Aerobatic Tricks
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DISCLAIMER:
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The explanations of the tricks I describe below are my perception of how to do these tricks. I could be wrong! I take absolutely no responsibility whatsoever if anything goes wrong if you try these tricks. If you do want to try it, only try when you have at least 500 meters over water! Also make sure there's a boat ready to get you out of the water when shit hits the fan. Don't try these maneuvers for the first time over land, ever. Also, never do these tricks without supervision of someone who controls the maneuvers you're going to try. Have radio contact, etc. etc. In short: be responsible! But DO have FUN!
Trick list (from pretty simple to damn hard):
Synchro trick list:
Official documents
2005
The official 2005 FAI rules, regulations and calendar regarding the aerobatic competitions can be downloaded here:
Competition rules (complete doc)
Official Manoeuvres 2005
Release of liability waiver
Glider Manufacturer Authorization form (same as 2004)
Scoring Example (same as 2004)
Proposal for new manouvre
2004
The official 2004 FAI rules, regulations and calendar regarding the aerobatic competitions can be downloaded here:
Calendar 2004
Official Manoeuvres 2004
Competition rules
Release of liability waiver
Glider Manufacturer Authorization form
Scoring Example
2003
Official FAI Aerobatic Competition rules: HTML / PDF
Official FAI Scoring Points: HTML
World Aerobatic Pilot Ranking
World Aerobatic Pilot Ranking 2003: WAPR 2003
World Aerobatic Pilot Ranking 2004: WAPR 2004
Shrimp / Horseshoe
Description
The glider looks like a horseshoe or shrimp when performing this trick, hence the name. When you (the pilot) look up at your glider, the glider has an U shape. The wingtips point forward.
Lead in
Look up at the leading edge of your glider. Look at the middle cells, and follow the inner most A lines to your A riser. Let go of the brakes and grab both inner most A lines as high as you can. Pull down smoothly. A couple of inner cells will now collapse, and both wingtips will move forward and come together. Stop pulling down the A lines as soon as both wingtips are in front and together.
Lead out
Let go of the middle A lines. If the glider doesn't recover automatically when you release the middle A lines, gently pull both brakes at the same time.
Danger!
When pulling the middle A lines down too fast, the wingtips might come together so fast that they get entangled in each other. I've never experienced this, nor have I ever seen it happen, but I can imagine it CAN happen. So be careful and don't yank those lines when you lead this trick in. Anyway, if it does happen, full stall the glider to get a normal glider back again.
Video
I don't have footage of this maneuver yet.
Full Stall
Description
I call this maneuver CTRL-ALT-DEL or reset. There are two buttons at the bottom of your harness, and you have to push them simultaneously to reset your glider. Whenever your glider is cravatted, and you can't get it out by picking some lines or collapsing half the wing, you use a full stall to solve the problem (but of course only if you have enough height). Sometimes a glider keeps flying great with a cravat, so if you can land it there's no need to full stall.
Lead in
First, make sure you are sitting straight up in your harness. Put your legs under your harness and try to keep them there during the maneuver. Ready? Pull down both brakes evenly. Either pull down both brakes fast until your arms are stretched and locked under your harness,
-or-
pull down the brakes to near stall point (slow down your glider) and then pull down the brakes until your arms are stretched. Now the glider collapses and starts to look like your grandmothers underwear. Don't panic; be sure to keep your arms locked and brakes down at all time. Once in full stall, keep it in full stall! Yeehaaa!
Lead out
In full stall, look at your glider. When you are not swinging anymore, and the glider is a little bit in front of you, release the brakes up to 30% brake. Control the glider, and release brakes entirely. Now control the surge (but don't brake too much, let it fly, it needs to pick up speed, just don't let it dive too far, 45 degrees is okay!).
It's best to keep the full stall in a couple of seconds until you are not swinging anymore, but there's also a faster way: Most gliders are in front of you for a small period of time when you just entered a full stall. If you immediately follow the lead out procedure during this small period, you can lead out a full stall within split seconds after leading it in. The big advantage is of course less height loss in this maneuver.
Danger!
