Slip to landing on PPG practical test

I must take issue with that Mark. I am a much less experienced pilot than you, but let's look at this from my perspective. As safety officer at my club I would exercise my prerogative of referring anyone who wanted to perform slips into the flare for any reason to the CFI for review of their permission to fly.

Hopefully, your CFI is competent and experienced enough to actually
decide based on real evidence that this is "dangerous". Or, if he
does not have adequate experience in this mode, go to altoitude and
try it? As a CFI,this is what I do when faced with the unknown.

I slip Pawnees through the flair many times per day when towing -
probably 5000+ landings worth. All one has to do is maintain adequate
energy - kind of like most other landings.

A few comments -
1] I know it can be done, and even reasonably safely.

2] I know it is dangerous to do this in anything with long wings...

Not true. Remember all those 1000's of documented landings in
AS-W12's in horrendous conditions? The '12 is 19m. Is that not long
winged? The AS-W17 is 20m. i have slipped these to landings several
times. Based on actual experience, it is difficult to keep the wingtip
below the bottom of the main gear in a Steady-State slip in any of
these ships.

Do not believe? Go fly a steady-state slip at altitude and measure
the bank angle. Go get a pile of real DATA! Go fly and judge for
yourself.

While all of this sounds extreme and dangerous, it is most definitely
not. The techniques were developed by some of the most experienced,
analytical and conservative pilots in the sport. As I said
previously, I have actually tried all of these techniques, first at
altitude and then in many gliders to full stop landings. While it is
considerably more difficult than conventional landings, it is not
superhuman nor dangerous. If this were the case, most of the 12's
would be scrap of balsa and glass and the pilots dead. Neither is the
case! There is a very large amount of empirical evidence from many
different locations in the wildest weather to support this theory!


Stalling in severe slips results in the nosefalling through and out of
the slip to a wings level recovery with very little effort or altitude
loss. Dragging a wingtip in glass during a Steady-State slip is
difficult as the wingtip is never lower than the main wheel. These
gliders are severely rudder-limited. If the ship touches down in a
slip, it bounces up and straightens itself out (at least for the '12.
Never had it happen in any other ship!)

While I am high-time in power and glider and was flying more than
full-time (7 days /week for many months, for many years) when I was
training for the '12, I do not consider myself a super pilot and
several of my less experienced friends were able to consistently land
their 15m / std glass ships spoilerless in less than 2000 ft. It
became something to practice so that our skill set and experience was
incresead - a Good Thing.

6] Experience is less indicative of safety than is attitude, ask someone like JJ where most of the repair jobs come from.

Heck, ask JJ about the ships HE busted! From that data set, one would
argue that racing and flying X-C was extremely dangerous and thus
should be avoided. He has not quit flying X-C or racing. Neither
have I.

Our club's founder - Dieter Henschell learned to fly in the 1940s.
His favorite demonstration to pupils who insisted on too high
approaches was to make a normal approach in the Blanik and then
proceed up the 2km runway with the brakes closed from around 10m
height and 100km/h. All the way reciting in his gentle German accent,
look the speed is X and I am still flying.. Look the speed is now x-5
and I am still flying...Most students got the point in one.

What is the point? That a Blanik glides along way with the brakes
closed? What has this got to do with high approaches? You already
established that all modern gliders glide very flat in ground effect.

It is possible to turn downwind abeam the touchdown point at 10,000 ft
AGL (3000 m AGL) in Blaniks, G103, and K21 (among many others) and fly
a normal size pattern by applying full brakes and mantaining
maneuvering speed or higher (a 3:1 glide +/-). What would then be too
high a pattern? 15,000 ft (5000 m) AGL?

I would propose that wafting along at very low speed very close to the
ground exposes you to significant hazard of getting puonded into the
ground by turbulence or falling to the ground when the gust dies or a
thermal breaks loose in front of you. Should your mentor have avodied
this exercise due to these hazards? I have personally seen perhaps
5-10 gliders that were damaged this way.

What am I achieving, other than to demonstrate my poor judgment by practicing slips into the flare?

That you have additional control and mastery of your aircraft? That
you more fully understand its limitations and therefore its
possibilities? that you have more experience that may one day save
you from the unexpected?

And again, Empirical evidence DOES NOT support your hypothesis that
slipping through the flair or landing via slips is dangerous. I have
watched tow pilots and Ag pilots slip through the flair routinely for
several decades. I have done it myself for several decades and
thousands of landings accident-free.

This real-world DATA.

However, You should certainly Believe and Fly as fits your needs,
skills, mind set, and risk tolerance.

Come to California and we can go fly!

Best, Mark