"Flying" your glider on the ground after a landout during athunderstorm or alternatives?

Had to do that once in Australia.
Visible downburst the other side of Keepit. Threw the flight computer info out the window.
Landed the Nimbus 3 in a big paddock (field), Hoped for an aero retrieve when it calmed down. Gave that idea up when another thunderstorm changed course.
Flew the glider through the storm, canopy completely fogged.
The main gear dug quite a hole while rotating like a weather vane.
It wasn't difficult or particularly scary. Call it interesting.
We carried the wing tips, outer panels and horizontal to the trailer, but with less weight we still couldn't move the fuselage / inner panels. Left it on wing stands (plastic bags over the exposed parts) and got it out the next morning.
A mud guard / fender on the main wheel is counterproductive in a muddy field!
Jim


On Monday, June 3, 2019 at 6:58:43 AM UTC-7, Charles Ethridge wrote:
Hi, everyone.

I searched but couldn't find the posts just now, but I think I remember reading posts from some of you who said that you have successfully "flown" your glider on the ground in a thunderstorm after a landout.

Having been a CFI and charter pilot in Nebraska, I'm quite familiar with landing and taxiing in very high winds (50-60 mph one day in Wichita in a Cessna 150 - basically flying the plane on the ground)

Since I haven't read about this technique in any of my glidering books, I got curious about what exactly is your technique.

In powered planes, one can use the engine to stay in place, but with a glider, assuming that you do not have a hammer and a "claw" ground tie-down to tie down the nose of the glider, wouldn't the strong wind move you backwards, perhaps breaking the tail assembly?

And if you get lifted off by a gust, couldn't that technique prove deadly?

But then if that technique is inherently dangerous, what is a less dangerous technique? Quartering the glider into the wind and sitting on the upwind wing? I don't remember reading that one either in any of my glidering books. For that matter, I don't remember reading about ANY approaching thunderstorm landout techniques in any of my glidering books.

What have you done in this situation that has worked out well...and not?

Ben