On Wed, 08 Apr 2015 07:08:34 -0700, son_of_flubber wrote:

My glider is capable of benign spiral. I open the spoilers, (already
trimmed to 50 knots) and let go of stick and rudder.

I started a cloud-flying course last year and one of the first things we
were told was that, if you loose it in cloud, leave the trim where it
was, fully open the brakes and use feet and hand(s) to keep all controls
central, i.e. DON'T let go of the stick or take your feed off the pedals.

This takes advantage of the fact that most gliders are stable with brakes
open and controls centralised and not flapping about. Don't forget that
if the glider is pulling any G the stick can flop over and move elevator
and/or ailerons away from neutral if you're not holding it central.

Something similar might also occur in strong turbulence. If the stick is
raked or Z-shaped like a Libelle's, then its CG is behind the pivot, so
if you're pulling either positive or negative G than the offset stick
weight will tend to increase that if you're not holding the stick to stop
that happening.

A bit later in the season I did indeed loose it when LK8000 sounded an
airspace warning during a cloud climb and I manoeuvred too fast when
trying to avoid breaking into the bottom of the airspace. So, I did as
I'd been told and opened the brakes and then held the stick central and
the rudder straight. The glider, my Standard Libelle so fitted with weak
brakes, zoomed around a bit but didn't pull noticeable G or exceed Vne.
In fact I didn't notice it even exceeding Va. It came out the bottom of
the cloud more or less upright, so returning to straight and level was
perfectly straight-forward and didn't cost me more than 100 feet of
height.

Suggestions?

Do as I did if you don't pop out of the cloud fairly soon: this assumes
you were cruising in a straight line when the cloud got you and trimmed
more or less at Vbestglide. Open the brakes and centralise controls
immediately if you see the airspeed changing because that means you've
been upset by turbulence.

You'll have time to think about bail-out procedures later when you're
sitting, holding the controls centralised and waiting to exit the cloud.


--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
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