I was told very early on in my gliding that it was preferred to land with the undercarriage down only to make it easier to recover the aircraft.
regards John Ashford 07 3822 4264 0409679867 _____ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of DMcD Sent: Tuesday, 29 April 2008 8:16 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia. Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] Wheel up or down? On Mon, Apr 28, 2008 at 9:42 PM, Ulrich Stauss <HYPERLINK "mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]"[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! No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.524 / Virus Database: 269.23.6/1402 - Release Date: 28/04/2008 1:29 PM No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.524 / Virus Database: 269.23.6/1402 - Release Date: 28/04/2008 1:29 PM
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