On Sat, 10 Sep 2011 19:39:46 -0700, Tom Serkowski wrote:

On 9/9/11 3:56 PM, Martin Gregorie wrote:
the cable is NOT put on unless the pilot announces "Brakes locked"
before asking for 'cable on'.

And if the pilot uses spoilers to get better aileron control at the
start of the takeoff?

Doing standard UK CBSIFTCBE preflight checks, accepting the cable before
opening the brakes and keeping a hand on the brake lever allows the pilot
to accept the cable with brakes locked, so the confirmation can be made
correctly.

Of course, if you are flying somewhere that doesn't teach a preflight
check which includes opening, visually checking, and then locking the
brakes, doesn't include the checks in every flight under instruction and
which tolerates launches for pilots who skip the preflight check then you
should expect launches with unlocked brakes as well as any consequent
crashes.

Or the wheel brake is on the spoilers and the pilot wants to prevent a
rope overrun?

Totally unlikely on our field, which is, if anything, always slightly
uphill since it has a small hump (on a winch launch the wing runner can
see the winch flashing but the pilot usually can't).

I've only flown on one field where that was necessary, the Wasserkuppe,
and again that's a bit special since you take off downwind and downhill
on a hard runway which is steep enough to require a small wooden wedge in
front of the main wheel to stop the glider running forward while the pilot
(s) get in.

In any case in the UK and other places where the CBSIFTCBE preflight
check is taught the pilot will have cycled the brakes AND DONE A VISUAL
CHECK before unlocking and opening them if the glider needs that for a
successful launch, so the announcement "Brakes locked: cable on, please"
should be redundant.


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