suck.
Had it happen back in the early 90s. It is amazing how fast the excitement of great I am going up turns to, oh shit I am still going up. Actually thought about cutting the hang loop and using the reserve or breaking the glider. That Pac Air was stronger than I ever knew. Great job staying calm and keeping the student calm as well.
don't use the reserve when in that aircurrent >_
@@particleconfig.8935 Read my whole post.
Great job keeping out of that. I'm PG pilot and got sucked into an OD storm cell once. It was the single scariest experience of my adult life. 11 m/s lift in sopping wet rain and turbulence you wouldn't believe. I ended up stalling and back flying down and out 3000ft before I was out of the white room and got to safety. Just wild
That sounds way worse than my experience. I must say though, big ears didn't do nothing with my old wing. My new one has reduced line count so might be nearly as good as a stall. Glad to hear you survived!
@@sandrainthesky1011 Big ear (or full assymetric collapse) on one side and spiral on the other. It's a great method to descend fast without the G forces of a normal spiral dive.
another pilot says collapse your frontal by pulling A in controlled manner
Weather forecasts? Pre-flight briefing?
He's an experienced flight instructor, he doesn't need those things
The black horizon!!!
My instructor always said "It's better to be on the ground wishing you were in the sky than it is to be in the sky wishing you were on the ground."
u might wanna check the first comment here.
@@suppenkaschper4686 you might want to simply convey information, rather than playing 20-questions. The comment you saw isn't at the top of the comments, for me. Did they say something similar to me?
@@zippythinginvention just sort them with top comment first it has the most likes here. this is the comment:
As I always tried to teach my students: it is infinitely preferable to be on the ground wishing you were in the air, than to be in the air wishing you were on the ground.
@@suppenkaschper4686 I'm glad it's a popular sentiment.
dark clouds: let's go flying.. can't be that bad. :) At least you weren't under a paraglider.
Also there I learnt: getting away is the way, not getting down. Because you won't make it down without getting away first..
Why would a Paraglider have been worse? I don't know much about hang glider but paraglider have multiple ways to loose hight fast if needed. Accelerated Big Ears , Spiral Decent or B Stall. I never saw a Glider reduce its wingspan at will.
@@matthiaswindrich9697 only big ears get you moving away. And you're far slower than a hangglider. I've done all maneuvers in trainings but their decent rate is too slow to efficiently fight a cloud. Yes, also the spiral.. wouldn't want to try spiralling in an emergency situation.
Best is to avoid. Really. I've pulled rather big ears for some 10- 15 minutes already, it's not relaxing if you have to come down.
@@matthiaswindrich9697 If you can get a 20m/s spiral dive (70km/h without forward speed), you would not last more than a couple seconds. Maybe a minute. This is the fastest way to get down. Big ears will get you around 3-5m/s sink. B-stall ca 10m/s with no forward speed. Maybe throwing the reserve? That'll get you again 5m/s.
Thunder storms can generate cloud suck with 100km/h or more, Inside the cloud it can reach over 200km/h. Thats terminal velocity for human bodies.
@@instrumentenfreakyea - though I've never reached that kind of velocity with a b-stall on my paraglider.. not saying it couldn't be possible. Also check in the video how long the hangglider needed to escape..
@@dernicolas6281we have to find the best way and I want to know the descent rate of a 50% collapse with a spiral on the opposite side of the collapse. Or also just a very deep stall (not backfly)
But yes, much better to avoid the situation!
Non flyer here. If the updraft was due to moisture being drawn up from the delta, why would you not head inland, away from the river? Perhaps I'm missing something here....
Air humidity comes from land too. The storm cloud just sucks whatever air is under it, it's too powerful for the type of ground to matter.
This is incredible. Thanks for sharing. This serves as a good lesson as to how dangerously strong and large lift can get.
I was a Tandem pilot for years. Your passenger was the best!!!!!
