When the “ship” hist the fan, don’t have a cow.

Lest say you’re flying along in light chop when, out of nowhere, wham! You get whacked by some nasty piece of wild air. Feeling like a helpless marionette under a mischievous puppeteer, you instinctively pull on the only thing there is to pull on—those poor unsuspecting brakes.

That MAY be the worst thing you could do!

Your first response to an unknown situation is “reduce power, reduce brakes, then steer”—but do it smoothly. If you’re in turbulence you’re already probably holding brake pressure 2 to 3 so, when things go awry, thinkreduce brake pressure, reduce power then steer.”  Act from that basic premise unless you know for sure what to do.

If you’re close to the ground, carefully (not abruptly) use whatever control is necessary to avoid obstacles and steer reasonably straight. The key is to use least pressure required to do what you need. Next, if you feel like you’re looking down at the ground then the wing has surged forward–DO ADD BRAKE! But then as the wing is coming back it’s just as important to let up.

As covered in Chapter 4 and 19, most PARAMOTOR accidents in turbulence are aggravated from the pilot’s action, not the turbulence itself. Those reactions must be rehearsed.

If your instructor didn’t have you rehearse the proper action to nasty air, rehearse it in your chair. Rehearse it in flight. Do something physical, like rocking in your seat and then go hands up. When the ship really hits the fan, only what you’ve rehearsed will spring forth.

In nearly all things control-wise, less is best. There are certainly a very few times when extreme brake pull is necessary but, even then, it’s usually very briefly and when you know the wing is surging rapidly forward or you’re starting a dive.