I took off from the "E" in really good conditions. I got in very good lift in the resident thermal and was at 6,500’ within just a few minutes.

I flew away towards the lake and went about 1/4 mile. I felt that I was in really good conditions to begin my maneuvers.

I pushed out reducing my airspeed to just above stall. This allowed me to pull the bar smoothly in and go into what is almost a vertical dive.

It felt good so when I got to speed I initiated a series of 5 loops. It seemed that I was losing airspeed progressively as I flew through each loop. I then leveled out and decided to try a different area.

I went another 1/4 mile and the conditions seemed to be better so I started to build speed to try another loop. As I reached the top of the loop it felt like I lost all airspeed.

As the nose got just past the top everything stopped and my feet hit the trailing edge! Someone hit the rewind button! Suddenly the wind was going the wrong way. My feet were now into the relative wind. I was in a radical tail slide the like of which I had never experienced.

In a very brief time the tail slide turned into 4 very tight forward tumbles (outside loops). On the fourth tumble it felt like the motion was slowing and I thought that it might recover on its own. As it came out the glider loaded up and the base tube disappeared out of my hands!

The wings slapped together above me. I started spinning. My hands and legs were forced out like a rag doll. I was the counterweight to the 70-pound glider. I knew instantly that I needed a good parachute over my head. I used all the strength I had in my right hand to reach the orange handle!

I relaxed my arm and gave a little pull to clear the pins and break the Velcro. I looked at the bag in front of me. I concentrated on throwing the chute towards an area clear of the glider. My vision was filled with blue sky, green mountain, blue sky, green mountain, blue sky and throw!

Just like the book the bag left my view and in about 3-4 seconds my pupils could return to the center of my eyes. The rotation had stopped and my descent rate was slowed to a more reasonable number.

I immediately grabbed the keel and secured myself to the glider. I looked up at the parachute to check it out. Thank you Abraham! Good pack job.

I looked at the ground to check my altitude and possible landing locations. I was several hundred feet above the ground. I appeared to be coming straight down and not drifting.

I started waving and yelling to my friends so they would know that I was all right!

As I got closer to the ground it started to come up a lot faster. I braced myself with the glider to help absorb the shock of landing. Just prior to landing the canopy hit turbulence and swung the glider into the hillside.

I had the breath knocked out of me and it took several seconds get my wits about me.

Thanks a lot Free Flight for my L.A.R.A. 175!

Jason White

Lake Elsinore, CA