From: Mark Stucky Sent: Friday, October 16, 1998 3:01 PM Cc: hang-gliding@lists.utah.edu Subject: Forger's Millennium commentsMillennium Impressions:
General Appearance
Overall a nice finish. The composite D-tube and sailcloth are a piece of art. One thing that caught my eye was the elevons and moveable portions of the tip rudders are single thin sheets of carbon fiber. When a wing rests on the ground the bottom of the tip rudder and the entire elevon rests on the ground. The rudder has a bit of a skid (seemed flimsy) but no protection for the elevons. This configuration seems prone to trailing edge damage as evidenced by the fact that virtually all of the used models at the fly-in had small scalloped areas.
Another thing that caught my eye was the trailing edge of the main wing is surprisingly thick near the center section (about 1 inch). The rear spar is only 1/4" diameter but the sail appears to puff up around it.
The hang cage and wheel assembly seemed robust enough and a natural progression and improvement from the Swift's.
Strapping In
The pilot wears a simple strap harness that hooks into the cage at the hip points. The pilot sits supine in the hang cage, supported by a novel split seat. The sling seat is comprised of two opposing triangular padded pieces of fabric. The base of the triangles is the rear of the hang cage and the maximum overlap of the two sides occurs there. You climb in from the rear of the glider. First you stick a foot through the slit between the two pieces and then slide the leg towards the rear, opening up a large slot to put your other foot through. Now you scrunch down and put your feet forward and your butt onto the fabric. As you weight the seat it miraculously closes taut and feels very secure. You wiggle into the shoulder straps and then fasten the simple harness into the hip straps on the cage (two caribiners).
The sling seat and harness arrangement are very novel and should really facilitate foot-launching. It will be easy to raise and lower your legs and the hip attachment will help support the weight of the glider with your hips instead of your back.
A dual bridle goes from your shoulders to the reserve parachute carabiner. Another single line runs to the keel and is the one that normally carries the load during a parachute descent. Stewart's configuration was a bit different than stock but I'm not sure how much it differed. My helmeted head went through the dual shoulder bridles that laid down my chest and were anchored into the parachute caribiner near my left hip. I was uncomfortable with this arrangement and couldn't see how my neck would NOT be wrenched/broken during any deployment. In light of Brad Koji's accident I mentioned this to JB. He responded he had similar concerns and no longer hooked the reserve caribiner to the dual bridle but to his hip instead. I decided I would rather risk landing on my side and quickly did the same. Stewart was not around to hear this discussion but I'll make sure he knows my concerns.
Preflight Instruction
Prior to my flight I listened as JB gave instructions to another pilot. He discussed pitch sensitivity, the mixing of the elevons and tip rudders, and airspeeds to fly. He recommended keeping the airspeed between 25 to 40 mph for Millennium novices. Red line was 65 (there was a red line on the Hall indicator) and it was laterally controllable to around 17 with stall at 15 mph.
I watched a couple of tows and saw small pitch bobbles on both and a directional oscillation on one. Both pilots figured out the pitch quickly but the directional oscillation lasted for a good minute. One Millennium pilot (not JB) mentioned that the tow forces are pulling from the nose and simply letting go of the stick would fix the oscillation. As best I could tell, the tow forces were NOT from the nose, the bridle going to each side of the hang cage, attaching near the pilot's hips -- relatively close to the directional CG. I was in listen mode and didn't question that last piece of advice but stored it away for possible use.
I had agreed to an early evening event in L.A. with my family and was running out of time so Stewart Midwinter graciously offered the use of his pristine Millennium. I was a bit hesitant about hopping on someone's personal beautiful new supership but JB assured me I shouldn't have too much concern. I asked Stewart to remove his Ball Graphics Comp vario (I only had fifteen minutes to complete my flight so why risk buying unnecessary hardware if I crumpled the glider onto the lakebed ! J). He removed it from the cage but then stuck it in the sail! I decided he must really want a new vario and didn't argue the point. I noticed that Stewart's Hall indicator did not have a red line at 65 but appeared to have about the same numerical range.
Takeoff
Very straightforward. Someone held the wing up for a few steps. I didn't have to give much thought to either holding the wings level or rotating for liftoff. The glider lifted off nicely with neutral stick and I held it down low until the tug started climbing. Just like a sailplane but more sensitive in pitch. I didn't even notice the airspeed; the Millennium naturally lifted off when it was ready.
I too had a momentary pitch bobble as the hydrocarbon stick actuator figured out the response to a given input. There is no stick trim and I held a few pounds of continuous forward stick to maintain position. Like the Swift, in the supine position the tow airplane was nicely blocked by my feet. The cage must be longer than the Swift's because I couldn't really pull a foot back to increase visibility. Spreading them to the side and canting my toes outward gave a good enough view.
Tow Bridle Hookup
The Swift's tow hookup was at the front of the skid. This made following the tug easy if straight and level but when the tug turned it pulled the nose of the Swift around. Instead of pointing at the outside wingtip of the tug you pointed directly at him and were essentially cutting across the circle. This caused a slight loss of airspeed and a settle that was best countered by lowering flaps.
The bridle arrangements on the four Millenniums present were very similar to each other but there were slight differences so I concluded it was not a factory installation. I felt the bridle attached too far back on the hang cage and would be better if moved perhaps midway between the pilot's hips and the front wheel.
I only had about fifteen minutes available for flight and there appeared to be some weak thermals so I released at 2000 ft. AGL. Immediately after release I looked at the airspeed indicator for the first time. Sixty mph. Geeez, I didn't think the glider was at that different of an attitude so I slowed it down towards 25. As I slowed down in a shallow left bank, the glider started feeling mushy and the nose started to break. Stewart had suggested I try spinning the thing so I went ahead and slammed the stick full aft and right. It spun nicely to the left and I held it for a couple of turns. Neutralizing the lateral stick I applied forward and the spin immediately broke. The glider was very nose low and airspeed was rapidly approaching 60 so I increased the pull to keep from exceeding Vne. The nose started coming up and then it immediately broke hard left and down as I entered a progressive spin. I let it go three turns, eased the nose forward and held it down, this time choosing to ignore displayed Vne (figuring it must be inaccurate in that steep of a dive). I pulled out successfully this time and noticed that an airspeed of 50 was very comfortable. It sure seemed slower than thatS. I raised my visor, and put my palm to the air both above and below the wing. I was definitely NOT going 50 mph. So I chose to ignore the airspeed indicator for the rest of the flight. After landing, I commented about its inaccuracy and Stewart commented, "you know it's in kilometer per hour, don't you?". OOPS. There it was in small letters at the bottom of the tube: "kph"!
Joy Stick Control. The pitch control is improved over the Swift but still sensitive. Lateral stick requires higher forces; significantly higher at higher speeds (repeated high-speed turn reversals tired my forearm). The lateral stick breakout forces are noticeably higher to the right than to the left. This asymmetry is compounded by the naturally weaker "stick right" muscle forces. The tall stick gives good leverage but when you grasp it high it is easy to put inadvertent inputs into the sensitive pitch axis. I would recommend adding a simple wrist rest to help alleviate this problem. It's probably too hard/late to redesign the lateral mixer but in the future the designers should remember it is easier to move your arm laterally toward your body than it is to move it away.
