Who is responsible?

"If the gliderport is operated unsafely, then you need to
find another place to fly.
Fred "

Since many of us operate out of club environments, I would argue that
if a gliderport is operated unsafely, it is your responsibility to try
to change that, not to just walk away. Even a commercial operation
that has unsafe, or perceived unsafe practices is worth trying to help
shore up the safety side of things.

As president of a soaring club, I can say for certain that the most
common statement people make is "You should do X for the club..."
Replace X with whatever you feel like. The point being, people tend
to want someone else to take responsibility for initiating change.

If you want the safety culture to change at your club or operation,
find a way to lead that change. That's really taking responsibility
for your own safety and helping out others.

Morgan

as an itinerant renter, I can tell you that every place I have rented -- about 6 leading glider clubs and commercial orgs across the country -- has its own idea of safety.

this is just an abbreviated list of differences:

1. some places have tie downs, some have wing stands, some have nothing
2. some require canopies to be down all the time, other places leave them up all the time
3. some places people have their hands on the canopy all the time, some places you can never touch the canopy
4. some places you open and shut the canopy by the rails, other places you can only operate the canopy by reaching in and using the handle
5. some places you push on the canopy to check secure, other places its verboten, or you are expected to look at the locking pins
6. some places the only thing you do is rudder wag, other places you have a wing runner, other places, you have to call the tow pilot and say "brakes locked, canopy locked, slack out" and then you can wag.
7. everyone has their own tow position they like: hstab centered on the wings, hstab at the top of the wing, hstab on the mirrors, etc. boxing the wake (remember, this is a checkout) is a whole 'nother set of parameters regarding positioning, rudder versus aileron, and whether to pause for 1/2 a second or 2 seconds, or somewhere in between, and everyone likes 'em different
8. everyone has their own favorite set of stall series, MCA, and various banks of turns. for steep turns, it could be the triangle, 50, Va, or some other number
9. on landing, everyone has their own set of IP, downwind distance from the runway ("fly over that road", "1/4 mile", "45 degrees"), base leg distance (at the threshold, 1/2 mile past the threshold, but not too far if you have a large headwind on final)
10. no speedbrakes until on base or final, never more than 1/2 speed brakes, never close the speedbrakes, etc etc
11. before landing checklist -- RUFSTALL, factory placard, this here laminated one
12. base landing speed. triangle, 1.5*Vs0, some random number which is "what we do here"
13. high energy landing or low energy landing
14. roll out straight, roll out straight but if you can move over to side of the runway into the dirt or grass, turn to get off the runway but dont groundloop
15. use the brakes, don't use the brakes, test the brakes when you land but don't use them, test the brakes when you land and use them to stop at a designated point on the runway
16. come to a stop at that intersection so you can push off there, ... stop past the instersection because the towplanes need to use it, ...stop at the staging area
17. get out of the glider when you stop, don't get out of the glider when you stop
18. radio calls -- only on downwind, on the 45, 45/downwind/base/final, depends on how much traffic there is

this is a serious list. i have had every single one of these instructions.

there is absolutely no standardization in what is expected from gliderport to gliderport

on these checkouts, I have become a chameleon, asking lots of questions in order to satisfy the CFI. at the end of the day, when I'm PIC, i do my best to take care of the glider as if it were my own, to stay out of the way of other aircraft, and to operate safely.

--bob

Well said, Bob.
What a frustration and all regarding "standardized" procedures.
This is why flight reviews have been a high stress event for me over all of my flying life. Doesn't matter how I fly it will be incorrect. Such comments as "who taught you THAT!" and "I have NEVER heard/seen/taught/read that" are pretty standard.

Even boxing the wake. Everything Bob said I have experienced PLUS two places where I have been told that "we never do that" because it overstresses the towplane or has no value in demonstrating flying skills.

In the end...I have always successfully completed flight reviews and field check-outs.

On Monday, August 3, 2015 at 5:53:13 AM UTC-7, wrote:
Well said, Bob.
What a frustration and all regarding "standardized" procedures.
This is why flight reviews have been a high stress event for me over all of my flying life. Doesn't matter how I fly it will be incorrect. Such comments as "who taught you THAT!" and "I have NEVER heard/seen/taught/read that" are pretty standard.

Even boxing the wake. Everything Bob said I have experienced PLUS two places where I have been told that "we never do that" because it overstresses the towplane or has no value in demonstrating flying skills.

In the end...I have always successfully completed flight reviews and field check-outs.


It's probably good to differentiate as much as possible safety considerations from operational procedures from personal preferences.

On Monday, August 3, 2015 at 9:12:14 AM UTC-4, Andy Blackburn wrote:
It's probably good to differentiate as much as possible safety considerations from operational procedures from personal preferences.

even the definition of what is a "safety consideration" or an "operational consideration" or a "personal preference" varies from place to place.

take something fundamental like boxing the wake. if you can't fly it exactly the way the CFI wants it flown, maybe you don't know how to tow, and will cause ____insert failure here___

One solution to all this discontinuity is fundamentally anti-American.
National standardization of CFI training and pilot performance standards.
We are talking way beyond FARs.
Take France as an example.
All CFIGs are recertified in central locations by a national staff.
That way the training, training requirements,and performance standards are the same throughout the whole country.
The good part is that it dramatically reduces the unpredictability of what a pilot is going to face during flight reviews and local field check-outs.