On 4/8/2015 8:08 AM, son_of_flubber wrote:
So I'm flying in a blue hole in wave lift of 5 m/s, trimmed to 50 knots, in
clear air with a cloud layer upwind and downwind, cloud top above and cloud
base below. Suddenly I find myself in IMC. What are my options?

My glider is capable of benign spiral. I open the spoilers, (already
trimmed to 50 knots) and let go of stick and rudder. Then I mentally
rehearse my bail out procedure and expect to come out below the cloud (or
possibly above). It seems like I should decisively and without hesitation
initiate the spiral ASAP, while the glider is still relatively level and at
cruising airspeed.

Suggestions?


In re Bob K.'s and Steve L.'s comments elsewhere on this branch, "Ha ha ha. Oh
the knowing joy of those familiar with 90-degree landing flaps (and I'm one of
'em)!!!" Regrettably (in subsequently broken ship/traumatized pilot terms),
that particular religious war was lost long, long ago.

An argument can be reasonably made that - in "tribal knowledge" terms - there
is nothing new to be learned from the Easter Sunday Reno accident. That said,
I understand that in *individual* terms there is *always* something to gleaned
from such things...and I hope by such gleaning some may avoid finding
themselves in similar dire circumstances.

As first-hand-experience(s) have noted in another branch of this thread,
apparently not all gliders have a "you can comfortably bet your life on it
being 'a good enough' benign spiral capability," that I would willingly bet
*my* life on it. That said, if - for whatever reason - Joe Glider Pilot
develops a sense that unwanted IMC is in a flight's future, I sure hope he's
done-through-practice-beforehand what he intends to do soon! My own
spoilered-ship preference would be to initiate the 'save your butt disaster
plan' *before* loss of visual conditions, but that's just me. My guess is
Martin G.'s post-IMC-entry advice is generically sensible, too.

As always, the devil is in the details, and YMMV...

Bob W.