Tips and Tricks for Tandem Pilots

Ozone paragliders

[MikeyFirst]

Been a tandempilot since 2013, but if you're wanting to be a tandempilot or you're already one for a certain amount of time, it's always a good idea to keep gathering information of other pilots. Thanks for the video.

[brunojacq]

Very good video, that every Tandem Pilot should see !
Thanks a lot for your contribution !
I noticed the sentence "I trust you to walk or run to take off" and the openned trimmers when the wind is strong. Great !

[supergrooover]

been flying tandem quite some time now, but good tips and good instruction material for new tandempilots as well. thanks for making this!

[christophbachura]

I watched the video 10 times and found always important stuff who helps me ti improve my skill. Thanks

[patrickswayze]

Great video thank you
I am now confidently well past my recommended hours to start my Tandem course so I can finally make this a family sport to include my partner and kids, and of all the videos I have watched so far this covers all the important techniques and information that many others don’t!
Thanks again, I look forward to being able to take others up with me this summer ☺️

[marcd]

The sound effect at 5:09 was the best part

[TwinParagliding]

Good tips. with most of them I agree, but do not tell your passengers in general to raise the legs at the landing.
Tandem pilots often rely on air bags too much. I see many of them coming in for landing in sitting position, with their feet far in front of the body’s center of gravity.
Raising the legs and touching down on the air bag can help on smooth landing grounds in smooth conditions if coming in fast with zero or even with a tail wind. You can also consider landing your passenger on the air bag if you have an elderly or overweight passenger with a low fitness level where even a smooth landing on the feet could result in an injury.
In any other conditions I recommend that pilot and passenger both get into a well upright position early enough (before final approach).
In case of an unexpected impact any person with normal fitness is better off using their legs first than landing directly on the air bag. (Just imagine: climb on a table and jump. If you land on your feet, no problem but do not try to jump down from a table landing directly on the air bag with your legs raised up, because you probably will be injured).

If you are doing a flair landing (for fun even with open trimmers and over speed) instruct your passengers to not step down while you are still fast and to wait until you say so. (while flaring tell them: “wait… wait… don't step down… wait… .wait… ok, now step down!” Or if you reached the stall point and still have a high ground speed, say: “ok. now run!”)
Your passenger can only start running or stand by him / herself if their feet are underneath their body’s center of gravity. You as a pilot also can only support your passenger if your feet are below your body’s center of gravity so you have a good stand yourself.

Often, I see pilots approaching in sitting position, only changing to upright position a split of a second before touch down, by using the resistance of the breaks while bringing your glider to a stall. This works fine in smooth conditions and looks cool. In turbulent conditions you may end up touching down with a high sink rate and because of a strong wind-gradient close to the ground at your landing site also with a low airspeed. If the pilot in this situation still is in sitting position there will certainly not be enough resistance on the brakes to change your body position from sitting to upright and you will end up on your but yourself not being able to support your passenger in a moment where it is needed most.
So, my recommendation is: Pilot and passenger in general both should change from sitting to an upright position before your final approach.

As a full time, professional tandem pilot since 1989 I would consider one more thing regarding handling your passengers:
It is totally fine letting your customers know that you relay on them following your instructions like mentioned in the video, to run at the start. But you have to know that you actually can not relay on first timers that they really do what you explain. The more experience you get the better you learn to judge your customers. Depending on what part of the world they are from, some will not be able to follow your instructions and you have to expect them to sit or even jump in the air in the worst moment.

[paraglidingtalk]

I love the sound effects! I am no where near enough hours for my tandem license, however I do plan on getting it eventually.

[FlyBabyFlyPPG]

Great Video Thanks for Sharing. Respect.

[christophbachura]

Thanks for the video very good points for every beginning Tandem Pilot.

[masterprogrammer]

Thanks. Especially landing. I always tell them to run before touchdown, which sometimes they can do, mostly not. I'll try to make them raise their legs :)

[kibu]

most beautiful launching site i've ever seen - where is that?

[quoth_raven]

Why choose an airbag over a foam pasenger harness?

[efesair]

All good but I do not agree on lifting the legs of the passenger on landing. Yes, it might prevent toppling over but having the spine taking the load on impact is not desired...

[Barbusard]

A 4'51c'est la meilleure technique pour péter la colonne vertébrale du passager. Il faut atterrir sur les pieds. Se relever en début de finale, faire un bel arrondi et poser à l'arrêt.
En paramoteur biplace à pied, on ne se pose pas la question.

[Ninkaua]

Hi there, I have a question as a "passenger". I tried paragliding once, and I ofc asked what I should do, how do I know when to sit etc, but I was told "you need to run as fast as you can and it just happens". And then I ended up hanging on the ropes instead of sitting in the "basket". It obviously felt wrong, I tried to lean backwards or kinda push myself backwards, and the instructor was trying to rearrange smth with the stropes, but I was under the impression that that was not really possible to sit me properly when already in the air. Or maybe I should have done sort of a pull-up in the air at the same time as the instructor would push the basket forward? Wondering if I should have done everything differently, and how to avoid that in the future (although I'm pretty sure that was the instructor's full responsibility then). Thanks!

[ran]

What size wing is Recommend to do tandem

[Barbusard]

ATTENTION DANGER à 4''02 on voit très bien que le mousqueton est sollicité en diagonale ; il n'a plus la même résistance.
Les mousquetons doivent être adaptés à la largeur de la sangle des écarteurs.
C'est un peu inconscient de la part de biplaceurs.
A 3'37 pourquoi faire courir le passager en arrière ? Il peut très bien se tourner face à la voile.
Par vent fort on ne doit pas s'opposer et résister, mais aller vers la voile.