Simon,
Given the largest body of water near to where you operate is Lake Albert, all
you will need to carry in the Stemme is your wellies to wade out :-(
Hope that river starts runnin soon.
Chris
----- Original Message -----
From: Simon Hackett
To: Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia.
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2008 12:48 PM
Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] Wheel up or down?
I appreciate its a tad off-topic, but... these Cub aircraft with big wheels
seem to defy most of my notions of where its rational to land (and how!)...:
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=6o3RK-RpJmY
Sort-of on optic again: My Stemme manual is very clear about landing wheels
up into water - and into unknown-ground field landings as well - but the
undercarriage - and its height - are somewhat unusual for a sailplane.
For interests' sake, here is the entire 'water ditching' section of the
Stemme manual:
3.9.3.3 Emergency landing on water (ditching)
An emergency landing on water is accompanied with risks and should only be
undertaken as a last option.
If a ditching is unavoidable, it is recommended to land in the sailplane
configuration and, due to the special
design of the landing gear, with the landing gear retracted. Cabin
ventilation and emergency-window must
be closed first.
Approach and landing:
• approach GLIDER CONFIGURATION
• landing gear UP
• ventilation, emerg.-window CLOSE
• final and touch-down MINIMUM SPEED
If the a/c dives after touch-down and does not rise to the surface soon and
the front cockpit stays below the
water surface, it is recommended to open emergency-window and ventilation
to accelerate pressure balance
because it could be impossible to open the canopy due to a high water
pressure. If necessary, opening of the
canopy can be improved by pulling the emergency canopy handle after opening
the canopy locks and the
"R5ger"-hook (see section 3.2 "Canopy Jettison"):
• lateral canopy locks OPEN
• "R6ger"-hook UNLOCK
• canopy emergency handle PULL (red handle on the instrument panel)
• ventilation, emerg.-window OPEN
NOTE: Experience shows, that gliders tend to submerge at touch-down instead
of sliding on the water
surface. When the cockpit is pressed below the water surface, mostly only
for a short moment, it is
almost impossible to open the canopy.
This is clearly a last-resort thing to do. If I don't ever have to do it in
practice, that'll be soon enough, thanks.
Simon
On 29/04/2008, at 7:45 AM, DMcD wrote:
On Mon, Apr 28, 2008 at 9:42 PM, Ulrich Stauss <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Another reason for having the wheel down in case of a water landing is
that you'd generally try to land close to shore where the water might be (very)
shallow with rocks and other nasties lurking under the surface. The
undercarriage provides more buffer than the bits material of your choice under
your backside.
That would appear to be a practical reason why it is done.
My contact has this to say:
Tests were carried out on a lake in Germany by Walter Schneider and Wolf
Lemke of LS fame. They ditched an LS1 prior to the World Championships in
Finland because they were worried about the lack of land out options and the
proliferation of lakes.
They assumed that landing wheel up would be the preferred option, but
discovered that the glider 'bounced' off the surface and dropped a wing as the
fuselage entered the water because of it's shape. They tried it again with the
wheel down, deliberately put the tail down first and discovered that the wheel
acted as a gentle brake and controlled the whole process much better. I've seen
the photographs, so they may be available on some German web site somewhere.
During the Worlds in Borlenge Sweden, when I was crewing for Andy, a couple
of gliders were put into lakes and all came out okay. I'm pretty certain they
landed wheel down trying to put them up the beach. The major issue with such
landings is that the glider sinks VERY quickly (regardless of wheel position)
and the electrics can cause problems as you'd expect. It's certainly not
recommended!
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