Ozone SPYDER 3 - In-Flight Incidents; Handling Wing Deflations

INCIDENTS IN FLIGHT
EN
17
Deflations
Due to the exible form of a paraglider, turbulence may cause a portion of the wing suddenly
to collapse. This can be anything from a small 30% (asymmetric) collapse to a complete
(symmetric) collapse.
If you have a collapse, the rst thing to do is to control your direction. You should y away
from the ground or obstacles and other pilots, or at least not to y into them... Asymmetric
collapses can be controlled by weight shifting away from the collapse and applying a small
amount of brake to control your direction. This act will most of the time be enough for a full
recovery of the wing.
Once a glider is deated it is effectively a smaller wing, so the wing loading and stall speed
are higher. This means the glider will spin or stall with less brake input than normal. In your
efforts to stop the glider turning towards the collapsed side of the wing you must be very
careful not to stall the side of the wing that is still ying. If you are unable to stop the glider
turning without exceeding the stall point then allow the glider to turn whilst you reinate the
collapse.
If you have a deation which does not spontaneously reinate, make a long smooth
progressive pump on the deated side. This pumping action should take about 2 seconds per
pump. Pumping too short and fast will not reinate the wing and pumping too slow might take
the glider close to, or beyond, the stall point.
Symmetrical collapses normally reinate without pilot input, however 15 to 20cm of brake
applied symmetrically will speed the process.
If your wing collapses in accelerated ight, immediately release the accelerator and pull the
trimmers to the slow or standard position before attempting to reinate the canopy.