Playing around with the pitch phugoid

On Thursday, July 30, 2015 at 9:07:20 AM UTC-5, wrote:
Re what is the point of this thread?

I just find it fascinating that cloud flying without an artificial horizon IS routinely done in sailplanes by some pilots in some nations (see previous posts withing last 6 months to RAS), yet very little information is out there on how to stop the pitch phugoid.

My experience is that some sailplanes are dynamically unstable in pitch even when flown within the published CG limits. Of course I can't rule out an error in weighing or computations, but that's my experience.

This idea of "if your flying it right, a phugoid will never develop" doesn't hold water with me.

The idea of moving the stick forward when the airspeed is high, seems bizarre at first glance. Yet it works. See earlier posts for more. When the airspeed is high but no longer increasing, the glider is in a nearly level pitch attitude, and the excess airspeed will soon make the flight path curve upward strongly. The pilot needs to prevent that. By moving the stick forward.

After what I've seen firsthand in clear skies, I shudder to imagine any pilot ever venturing into clouds without an intimate knowledge of the dynamics of the pitch phugoid, and how to stop it. So you have an artificial horizon display. Do you want to bet your life that it will not fail? Then you are down to partial panel, and then what?

Besides, what's the point in just droning around the sky without understanding what is going on? Any pilot should be interested in these topics even if he never intends to come within ten miles of a cloud.

Those in the "I manipulate the stick to make the sailplane do what I want it to do so why do I need to understand anything about anything" camp need not engage in this topic...

S

Platyp, if you have a couple hundred hours in a glider and still need to consciously avoid a phugoid - then something is seriously wrong with you or your glider. Your entire postings are not related to anything I have experienced in 35 years of flying. Let it go, nobody else is interested in your musings, you are just scaring the kids, please stop.