When entering a full stall, you will swing forward because of your momentum. The glider brakes faster then you can, so at the beginning of the full stall maneuver, the glider will be behind you. NEVER EVER RELEASE THE BRAKES WHEN THE GLIDER IS BEHIND YOU! Imagine what will happen then: you release the brakes, the glider starts to fly again and wants to pick up speed. The glider surges forward and at the mean time, you swing back under the glider. Because the glider is already surging and you now have backwards momentum, the glider will be somewhere below you, and you will swing backwards over the glider. At some point there will be a balance in surging and swinging energy and you will fall down, maybe even IN your glider. They call this a gift-wrap, but I'll assure you, it's not a nice present to send home to your mother.
Sometimes, it can be pretty difficult to keep your arms locked down, and it might happen that one hand comes up. When this happens, immediately pull down that hand again. If you don't get that hand down fast enough, the glider probably spinned real fast and now you are twisted a couple of times. Lead out the full stall as fast as you can, and see if the glider starts flying. If it's going into a spiral, immediately throw your reserve! If it's flying straight, "cycle" out the twist by moving your legs or grabbing the risers above the twist and pushing them out. If it doesn't fly at all, or spins real fast, you are probably twisted more than two times, and the brakes are stuck so you keep full stalling. So now what? Throw your reserve!!!
By the way, did you read the disclaimer at the top of this page?
Video
I don't have footage of this maneuver yet.
But I do have footage about what happens if you let go of the brakes when the glider is still behind you: Bad Stall
Spin
Description
Spinning a glider is also called "going negative". The glider turns really fast, but isn't following a normal flight path anymore. The air flow on one side of the glider let's go, and the other side keeps flying. It's a little bit like steering a tank by braking the right belt drive.
Lead in
Sit up straight in your harness. Put your legs under your harness, push your knees to the sides of your harness, and be ready to turn with your glider. If you are going to spin to the right, grab the left riser and yank the right brake down as far as you can. If you are going to spin to the left, reverse left & right.
Lead out
You can do 45 degree spins, or 90, or 180, 270, 360 etc. As soon as the glider turned as far as you wanted let go of the brake, and control the surge. But again, don't overdo it, the glider needs to pick up speed so let it fly. 45 degrees dive is okay, when it surges further than that, brake the glider.
Danger!
If you don't turn with your glider fast enough, you end up twisted. If this happens, immediately lead out the spin and get the twist out (read the dangers section of the full stall maneuver). The whole point of not getting twisted is to sit up straight and make yourself as small as possible. For instance, if you keep your legs straight forward (like in supine harnesses), your rotation speed is much lower. The chance of twisting is then of course much bigger because your glider turns faster than you can turn. Another trick is to open your waist strap as far as possible; the bigger the distance between the risers, the less chance of twisting.
Video
I don't have footage of this maneuver yet.
Backward Flight / Tail Slide
Description
During this maneuver the glider appears to be flying backwards for a small period of time.
Lead in
From normal flight, search for stall point. Stabilize and pull just a little more brake. Now the glider will fly backwards.
Lead out
Just release the brakes and control the surge.
Danger!
There a big danger you'll be braking the glider over the stall point. If you do that, you'll end up doing a full stall. Read about the dangers at that section! Also the surge forward can be very strong, depending on the glider.
Video
I don't have footage of this maneuver yet.
SAT
Description
The SAT was invented by the Safety Acro Team (SAT), hence the name. Other names are the "Satellite" or "La Maniobra". During the maneuver the pilot turns negative (backwards) and the glider turns positive (forwards). The center of rotation is in the middle of the pilot and the glider. The SAT has a lot of variations: normal SAT, 1-handed SAT, asymmetric SAT, rhythmic SAT, tumbling, Cow SAT (don't ask...).
Lead in
This description assumes a SAT turning to the right, for a left SAT reverse right and left in the text.
Enter a spiral dive making a right turn. Just before the glider accelerates into a spiral dive, weight shift extremely to the right (push yourself to the right by grabbing and pushing out the left riser with your left hand) and brake the right real hard (I take 1.5 wraps, so I don't have to pull the brake back that far). Now the glider changes position: the gliders position is vertical with respect to the horizon.
Once you are in SAT, you don't need to push the left riser anymore, so you can use that hand for other things like waving at some nice girls on the ground maybe... This is called 1-handed SAT.
