Glider down near Reno - pilot OK

Richard,

I attended the Air Force Physiological Training seminar
for three days back in 1985 or so. We got to do the
spinning chair experiment. We also got to 'fly' in
the altitude chamber.

The instructor mentioned one time, wives of the pilots
were invited to sit in on the classes to see what their
husbands were doing. One young lady took her seat
in the chair, closed her eyes and put her head down.
The chair was spun and stopped. She was asked to
raise her head, open her eyes, and point to the clock
on the back wall and tell what time it was.

She opened her eyes and pointed steadily to the clock
and without a blink, said, 'It's twelve minutes past
three.' She showed no signs of dizziness or vertigo
of any kind.

They were all dumbfounded. How could this be? Was
she not human?

Turns out she did a lot of gymnastics...


Ray Lovinggood
Carrboro, North Carolina, USA

At 18:25 11 November 2005, wrote:
I wonder if any of you have experience vertigo training.
Let me share
one experience.

The room was full of 22 to 26 year old Air Force Officers
in Pilot
Training. The general naive attitude was it can't
happen to me.

Each of us were strapped one by one in a chair that
rotated on ball
bearings and had a rail around the outside. We were
asked to bend and
put our heads on the rail and close our eyes. We were
then spun for
about 30 seconds, about the time it takes for your
inner ear to
equalize and stop sensing acceleration. If the chair
was slowed down
you felt as though you were spinning in the opposite
direction. The
chair was then stopped and you were asked to raise
up and read the
clock at the back of the room..

The room tumbled your leg went out to save you from
the perceived fall
and get this about 30 seconds later you could read
the time.

I think that spinning a glider to get out of an IFR
condition may work,
but as others have recommended stay out of the clouds.


Richard
www.craggyaero.com

In the early 90's, the FAA had a vertigo demonstration simulator at the Reno
Air Races. Similar concept, you got in, closed the door and only reference
was the instrument panel. They had you change frequencies on the radio and
do a chore or two while the simulator turned and the inner ear stabilized.
You were supposed to try and keep the thing upright with no gyro
instruments. Course when it stopped turning you just knew it was turning in
the other direction.

bumper
"Ray Lovinggood" wrote in message
...
Richard,

I attended the Air Force Physiological Training seminar
for three days back in 1985 or so. We got to do the
spinning chair experiment. We also got to 'fly' in
the altitude chamber.

The instructor mentioned one time, wives of the pilots
were invited to sit in on the classes to see what their
husbands were doing. One young lady took her seat
in the chair, closed her eyes and put her head down.
The chair was spun and stopped. She was asked to
raise her head, open her eyes, and point to the clock
on the back wall and tell what time it was.

She opened her eyes and pointed steadily to the clock
and without a blink, said, 'It's twelve minutes past
three.' She showed no signs of dizziness or vertigo
of any kind.

They were all dumbfounded. How could this be? Was
she not human?

Turns out she did a lot of gymnastics...


Ray Lovinggood
Carrboro, North Carolina, USA

At 18:25 11 November 2005, wrote:
I wonder if any of you have experience vertigo training.
Let me share
one experience.

The room was full of 22 to 26 year old Air Force Officers
in Pilot
Training. The general naive attitude was it can't
happen to me.

Each of us were strapped one by one in a chair that
rotated on ball
bearings and had a rail around the outside. We were
asked to bend and
put our heads on the rail and close our eyes. We were
then spun for
about 30 seconds, about the time it takes for your
inner ear to
equalize and stop sensing acceleration. If the chair
was slowed down
you felt as though you were spinning in the opposite
direction. The
chair was then stopped and you were asked to raise
up and read the
clock at the back of the room..

The room tumbled your leg went out to save you from
the perceived fall
and get this about 30 seconds later you could read
the time.

I think that spinning a glider to get out of an IFR
condition may work,
but as others have recommended stay out of the clouds.


Richard
www.craggyaero.com

I remember reading a series of PASCO Westwind articles
which discussed wave flights. Sergio, Gordon, and
a few other authors. Over the course of the following
year or two, I talked to many pilots about these kinds
of record-breaking attempts.
And several of these pilots made dozens of such flights.

Landing under parachute in high winds, the tradeoff
of an always-on turn and bank vs. battery consumption,
the possibility of getting caught above/between/in
lenticulars, the joke about the glider really just
being a big oxygen bottle with wings, problems of flutter,
ballast freezing, penetration, drinking 'Ensure' for
24 hours before the flight to avoid pooping, exhaustive
planning, 6AM launches, etc....

...all made me think these pilots have more in common
with astronauts than garden-variety pilots like me...

I applaud the efforts of these pilots, who I consider
among the most sophisticated and daring pilots on the
planet.

I am also glad this particular pilot is (relatively)
unharmed and can tell this amazing tale. I will drink
an 'Ensure' today and raise my carton to you! In all
seriousness, cheers and many congratulations to the
pilot on making it through this extraordinary experience!


You are my heroes

Mark J. Boyd

At 17:06 05 November 2005, wrote:
Marc Ramsey wrote:
Here's a snippet from a message that came from Stew
Crane (SSA Gov, NV),
concerning the accident:

===
In the Mt Rose wave he found himself climbing very
rapidly
again, over 1,000fpm and between lenticulars. What
he did
not notice due to canopy icing at the back edges of
his
canopy was that he was being blown back into cloud
due to
the change in wind direction. He did turn on his artificial
horizon when he realized his predicament but, due
to
instrument spin up time, it was not enough. He went
full IFR
in an instant without a working horizon at altitude
and
probably at or above true airspeed redline. Vertigo
ensued
and in an instant he felt the wings snap off, no strong
stick
forces, just a snap.
===

Marc



http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?e...04X01789&key=1


Mark J. Boyd

these pilots have more in common
with astronauts than garden-variety pilots like me...

I applaud the efforts of these pilots, who I consider
among the most sophisticated and daring pilots on the
planet.



Right On!

MM

At 09:12 08 November 2005, Bruce Hoult wrote:
In article , 'bumper'
wrote:

'Bruce Hoult' wrote in message news:bruce-

No. An artificial horizon just makes the information
easier to
interpret becuase you can see the little aeroplane
and the blue sky
a
Ohh, that's not bad.

And at only a little over twice the price, their ADI
migth be worth it
too, if it's sensitive enough in pitch for a glider.

--
Bruce | 41.1670S | \ spoken | -+-
Hoult | 174.8263E | /\ here. | ----------O----------
I find it hard to believe that any AI would have saved
our intrepid pilot
from pulling the wings off. Like most of the glider
panels that I have
seen, room for a 3 inch instrument is most likely out
of the question and
the 2 inch verity would give you enough information
to get out of a cloud
if you were at thermaling speeds, not redline. I’m
sure most of you have
been close to redline in VFR even with instant feedback
you still were
very smooth on the stick. Now put yourself in his
shoes…… Stay out of
the clouds.

This is one thing that I would NOT recommend practicing.
Chuck