Pre-launch Checklists.

At 18:06 25 January 2006, Robin Birch wrote:
In message , Bruce


C - Controls
B - Ballast (includes tail dolly)
S - Straps
I - Instruments
F - Flaps
T - Trim
C - Canopy
B - Brakes
E - Eventualities

Personally, I find the final E to be in the right
place, especially
for winch launch. It means the last thing I push onto
my brain stack
is the direction to turn after a high winch launch
failure. This means
that if I have a launch failure its 'nose down --
got approach speed
-- look ahead -- (too high for land ahead)-TURN' and,
because the turn
direction was the last thing into my memory, its the
first thing that
pops out again and turning the correct way is a no-brainer.

We also teach the 'E' with the accent on the pilot
having done the self
briefing, and/or had one from an instructor. The eventualities
item is
just a reminder that life is what happens while we
are planning other
things. On a winch launch it pays , as Martin points
out to know what
your plan is.

It appears that the mind works this way. Referring
to the eventualities
plan as the last thing before initiating the launch,
means it is top of
mind when/if something goes wrong.

So - the eventualities item is not a substitute for
thought, but it
does help to trigger the correct information from current
short term
memory in the event of things falling apart.

I personally have to have a couple of very different
'Eventualities'
plans in my head. Consider the differences. We have
a field with a
short section of reasonable grass, cut short and level
at each end. In
the middle is over 1000m of much longer grass that
the wildlife
continuously works on returning to it's natural lumpy
state. To the
west there is a near parallel 1470m long tar runway
varying from 150m
to 300m, closer on the downhill side than on the uphill
side. Oh, I
almost forgot, the 60' tree between the runways at
the uphill end.
Depending on whether I am flying a 27:1 high wing,
skid equipped two
seater built like a brick outhouse, or my Std Cirrus
with its low wings
and 36:1 performance, a cable break at say 200 feet
will have very
different actions. Which will also vary depending on
which direction
the wind is from, etc. You don't want to be mentally
flipping through
permutations when the cable breaks at an awkward height.

I use the 'E' to remind me, of the decisions I have
made about
launching this specific airplane, on this runway with
the current
weather.

Going through E on a deliberate site, conditions and
aircraft basis is
vital every time. For instance, I fly from a nice
large site with flat
land all around (mostly). If I get a winch failure
and I am in a
position where I have to turn then down wind is usually
the best option
(gives space and time as you turn back into wind to
get into the site).
5 miles away is a ridge site which many of us fly from
occasionally.
Here turning down wind would be very dodgy as you would
go straight into
the curl over at a low height - guaranteed to be experience
enhancing.

So do it last and work through everything that is different
since the
last time you did this - wind (strength direction),
type of launch
(winch aero), aircraft (ballast, has it got flaps,
max launch speed all
that stuff) and so on and ask yourself 'so what' at
each stage. That
builds your get out of jail plan and as has been pointed
out, the last
thing in the brain usually turns up as the first thing
out.

You will get no argument from me that all the items
mentioned in the eventualities are absolutely essential
but my argument is that they should have all been considered
long before the bum was put on the seat. Going through
a long list of things with the canopy shut in the winter
means you mist up and in the summer you cook. If these
items are hurried because of either of these two factors
they are of less benefit . Are glider pilots really
that stupid that they cannot grasp the necessities
of good airmanship and hold them in their brains long
enough to take the correct action. I have always done
an eventualities check but as part of my pre flight
brief/self brief.
Remember that in the UK the pilot does not order the
launch to commence, someone does that for him and yes
I have seen an instructor and a student launch with
the student still doing his eventualities. At a busy
launch point closing the canopy is often the signal
for attaching the cable and from then on the launch
sequence progresses outwith the pilots control, the
only thing the pilot can do is stop it.