Lead out
Center yourself and let go of the right brake at the same time. Now lean a little bit to the left to prevent the glider entering into a spiral dive and bleed out the turn (by turning 360 degrees more). To prevent a small collapse on the lower wing tip, left brake a little bit during lead out. All brake inputs should be short but strong impulses.
Danger!
In SAT, two dangers exist during lead in:
- Lead in too soon
The glider doesn't have enough speed to enter SAT yet, but you are braking right pretty hard to get into SAT. The glider will spin instead of entering SAT. First learn how to lead out spins before trying this maneuver.
-Lead in too late
The glider has too much speed to enter SAT, and will enter a very fast nose down spiral instead because you are pulling the right break real hard. First learn how to lead out nose down spirals before trying this maneuver.
The glider might enter a nose down spiral when you keep weight shifting to the right when you lead out the SAT. So don't do that. Please be aware that a nose down spiral is a very strong and stable spiral. This spiral won’t come out if the pilot isn’t doing anything to get it out!
As you can see from the above dangers, timing is very important when entering SAT. You might not succeed the first time you try the SAT, but once you've done it successfully, it's easy the next time.
Video
Wing Over
Description
The wing-over is probably the most difficult maneuver, and for sure the basis for all aerobatic maneuvers. Before you even consider trying any of the other tricks listed on this page, be sure to completely master wing-overs and loops (inversions) from wing-overs. The wing-over is called wing-over, because the pilot turns over the wing.
Lead in
Start a wing-over by making a progressive (fast) turn to the right. Just as the wing starts to turn, release the right brake, weight shift to the left and brake left to make a progressive turn to the left. The wing will now roll to the other side and you will swing up. When you are at the highest point, release the brake, weight shift to the right, brake the right, and repeat the same sequence over and over again (of course switching left and right). The most important thing doing good wing-overs is timing, weight shifting and completing the turn. Good wing-overs are stationary over ground. By this I mean you don't move forward over the ground while doing the wing-overs. The top-view of a wing-over figure is not a series of S figures linked together, it is one 8 figure.
Also, good wing-overs don't require braking the glider at all at when you are at the highest point (the "dead" point actually shouldn't be a dead point!). The wing doesn't need any correction during the entire maneuver when timing is right. Actually, good wing-overs don't need a lot of brake input at all. When I do wing-overs, I hardly use the breaks, but I do use massive amounts of weight shift to get the energy I need.
You can keep practicing and perfectioning wing-overs until you can do a couple of chained loops/inversions from wing-overs. As your wing-overs get higher and higher and you get more confident in doing them, you'll be doing loops without any extra effort.
Lead out
You can't just stop wing-overs. You have to bleed them out to gradually loose the energy contained in the wing and your body. You can either do this by doing wing-overs with less weight shift and brake input and gradually stop doing wing-overs, or by bleeding out in a couple of 360 degree turns. I always choose the latter, but if you're not confident with spiral dives, choose the first option.
Danger!
When the timing is off, you can get collapses on the upper wingtip as well as the lower one. I've seen cravatted wings spiraling down after doing off-timed wing-overs, so be careful and build up your wing-over height gradually. First, get the timing right in small wing-overs. When you feel confident, use more weight shift and brake input to build up your wing-overs. Keep practicing!
Video
Asymmetric Spiral
Description
The asymmetric spiral is a spiral on its side. It's actually the same as a wing-over to one side. So instead of switching left and right turns, you only do turns to one side.
Lead in
This description assumes an asymmetric spiral turning to the right, for a left asymmetric spiral reverse right and left in the text.
The easiest way to lead-in an asymmetric spiral is by first doing wing-overs. Build them up to a reasonable height and then just as you would turn the wing-over to the left (when coming out the right-turned wing-over), you turn again to the right. The moment you weight shift is just before you are at the lowest point (straight under your glider), and you add brake (lots of it!) at the moment you are straight under your glider. You will now swing up making a very fast turn. Keep the glider turning for 180 degrees, then release brakes and weight shift to the left to get a straight dive. Just before the lowest point weight shift to the right. At the lowest point add full brake to the right and repeating this sequence.
Lead out
Bleed out in a couple of 360 degree turns.
Danger!
Of course, all the dangers of the wing-overs when leading it in, and a collapsing/cravatted wing when the timing is off. With asymmetric spirals the timing is just as important as with wing-overs. When the timing is off, all sorts of nasty things can happen.
