Landing with one spoiler

I think you are missing the point of my post; which
was that the emphasis should be on ensuring that pilots
follow correct, basic routines such as DIs and preflight
checks, rather than on teaching how to land without
airbrakes. Prevent the cause. Maybe, obviously I
don't know, but maybe there were supervisory issues
that needed to be addressed. After all, a pilot managed
to bring his glider to the launch point and be launched
without any checks being done and his airbrakes taped
shut. Nobody noticed the lack of airbrake checks prior
to acceptance of the rope/cable, and nobody noticed
the tape over the airbrakes. Teaching rope breaks
and winch launch failures is normal enough and I would
never suggest it is unnecessary. Teaching landings
without use of airbrakes is unnecessary and possibly
risky. Being able to competently side slip is worth
mastering. Jump down off that high horse and stop
over-reacting.

First you wanted to blame this pilots problem on skimpy training.
Now you want to blame it on the wing runner, tow pilot or anyone
else who may have been in the area. Believe it or not, it is the
sole responsibility of the PIC to assure that his glider is ready for
flight. If you can't accept that then you should do us all a favor
and take up bird watching.

Next your attitude that no spoiler landings thru touchdown are risky,
is probably more a reflection of your skills and or training, rather
than a good basic understanding of the task. Although it may be
that you just have a misunderstanding of the difference between a
simulated spoiler failure and an actual spoiler failure. First let's
assume you were smart enough to find a competent instructor who
was proficient with this maneuver. If you have, then there will be no
real risk (provided of course that you can either follow instructions
or at least not fight him for the controls if you are just totally inept).
The instructor's job is to assure that you don't touch down with any
significant yaw and that you abort the task and use spoilers if your
using up an excessive amount of runway. Maybe you could explain
what sounds so risky about this?

For the other poster who implies that it is madness, and of course it
can't be done in an open class ship. We train with ASK-21's and
G-103's, both of which will touch down and stop in about 1400 ft
without any wheel brake. In case you don't understand why no brake,
in an ASK or Grobe the wheel brake is on the spoiler handle, so no
spoiler no wheel brake. And yes I have routinely landed a Janus and
a Duo Discus without spoilers. You might be surprised to know that
they will stop quicker than the K-21, because the wheel brake is not
on the spoiler handle.

The real madness in our sport is our accident rate. There should be
little argument that this is a direct reflection of the minimal skills
most pilots accept as adequate.

So keep up the standards by finding some good old boy to do your
next BFR with. And don't forget to remind him that a 1 hour soaring
flight and normal landing will be fine with you.

M Eiler