Reflections on Pod Harnesses

Alas, in life you don't get something for nothing; when you improve something on one side, you lose something on the other…

Our activity is no exception to this rule…
Pod harnesses all seem to offer a significant performance gain, but unfortunately this is not without adverse effects on passive safety…

The advantages

Warmth and comfort in flight

Aerodynamics

It looks great!

The disadvantages

Bulk.

Changes to the aerodynamic balance of wing/pilot… … and therefore modification of the flying system's behaviour, particularly in the event of a sketch.

Inconvenience during take-off and landing.

Reflection

Everyone is old enough to sort things out for themselves. However, it is still interesting to look at the crucial problem of cascading incidents:

Should we consider flying our wing differently in certain situations?

The slightest crosswind on the pod harness pushes the pilot into yaw... Correlated with poor flight incident management, the pilot can find themselves twisted very easily!

The flow of air along the pod harness during a flight incident, or during a cascade of incidents, will therefore act on the pod harness in the same way as a crosswind gust.

Specific piloting actions are still poorly understood to date, but it is nevertheless certain that in certain situations it is preferable to dive on the closed side on the first quarter turn of rotation rather than countering, in order to avoid the twist!!!!!

The first reflex to have is to bend your legs in order to limit the influence of the pod harness on the pilot's yaw.

Don't forget to anticipate taking your feet out of the pod harness, except for members of the French sack racing team!

If you have any doubts about your ability to master the piloting of a pod harness, stick to the classic!