Video
I don't have footage of this maneuver yet (well actually, you can see a pretty bad timed asymmetric spiral at the end of the "SAT (on a UP Trango)" movie above).
Ground Spiral
Description
The ground spiral (also called death spiral) is a normal spiral that you lead out just before hitting the ground really hard. If you control normal spirals very good, then this maneuver isn't really difficult. You just need iron balls, and you can NOT make a single mistake.
Lead in
I strongly advise you not to do this trick at all. If you do it, do it over water. This trick is also called DEATH spiral: FOR A REASON!!!
Start spiralling at around 50 meters above the ground. Don't spiral too fast, just enough to get you a little bit higher than the inner wingtip.
Now spiral down to the ground.
Lead out
When you're about to hit the ground in 3 seconds, lead out the spiral in one or two 360 degree turns. You will now hover over the ground, and the
glider will finally climb so you can land safely.
Danger!
DEATH! If you forget to lead out, or you spiral too fast, you will most certainly die with incredible pain, even if doing this over water!
Remember in paragliding: height = safety. Ground = death. It's as simple as that/death.
Before trying this maneuver, print out the disclaimer above and put it in your pocket. Don't say I didn't warn you!
Video
Looping / Inversion
Description
When you do a looping (or inversion, same thing), you swing over the length of the glider (you roll over). It is the logical extension of a wing-over.
Lead in
Massive wing-overs lead to inversions if you keep increasing the energy gradually with every wing-over. You need massive amounts of weight shift to get to loops. It's not a matter of moving your leg over the other; it's a matter of trying to roll out of your harness and sitting entirely on one side of your ass. Another way of leading in an inversion or a chain of inversions is by simply reversing the direction of the asymmetric spiral. When the asymmetric spiral feels right, is really high and you are feeling confident, just pretend you were doing wing-overs and reverse the turn direction. Yeeehaaa!
Lead out
As long as you have enough energy, you can keep reversing the turn direction and do loops. From wing-overs I've done 4 or 5 chained inversions, from asymmetric spirals I only dare one inversion. When the energy to do another loop is gone, bleed out the remaining energy by doing a couple of 360 degree turns.
Danger!
The greatest danger is doing an (or another) inversion when you don't have enough energy to do (another) one. The energy will be drained when you are somewhere over your glider, the rotation stops, you fall down, and again we can send a gift to your mother (see full stall dangers). Be very confident about your wing-overs or asymmetric spirals before attempting an inversion.
Video
Dynamic Full Stall
Description
A dynamic full stall is performing a full stall when the glider is far behind the pilot.
Lead in
Enter a spiral dive. Exit the spiral dive without bleeding the energy out in a couple of 360 degree turns. Actually you can use any method suitable to gain energy. The glider will now climb extremely, and the glider is behind the pilot. Be sure to stabilize the glider so the climb is absolutely symmetric. Just before reaching the highest point, full stall the glider. Keep it in full stall until you swing back under the glider.
Lead out
...read on from lead in...
Because of your momentum, you will swing under and then behind the glider, so the glider will be in front of you. Release the full stall at the moment you are furthest behind the glider. Of course, you can also keep the full stall in until the pendulum is gone, but with a dynamic full stall that will take a lot of time (so you need a lot of height when doing that).
Danger!
All the dangers of full stall, multiplied by 10. It will be a lot harder to keep your arms locked because you fall down, and you will have to absorb the shock of your body weight on the glider. Also a strong symmetric front stall or asymmetric forward surge is likely when leading out the dynamic full stall.
Video
I don't have footage of this maneuver yet.
Asymmetric (Dynamic) SAT
Description
The asymmetric SAT is a SAT on its side. The pilot turns sideways over the glider. Another name for asymmetric SAT is dynamic SAT.
Lead in
Enter asymmetric spiral. When the asymmetric spiral feels good, enter SAT at the same moment you would turn again to make another asymmetric spiral turn. Read the SAT "Lead in" section.
Lead out
Same as the SAT lead-out section.
Danger!
Same as the SAT and asymmetric spiral dangers. Very likely to get big cravattes when leading out this maneuver.
Video
I don't have footage of this maneuver yet.