I liked this video a lot; as a PG pilot I've always thought you can just yank the bar and honk downwards at a 40 degree angle at 90km/hr. I fly tandem too and I guess a hangi tandem is a bit of a truck, meant to fly stable and damped. Kudos to miss Brooke smiling all the time! All the best, fly free my friend.
Tandems are indeed too stable in pitch. Several luff lines from the king post to the trailing edge hold it up at speed, pitching up the glider. The overall design is not made for steep dives.
In his situation I'd try both legs over the bar, hands on nose wire, asking for the passenger's help in doing the same.
You see this is why we should the the people who made the X-29 to design ultralights.
Watching the video i found myself wondering why decided to fly given the conditions and why having escaped the storm, you flew back towards it. So glad you were so lucky.
Wow, you definitely got some extra air time out of that flight, glad it worked out👍 In the 80s I fought a thunderstorm thermal above Mingus Mountain in Arizona and it sucked me up to 11.500 before I got out to the S/E but landing sites in the forest are a different story. I’m still alive and I’m glad you both are too👍
1970'S SEAGULL PILOT HERE.....
🤣🤣🤣🤣
THE PHRASE
DONT MESS WITH MOTHER NATURE,
COMES TO MIND.
(also from the 1970's!!)
👏👏👏💪
hanging your leg over the cross bar was CLASSIC!
😉
Awesome man, so awesome.
And you had an exceptional student. Very good escape.
Good thing y'all were wearing those little helmets.
Damn, that looks dangerous and fun- right up my alley!
Just before they got airborne black storm clouds can be seen on the background .Taking off was just a very bad decision .
What was the highest altitude before you could descend?
Good save bro, you are pretty cool under pressure. I want to learn how to hang glide it looks awesome and very peaceful which would be the greatest attraction to me besides the act of flying which I love. Glad you two are ok and made it back safely.
He’s like “hey, can you help me pull the bar in” 😂
Not to mention they had to be getting pretty cold, since not dressed for the altitude.
This happened to me and my buddy at High Rock Maryland. Being at cloud base and trying to find sinking air but can’t is something that will never be forgotten. No thunderstorms but big cumulus clouds and 50 mph horizontal winds at cloud base (15 mph at launch and eventually 40 mph gusts after takeoff). A real butt puckering day.
Some famous pilot said getting stuck in a cumulus cloud isn’t as bad as you think it is worse.
That sucks. No doubt! Just because a storm is forming is no reason to cancel the lesson, afterall we don’t want to disappoint the ladies or give them the impression you’re not macho. I know, I’ve been there too.
This is a gliding school???
1. Launching with these clouds that near?
2. Taking a student with you in this risk?
3. Thinking this is a thermal - over the water at daylight, under a shadow already?
4. Just trying to get down instead of away?
5. Take a chill because you are descending a little bit while the danger is still there?
Wow, I would never take a single lesson with you.
Yeah, we do mistakes. But not 5 in a row while being responsible for someone.
I wouldn't either. The guy just makes too many spelling mistakes.
Was that near Lacrosse Wi? ...
Then at the end you say. I recognized the upper Mississippi bluffs of my youth! Thanks for sharing!
A lot of people are saying she was “brave”. I don’t think this is accurate at all. I think she had no understanding of the danger she was in! Let’s hope she reaches an understanding of just how close they came, that day, to a full on disaster… before she flies solo or gets her license!
I'm sure he'd explain this to her and show her this video after this
@@DrAElemayo
Are you sure? I see him praising her for “being brave”… maybe he has no clue either? LOL at the very least he should be commenting something like: “yeah you see she’s all smiles, but once we got down on the ground I TAUGHT her, that there was little to be smiling about and here is why….” Instead of posting this video with no explanation of her reaction and then passing it off as “Brave”!!
I am glad both of You came out of the situation unharmed.
And i have to say it is very brave of You to post this.
