On Saturday, March 3, 2018 at 6:30:09 AM UTC-5, soarin wrote:

On a BFR flight in the spring of 2013, I sat in the back seat of a Grob 103
as one of our most respected high time xc pilots silently dealt with what
should have been a simple (simulated) spoilers failed full open landing.

Back in 2011, I was a student glider pilot. Standing on the field I watched 'one of our most respected high time xc pilots' fail to respond correctly to a 'simulated rope break' at 300 AGL during his Flight Review. I watched the glider enter an incipient spin and disappear behind a line of trees. To my untrained eye, it looked to be flying straight down.

The CFI recovered from the dive at the very last second, flared, rolled uphill about 50 feet, and put a wing tip down to ground loop (to avert collision with an immovable object). Wing spar bent. No injuries. That was the pilot-under-review's last flight in a glider.

I will probably never be a respected high time XC pilot, but when it comes time hang up my wings, I sincerely hope that I quit BEFORE I kill a flight instructor, a tow pilot, or anyone else.