HI all,
This thread has made me think of my aerotow rope break training. I was a
releatively inexperienced pilot at the time, just solo if I recall.
But I hadn't done a real low level cable break. I asked the instructor of the
day and he gave me a through briefing.
Luckily the day had only a gentle breeze.. We started at 400' for the first
one, and the L2 demonstrated, then I did one myslef.
The method was very simple. As soon as the rope broke, the instructor said 60
kt, nose down he kept repeating that every 10 seconds till we landed. After a
brief assesment the glider was banked to about 55 degrees, the runway ahead
surveyed for obstacles when the turn was completed.
Of course from 400ft a heap of airbrake was needed. Next came 300ft, then 200ft
some airbrake was still required.
Of course at the end of the ground run aileron response went quite early due to
the 5-10kt breeze. I actually enjoyed the experience.
Doesn't everyone do that at some stage? Later, a highly modified circuit
became an option from 400ft.(After flying at a winch club (-:)
Frankly it seems to me people need to have some intestinal fortitude and do
this exercise properly, My son Ray trained at the same time as young Dion who
has posted on his training recently
they both did multiple low level 180 degree turns after simulated rope breaks.
not once did the resulting landing appear dangerous. I remember one day when
Ray was near solo the instructor wandered over just before takeoff and said
"Dont push any gliders onto the flight line after we take off' being an
opporunist I shot out the back of the pie cart and said to the CFI, who hadnt
heard the comment "Bet ya $10 instructor X will pull the bung on him. He looked
at me and grinned and said "No way, he's (X) a bastard, he probably will" And
he did. Damn, thought I was onto an easy $10!!!!
Another advantage of having some winch training came not so long ago when a tug
pilot forgot to turn the fuel on. Just as the glider was about to leave the
ground, the aceeleration vanished, tug "coughed and spluttered" and the rope
went slack. To my later amazement I pulled the release very quickly, and
watched the tug complete a circuit. It was drummed into me during the winch
training thet any loss of power/acceration at this point meant it was wise to
release. I dont think I would have performed as well in that situation had I
not had that training.
I really believe that we do not spend enough time training pilots close to the
ground and obstacles. This is where ridge flying would really improve one's
flying.
We so rarely get the normal cues to the speed we are travelling, vsual ones
whislt in the air. There is only the noise, ASI and the very slowly moving
landscape below.
At Waikerie we have regular visits form power trainess from the College of
knowledge, in Tobagos. I have noticed they do a LOT of touch and goes and this
gives more experience with the visual ground rush. In the current training
scheme, n aerotow only operation, one would be lucky to have spent half an hour
below flying 200t by the time you got to 20 hours. Trainees at winch clubs
generally get to see a fair bit of it though.
I had my first real ridge flight in the Flinders at the AUGC ridge camp in
June. I have to admit flying right at a cliff was an "experience". (-:
After 20 minutes or so I started to get more used to rocks whirling by. Perhaps
we need to train people in all aspects of gliding, both flat land and
ridge/mountain conditions.
Funnily enough this mail was typed before Micheal Texler made his comments
about ridge flying, I could not agree more.
A last point, as for the different instructor nearly every time, with
instructors discussing pilots with each other , this leads I suspect to
uneccesary speculation and over analysis of minor faults, it is in my own
personal gliding experiece and belief that this is one of thebiggest reasons
people drop out of our sport.
I tried both methods, firstly at a large semi commercial club where the many
instructors method was used. Progress was very slow. Inconsistency (Instructor
one, "you're too low on tow", after changing the target position, next day
instructor 2 "you're too high on tow" etc) was endemic to the point I quit in
frustration after about a year. Of course, passengers had priority to so I
seemed to end up flying 1-2 times later in the day when I was already tired
from working around the launch point all day. I was amzed to find, whenan old
friend trained there recently that this place still operates in exactly the
same way now, 27 years later. <sigh>
10 years later I bit the bullet and went to a fully commercial 7 day per week
operation. Whilst the expense was high, I flew under the same instructor ( The
incomparalbe Hayden Dunn,whose only downside was the smelly size 11s next to
my head after the first few fights(-: ) 5 days in a row. Only after this did I
fly with the weekend instructors. At that point, the change was valuable, they
had no preconceived ideas, and so judged me on my flying an not someone elses
opinion. Please instructors, try and judge pilots on the day by thier skills
and not by someone else's opinion.
Jusy my 2 cents worth.
regards all
Dave
_________________________________________________________________
Win a Hotmail Go-Kart to race at Bathurst. Enter today!
http://www.livelife.ninemsn.com.au/compIntro.aspx?compId=4602
_______________________________________________
Aus-soaring mailing list
[email protected]
To check or change subscription details, visit:
http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring
