Glider Crash - Minden?

At 14:30 07 September 2006, Martin Gregorie wrote:
Yuliy Gerchikov wrote:
'kirk.stant' wrote in message
oups.com...

Plus, 20 seconds is an eternity when it comes to getting
out of the
way.

I asked this question several times, and never saw
a convincing answer:
exactly how do you use even the 20 seconds if you
have them to avoid
something coming at you at 300 (or, it was suggested,
possibly much more)
knots?

Stop turning and stick the nose down steeply at the
same time.

That's about the quickest way to exit a given volume
of air that I can
think of if you're starting from a low airspeed. I'll
be interested to
hear of anything that would be faster and/or of something
what would
work if you're too low to dive away from the threat.


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


Kirk,

I agree with Martin, but for the thermalling case,
I'd amend that to put the top rudder on the floor and
the stick in the opposite corner, at least at first.
You'll lose hundreds of feet in 10 seconds, and not
gain a ridiculous amount of airspeed.

If you're cruising fast between thermals, it may work
better to put the stick in your lap, which would zoom
you at least a couple hundred feet. (don't ask me
how I know this.)

In either case, if you were really on a collision course
before, that will get you out of the way.

Regarding Martin's case of being too low, that would
imply that you're on the ridge, on tow, or on final
approach. If the ridge, it's almost certainly another
glider, so follow the rule about whoever can turn right
away from the ridge does that. If it turns out that
the other guy has the burden of turning, but he doesn't
see you, it seems to me that it's always possible to
descend a few feet, wings level, which is enough to
avoid the collision. If that isn't possible, you're
flying too damn close to the ridge.

On final, the interfering traffic is probably an airplane
taking off, maybe dive to duck under him, then use
the speed to get to a safe landing after the offending
plane passes over. On tow, radio call to warn the
tow pilot, release, treat it like a rope break. That's
the toughest one.

Ed

Edward Winchester wrote, re traffic avoidance:

...for the thermalling case,
I'd amend that to put the top rudder on the floor and
the stick in the opposite corner, at least at first.
You'll lose hundreds of feet in 10 seconds, and not
gain a ridiculous amount of airspeed.

The quickest directional change comes from your elevator. With the
ailerons and rudder, put the vertical axis of your ship on the same
plane as the place you want to be, and pull, or push, the nose to that
point with the stick. The wings are designed to produce positive-g
lift -- they do it very well -- use them that way. If negative-g is
all you have time for, then push. You'll create separation with
traffic a lot faster this way than you will by entering an
uncoordinated maneuver.

If a slip entry is what you are describing, you are asking the ship to
enter a gravity-powered trajectory in which you are abdicating most of
your directional control, and committing yourself to a relatively slow
change of direction, when in fact a quicker change is what you need.
Why take "ten seconds" to accomplish what can be done in a small
portion of that time with a coordinated maneuver using the momentum of
the ship to take you where you want to go?

Soaring is all about energy management, so use yours to get you to a
safe place, rather than waiting for gravity, or grace, to save you.


Jack