Airchair Video Clips and Photo Gallery

By Mike Sandlin

Last Update: August 16, 2011 (Yando Goat video) 

This page presents a selection of video clips and photos related to airchair flying. The video and photo productions made by me and referenced here are freely available for reproduction, publication, or whatever purposes the user may deem fit.

The following video clips were not made by me, but thanks to others they can be viewed online.

From Australia, August 2011, a delux version of the Goat making it's first line tows:

10. HG&P in San Diego....Here's a link to a musical video production (until it was silenced for copyright reasons) showing me in Goat4 launching at Horse Canyon, San Diego, California. I'm only in the very beginning, but watch it all, it's good, especially the tracking graphics.

11. Bug2 and Goat1 at Torrey Pines..... The first clip is Floyd Fronius in Bug2 launching and landing at Torrey Pines, San Diego, California, back around late 2003. Good shots of cliff launching in both strong wind (almost straight up) and light wind (a longer ground roll followed by a shallow dive). One landing shows an extended ground roll, the next shows use of the skid for stopping short.

The second clip is Floyd in Goat1, an ordinary cliff take off and a landing back on top.

12. SG-38 Primary Glider video clips on the Web..... There are several of these video clips which show open air bungee launches, towed launches, landings, etc., all of which are good lessons for air chair flying. The SG-38 itself is about 100 pounds overweight for an airchair, and probably doesn't soar very well, but it is historically the glider produced in the greatest numbers (thousands in the 30's and 40's), and apparently it is still legal to fly in Europe.

12.1 Car tows in Sweden: Overall this is a good view of what simple car tows are like, including the steep nose up climb and the casual glide down. There seems to be no lift, although the second pilot does some continuous turns as if he were thermalling. Also, the second pilot flies slower than the first, as you can see by the higher position of his head relative to the horizon. The lift offs from the ground seem to be very gradual and cautious, or maybe just the use of a skid instead of a wheel calls for special treatment. When the first pilot gets back on the ground and gets off the seat, there is some lift and fall of the glider that makes the skid look quite springy, it's not looking as stiff as I expected. Ground handling without a wheel is kind of a mystery: they appear to be dragging the glider with the pilot sitting in it using a short rope from a car.

12.2 Bungee launch in Germany: here we see the traditional bungee launch, a human powered start used for a short training flight on flat ground or from a shallow slope. A long sheet of plastic has been placed under the glider, to reduce the skid friction during take off, I suppose. A stick of gum is offered but the pilot refuses it, which is correct, since gum in the mouth can cause choking in the event of an accident.

The pilot swashes around the control sick and rudders, a good practice to confirm fee motion, and he looks to each side at the aileron action, but he does not look back at the tail. There are people standing back there who might get their fingers squeezed by sudden rudder or elevator use, so he should clear the tail before that control check.

This pilot evidently has a sailplane background, since he is not wearing a helmet. I would at least wear eye protection, since there are flying bugs, even in Germany. He should do as our governor here in California does and go looking for a cool pair of sunglasses.

The hookup seems to be under a little tension, using a big heavy ring, presumably onto a fixed hook attached to the airframe, so the ring will fall away when tension is lost and does not require any release action from the pilot (a good system which reduces the burden on the novice pilots).

They are using the "cast of thousands" system, two teams to pull and a third team to hold back the tail. Maybe this is the old tradition, instead of using a tail anchor. During the launch the pilot is gripping the edge of his seat with one hand, a good idea to keep the unused arm in place. When I do an open air take off in the Goat, my left hand tends to wind up on the control stick or just floating in space unless I grab a belt or something.

There is no ground handling shown, so how do they move that glider without a wheel? I don't see a dolly.

12.3 Another bungee launch: in this one they use a ground anchor and release mechanism, rather than a team of helpers, to hold the glider back until high bungee tension is reached.

This primary glider, a predecesor to the SG-38, has a faired cockpit and wing struts (notice the cables crossing between the struts for shear bracing). I like the struts, an advanced version of the Goat might look like this.

 www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lm6-ox32tHQ...........(70 seconds)