Lateral/directional control is interesting. As JB had mentioned, a small lateral stick deflection deflects only the elevons with noticeable adverse yaw. A larger amount moves the tip rudders which coordinates the turn. Therefore small deflections to keep the nose pointed at the tug can cause the glider to point the wrong way. Because the glider is not sensitive to roll it worked best to counter small heading deviations by using a quick large lateral input, centering the lateral stick prior to any roll occurring.
Pitch Bobble & Stability
Several times I noted an unusual lurching effect. I remember it mainly on tow but if my memory serves me correctly it happened on a thermal entry too. The glider would seemingly rise upward while rotating slightly nose down. My best explanation for this lurching or heaving action is a small nose down pitch input would cause the elevons to symetrically move down. The elevons deflect slightly which momentarily adds camber to the outward wings similar to a flap deflection. This increase of lift causes a slight ballooning but the lift is behind the CG so it the glider rotates nose downward. During this ballooning action the pilot sees more forward stick is needed, inputs it, and all of a sudden the elevons become elevons and not flaps resulting in a momentary jerk and increased pitch down. This lurching makes the glider feel somewhat disconnected but only seems to occur with small movements and seems to only be objectionable during precise tasks (like following a tow plane).
I evaluated the glider's response to quick pitch doublets. These small inputs were done in both directions and always resulted in a divergent aircraft response in the direction of the last input. For instance, a small nose down input followed by a small nose up input would cause the nose to continue upward until actively checked by the pilot. There was no oscillation, simply an unstable response. This was interesting and could be indicative of too aft of a CG. It can also explain some of the pitch difficulties but honestly, the Millennium was easier to fly than the doublet response would indicate. There is good speed stability, the stick feeds back pressure as you increase or decrease speed from the trim condition. In fact, I would recommend a simple bungee cord trim system to reduce forces for extended tows or high speed glides.
I did these repeated pitch tests marching smartly away from the landing area. I finally turned my head and was surprised by how far I had flown in such a short time. I found myself hoping the Millennium's performance was as good as I expected since landing way short of a huge dry lake would not be good form.
Thermalling
I found some weak lift and started circling. My Avocet watch indicated ten foot gains every circle so I started to relax some. I did not do any spiral stability tests but since I didn't notice any over or under banking tendency the spiral stability must be close to neutral. This is good considering the mission (thermalling) and the fact that continual lateral stick movements would be tiring. I found the pitch control while banking to be easier than a typical sailplane; it was very easy to hold the nose attitude throughout the turns. There was not a yaw string but the glider felt very coordinated. I had the impression there were less sideslip excursions than a typical circling sailplane.
I soon gained a few hundred feet while drifting in the right direction and now had reaching the LZ assured.
Control harmony
I performed a series of wingovers and the differences between pitch and roll were very evident. At entry speeds the lateral forces are high. I found myself letting the nose get relatively high prior to rolling (the forces were lighter and the roll rate better). Tough to do by the book maneuvers. I think wingovers are easier on a typical flex wing although it is difficult to do them by the book also.
Drag devices
The Swift had very marked trim changes with changes in flap settings. I thought it would be prudent to investigate deploying both tip rudders at altitude. The pull cord is easy to pull and the tips deploy nicely with a slight pitch up. The glide angle steepens but it still is gliding, you can't use it to descend at extraordinarily steep angles (kind of turns it into an intermediate flexwing).
I set up for a conical entry for landing but started maintaining altitude at 200 ft AGL. I made a few passes and then pulled full tip rudders and turned final. I cleared the bushes with a bit of extra speed for safety. I noticed one small bobble as I rounded out but the glider touched down smoothly at my aim point. Sticking one foot flat on the lakebed made for braking, I stopped lined up in position for another tow.
Bottom line on flying qualities
The Millennium has great performance and is easier to fly than the Swift. Like the Swift but to a lesser degree, the Millennium should be flown by competent pilots. I think the glider could be made more suitable to the masses by addressing the short period instability and then working on reducing the pitch sensitivity while decreasing the roll forces.
Millennium or Exxtacy/Ixbo? Without having flown the latter, that is a tough call. Both types are a big advancement in hang glider style performance (easy portability). I expect many pilots will pick the respective models based mainly on whether they want supine joystick control or prone hang glider - style control. I expect both types will go down in history as a major development in the history of the sport.
I would like to see some similar technologies (folding ribs, flaps, control surfaces, etc.) mated to a simple intermediate wing planform. I think a major market exists for a medium weight, easy set-up glider that got an 8 to 1 glide with a great sink rate while retaining good high speed penetration and the ability to come in steep to an easy no-wind landing.
Mark "Forger" Stucky Mark.stucky@dfrc.nasa.gov Stuckinn@snowline.net
From: Deane Williams Sent: Monday, October 05, 1998 12:24 PM To: hang-gliding@lists.utah.edu; rigid-wing@lists.utah.edu Subject: Millennium: First soaring flightThe short version: I flew my first soaring flight on my new Millennium hang glider on Saturday at Ellenville, NY. Everything went well.
The long version: Although I will try to make this an objective report please excuse me if outbursts of enthusiasm show through. It really started 6 years ago when I bought my trusty Wills Wing HP-AT 145. Glider performance had sort of leveled out then but I could foresee that sometime in the future someone would create a far better glider. I could also foresee that it wasn't going to be cheap... so I started saving back then. When the Millennium came out as a prototype last year I jumped on the band wagon and went along for a 40 week ride as they sorted out their early problems and ramped up the production. Several of my friends bought Exxtacies at that time but I went for the Mill for a variety of reasons, some personal preferences ( I like to fly supine) and some technical (elevons vs. spoilerons, wheel-landing possibility and others).
So at last I got my ship 2 weeks ago. I took it to Morningside Flight Park and flew 2 flights from the 250 ft. hill. I should tell everyone that I am a hang glider pilot only, self-taught at that. No sailplane experience. No general aviation lessons. Nothing other than hang gliding and I love it. But I do occasionally fly R/C sailplanes so I know the stick some. Well I was pleasantly surprised at my ability to precisely control this wing on my first flights. I could run with it easily into the 5mph wind and it lifted rapidly. On both flights I was able to do a few turns, line it up on the grass strip perfectly and land on the wheels. ( I put a small wheel on the front skid which is not necessary but better for towing.)
Knowing that I could launch, fly and land it put my mind at ease and now it was just a 2 week wait for soarable weather. (Fall in New England.) I was anxious to get up for a long time and really try things out.
Saturday was the last day of a strong period of NW winds. Thursday and Friday were blown out but Saturday the forecast was down to 10-15. Too bad it was predicted to be overcast. But we arrived at Ellenville to find people soaring, but not high, under overcast skies. Wind was a moderate 5 to 12 mph. Perfect conditions for a first flight.
