End of Season Sunset Warning for SSA-OLC Participants

Is night cross-country in an adequately-equipped glider
inherently more dangerous than night cross-country
in a Cessna ? Each is one failure [loss of lift or
loss of engine] away from that dark field. It might
be more accurate to say that at night you need to give
yourself much wider safety margins than in daylight.

Ian





At 23:12 12 September 2006, Doug Haluza wrote:

Obviously, night cross country
in gliders is very dangerous, due to the possibility
of an outlanding
in a dark field, so I hope we don't have to wait until
someone dies to
address this.

I suspect that the chance of loosing lift in a glider is significantly
higher than loosing an engine. I personally do not think it is a good idea
to fly at night in a single engine power plane unless you have a full moon
and are over very favorable terrain.

Mike Schumann

"Ian Cant" wrote in message
...
Is night cross-country in an adequately-equipped glider
inherently more dangerous than night cross-country
in a Cessna ? Each is one failure [loss of lift or
loss of engine] away from that dark field. It might
be more accurate to say that at night you need to give
yourself much wider safety margins than in daylight.

Ian





At 23:12 12 September 2006, Doug Haluza wrote:

Obviously, night cross country
in gliders is very dangerous, due to the possibility
of an outlanding
in a dark field, so I hope we don't have to wait until
someone dies to
address this.

Mike Schumann wrote:
I suspect that the chance of loosing lift in a glider is significantly
higher than loosing an engine. I personally do not think it is a good idea
to fly at night in a single engine power plane unless you have a full moon
and are over very favorable terrain.

In a typical 15M glider, if you can climb to 17,900 ft MSL an hour
before sunset (which is not uncommon in the western US), what time will
you land if you glide at best L/D to your home airport at 5000 ft MSL?

Marc Ramsey wrote:

In a typical 15M glider, if you can climb to 17,900 ft MSL an hour
before sunset (which is not uncommon in the western US), what time will
you land if you glide at best L/D to your home airport at 5000 ft MSL?

More than 1:30 later, or more than 0:30 after sunset.


Jack