The Slingsby Kestrel 19 is one glider which needs care if sideslipping close
to the ground. The rudder overbalances, and it needs a considerable force
on the rudder to take the sideslip off.

If you have no rudder, how do you get it out of the sideslip once you have
rudder overbalance? I can't think of a way to do it.

One friend of mine had his Kestrel 19 go out of control in yaw shortly after
releasing from aerotow at about 2,000ft. QFE. In fact the rudder had
fallen off, though sitting in the cockpit he did not know this. He baled
out while the glider was flying level though not under full control; I and
everyone else at the time thought he was sensible to do this.

The rudder drive had broken, all Kestrels were modified as a result.

W.J. (Bill) Dean (U.K.).

"Andreas Maurer" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 29 Sep 2005 09:17:17 -0700, Eric Greenwell
wrote:

Any glider can suffer partial control failure from connection problems,
freezing, stick or linkage blockage, undetected damage, mechanical
failures, or improper repairs. I think giving pilots some experience in
these situations with an experienced instructor would be an asset.

Hmm... it depends on the type of glider, type of damage, pilot skill,
and luck. I think an airbrake failure is survivable, but any other
kind of primary flight control failure needs a lot of luck to be
survivable.

For example, the seemingly not-so-important rudder:
I once saw a halfways safe no-damage landing of a Twin 2 with a jammed
rudder - but a jammed rudder killed two very experienced pilots in a
DG-500M when they were unable to touchdown in a controlled manner out
of a sideslip.


Basically I think it's not a good solution to find myself slowly
losing control of your glider while on final at 150 ft although I
could have bailed out safely 2.000 ft higher. At least I can blame
myself for trying to be a hero till impact.

My decision for myself is clear: As soon as I'm not absolutely sure
anymore to have the glider under control, I bail out. I have no need
for control experiments at low altitudes where the slightest mistake
is definitely going to kill me - especially if the alternative is a
relatively safe bail-out out of a halfways controlled glider.




Bye
Andreas