How close?

On Saturday, December 27, 2014 5:39:03 PM UTC-6, wrote:
Was just thinking how deadly a stall/spin would be at that altitude.

A stall/spin can be deadly regardless of how you enter the pattern - and is probably a lot more likely to happen during a low altitude thermalling attempt than during a well-flown low pass.

At the risk of starting up the annual low-pass flame war, if flown intelligently in a suitable glider at a suitable location and time, the low pass is one of the most exiting aspects of our sport - and is not inherently dangerous; unlike off-field landouts, to name another accepted but risky aspect of our sport.

But, like XC over tiger country, it must be approached with caution and training, with a plan for aborting if needed (traffic in the pattern, not enough energy at the go/no go point, turbulence down low, etc.). And it should NEVER be flown in a way to expose others to risk - it's just a different way to fly a pattern and landing, after all.

Those of you who don't like them - tell the pilot why. He may be doing something wrong (low over people on ground, not down the runway, too slow and low, etc) and your input may be important. But just as some pilots will firmly state that they never want to race, or fly in gaggles, or do aerobatics, or even fly XC - just because YOU don't like it doesn't mean I can't do it.

Look carefully at 0:12 and 0:29. You see the pilot push over pretty sharply. He doesn't do chandelles, but keeps the speed up through the upper part of the maneuver.

John Cohrane

Yeah, a more pronounced pushover the second time.

On Monday, December 29, 2014 6:23:52 PM UTC-6, wrote:
Yeah, a more pronounced pushover the second time.

What he is doing is unloading the wing (decreasing the angle of attack) at the top of his pullup, which removes the problem of stalling and potentially spinning. If the wing isn't making lift, it can't stall..

These kinds of low-speed, nose-high recoveries are fun to practice (at altitude, of course) - it's interesting to see what you can do with a glider at speeds below stall.

Kirk
66

Well said Kirk! My sentiments exactly! The "Oh my god did you see that!" Can be both good for the sport and damaging if copied without proper mentoring! I can remember a few wingman double passes done extremely well, would have loved to have some video of those ehh Kirk!