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Totally agree. When I first started gliding a member of the club had been a glider pilot in Europe and he didn't say much about it apart from saying that he thought every night landing was going to be his last. Either because of the chances of hitting something on the ground or being behind enemy lines if you survived the landing.I dont think there have ever been a class of pilots with bigger b*lls than glider pilots.
The father of one of my high school classmates was an assault glider pilot in WarII. He said about half the trainees in his day were guys who had washed out of regular flight training in the more advanced stages, more from a failure to adapt quickly to faster more complex planes, than for a lack of basic flying ability. He said he had bellied in a T6 because he didn't notice the "GEAR UNSAFE" indication after he put the gear down.As far as I know, glider pilot training at that time in the war used modified L-3's andL-4's with the engines removed, so those guys presumably never had used an engine.
Actually, a spin is not a bad way to get the tug back on the ground quickly without shock cooling the engine as badly as a dive or a slip would do. The drawback is that a plane with a very tight spin characteristic risks fouling its own towline. One of the reasons the Bird Dog was such a great tug was it's 60° flaps with no slip restrictions, allowing a rapid descent while still carrying enough power to cool the engine gradually. But now they've all been painted in military schemes and marketed as warbirds at exorbitant prices. Tools to toys.On the ground, the Scout pilot explained that once the glider released, he decided to practice a stall. When the stall broke his harness released and he floated up against the roof of the cabin, releasing the controls as a result, and the airplane spun. I'd rather not be anywhere near that close to a spinning out of control airplane ever again, thank you.
Been there, done that. When you're at the bottom of the stack and it "unstacks" like that, it's a__holes and elbows, and thank your lucky stars!Spinning - My most awkward moment was in a stack which is a number of gliders in the same thermal all trying to outclimb each other. Try to imagine a vertical tube with the gliders circling the circumference of the tube. One of the gliders above me in the stack with a less experienced pilot overdid it, stalled and span down past all of us, effectively inside the tube with all of us trying to get out of the way. Total chaos.
Been there, done that. When you're at the bottom of the stack and it "unstacks" like that, it's a__holes and elbows, and thank your lucky stars you didn't hit anybody!Spinning - My most awkward moment was in a stack which is a number of gliders in the same thermal all trying to outclimb each other. Try to imagine a vertical tube with the gliders circling the circumference of the tube. One of the gliders above me in the stack with a less experienced pilot overdid it, stalled and span down past all of us, effectively inside the tube with all of us trying to get out of the way. Total chaos.
or toys for tools?Actually, a spin is not a bad way to get the tug back on the ground quickly without shock cooling the engine as badly as a dive or a slip would do. The drawback is that a plane with a very tight spin characteristic risks fouling its own towline. One of the reasons the Bird Dog was such a great tug was it's 60° flaps with no slip restrictions, allowing a rapid descent while still carrying enough power to cool the engine gradually. But now they've all been painted in military schemes and marketed as warbirds at exorbitant prices. Tools to toys.
Cheers,
Wes
Roger that, concur. At least it should extend their lives. Most of the airworthy airframes out there were working HARD for a living until they retired honorably into "pampered warbird" status. Wish my retirement value had shot up like that.or toys for tools?