Helicopter
Description
The helicopter is nothing more than a controlled flat spin (spinning the glider at stall point, very low speed). The wing rotates along the center of the glider while the pilot is straight below the glider. During the maneuver the glider acts like a helicopter, hence the name. The vertical speed is very low, usually somewhere between -1.3 and -2.0.
Lead in
This description assumes a helicopter turning to the right, for a left helicopter reverse right and left in the text.
Sit up straight, push your knees to the sides of your harness and put your legs under your harness. Slow down the glider, just until stall point. Now at the same time release left brake, grab the left riser as high as possible and brake right a bit more. The glider will now enter a flat spin. After about one turn, the right side might start to collapse a bit. Just before it collapses, release the right brake until it doesn't collapse anymore. I advise you to not take a wrap while performing this maneuver because that might make things difficult during lead-out. Once the glider is turning smoothly without collapses, keep the brake levels locked (don't change them anymore). If you have a collapsing glider, you brake too much. Try pumping the right brake a bit to inflate the collapsed glider.
New experience info: I find it more easy on some gliders to start the helicopter from more speed. The way I lead in is by braking the glider hard for 3 times shortly after another, and then pull down the left side hard. This way, because the glider isn't at stall point, the positive side wants to surge and the helicopter immediately has rotation speed. Pendulums are a little more common when using this method.
Once you are in a stable helicopter, you can increase the rotation speed by weight shifting to the positive side (left in our case), and braking the negative side (right in our case) a bit more.
Lead out
The safest way to exit the helicopter is to full stall the glider and lead out the full stall. It's also possible to stop the rotation and enter parachutage by pulling both brakes to stall point. Leading out parachutage might be trickier though (strong surge forward).
Danger!
All the dangers of spin & full stall (especially riser twists). The surge after a helicopter is amazingly strong (as you can see in the Helicopter Failures video below). Also dizziness is a big one during this maneuver. Although it looks real smooth from the ground, the rotation is really fast from a pilot’s point of view.
Video
Twister
Description
A twister is changing the helicopter turn direction.
Lead in
While helicoptering, stop the rotation by pulling both brakes to stall point (so you will probably only brake the positive turning side, as the negative turning side brake is already at stall point position). The rotation now stops and the glider parachutes down. Now lead-in a helicopter again, exchanging left and right.
Lead out
Danger!
Video
I don't have footage of this maneuver yet.
Coconut Spin
Description
The Coconut Spin is a spinning exit of a SAT.
Lead in
This description assumes an Coconut Spin turning to the right, for a left turning Coconut Spin reverse right and left in the text.
Lead in a right SAT. Once in a stable SAT, pull more right brake (the faster and deeper you do this, the more violent the Coconut Spin). Now the glider will spin. Keep the right brake down.
Lead out
Lead out the Coconut Spin by full stalling the glider. Read about this at Dynamic Full Stall
-or-
Keep it spinning in a controlled manner and move into the helicopter maneuver. I'm probably nuts, but on 1-2 gliders, I think leading in a helicopter this way actually simplifies the helicopter maneuver. I think it's because the positive turning side of the wing has much more speed (and so keeps turning more easily) compared to leading in by flying near stall-point. A lot of times the glider stops spinning after a couple of helicopter rounds, but I'm probably doing something wrong... Send your opinions about this to me.
Danger!
Video
I don't have footage of this maneuver yet.
Mc Twist
Description
The Mc Twist (or Mac Twist) is one of the most violent looking maneuvers at this moment (Tumbling looks even more dynamic). A Mc Twist is actually a very fast spin of the glider, but on its side. Now the glider doesn't look like the rotor blade of a helicopter, but instead looks like the propeller of an old spitfire...
Lead in
This description assumes a Mc Twist turning to the right, for a left turning Mc Twist reverse right and left in the text.
Enter a right turning spiral dive. Lead it out without bleeding out the energy. The glider will climb extremely, and the glider will be far behind you. Just after the glider starts to climb, grab the left riser, make yourself as small as possible, be ready to turn with your glider and pull right brake full down. The glider will now spin while it's behind you.
Lead out
Danger!
The absolute biggest danger throughout the entire maneuver is getting riser twists & big cravattes. This maneuver is probably the number 1 reserve deployment reason, so be sure to have lots and lots of height (with water somewhere far below you) when trying this trick!
Video
I don't have footage of this maneuver yet.