I got up to launch and lifted the glider into the wind. It felt stable on my shoulders and wanted to fly. I intended to run slowly and then accelerate as I thought about correcting for any rolling motion with the stick. But I probably ran about 5 steps and it lifted me. I didn't have to use the stick during the run. I swung my feet up and turned right to ridge soar.
Again I had that pleasant surprise that the ship is so easily controllable. No oscillations, no overcontrolling. After a few passes I was slightly above launch so I moved to the next rock knob north, away from the pilots in the Fusion and Sensor I was with. Cruising above the rock face I was again impressed how comfortable I felt. Found a light thermal there and began my first tentative 360's. They went well so I kept turning and the glider kept climbing. In 10 minutes I was 3000 feet over launch.
For the next 2 hours I flew up the ridge to the airport, down the center of the valley, to the south a few miles, etc. I tried slowing down to a stall slowly. It doesn't really break if you do this. Just seems to mush and begin to fall off to one side or the other.
I tried fast flight. Wow, does this thing want to go! I never seemed to lose much altitude going anywhere!
One of the coolest things I discovered is the increased sensation of flight due to the fact that you are coupled directly and rigidly to the wing. You and the wing are ONE! Hanging below the wing is not quite the same. Looking up at that gleaming white carbon-fiber leading edge with no supporting wires or struts is amazing. The wing is so stiff that every little nuance of the air is transferred to you giving you more feedback than a flexwing. Yet turbulence seems much less disturbing to it because of the "on-rails" stability. Another great feature is the stick control. I had a number of worries about this aspect of the machine: I had heard the pitch was very sensitive. It is but it's not a problem at all. The controls are well damped and the centering spring makes sure that you can easily come back to your trim speed. I was worried that I might spin while turning it. I didn't spin it, but I found by experimenting that when you pull the stick way back while 360ing it gives you warning via a noticeable increase in the rate of rotation. A quick, small forward motion of the stick returns you to normal flight. It is very responsive. You just have to remain aware of this possibility.
Another cool feature is the comfort factor. One hand is totally free to use the radio, grab a map, drink, etc. You can see everything well including the clouds above you. I only came down because I had anticipated a short, scratching flight based on the HG flying before me and didn't dress warm enough. (37 degrees F at 3000' over.)
How does it do against the Exxtacies? I don't want to go out on a limb here because lots of my friends fly them. Let's just say, based on only one flight, that I'm pleased with my performance level.
On landing approach I pulled the drag rudders full on at about 250 feet and flew my normal HP-AT approach. I came up a bit short and had to cut into the field earlier than usual. This tells me that with full-on drag I can come down faster than the AT. Of course you don't have to use full-on and can vary it in flight. This will take some getting used to as you can apparently cut your glide ratio to about half with these full-on.
Despite mis-judging the approach I put it down on the wheels in the second ring of the bullseye. Foot landings will come when I have more confidence and some headwind.
There are 3 Millenniums in the NY/New England area now and about 6 Exxtacies.
I think the guys at Bright Star have really put their heart into designing and refining this glider. Their many years of honing and manufacturing the Swift adds to my confidence in this wing which is in many ways a direct descendent of the (fully-rigid, non-folding) Swift. Nice to know also that it's made right here in the USA. Communicating directly with factory has it's advantages.
The XC season is now 7 months away and I'm looking forward to it like I haven't in years!
:-)Deane Williams Farmington, CT
From: Paul R. Gazis Sent: Monday, October 19, 1998 1:22 PM To: rigid-wing@lists.utah.edu Subject: Yet another dull boring pilot report on the MillenniumEven as I write these words, a 20.5' long 100-lb hybrid wing is lying tucked along one wall of my living room. Here, as promised, is my pilot report.
It was blowing NE Sunday morning, but JB met me at Ed Levin at 1100 anyway because hey, what the heck, maybe the the inversion layer would lift and it would blow uphill. It finally did around 1330, and we managed to get me two flights off the 1750' hill.
Setup
Setup is trivial. There are a few tricks, and a few things you have to watch out for lest they get damaged, but setting up the Millenium is almost as easy as openning an umbrella. It may even be easier than opening an umbrella. After all, some of those umbrellas are pretty tricky.
For my second flight, setup took the two of us all of... three minutes? From setup through preflight and launch took... I dunno... 14 minutes? 10 minutes? I mean... like... it takes PARAGLIDERS longer to set up! Unreal!
Fit and finish
Pretty good. Not as good as a Sensor, perhaps, but comparable to a lot of other flexwings. My wing must be around the 20th off the production line and each successive wing that Bright Star has produced looks a little bit better. It certainly seemed comparable to an Exxtacy.
Ground handling
There's a trick to getting the wing up onto your shoulders, but once the it's up it's fairly easy to handle. It's DIFFERENT from a flex wing -- heavier and harder to yaw, but you have more roll control with the joystick -- but the differences all even out and it didn't seem much easier or harder to deal with.
Launch
I was a bit intimidated, because I recall that the #3 prototype was a bear to launch in no wind on a flat slope, but launching into 1-3 MPH on a moderate slope at 2200' MSL on a dry 70 degree day was a non-event. Check pitch, shift weight, run, pull back when I was up to speed, and... gee... it can't be THAT easy, can it? I must have done something wrong! But the video of the launch looked almost boring, and according to JB, I got off with more than enough airspeed.
I suspect that this wing will be easier to launch than a flexwing on steep slopes and harder than a flexwing on flat slopes, but I do not, as yet, have any meaningful experience to back up this guess.
Landing on wheels
Landing this thing on a grassy field at 500' MSL on a a cool day with no wind was roughly as challenging as landing a Cessna. Flight simulater. With all the control parameters set to 'easy'. Drop down into ground effect, bleed off speed, try to slow down to stall just as the wheel touches, think, "Screw it, what am I trying to prove?" and touch down 3-5 MPH above stall, just like ordinary pilots do on ordinary airplanes. The only trick was bleeding off that final bit of speed without bobbing around in pitch. But hey, if no one else was looking it didn't happen, right?
Landing on feets
I dunno. Didn't try it. This is gonna require some thought.
Landing approach
Ah yes, the landing approach...
This thing has one heck of a glide.
It also has one heck of a low sink rate.
This is the Viagra glider. It won't go down. It stays up... forever...
With the spoilers in... well... I might be able to get it down on one of the main runways at SFO International. If I was landing into a significant headwind.With the spoilers out, the glide degrades to the point where it's roughly comparable to... I dunno... an Ultrasport? A Fusion? And if you come in 5 MPH too hot... doo dee doo...
Suffice to say, I suspect that it would be easy to get the wing into a medium-sized LZ like the one at Mission Ridge with practice, but you'd want to know what you were doing and keep at least 30 seconds ahead of the glider. No way I'd want to squeeze the thing into the LZ at Parma.
Bottom line for XC purposes. You're gonna win some 'cos of sink rate and glide, and lose some 'cos you can't commit to some of the tighter LZs. No big problem in the high desert, but a potentialy serious problem in Santa Barbara, at least for weenies -- uh, 'aggressively challenged individuals' -- like me.
Now the fun stuff
First flight I flew straight out to get some terrain clearance and get a feel for the controls, then I did a series of 90 degree turns (more or less) at about a 20 degree bank angle (more or less) at 45 MPH (more or less), followed by turns at about 35 MPH (hey, if you want real precision on these things you can get yourselves a real test pilot!), followed by level flight and gradual -- some would say a timid -- slow to a stall.
Pitch forces were light, but they weren't quite as gruesomely light as some sailplanes I've flown. The wing was a handful, and I kept chasing my airspeed (and my pitch attitude too, darn it! More proof, if any was needed, that I ain't Forger), but it wasn't as demanding as one Ram Air and one 610 Sensor that I've flown.
Roll forces were fairly high, but not extraordinarly so, and, and yes, it is harder to push that stick right than left, just like everybody says. I did not try to max out the roll rate on this flight.
The stall was a non-event. It was comparable to any new bladewing. There was no tendancy for a wing to drop... this flight... and recovery was straightforward. The most reassuring part was the amount of effort it took to get the wing to stall. There was a nice wide margin between the pitch atttiude for level flight and the pitch attitude at stall speed, just like there is on most flexwings.
These amusements over, I looked down to discover... that I was still about even with launch. Well well, I thought, and I flew up and down the 300-600' ridge to burn off some altitude. Like... about 14" of altitude. This left roughly 998'10" to go, so I flew up and down the ridge again. Now I was down to 997'8" AGL. I did a few 360s and flew across the LZ and back. Down to 995'7" now... gee... ground's getting pretty lose... it will be time to start thinking about that landing approach in another... 2-3 hours or so.
This 160 FPM sink rate, or whatever it is, is food for some serious thought. It changes EVERYTHING! This isn't just a slight improvement over a conventioanl flexwing, it's like the difference between prop planes and jets.
Eventually, tired hungry, thirsty, and in need of sleep after what seemed like 36,732,403 hours in the air, I got down to 500' AGL. 'Aggressively challenged individual' that I am, I decided to deploy the spoilers early and fly a big wide approach so I'd have time to deal with any surprises. I turned downwind at 500', stabilized my airspeed at 35 MPH (more or less), and pulled the spoiler control. Control forces were light and the effect on performance was quite noticable. I had to pitch down to maintain airspeed and glide decresed to what felt like 8:1.
I still had to fly a looooooooong downwind to aim for that bloody spot. And then I had to do some shallow s-turns to make sure I didn't overshoot. There does not seem to be any immediate danger that Thomas Wolfe will write a hot new best-selling book about my skill as a pilot.
More fun stuff
Hey, I thought, that was fun! Why not try it again? Maybe I can try a faster roll rate. And slightly steeper bank angles. And another stall. And see if I can do a better job of controlling my airspeed. And it would be nice to fly a cleaner approach.
The wind had died and gone a bit north, but that was no big deal because this wing is... real... easy... to launch on a moderate grassy slope. As before, the plan was to work on some turns, with more attention to pitch attitude, then try another stall.
The turns were instructive. Armed with JB's advice, I didn't grip the control stick this time, but rested my hand on top of the stick instead. This made a big difference: it was easy to push outward when I wanted to roll right. I also tried to max out the roll rate. My impressions were only subjective, but it certainly seemed to roll faster than any flexwing I've flown.
The stall was interesting. I was a bit more aggressive than I had been the first flight, and pulled the nose up a little bit harder. The result was a mild spin entry. It was no big deal -- the left wing must have dropped all of 20 degrees as the nose went down -- but it was a for-real spin entry, just like in the movies.
Recovery was straightforward -- just let the stick forward, wait for the wing to start flying again, then slowly resume normal flight -- which was nice, because I wasn't... ahhh... super aggressive on that recovery. More proof, if any was needed, that I will never be a significant threat to Mark Forger as either an author or a pilot.
At any rate, this behavior was a slight surprise, so I decided to try another stall to see if it would happen again. Given my general sloppiness in the air, it was quite possible that I'd loaded up the left wing as I got down near mush speed and precipitated the spin myself.
I did a clearing turn, leveled the wings, and eased the stick back a bit more carefully, and once again, the left wing dropped as the nose went down. It was very slight this time -- nothing as dramatic as the previous stall -- but the wing did drop. This made me wonder if the wing was slightly out of trim, but I couldn't detect any signs of a turn, so it was probably just me. Something to keep an eye on.
I still had something like 1,000' of altitude to play with, so I decided to try some steep-banked 360s, just like I would in a sailplane. I started to roll in, realized that this was probably not a manuever I wanted to try until I had another 10-20 hours on the wing, and rolled back out again. Doo dee doo. The inferior pilot hopes that his inferior judgement will allow him to to avoid situations that challenge the limits of his inferior skills. Or something like that.
This left me with at least 999'3" of altitude, so I played around with roll-reversals trying to get a better feel for roll rates and control balance.
Or so I claim. Actually I was just having fun.
Finally it was time to land the beast. This time I was going to fly a nice clean tight landing approach. Or so I thought.
Once again I deployed the spoilers early, at around 500'. But this time I cleverly flew my approach about 5-10 MPH too fast. Airspeed? We don't need to pay no stinkin' attention to our airspeed! Ho ho!
One consequence of this lapse of attention was that the spoilers had a noticable effect of pitch. At 40-45 MPH (more or less), I had to apply significant forward stick pressure to keep the nose down. I did this with some enthusiasm, and I also eased off the spoilers slightly under the mistaken impression that I might have pulled them on 'too hard'.
The other consequence of this imprecision was that this was not the... uh... cleanest and tightest landing approach I have ever flown in my inept and eventful life. Nor was it the shortest landing. But hey, I did manage to land within the state of California, well short of the Oregon border, and the hike back to the breakdown area took no more than 15 years.
Overall impressions
1) The Millenium is an aweseome machine.
2) The Millenium is NOT a normal hang glider. It is a foot launched sailplane. At moderate speeds and bank angles less than 10-15 degrees, the difference is not all that noticable -- my only reminder that I was flying seated rather than prone were those dumb-looking boots that kept blocking my vision whenever I looked straight ahead -- but at steeper bank angles the difference was dramatic. Eventually I stopped thinking 'hang glider' when I rolled into a turn and started thinking 'jet'. This made a big difference! I still flew like a dork, but I felt like a cool and competent dork rather than an awkward one. And hey... 'jet'... zoom!
3) The Millenium seems easy to launch and land at our local training site, and it does not seem extremely demanding to fly... but... it does make demands. The demands seem comparable to those made by an average bladewing, but they are different demands, and it's gonna take me some time to get used to this wing. During which time it would probably not be a brilliant idea for me to work in real close to the terrain or try to squeeze into small fields.