Happy ending! phew that was tense. Theres noting quite like being up in the air when you really want to be on the ground, its not a great feeling, I've had it a few times. Nice to see a water landing, Ive not seen one before x
Anyone who's flown a small aircraft knows what those puffy clouds you're flying under mean on humid summer days. A Cessna 152 could take constant pitch and throttle control to reasonably stay at the designated altitude. Some days were *bumpy*.
I can't fathom deciding to take to the air and then stay up with a big squall line clearly visible on a hang glider. Seeing anything like that in the distance meant, "we're getting away from that".
There is a story from yesteryear, of a bunch of pilots in Italy flying a site at the N end of a lake (Como?) in Italy on a sunny, blue-sky day, in the 80's(?). A fast system came up the lake and a big Cu popped over the site, which rapidly developed into a CuNim with the associated massive lift. Some were able to land, but a number were sucked up into the cloud, and as I recall, like about six were found frozen solid miles downwind later and some had harrowing tales. I have been flying since 1972 and I cannot remember the details, but perhaps someone else recalls this. I could tell you a few stories of my own experiences. File under: Tandems I had to stand on the control bar, WITH the student.
Did you charge her for the extra time? 😂
😂
No surprise that a person who spells "lethaly hazardess" and "excelerating" is putting themselves in danger.
This type of person shouldn't be anywhere near a student.
Disagree. He worked his way out of a very dangerous situation. The spelling errors are awful in this video, but they don't represent any measure of flight skills - this man worked his way out of a situation so bad it could have killed him and his passenger.
spelling errors mean nothing, the dude may even be dyslexic, doesn't mean he cant fly well lol 🤡
Good thing there was no turbulence.
This happened to me many years ago. I was flying a WW HP2. Took off from the launch above Falkland BC Canada by myself. Had a great flight, flew most of the way back to Vernon BC, crossed the valley and flew back past Falkland to Westwold, buzzed the guy in the forest fire look out on the south side of the valley, crossed the valley and made my way back to launch.
I was ~6000ft asl when i got to launch and hit this big thermal. I thought I'll ride it to the top and then go and land. It would be the end of a perfect day.
My vario was pegged at 1100 FPM (Ball 500). I did perhaps 3 360's glanced at the altimeter and saw I was at 9600 feet. The light went on in the back of my head,, something ain't right here. Rolled it up onto one wing and saw I was beneath a developing Q nim.
I pointed he nose at the ground, VG off, and the vario is telling me I'm doing 200 FPM up. Despite doing maybe 40 or 50 MPH at a 30-40 degree downward angle,, I was going up backwards. It took me 30 to 40 minutes to get out from under that Q nim. I managed to keep my cool until I landed. I then started shaking uncontrollably.
The next day I was there was several of the local pilots. I told them what had happened and they did not seem concerned and were not concerned about the towering Q's developing across the valley. Well I though these guys know the site,, let's fly. We ended up having to fly back to Salmon Arm to avoid the Q nim's.
When you were hangliding did you listen to this music attached to this video too.
🙏🏻 skill and focus, and a little faith glad you two made it out just fine! ❤
I've been cloud sucked while thermalling with a powered paraglider.
It was like riding a wild bucking bronco.
My glider was above me, beside me, behind me and under me.
I spotted a bright spot to my left and added full power to advance towards it.
I popped out of the cloud about 2500 feet above cloud base.
The whole incident was less than 30-40 seconds.
Although the decision to fly that day was questionable in hindsight, kudos to the instructor for keeping a level head in the situation. He got them out safe, live and learn. Well done.
That's funny. I think I know the situation he was talking about. I immediately thought about it and thought, "you need to get your knees over the control bar."
I read about it back in the 90s. Maybe '93 or so when I was hang gliding. I think the story was in Hang Gliding magazine. Guy was flying in the West. He was caught in something. I don't think it was a thunderstorm, though, but it was a major updraft and the sun was setting (you don't want to fly at night!) and he couldn't get down and he finally got his knees over the control bar to pull it back.
