Hi guys,

Our club is having a discussion about the merits of reducing airbrake on
short final (well before the flare) in order to reduce the rate of descent
on
the last part of finals - in particular after using full airbrake to
correct an
overshoot i.e. you are still overshooting but reduce the airbrake to the
normal 1/2 to 2/3 range & just accept the overshoot.

This relates in particular to gliders which have a 2 point attitude which
is
quite low e.g. DG-1001 (nosewheel with retractable main) & LS8 .. a fully-
held off low energy landing in these types results in touching tail first,
and
in concert with a high rate of descent with full airbrake makes a hard tail

strike more likely.

Any thoughts or similar experience?

Cheers,

Richard McLean
Beverley Soaring Society
Western Australia