4) Control harmony and ride are reasonable at moderate airspeed, but pitch control requires some thought, and it's easy for a dweeb like me to pick up a heck of a lot of airspeed in a few moment's inattention. At high speeds (>50 MPH) pitch forces seemed quite light, and slight unintentional movements of the stick result in some interesting g-forces. I want to be real thorough about exploring that part of the performance envelop befor eI fly this thing in combat.
5) This is gonna be fun :)
What I would change
Can't think of anything. One of the things that attracted me to the Millenium was that I could not spot a single major detail that I'd want to change. Bright Star has produced a real work of art.
It could still use an accompanying work of literature. In particular, it could use a flight manual. With a checklist, some approximate polar information, a list of critical speeds, and some description of flight characteristics in addition to the usual stuff we expect to find in flight manuals for ordinary flexwings. I'd be happy to sit down with Steve Morris and Brian Porter and put something together, but it's not clear that the world will ever be ready for a flight manual in which I was involved :)
Who should buy one
It's hard to say. Someone with 100+ or so hours experience on a modern bladewing and/or some sailplane experience? Who is willing to back off and relearn some of their flying skills? And is willing to sacrifice some small-field capability and a prone flying position for a significant increase in performance? Ultimately it's a subjective decision. With something less than 16 flights (including 5 runs down the bunny hill) and 45 minutes of cumulative airtime on this thing, I'm hardly in a position to offer any meaningful comments.
But since when have I EVER offered any meaningful comments? Here at our Evil Alien Clone Invasion Headquarters, we regard meaningful comments as superfluous. And what is 'meaning' anyway? Surely it must be a purely subjective concept! Yes, we're all cultural relativists here.
I think the wing is pretty cool, and I LIKE the flying position. If I'm gonna screw around with control surfaces, I don't want some awkward-seeming floating control frame like the Exxtacy. I want a stick. Preferably one with ominous-looking buttons and triggers connected to turbo-lasers and photon torpedoes for clearing out an LZ at the end of a long XC flight. "Stay with me R2!" Et cetera...
Paul Gazis
Sunnyvale, CA
Date: Tue, 28 Oct 1997 00:32:35 -0500 (EST)
From: John Borton
To: Hang Gliding Digest
Subject: Millennium high altitude review
What a great surprise to hear from the Bright Star guys... would I like to get my first high altitude flights on the new ‘hybrid wing’ Millennium this weekend? Hmmmm...I did have plans to index my CD collection database by cover artist, followed by spending some quality time pruning my Bonsai. I managed to hold out for oh... 2 milliseconds, before grabbing my helmet and running out the door.
Once again, as a reference point...until now I have been a ‘weight shift flex wing’ pilot only. I am in no way connected with anyone from Bright Star or any hang diver dealer. I met these guys one week ago today. I don’t teach for money, I don’t tandem for money. I fly for fun. If I say something wrong about the wing, hopefully someone from Bright Star will correct me. When I say something bad about the wing, they’ve promised not to whine. If I say something wrong about aerodynamics, I’m sure EVERYONE on the list will correct me (and whine).
If anyone missed my report a week ago regarding my training hill experiences with this hybrid wing, including setup and other fundamentals, please let me know and rather than waste bandwidth with a re-post, I will send you a copy directly.
Headed up the hill at Ed Levin Park. It was a great choice for my first high altitude. Easy launch, familiar terrain (sort of... hadn’t flown there in more than 5 years), big LZ. Launch was easy into a 5 mph wind. I waited until well away from the hill to retract the gear (feet). I had never done this before and wasn’t sure what kind of control problems it might introduce (remember getting into your harness for the first time?). I carefully relaxed my hand on the stick, pulled my legs up onto the footrest, reclined against the headrest/ parachute and smiled... just like lying in a chaise lounge on the deck. There was very little, if any, change in CG location between the launch position and the flying position... your feet move forward as you recline, and your upper body moves rearward. I noticed no real difference in trim between the two.
The thing I noticed most at this moment was the new flying position(duh!). Over the years we develop certain habits and ‘muscle memories’ that help us fly ‘unconsciously’. This first flight was anything but ‘unconscious’. Things as simple as where to look to gather necessary flight data (airspeed, navigational information etc.) felt completely new. The familiar feelings of hanging out in the air flow, great view (all be it in somewhat different form) etc., were all still there.
Since I considered myself a Hang II on this glider, I did exactly what I would insist any of my Hang II flex wing students do on their first high altitude flight... head straight out over the landing zone and practice the things you must be able to do to land. For me, since I had decided to land on the wheels (something I hadn’t tried yet, but was told it was ‘brain dead easy’), I only needed to practice turning at bank angles and speeds that my landing approach would require. I deployed the carbon tiplets (‘boards’ as the Bright Star guys call them) by giving a quick pull on the VG-like cord above my head to reduce my glide. The cord moved about 10" with minimum force and I felt the glider nose up and slow down just a bit... very friendly behavior. I boxed the field a couple times, flew slow, flew fast, did a couple fast ‘roll-ins’ and ‘outs’... mostly noticed that at the roll rates I was achieving, there was little noticeable adverse yaw... great I thought, I should be able to line this puppy right up.
I set up for a left hand box and headed downwind over the beautiful green lawns of Ed Levin. I set the airspeed at 40 mph, turned onto base well past the dirt access road and then onto final straight down the chute around 80+' AGL. At this speed and angle of attack, the forward visibility was excellent... I could see all the way down the LZ past the spot cones. I rounded out in ground effect just as I crossed the trail that goes up to the 150' still holding 40 mph. After a couple minor pitch undulations while trying to hold a fixed distance from the ground (man, this thing is the freakin’ Energizer Bunny), I set the rear wheel down in the spot circle and rolled to a stop just out the far side. Before unhooking and climbing out, I filled out the necessary paperwork, and gave myself my ‘Millennium Hang 3’ rating. (No Frank, I didn’t buy this rating... I awarded the rating based purely on the skills I had impressed myself with. Ahhh...the advantages of *true* self regulation. I did however, buy myself lunch a bit later...was this OK?). Let’s fold this thing up and go catch some lift.
Paragliders, when timing it just right, were launching into the cycles and briefly climbing above launch. Soon after they would begin their slow, somewhat up and down descent to the LZ. Three paragliders and one hang glider launched just before me and were slowly sinking, working the ridges and canyons in close. I launched about 400' over their canopies, retracted the gear and flew straight out over them. I held steady through the best lift I would feel all day but was not willing, as a brand new ‘Millennium hang 3’, to circle anywhere near the hill (this falls into the "judgment commensurate with the rating" category). Still, I managed to scratch around and maintain the altitude differential between us as we all tried to hang on. My first pleasant surprise was how effective ‘dolphin’ flying could be in these small, light thermals. The great high speed glide allowed me to move between the areas of lift without losing much. The great energy retention allowed me to turn most of my speed back into altitude when I felt some UP and the great slow speed roll control and soft stall characteristics allowed me to milk what was there. I gradually watched the panties and the hang glider dropping out below me. At no time was I closer than about 500 ft to the hill. After just over 20 minutes had passed, I had managed to scratch my way ‘down’ to just below the 600 ft hill. With the remaining altitude, I played with the boards a bit while hands off on the stick. While the nose would pitch up slightly just after board deployment, I could not induce stall without pulling back on the stick. I was gradually gaining confidence.
On a flex wing, my standard landing approach is executed at around 40mph (last flight's approach speed was not randomly chosen, as you can see). Occasionally, if I need to come down fast, encounter lift, or just want to have fun, I push that up to close to 60 (for the kids at home ...don’t do that in strong turbulence boys and girls).
Once again, planning to land on the wheels, I decided to see what would happen to my glide if I attempted the same sort of ‘high speed’ approach on the Millennium. Knowing I would glide in ground effect even further than last flight, I set up WAY back over the fence and slowly lowered the nose. Keeping a *very* close eye on the included airspeed indicator (can you say ‘VNE’?) I brought the airspeed up to a bit over 60mph and watched the world fly by. At this speed with the boards deployed, the nose of the glider now intruded in on my view of the LZ. I could easily see a very safe distance ahead of me, but could no longer see the ‘spot cone circle’ (I was told that with the boards *in*, the angle of attack at this speed is not nearly so exaggerated and the forward view is still quite good... something important to XC pilots who will see this speed regularly).
I entered ground effect a bit earlier than the time before, but almost dead on 60 mph. I soon realized that while fun, this is not the preferred landing technique if one wants to actually get a hybrid wing on the ground. After a ground effect run that had me nearing the circle with way too much energy, I made a gradual turn to the left up the hill and set the wheels down still zipping along at 40 mph. Once the wheels touched I gave it full forward stick so the elevons would generated some additional drag, shortening my considerable landing roll. Once again, before unhooking, I filled out the necessary paperwork, and this time gave myself my ‘Millennium Hang 4’....Nooooo, just kidding.
Last flight of the day...only a couple gliders at launch...light 90+ cross. We set up anyway and during this process we saw that easier cycles were still blowing through. Donn launched first with the instructions to head the Formula 144 straight out toward the Bay at best L/D. I launched a couple minutes later intent on catching him. Side by side glide comparisons between this glider and a flex wing are basically useless. The speed at which the hybrid wing Millennium achieves best L/D is almost 50% higher than an ordinary hang glider (35+ to 25?) and ‘side by side’ won’t last for long. We felt it better to have him leave first, and once I caught up with him, we would compare altitudes. As I flew out at +/- 35mph Donn continued to sink in my field of view. I was tempted to get on the radio and say "Donn, buddy...get out of there, you're in big time sink." I’m not sure however, that I would have liked his response. When I caught him, well past the landing zone, I had lost 500ft, and he had lost 1000ft. I will go out on the proverbial ‘performance limb’, and say that our *extremely* scientific study (not) proves that a Millennium gets a better glide than a Formula 144. Of course Donn will try to say that it proves nothing...he was in sink, I was in lift.
I had 1000ft to play with and some new things to learn. I intended to land on my feet for the first time since the training hill. As I had never made the transition from flying position to ‘landing gear down’ position, I executed one full cycle...gear down, gear up. I then tried the same thing with the boards out just to make sure there were no surprises. Dropping the gear for the final time, I practiced slow turns, fast turns, slow flight...all the stuff I would need to safely execute in a few minutes. Having decided to take a more useful approach toward landing speed this time, I set the indicator at 35mph and set off on my box. I was surprised how quickly I came down, comparatively, and my ground effect distance was quite reasonable (more on this later). I landed uneventfully on my feet before reaching the tear down area with only minor pitch undulations as I kept testing the glider's energy for flare timing data (who needs those stinkin’ wheels anyway?). What a day!! Co-designer Steve Morris walked over, shook my hand and said "Congratulations, you have now transitioned from a flex wing to the Millennium."
Random Ramblings:
Setup:
My fingernails are sooo sore this morning from safety rings (why did I have to cut my fingernails on Friday?). I have nothing against safety rings as such, in fact, I love their security. I do *hate* them however, when used where we pilots have to screw with them. I have *one* on my flex wing, and that’s one too many (lucky Will Wings devils). There are a total of 7 rings on the Millennium in its basic configuration, two more depending on the landing gear configuration. Nine may not seem to be that many, but think about how long you spend on the one or two control frame junctions on your glider and you will see my point. Everything else during setup is so darn easy that I am convinced Bright Star will cut the setup time in half (not including preflight) if and when this issue is dealt with. I do know that to put so much performance in this package the design team has had to be *very* weight conscious, and safety rings are pretty darn light. As it is, you will just have to settle for an extremely high performance package that sets up as fast as a Falcon (oh darn).
Two of the three flights, I grabbed the bagged Millennium, threw it onto my shoulder and carried it over the fence via the steps to the car. While a bit heavier than my usual glider, it didn’t feel any heavier than my buddies Magic IV 177 Full Race and no one who saw it would have said I was struggling.
Launching:
From the moment you say "Clear", this is the easiest launching hang glider I’ve ever been in. If you pop the nose on this glider, you need some *real* help. It produces so little drag that it just coasts off the hill above you.
While standing on launch, I did notice a couple new things. If I let the glider plane out in the breeze by dropping the nose just a bit, it, in a disconcerting manner, wanted to suck me off the hill. If I raised the nose enough that this stopped, I lost some of my roll control. I haven’t talked to the design team about this yet, but I’m guessing that perhaps by deploying the tiplets and thereby increasing the drag a bit, this "I wanna fly and I wanna fly now" behavior might dissipate. This behavior was never so bad that I wanted to ask for assistance, but neither is this a launch known for suck. Are there any Exxtacy or SWIFT pilots out there who can tell us if this is typical behavior for these high performance wings?
Flight:
With my limited flight time, I can’t say much other than "no ugly surprises...only good ones." I did find myself laughing out loud at one point as I circled in zero sink. What tickled my funny bone was the way the wing controlled and balanced in the turn. If I wanted 10 degrees more bank, I just ‘blipped’ the stick to the left for a second and then returned it to center. For these small corrections, there was little of the usual lag and more than the usual precision that I see in my flex wing. It seemed to circle on rails. I found myself blipping the stick back and forth, watching the horizon tilt one way and then the other just for my own amusement. I kept looking for the button that would turn on my HUD...where is that ‘missile fire’ trigger? When I focused on infinity and looked only straight ahead, I couldn’t help but pretend I was in a flight simulator (geeez...and everyone else goes to Magic Edge, pays $25, sits in the hydraulic/computer simulators and pretends they are flying for real). Am I twisted or what?
One of the pleasant surprises was the increase in control feedback as speeds builds. As the aerodynamic pressures increase on the carbon fiber/foam laminate control surfaces, you get more feedback (read resistance) than when standing on launch. This had the desirable effect of lessening control sensitivity as speeds increased...just the opposite of my flex wing.
Vision:
Common sense tells us that sitting under a wing and flying face up will reduce visibility compared to a hang glider. Common sense would be right. We are not however, really flying ‘face up’, more face forward (remember the chase lounge), nor are we completely under the wing...our head is behind the trailing edge. It did take a few minutes to get used to where to look for information. For example, like a sailplane, you must fly *beside* the landing zone to check any wind indicators rather than simply *over* the LZ. One thing I enjoyed was the added upward visibility. ] When thermaling, I could see any other aircraft that might be in the thermal...up or down. Kinda cool.
Performance:
..Only 2 things I can say at this point:
- It’s got more than anything you have (except of course for SWIFT owners)
- It’s got more than a Formula 144.
Landing approaches:
Most of my *really* vivid memories of the flights come from the landing approaches. If I were a Millennium instructor this would be one area I would pay a lot of attention too while developing a training program. It will certainly take a flex wing pilot a bit of practice to transition to safe landing approaches in small fields and perhaps it will take some different techniques.
First off, let’s differentiate between landing ‘gear up’ (wheels) and ‘gear down’ (foot landing). I only have the one gear down landing with the boards deployed under my belt, but it seemed to behave a lot like any high performance flex wing. It didn’t however, remind me of any single surface glider I’ve recently flown (7/1)...the goal of the design team.
The big surprise for me came on my wheel landings. I will concede that my second flight (60 mph) was done as an interesting experiment with little practical application in this wing. The first landing however (40 mph) was not *that* far off from the speed a good approach should hold. On that landing, my glide in ground effect was easily twice as long as I have ever had in any flex wing. After a bit of thought and discussion with the guys, several reasons come to mind:
- The higher performing the wing, the greater the percentage of drag coming from an upright pilot. This means that you will notice a greater difference between pilot flying upright and lying down as the wing performance increases.
- The above effect will be more pronounced on a wing with a flying configuration utilized by the Millennium and the SWIFT than in a weight shift wing because when lying in this type of glider, the pilot is *a lot* closer to the wing, reducing the drag of the pilot. I have never completely understood this effect, but have been told for years by HG designers that the higher the pilot hangs, the better the wing/pilot combination performs. Of course in weight shift, we are limited by roll pressures which increase as you shorten the hang strap. (any designers care to comment?)
- If the pilot acts as I did and puts the wheels right down on the deck, the wing is about *twice* as close to the ground as any flex wing can be. A really smooth pilot, could get it even closer. As we know, the closer the wing to the ground, the greater the impact of ground effect. Again, I don’t have the numbers, or the knowledge to do them, but from spot landing contests in my flex wing, I can tell you that even at the distances my hang glider floats from the ground, I can vary my spot landing quite a bit just by moving up or down a couple feet. This wing must get ridiculous performance running that close to the ground.
Even if you are landing on your feet, and like I do, you drag them lightly through the grass, the wing is still significantly closer to the ground than a flex wing since, when upright, the pilot’s head is just below the wing.
What does all this mean to us? It means that even if the design team can improve the ‘high drag mode’ glide to emulate a Falcon with the pilot upright, this thing will still glide a lot further than a Falcon with both pilots in their respective flying positions. I personally don’t see this as a huge problem, as this hybrid wing will not be aimed at the Falcon market. If I can simply land at the same sites I land a Fusion, and I believe I can, I am delighted. It does however, mean that those who intend to land on the wheels should be thinking about some of the following techniques I have been considering:
- Slow down to near stall before deploying the boards. As speed increases, so do the aerodynamic forces on these tiplets (these forces resist deployment). On my third flight, after discussions with Steve, I tried this and we think *perhaps* the reduced forces allowed for further deployment and resulted in increased drag. The Bright Star gang will try to quantify this in the near future.
- Unless you are trying to show off and have the room to do so, round out on your final and hold about 15 ft. altitude until bleeding off much of your speed (I would not try this in a hang glider, or with the gear down in the Millennium as body parts are exposed to damage in low altitude stall). As speed reduces, ease the nose down and let the glider settle in just off the ground. This will reduce the efficiency of the wing and shorten the final glide.
- Read the terrain and wait until really necessary to pick up *final* speed. Let’s suppose by looking at the landing zone, due to a line of upwind trees, you could expect a gradient at around 50ft. You decide you want an approach speed of 35mph to counter this gradient. Until you get to around 100ft. (I’m guessing here), you could execute your approach at something closer to 25 and thus carry less energy onto final. Once you get to 100ft, drop the nose and by the time the glider sees the gradient, you will have enough extra speed to counter it. Same level of safety, less landing zone required (this maneuver is for experienced pilots only and works equally well for hang gliders).
- I am convinced from my limited experience that in appropriate situations a pilot can go upright on final, creating handy drag, and then late on final, before rounding out, pull up the gear and scoot in on the wheels.
The above ideas are not necessarily endorsed by Bright Star. As I mentioned, the first one was suggested by Steve. Brian Porter said that number 3 is his standard approach method for the SWIFT. The rest are just common sense but require the application of sound risk management principles for safety and success.
The design team is still working on the glide path reduction problem (and what a problem to have), and they feel confident that they can improve in this area. I will keep you posted on the results.
Soooo...I *really* want to fly an Exxtacy now. It will be interesting to experience the learning curve on both these great gliders. I will also be interested in what characteristics are native to the high performance nature of these wings and what characteristics are only native to each design. I believe the portability and performance of hybrid wings are here to stay.
Many thanks to Steve [Morris], Brian [Robbins] and Brian [Porter] of Bright Star Gliders for sharing their 'baby' with me for the day, asking and *listening* to my input and encouraging me to write what I feel.
JB
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 1997 09:44:41 -0800
From: (Don Burns(SGI))
To: hang-gliding@lists.utah.edu ... and several others
Subj: Re: Millennium Airtime
... SNIP from a post by John Borton ....
> Second flight...limited soaring (don't we all love Ed > Levin). Managed to scratch out almost 25 minutes > even though I was unwilling (make that VERY unwilling) > to get even remotely near the hill. Decided to have even > *more* ground effect fun...rounded out into ground effect > at just a hair over 60 mph (more on this later). We'll > just say that after a longer ground effect run than ANY > flexwing will EVER have at that park, I needed to get > rid of some energy so I set it down on the wheels...at > 40 mph. (perhaps Don Burns will share his impressions > after watching that landing)Be glad to!
Just after paying the now-up-to-$4 entrance fee and pulling into the park, My Favorite Student now-become-HII-with-topa-da-hill-checkoffs noticed a glider with funny looking tips flying up over the 600. Identifying this as a possible Millenium sighting I ignored her pleas to first stop at the restroom and raced to get a fence-side view of the landing. I later found out that this was not A Millenium, this was THE Millenium.
I once saw a sail plane land at Ed Levin during a Silent Airshow (remember those back in the the good ole days?) and what I observed of the Millenium reminded me much more of that sailplane landing than any hang-glider landing I've seen there. John did a nice conservative approach, with final just clearing the fence near the walk-over, stayed 6 feet off the ground from there all the way to the target, set down once on the back wheel, lifted again for a couple dozen more feet, then set her down for a nice easy roll out, up the flag hill!
I was very impressed at the speed at which the Millenium flew by. But I remained concerned that this actually was more of a sailplane than a hang-glider, making Ed Levin a tight landing area! My fears were dispelled, however as I got to witness John's third landing later that day, in which he chose to land feet down. Other than a bit of a premature flare followed by a bit of a run out, the glider landed like a high performance flex wing that had taken a couple of extra energy pills.
On an aside My Favorite Hang II got a most excellent flight off of the 1700, handled the mild turbulence just fine, embarassed me by skying out above me and added another notch to her belt. I'm proud.
Date: Wed, 29 Oct 1997 08:32:25 -0500 (EST)
From: John Borton
To: hang-gliding@lists.utah.edu ... and others
Subject: Hybrid wing landings
I have seen several Millennium related design ideas over the last few days. Here are my thoughts on them:
1. Gary suggested a brake on the front wheel. I should have said in my post that I was flying the glider in sort of the "trainer" mode. The SWIFT came with a wheel in back and a simple skid in front. With the rear wheel down, you simple held the nose up at a high AOA until speeds reduced, and then dropped the skid onto the ground (can you say "brakes"?). I think once one gets a feel for the Millennium this will be the best (and lightest) option. It is nice to know that with the Millennium, one can, with ease, choose the landing gear configuration based on any number of factors.
2. Someone suggested a drogue chute to reduce landing area. One suggested a chute attached to the nose to help with the flare. Addressing the second one first...I'm quite sure I don't want something connected to the nose of my glider that could deploy and turn me 'nose up' while in the air. The deployable tiplets are in essence just that, but are self contained and integrated in such a way as to not induce any bad behavior. When in a SWIFT with a full fairing the Europeans have take to using a drogue chute to allow for shorter landings, but that is a 25/1 configuration. I'm going to give the Bright Star guys a bit more time before I say I want to deal with the complexity/safety issues of a drogue chute. I have thought about, for those that plan to wheel land, a special flight suit with velcro down the inside of one leg, and a piece of cloth sewn on the other leg and wrapped around that leg and secured before launch. Anytime after launch, reach down and unwrap the cloth and velcro it to the other leg. You would go gear down on your approach, control this 'drogue chute' by the width you hold your legs apart (sort of what some skydivers have), then retract the gear before landing on the wheels. I don't think you could take any steps in this suit so foot landing would be out...but who knows?
3. We are spending a lot of time focusing on wheel landing the Millennium. I know, I know, I sort of got that started, but I intend to foot land this sucker. I enjoy it too much to use the silly wheels. If I can't learn to do it well, I'm not going to have one of these gliders. The team has spent a lot of time on this area, and I am going to take advantage of it.
I have about 7 foot landings on this glider. Only one with the boards out. One landing clearly is not enough information to base decisions on, but just like the Bright Star guys said, I did have more flare authority with these tiplets deployed. The focus of their current efforts is to gain more drag from these areas and the results will be twofold positive...shorter landings, and more flare authority. Also, I didn't even think to use the "move your weight back before flaring" technique described in my first report. Even so I had a pretty darn good landing.
Give me just a bit more tiplet drag, time enough on the glider to know when to yank back on the stick, and a little rear weight bias and I think I will be setting this glider down better than most guys land the Laminars.
JB
Date: Thu, 30 Oct 1997 08:14:20 -0500 (EST)
From: CondorClub@aol.com
To: hang-gliding@lists.utah.edu ... and others
Subject: Millennium hang cage details
Folks off the list have been asking me for specifics regarding the hang cage portion of the Millennium. Some sharpies have noticed from web photos that the seating/launching apparatus is a bit different from the SWIFT which had similar flying/launching positions. I will try from memory to describe the entire system. When I give measurements, they will be estimates. If I am way off, hopefully someone from Bright Star will correct me.
When folded down (or up when first unzipping the glider) the bottom portion of the hang cage is a simple rectangle perhaps 5' x 18". The long sides are made up of two lengths of approximately 3" steel tubing. These make up the main 'hang tubes' that are under your armpits when launching. The front end of these tubes are connected by a smaller tube bent down into a footrest. At the rear is a simple piece of straight tube. Also at the front and rear are receptacles for the various landing gear options, and at the rear only, are connection point for headrest/backrest/parachute.
The cage is supported about 3' down from the internal structure of the glider by four pivoting steel tubes, two per side. Imagine a parallelogram and you will understand how the cage folds up and down. It is held in position by two cables running diagonally. These two cables released by pip pins are the only things one has to remove to fold the cage into the transportation position.
The side stick controller is mounted at a convenient locations on the right side hang tube. The mixing mechanism is contained completely inside this tube. Only the stick protrudes. The control cables are neatly routed forward through the tube and, pulleyed at the parallelogram pivots, follow one of the cage supports up into the wing. This routing means that there are no cables to disconnect to collapse the cage for transportation. Mounted on the top of the cage is the cleat holding the tiplet deployment cord.
Now we come to the most creative item. I'm not sure if Bright Star thought of this, or copied it, but it is creative none the less:
Many know that the SWIFT utilized a 'web' seat that for launching, lengthened by unrolling off of a spring loaded ratcheting capstan. Once in the air, the pilot placed his/her feet on the footrest, raising the lower portion of the body up in to the cage and this seat 'followed' them up. The Millennium utilizes a much lighter and simpler system but one that seems to work quite well. I have not flown a SWIFT, but my guess is that the new system is an improvement in not only weight and simplicity, but also in use as one never has to release a ratchet.
Let's get back to the simple rectangle hang cage. Two triangle shaped pieces of padded sling material are placed inside the rectangle. The top triangle is fastened solid on the left edge corners and the right rear corner is allowed to slide on a loop wrapped around the rear tube. There is a bungie pulling this corner to the right. The lower triangle mirrors the top one.
Exhibit A ..top view of cage (if this ascii art posts correctly)
| |=\ / =| | | | \=====/ | | | | | | | |\\ //| | | |\\\ ///| | | |\\\\ ////| | | |\\\\\\ //////| | | |\\\\\\\ ///////| | | |\\\\\\\\ /////////| | | |\\\\\\\\\\//////////| | | |\\\\\\\\\\\/////////| | | |\\\\\\\\\\\\////////| | | |\\\\\\\\\\\\\\//////| | | |\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/////| | | |\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\////| | | |\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\//| | | |\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/| | | |==========| |When launching, the looped and bungied corners of these triangles slide to their respective sides leaving the middle area entirely open. Once the pilot pulls his/her body up into the cage, the bungies pull the slings across underneath creatinga comfortable seat. To drop the gear, simply drop one leg down and these slings spread apart allowing the lower body to drop through.
I would guess that it would be quite simple to customize the area behind the pilot, around the headrest/backrest...an air bladder perhaps. Pretty comfy. Hmmm...how about a rear view mirror, landing lights, turn signals.
JB