As the pilot concerned, I can confirm the facts reported by Tim are pretty well what I remember of the incident J
One of the reasons that I survived that landing was some pretty efficient management of energy; had I not landed virtually at stall, the aircraft would have run into the fence and treeline at the top of the paddock it was a really small ploughed paddock. Notwithstanding the fact that I got caught in an unlandable valley (a whole other story on risk management), I consider it to be one of the strengths of GFA training that I was able to deal with an extremely difficult situation. A whole bunch of people contributed to that training. · John Ashford taught me the basic stick and rudder stuff, and that it was perfectly OK to land on roads and paddocks (thats why they call him Scrubby) · Tom Bird showed me that with prudent energy management you could get a Blanik to pull up in a very short field; we used to practise short landing between cones on unsoarable days. · Eddie Madden showed me that you could fly quite long tasks at circuit height, just moving along landing option by landing option. · Emilis showed me on some lead and follow exercises at one of the coaching weeks organised by Bernard Eckey that you could stay aloft on soft days just by gently wandering cloud to cloud in the gloom. · Paul Mander showed me on one task how to deal with flying in some quite fierce storms. · Tony Tabart showed me that with patience you could stay aloft on a very small ridge by slope soaring, and that eventually with enough perseverance a bubble can come along and allow you to get back on track. · Lisa Trotter highlighted that by focussing the mind in useful ways negative emotion can be used to survive. On the landing that Tim and Gary are talking about, I was stuck in a valley that was from memory, about 5000 deep. I was about 2000 above the valley floor and worked out that I had to dive the aircraft below the treeline threshold to build up energy, and climb quite steeply to graze the bushes on the upslope at minimum speed and pancake the glider onto the hill. I remember thinking at the time I made the decision to land on the side of the hill that I was probably going to die. But that was wasted emotion, probably best kept for the pub later in the day. I distinctly remember saying out loud Its time to shine the phrase I had chosen after Lisa had encouraged us to develop for ourselves something to repeat in times of high stress to focus the mind and energy. Nobody had told me how to deal with the situation that I was in, but the training provided by the people who taught me to fly gave me the necessary tools to put a plan together. If I had managed to get the glider to swing at right angles to the track at the top of rollout, the glider would probably have been undamaged. But, given the circumstances, I was happy enough with the result . So, to my mind, if you have the necessary set of skills, you dont need a plan for every situation (that would be impossible) you can make up stuff as the situation unfolds. Sometimes we are tempted to criticise GFA training, but my experience is that on the whole, the GFA does a pretty good job. Just a few of my thoughts, and hopefully they are taken in the spirit intended . Simon Holding From: aus-soaring-boun...@lists.internode.on.net [mailto:aus-soaring-boun...@lists.internode.on.net] On Behalf Of Tim Shirley Sent: Sunday, 17 March 2013 10:11 PM To: 'Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia.' Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] Bad air/Outlandings Hi Gary, I was the retrieve crew. The incident occurred at the pre-worlds in Rieti Italy in 2007. The glider was a DG300 owned by the gliding club there. I will not identify the pilot, it is his business if he wishes to make himself known. The glider landed safely on a 40-45 degree upward slope it was the only landable place in the valley, so that was a pretty good paddock selection. However the wheel brake would not hold the glider at that angle, and it rolled back down the slope and ended in some trees with the pilot still aboard. The fuselage passed between two trees and the trailing edges of the wings struck the trees travelling at least 30kph backwards, doing quite significant damage to the wings themselves and the wing roots and fuselage junction. The pilot was uninjured. One lesson from this incident is that the wheel brakes on gliders are designed to stop them in a forward direction, and may not be as effective in reverse. The farmer was at least 70 years of age, and spoke no English. I speak some Italian, and so needed to ask the farmer to bring his tractor to the glider, attaching rope and towing it to the top of the slope where there was a small relatively level area where the glider could be derigged. The derig was difficult because of the damage to the wings, but the farmer was a great help, because despite his age and the fact that he had never seen a glider in his life, he was a strong man and very willing to assist. Its not my best outlanding story (my glider being stolen is probably the most memorable) but I think it comes second. Cheers Tim Tra dire e fare cè mezzo il mare From: aus-soaring-boun...@lists.internode.on.net [mailto:aus-soaring-boun...@lists.internode.on.net] On Behalf Of gstev...@bigpond.com Sent: Sunday, 17 March 2013 20:25 To: Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia. Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] Bad air/Outlandings Further to my earlier posting, I recall that something similar happened to one of our Ozzie pilots in a pre-worlds in Italy, quite some years ago. I may not have the story exactly right, but as I understand it, the ship he was flying had a tail wheel, and after he had done his ground run up the slope, the ship just rolled backwards until he stopped in a creek - sorry, stream. Unfortunately this resulted in - relatively minor?? - damage to the aircraft, which however precluded any further flying in the contest. Simon, Have I got the story right, and if so, is there any comment that you can add with 20/20 hindsight? Of course, for relative newcomers to the sport, what Byars & Holbrook, were really warning about, was avoiding running into unexpected obstacles, on the ground run. The possibilities are almost endless! You must understand that outlanding paddocks can vary from something better than the home airfield, to rock-filled pocket handkerchiefs, inevitably filled with potentially dangerous ground features masked by high grass! Here are some possibilities that I have heard about, that might spoil your day. No doubt the forum members can add to this list. * Running into a hidden tree stump * Running into rocks. Depending on the size of the rocks, this can result in damage to the fuselage, damage to the wings, or maybe a total write off of the glider. I recall a story where a pilot reported that he had run into a rock. An eye-witness to the event - from above, in another glider - verified the story: "Yep, he ran into a rock - it is called the Earth!" * Running into (relatively), shallow drains, that will nevertheless, rip your undercarriage out. * Running into electric fences. * Running into a patch of thistles. * Running into a star picket, that the farmer has placed in his paddock to mark an area for future weed eradication. * Running into a (somewhat pockmarked), rabbit warren: In Nth America - a Badger hole. Gary ----- Original Message ----- From: gstev...@bigpond.com To: Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia. <mailto:aus-soaring@lists.internode.on.net> Sent: Sunday, March 17, 2013 2:42 PM Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] Bad air/Outlandings As I remember, it went more like this ..."NEVER FLY THROUGH THE SAME BAD AIR TWICE!" which gives the advice a whole new depth of meaning, seeing that this was one of the few pieces of information in the book - and the book is full of useful information - to be so notated, and is the ONLY axiom to appear TWICE! Here are two more from the same book: SPEED UP IN SINK - SLOW DOWN IN LIFT! ;and (in an outlanding) STOP AS SOON AS POSSIBLE AFTER LANDING! Members of this forum can no doubt tell many a story re the last axiom. Here is one that partly fits - but with a twist! Flight No 224, in my log-book, 01/03/1978, ES 60b GTJ. X/C training was being conducted on the day in the GCV's two-seater aircraft fleet. I decided to tag along in the Super Arrow. A task was set into the hills to the SW of Benalla, but unbeknown to me the task for the two-seaters was changed, as the weather was not as predicted. So off I set.The first leg was to Strathbogie, and then on to Euroa. As can be imagined, the first leg did not go well for me, and it was soon necessary to pick a paddock around Boho South. The options were a bit limited, as the countryside was fairly steep. Therefore in accordance with best practice, I choose to land uphill into my selected paddock. The landing went quite well, up to and including touchdown, and I can say with certainty that I did stop quickly - possible no more than 10 or 20 m - which fitted the 3rd maxim above, quite well. However I was totally unprepared for what happened next. No sooner had the glider stopped, than it began to accelerate - backwards down the slope! For pilots who may be unfamiliar with the type, let me say that these aircraft are fitted with a spring steel tailskid rather than a wheel. This was the thing that saved me, as the tailskid dug in, and I then quickly came to a stop, with no damage done. One further thing. Ed McKeough flew out to check the situation. How was it possible for him to land a Pawnee, if the paddock was so steep? Well the truth of the matter was that he landed on the airstrip - which I had totally missed seeing -in an adjacent paddock! I could have got an easy aerotow out of there, but instead had to cope with a bunch of noisy fellow glider pilots, and provide the mandatory slab of retrieve beer! Cheers, Gary ----- Original Message ----- From: Mike Borgelt <mailto:mborg...@borgeltinstruments.com> To: Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia. <mailto:aus-soaring@lists.internode.on.net> Sent: Sunday, March 17, 2013 11:38 AM Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] Intermediate/short term goals At 06:57 PM 16/03/2013, you wrote: On 15/03/2013, at 5:12 PM, Adam Woolley wrote: Have you got any rough 'rules of thumb' that you use in order to decide if the short term deviation is worth it or not? Better air within 30 degrees either side of track is worth deviating for. It is more complicated than that. Keep in mind the extra distance you would fly to get to the next turnpoint. if you end up abeam the turnpoint by flying a track 30 off the direct one you will fly 50% further Also plot the achieved cross country speed vs the average climb rate. It is not a linear function. It may be worth greater deviations from track on weak thermal days than strong ones. You can get these numbers (and a lot of other interesting information) using a ruler, from the polar plotted on a piece of graph paper and a few simple geometric constructions. Your highly trained and experienced GFA instructor should have explained this to you before you try to go cross country. (Pig squadron on the grid, ready for first launch). Yes, staying out of sink is very important. Most of us do it poorly. It is extremely important when trying to center weak and broken thermals which is why I like a vario with a sink sound as it provides full information on the bad air as well as the good air while doing this. Byars and Holbrook said this in their book "Soaring cross country " 40 years ago - "never fly through the same bad air twice". Mike _______________________________________________ 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 Borgelt Instruments - design & manufacture of quality soaring instrumentation since 1978 www.borgeltinstruments.com <http://www.borgeltinstruments.com/> tel: 07 4635 5784 overseas: int+61-7-4635 5784 mob: 042835 5784 : int+61-42835 5784 P O Box 4607, Toowoomba East, QLD 4350, Australia _____ _______________________________________________ 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 _____ No virus found in this message. 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