On Saturday, February 2, 2013 11:12:20 AM UTC-6, Mike the Strike wrote:
I witnessed a PIO by a Grob 103 at our club a couple of weeks ago - it resulted from an attempted landing at too high a speed with first contact by the nosewheel and, as far as I remember, either no or very little applied airbrake.

Mike, could it have been a practice "no-spoiler" approach? I know that the instructors at our club teach this in our Grob-103 - which I personally think is dumb as a sack of hammers.

Again, a legacy of 2-33 training? I remember having to demonstrate no-spoiler, slip to a landing in 2-33s, which are really not a big deal - but in a glass ship - a real, no spoiler to touchdown approach is a serious emergency unless you have a really long runway, and not to be taken lightly. Done incorrectly, you run the risk of being too low on final with no way of making the runway, or way too fast over the threshold with no possibility of going around. Manageable if smart abort criteria are briefed, but can result in a broken glider if not done carefully.

And, it's not even necessary in the PTS, which calls for demonstrating slips, not no-spoiler landings, I believe.

Kirk
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