The importance of ground handling for flight safety is emphasised time and again. It therefore made sense to engage Peter Cröniger, who, together with Simon Winkler, is further developing ground handling and the associated techniques, to provide us with further theoretical and practical training. Bodenlos e.V. organised a lecture on Wednesday and the practical training session with Peter on the following weekend.
The exercises were divided into two groups, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. It was recommended to listen to his presentation before the ground handling in any case.
The Bucherhang on the western shore of Lake Tegernsee was chosen for groundhandling, as it faces north-east and should offer a high probability of good groundhandling conditions with the onset of the Bavarian wind. Short flights are also possible there, as the slope drops steeply, and with a bit of luck and a stronger north-easterly wind, soaring is also possible on the edge of the forest.
I was part of the group on Saturday morning. We met at 9.30 am at the car park right next to the Kleinbuch farm and guest house. The car park is a hikers’ car park for which a fee of €4 is payable. There is a coin box in the car park. A further €4 is payable for the use of the groundhandling meadow directly at the Bartl farm.
Almost punctually at 9.30 am, Peter gave us a short briefing at the car park and explained the final details of the course. Afterwards, we had to walk up the Bucherhang almost to the edge of the forest, an arduous endeavour in the summer temperatures.
Once at the top of the slope, Peter gave us another briefing. Unfortunately, the wind was not particularly strong, the Bavarian wind did not really prevail over the forecast southerly wind.
Three things in particular stuck with me that I had handled differently before:
- The handle should not be held as a WC handle, but should be held as you would like to fly later. In my case, this is the French grip. The reason for this is that you simply develop more feeling for your wing this way
- The brakes should not be pulled downwards, as you may be used to, in order to feel the pressure of the canopy, but the brakes should be pulled to the centre position at most. This ensures that you can still react in both directions using the brakes. The canopy must be held above you by running
- You should not get into the habit of handling via the C-plane, as the glider simply cannot be controlled to the same extent as via the brakes
There were of course a lot more tips from Peter, but I already knew them beforehand and don’t want to repeat them here. If you want to know more about tips and tricks on ground handling and flying technique, please refer to the DHV info YouTube channel, where Peter and Simon have published many tutorials on the subject.
I practised two types of start in particular:
- The normal reverse launch. As described above, this time with the French grip instead of the WC grip as before and without pulling the brakes down too far. I’m normally quite good at reverse launching, but the two changes made a few launches necessary
- Semi Cobra launch type, which is explained in detail in this video (in german). This launch type is recommended in strong winds or when there is little space in the direction of travel.
During the lecture, practical exercises were organised at short notice on Thursday morning, as it was already becoming apparent that Sunday would probably be cancelled due to bad weather. That’s exactly what happened.
Peter emphasised several times how important groundhandling is, but in the 3.5 hours we spent training on the Bucherhang, Peter can of course only show us the basics. It is now up to us to complete and consolidate what we have learnt by going to groundhandling regularly. And with such a beautiful view of Lake Tegernsee, it’s all the more fun:
