Landing

Landing a speedwing is very similar to landing a paraglider, and best practices remain mostly the same.

1. Assess wind direction
2. Spot air traffic
3. Approach landing
4. Land into wind

Start by assessing the wind direction, as your landing approach will depend on this. There are various indicators for wind direction:

• Other gliders landing before you
• Wind socks
• Flags
• Waves on water
• Your drift as you glide

During your landing approach, spot air traffic around the landing area.

Learning to land precisely will give you access to terrain that you could otherwise not fly if you depend on large flat landing fields. You will also feel much more confident and relaxed each flight, as you will not be thinking about landing until your approach. This frees significant mental space for flying safely, smoothly, and creatively.

Swooping

Swooping is the practice of taking maximum speed for your landing flare. This is a rewarding practice, as it is hard to be consistently optimal. I do not recommend this practice for newer pilots. You should be very comfortable with landing, and be able to consistently land precisely. Swooping is an advanced practice that increases the demand for good piloting. I have seen failed swoops end catastrophically. Swooping poses some significant risks:

• Danger of being "heavy in the corner", too low
• Danger of overshooting the landing
• Danger of colliding with other gliders
• Danger of hitting people or objects in the landing

To mitigate these risks, it is crucial to progress slowly and avoid some practices altogether. I suggest that you never rotate quickly, as this makes it difficult to judge your final approach, and does not increase the amount of energy that you develop. Rather, I recommend rotating slowly, just enough to keep the glider in a steep dive. I also recommend carving a turn, as this allows you to moderate the path and radius, rather than trying to calculate a straight dive.

Never over-estimate your height, be conservative. That is to say, if you lack the height for a 270, don't do a fast 270, but opt for a "bang-bang", two hard turns. Energy is proportional to vertical speed, not angle of rotation.

Flaring

Flaring is the final stage of your landing, converting speed into lift until you reach your stall point. All methods of control input can be used for flaring, however, I recommend that newer pilots land only on brakes. Landing on rears or bridge demands a better awareness of stall point, as stalls come with less warning as when piloting on brakes.

If you wish to land on rears or bridge, you should still finish your flare on brakes. Brakes are much more effective at reducing forward speed, and your stall speed is lower. I suggest that you switch to brakes while you still have some flare power, as the brakes become less effective towards your stall point. At first, try this only in ideal landing areas with short and level grass.