The risk with that is you can fall through the control bar and if you do, then you go into a dive that you'll never recover from because you won't be able to get back over the control bar. Probably a lot less risk with a second person who can stay on the back side of the control bar.
You should have lost your license for this, everyone’s comments are to light hearted. It was clearly a no fly day, but either your wallet or ego failed you here and came close to killing an innocent customer.
Thanks for posting it , but the music and smiling high 5 at the end don’t serves the lesson well.
Not a hang glider pilot, but have done small planes and I'd have thought: Thunderstorm, especially where I can already see lightning? Stay on the ground. I mean, would you even want to land in the water with lightning strikes hitting nearby?
I got cloud sucked at Ellenville. I was bouncing on the hang strap from turbulence and thought the glider would break. I remember the pain of holding the bar in. Your ordeal was much smoother than mine. Never fly when storms are forming in the area.
This is why these things need a rearwards facing 600shp PT6 turboprop to get away from these storms. On another note you are very lucky your passenger kept her cool and didn't panic. A fun story she has to tell people now!
is there any alligator or crocodile in Mississippi? 🐊
You had a pile of options from my standpoint. Run Forest run! But, what do I know...
4:00 “ I struggled with the thought of what I knew I had to do next”
Jettison the woman😂😂
I like the sounds of aviation, the talk, the air rushing through the cables, the engines, the propeller slicing through the air. I don’t really like bad music dubbed over the real sounds.
I am glad you are both safe! Thank you for sharing this.
Thunderstorms are so much fun 👍👍👍 You should have gone for more altitude !!! What a perfect day to fly ❤❤❤
As a glide pilot I am intrigued by where the first thermals came from (before cloud suck). You are over a mega river with forests along the banks. Forests tend to give off lift late in the day and Grey clouds build up late in the day. I am assuming that those Forests were super hot during the day and this flight occured late in the day.
.
Make me curious about install remote thermometers in the forest areas.
Great job getting back safe!
I almost lost one of my friends like this, I think he is the person you were thinking about. He was sucked in to a cloud and was covered in ice before his glider broke and he fell though the cloud. when his glider came out of the cloud he was inverted. He also lost his parachute and crashed with the still broken glider. He was lucky to survive! SO NEVER FLY IN CONDISIONS LIKE THAT!
It happened to me once, when I took off from Pedra Grande in Atibaia (São Paulo - Brazil), a thermal caught me, but I was still quite inexperienced... my instructor told everyone in our team to descend quickly, because a CB was coming, and it was very dangerous to fly in those conditions. I couldn't descend and the instructor said that we should dip the wing and bank to the right or left, do this a few times and we would get out of that dangerous condition... I did what he said and landed in a pasture almost a km from the landing! Conclusion: these rain clouds are very dangerous for free flight.
but I have to say I LOVE how by the end of the video your student was right up there flying on the bar with you instead of tandeming behind you. What a way to learn!
The the big vocalized relief at the end says it all.😂
Deep respect for that girl. she was still in good mood after all of this!
Have never seen the float/tow thing before. That's cool . Your passenger did great. Perhaps she didn't know how close to 'bad" this could have become. Nice solid/stable wing. Good one ya, glad this had a happy ending.
Hi as a hangglider XC pilot I would recommend standing onto the bar, this will increase your speed a lot. Even more compared what you did. Especially with a biplace glider this is easily possible.
I got stuck going up at the point where I was tired and needed to land. Quite scary. It was just before sundown and so time was limited. I don't know how I knew to do this, but I put the glider into a steep turn that was not coordinated. It took a while, but I was able to spiral out of the lift.
Did you have an airspeed indicator? If not, how did you know your airspeed relative to the wing's redline? What I see in the video looks like a handheld GPS unit to me. Glad you both survived unharmed! Thanks for sharing.
Lord I hope I never have to stand on my control bar to get back down.
