On 29 Jun., 09:23, John Smith wrote:
wrote:
Indeed, the
inside wing seemed as if it was racing ahead of the terrain.
Therefore, I respectfully add one more comment to your good analysis
on low-altitude maneuvering: There may be a strong desire to use
inside rudder to slow the perceived speed of the inside wing, and to

I don't know what you teach your students. In a turn I'm looking at the
horizon, the yaw string and possibly the ASI, but certainly not at the
wingtip.

Dan has touched upon something very, very important here. Something I
am convinced can help explain many of those “unexplainable” stall-spin
accidents when down low.

However it is important to pay some attention to how our brain handles
information. There is the conscious part (logical thinking) and the
“reptilian brain” (instincts, automatic and very quick reactions) The
reptile brain is the one that will have your hand up to protect your
eyes when someone throws something at you, long before you had time to
“think” about it

But the reptile brain was never intended for flying, and it WILL make
wrong judgments!

The problem is that the reptile brain will act on input by means of
sending very direct commands to our arms and legs, totally bypassing
the logical thinking part. So even if you are thinking “I'm looking at
the horizon, the yaw string and possibly the ASI” your reptile brain
may very well be reacting in an instinctive way to the input from the
peripheral sight saying “wow that wingtip moves fast forward over the
ground” –Incidentally the reptile brain reacts extra strongly to input
from the edges of our field of sight. Probably those that noticed that
predator out there early lived longer and got to be our forefathers.
Unfortunately, when flying a glider it may have the opposite effect.


Be safe out there.

Lars Peder
DG-600 EE, Denmark