Misty Flip / Ass Chopper
Description
The Misty Flip or Ass Chopper is a Mc Twist without a fullstall exit.
Lead in
Lead in is the same as the Mc Twist lead in description.
Lead out
Let go of the right brake when the leading edge of the glider is pointing down. The glider will start flying again, and will start to dive. You will follow the dive as you swing back under the glider. If you release the brakes when the leading edge is pointing up, you're in trouble. Read about what will happen at the full stall description, just after the text "NEVER EVER RELEASE THE BRAKES WHEN THE GLIDER IS BEHIND YOU!”. When the leading edge is pointing to either side, or not entirely straight down, you're also in trouble. The glider will easily develop cravattes, and enter cravatted spirals very dynamically.
Danger!
All the dangers of Mc Twist. Actually all bad things thinkable can happen...
Video
I don't have footage of this maneuver yet.
Rhythmic SAT (SAT 2 Tumbling)
Description
A rhythmic SAT is a SAT that morphs into tumbling by rhythmically changing the SAT position, increasing amplitude with every change.
Lead in
Enter SAT. Once you're in a stable SAT, let go of the upper brake a bit (start leading the SAT out, but not entirely) and pull brake in again. Repeat this in a rhythmic manner and the amplitude of the change will get bigger and bigger. If you continue to do this, the SAT will transfer into tumbling. Note that at this moment there is no acro pilot able to do the rhythmic SAT on a regular basis (not even the inventor, David Arrufat), sometimes it works, sometimes it just does not. Very difficult maneuver.
Lead out
If you are tumbling, lead out as tumbling. If you are still in SAT, lead out as a SAT.
Danger!
Video
I don't have footage of this maneuver yet.
Tumbling
Description
Tumbling is a very dynamic maneuver where the pilot is looping backwards over the center of the glider.
Lead in
I didn't do this maneuver yet, so be extra paranoid about using this description as a guideline for practicing this trick!
Start making big wing-overs, progress to inversions (loops). Enter SAT (same direction as you would make the wing-over) at the moment you would make another big wing-over (or inversion).
-or-
This description assumes tumbling by asymmetric spiraling to the left, and SAT to the right, for tumbling left reverse right and left in the text.
Enter asymmetric spiral turning to the left. If you have enough energy to loop, enter SAT to the right at the moment you would do the inversion. Using the asymmetric spiral as lead in to tumbling results in very powerful tumblings (the pilot is passing the glider vertically after first turn over the canopy).
Usually the energy is drained after one tumble over the glider. Very good acro pilots can do two tumbles without collapsing wings, and alien acro pilots can do three. If you can do four, go see the doctor and send me the video! If you can do six, your name is David Arrufat and you definitely lost your spaceship.
Depending on the situation, you might choose for full stall lead out or some other way suitable at that moment. If you are man enough to do this trick, you don't need my advice on leading this one out...
Danger!
All of the above, plus Mc Twist on entry and falling into the canopy if you do another tumble without enough energy.
Video
I don't have footage of this maneuver yet.
Many thanks to Adrian Ibañez for his additions and comments on the above text!
Synchro Tricks
Down Plane
Description
Lead in
I didn't do this maneuver yet, so be extra paranoid about using this description as a guideline for practicing this trick!
Coming soon.
Lead out
Danger!
Video
I don't have footage of this maneuver yet.
Renegades Hang-over
Description
Lead in
I didn't do this maneuver yet, so be extra paranoid about using this description as a guideline for practicing this trick!
Coming soon.
Lead out
Danger!
Video
Synchro Spiral
Description
Lead in
I didn't do this maneuver yet, so be extra paranoid about using this description as a guideline for practicing this trick!
Coming soon.
Lead out
Danger!
Video
I don't have footage of this maneuver yet.
Ground Synchro Spiral
Description
Lead in
I didn't do this maneuver yet, so be extra paranoid about using this description as a guideline for practicing this trick!
Coming soon.
Lead out
Danger!
Video
I don't have footage of this maneuver yet.
Molineti
Description
Lead in
I didn't do this maneuver yet, so be extra paranoid about using this description as a guideline for practicing this trick!
Coming soon.
Lead out
Danger!
Video
I don't have footage of this maneuver yet.
Shrimp / Horseshoe
Full Stall
Spin