Please check the weather conditions before your next flight. I would never have taken off in these weather conditions (I'm a paraglider). A thunderstorm front like this pushes a huge wedge of cold air in front of it. These are the gusts before the thunderstorm that you can feel on the ground. This wedge pushes the existing warm air powerfully upwards on a broad front and gives the feeling of insane thermals. Good that you managed to get out of it.
thats a line squall...
Ótima decisão, segurança total....parabéns por postar 😂😂😂😂😂😂
Well handled. Calm initiative saved the day.
Great story telling! So calm, amazing
Epic stuff. Glad you got away safe. That student got her money's worth on that one!
she paid to get endangered, cool
One time almost 45 years ago, I got trapped in the under belly of an cumelus nimbus with my hangglider. I had to take several stalls and sideslips to ascape it. When I finely came out of it, I was compleately relocated. I had a nerve wereaking landing in a small opening in a woods field. But he story is only recorded in my mind.
Sideslips and stalls to escape cloud suck ? Not recommended.
@@douglasr.c.5622 😀I know. But I was elewating to fast and after a cuple of wingover, I saw the black bell I was about to be sucked into.
Put the bar to your knees, and escape out the side.@@bjornvollheim7303
Updrafts are no joke, glad you made it back down safely. I bet you were exhausted after that one!
The cloud wasn’t the only thing sucking that day
I'm very new at Hang Giding, but could the Glider have been put into a stall to lose altitude?
Think of a paper airplane flight. There are three basic (straight flight) patterns it can take. 1. Smooth straight flight (balanced front to back). 2. Diving flight (weight is moved forward). 3. Stalling flight (weight is too far back).
This stalling flight has a repetitive swooping pattern (meaning several peaks and curved valleys). Each peak is a stall. After a stall, it dives, picks up speed and then starts to climb because there is too much lift. But in climbing it loses speed and then "oops, too slow" and then it stalls, drops the nose and then starts picking up speed again, repeating the whole process.
If you move weight to the front of the paper airplane (like a paper clip or two) you can make the airplane stop stalling and dive faster.
A paper airplane made to dive will always get to the ground faster than one than one that has a repetitive stalling flight pattern.
Now put your paper airplane in a huge vacuum where the air moving upward goes faster than the airplane has the ability to go down. This pilot is trying to move as much weight forward as possible to dive as fast as possible.
I hope that makes sense.
Also, one more very important thing to consider. Speed equals control. If you have no speed you have no control. No control equals no choices until you gain speed again.
Cloud suck is pretty wild, happens in planes too! Flying gliders under really strong clouds - its like someone grabs the tail end of your plane and tries to pull you up like its a claw machine.
I once flew in the Alps on a hangglider competition when similar thing happened - it was getting dark and there was lift everywhere, The only - and right solution was to abandon the competition and fly as fast as possible (bar at the knees) to where there was the most light.
You don't want to spiral down with that altitude above ground which you usually have when flying in the moutains - you will be too exhausted and you don't want to land when the gusts from the thunderstorm will hit you in the landing pattern.
Good thermals always mean there is a risk of local cells, so always keep watching the meteo conditions during flight.
Interesting the glider with floats - how do you get ashore with it after landing?
I just chewed off my last fingernail, cheers dude 😂
If memory serves right, there’s a chapter on her experience of being sucked into a cloud in Judy Leden’s autobiography Flying With Condors, an excellent read for anyone interested, it’s more than just a book, it’s an adventure
Fly safe 💚
What a fantastic way to launch and land. Not seen this before. Love it. Great times.
My second solo flight as a 16 year old Air Cadets in 2-33 glider was similar. First it was cool, then I realized I had a problem. Learnt a lot that day.
I was like "Oh no, they went in the water?!" Then I realized he has floats. lol
What's plan B when things go sideways with a hang glider, do you have a parachute..??
I am glad to hear that you are safe. That sounds like a frightening experience.
I'm looking at the sky and I'm seeing a no flying day ! Customer got her money bet she didn't think she was going to 16 thousand ft mind pmsl 🤣 lucky people