Top landing
A top landing in paragliding and hang-gliding is a landing on a hill from which you can take off. As a rule, the term means a landing in the immediate vicinity of the previous slope take-off .
Paragliders and hang gliders usually do not have their own drive. That is why gliding in calm air is inevitably associated with loss of altitude. The pilot can therefore only attempt a top landing if he succeeds in gaining sufficient altitude through thermal or dynamic updrafts. In many flight areas, top landings are more demanding than landings in the valley: this is due to the often smaller and more uneven surfaces on the one hand and turbulent air currents that make the approach difficult on the other . In addition, pilots who are taking off or waiting at the same time can hinder the top landing.
Some launch sites are difficult to reach: on foot or only with your own vehicle, which then remains at the launch site after the start. Other airfields do not even have a landing place in the valley, e.g. B. on cliffs. In these cases, a top landing is recommended. Often, however, the top landing is just for fun or sporting ambition.
A top landing that goes seamlessly into a take-off without the pilot setting his aircraft down on the ground is also known as touch-and-go .
Web links
- Article of the DHV , accessed on August 6, 2015
Individual evidence
- ↑ Carsten Peter, Toni Schlager: "Paragliding - From Beginners to Professionals", Bruckmann, Munich 2003