There seem to be some strong views on this, 2 of the very experienced instructors who espouse these views have flown the glider in question recently, and obviously didn't find the brakes bad enough to report.
I noticed the poor braking during basic training 10 years ago and asked why this was the case. I would on consideration, rather have a fully functional brake, but it was not and is not my decision. The case remains that learning in this glider has made sure I never rely on a wheel brake. On another subject, MikeB I found it amusing that you seem to feel that adding a whole lot of flammable liquid and 2 very hot engine's to a glider is going to make it safer, fuel fires in motor gliders are certainly not unknown are they? As I recollect the main killer in air crashes is fire. " but if a motor mechanic 'fixed' your car brakes so the ABS didn't work, and as a result you had an accident and killed a passenger... (I should not need to complete the argument)". I would be very happy to have the ABS in my car (EB Falcon) disabled, as this particular ABS makes it MORE likely to kill someone when on dirt or in wet weather. Rejoining the bitumen Highway from the dirt road to Stonefield the other day the ABS cut in unnecessarily at 25km/h on a small section of bitumen with scattered gravel, the brake pedal suddenly dropped away under my foot and very nearly put me in front of oncoming traffic, this is not a faulty ABS it is the way this early version of ABS was designed to function! So the mechanic might indeed save a life in some cases. That's why such analogies are at best of dubious value. Dave L _______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list Aus-soaring@lists.internode.on.net To check or change subscription details, visit: http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring
