At 07:11 06 May 2009, Surfer! wrote:
In message
,
writes


So, whether you are flying a tail dragger or a nose dragger, the goal
should be to get the glider in to a flying attitude as soon as
possible. To achieve this, during the initial roll on take off, make
sure the stick is held well forward in a tail dragger, or well aft in
a nose dragger.

This is not the advice I was trained to in the UK. For an aerotow we
always start with the stick right back, and easy it forwards as the tug
accelerates. This we do with both taildraggers (the average
single-seater) and gliders like the K21 and DG500/505 that rest on the
nose wheel once the crew is in. The runway is usually grass.

For a winch launch we start with a neutral stick as acceleration to
flying is usually very fast, and it's vital that the early part of the
flight and the rotation are well-controlled.

Ask your instructor to run through it again next time you fly - IMHO
that's much safer than taking advice from anonymous strangers and
possibly finding it's not what your instructor wants you doing.

--
Surfer!
Email to: ramwater at uk2 dot net



Just out of interest, what is the reason given for holding the stick back
and gradually easing forwards for all gliders? i can understand for a
'nose dragger' (for want of a better term) especially on grass to avoid
damage to the nose wheel. I would always be inclined to adopt the
technique as described in the previous posting.

matt