On Monday 27 October 2003 23:41, David Megginson wrote: > The faster you go, the less you feel the gusts and turbulence. In a > slow glider, I imagine that the effects are very pronounced.
The a/c we were in was quite a 'tame' craft and my friend showed me what the stall onset was like - at around 30kias you could fell a sort of 'thrumming' through the a/c - a very gentle oscillation (sp?) that was regular and superimposed, or 'under' the turbulance buffet. Sign of a good training a/c I guess - it was clearly felt even though it was pretty bumpy anyway. > Most disconcerting difference - there was little sense of forward > > motion so when in moderate bank it felt more like we were tipping > > over rather than turning. In steeper banks there was a bit of G > > and it actually felt a bit more secure. > > If you felt any sideways pull, then the turns were not coordinated. > Slipping turns are good ways to lose altitude, and I'd guess that > soaring pilots use them quite a bit to get down to the field. Yeah - we were going down at that point but we were banked approx 50-60 deg (my guess). Very strange to compare 'theory'against practice:) > > > Approach and landing was not what I'd expect either - stick out the > > airbrakes while still several hundred feet in the air and then dive > > down to the ground, level off and flair. > > Sadly, there are powered-plane pilots who try to do the same thing, > even through flaps aren't exactly air brakes. It was from FlightGear that I was surprised at the approach. No, it's not the sort of thing you would do in a powered a/c. I wonder how much of this might be due to the all-up weight vs. lift ratios between a glider and a powered aircraft. The speed-brakes were perfectly balanced - I didn't detect any appreciable trim change - very impressive:) We watched a couple of the instructors checking each other out, flying close to the stall, practicing, into the wind. With 20+ kts wind across the field (the 15kt windsocks were horizontal most of the day) and typical stall speeds of ~ 30 kts, they were making barely 10kts ground speed:) They were doing some spins too:) > > > Sorry this is OT but there isn't anyone else who'd really > > understand. > > On the contrary, it was an excellent posting. It was an excellent experience:) LeeE > > > All the best, > > > David > > _______________________________________________ > Flightgear-devel mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel > > _______________________________________________ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
