On Saturday, May 10, 2014 7:59:25 AM UTC-5, wrote:
You cannot teach safety in paragraph-long sound bites.



Unlike a high percentage of glider pilots, if you want to be a safe pilot, you need to educate yourself.



How many launching emergencies are there? All pilots automatically think of rope breaks. Believe it or not, 41 emergencies are listed, including: "Others I have not thought of."



Up to date, current, information about launching emergencies will be found in the popular, 2014 edition of the Glider Flight Training Manual, ($39.95 at www.eglider.org, or the SSA, or many glider clubs and FBOs) which includes a chart showing the data, including bank angle, airspeed, sink rate, load factor, radius of turn, time for the turn and altitude lost during the turn.



Using a moderate performance, fiberglass single seat sailplane, the data reveals the ideal bank angle for minimum loss of altitude is a 45 degree bank angle.



Using a 40 degree bank angle or a 50 degree bank angle will result in an additional one foot altitude loss.



Using 35 degrees, will cause an additional 4 foot loss compared with the optimum, 30 degree bank angle 11 feet extra and at 60 degree bank angle, an additional 10 feet.



Bottom line, from the stand point of altitude loss, bank angle is not extremely important as long as you use a reasonably steep bank angle during the emergency.

What about radius of turn? The steeper the bank angle, the smaller the diameter of the turn.



For the example sailplane:

60 degree bank angle 208 feet.

50 degree bank angle 236 feet.

40 degree bank angle 281 feet

35 degree bank angle 315 feet.



Bottom line - learn to use an adequate bank angle during a low altitude emergency re-turn to the airfield. And keep the yaw string straight.



One of the preventative actions the tow pilot can do to help the glider pilot as well as the tow pilot in case of one of the 41 emergencies on tow is to allow the departing tow path to drift slightly downwind so the resulting turn back to the runway is a simple 180 degree turn rather than a button-hook shaped turn.



There is much more to learn about this and other common all-to-frequent emergencies than this simple sound bite.



If you are going to fly safely, you must avail yourself to the simple, easy to learn details of safe, competent piloting skills and knowledge. It cannot be done with sound-bite size internet postings.



Tom Knauff



I have no problem with a glider pilot asking me to drift downwind on departure leg when there's a crosswind. My concern is when nothing is said before launch. Let's just say Joe-bag-a-donuts glider pilot hasn't flown in awhile and picks a gusty, crosswindy day to knock some rust off. The tow pilot decides he's just going to hold runway heading on departure and let the crosswind (form the left today) drift him downwind. Our intrepid glider pilot, Joe, is intent on maintaining position behind the tow when suddenly he's astonished to see a puff of smoke and the towplane rocking its wings. Muscle memory takes over and he pulls the release and turns right. Oops, it was a left crosswind and we've drifted well right of runway centerline while on the tow and now his right turn back to the airport puts him further from the runway centerline. If the tow pilot had maintained the extended runway centerline on departure, it wouldn't be as bad for the clueless glider pilot turning the "wrong" way. I agree that if everyone's situational awareness is good. a drifting departure leg will maximize the glider's chances of getting back to the runway but not every glider pilot I've towed has had good SA. Should the towpilot fly a departure leg for the best or the worst case? I've told our clubmembers that if I'm towing on a day with crosswinds, I'm maintaining centerline on departure unless specifically asked to do otherwise. Someone asking tells me they've thought ahead about emergencies and will turn appropriately. Say nothing and at least you have a 50 50 chance.