Interesting flight

Had some fun with a banging gear door last Friday and made a
precautionary landing. Learned a great deal. Check out the write up on
my blog at the SSA website.

Reed

No link?


On May 16, 2:40*am, Reed von Gal wrote:
Had some fun with a banging gear door last Friday and made a
precautionary landing. Learned a great deal. Check out the write up on
my blog at the SSA website.

Reed

On May 16, 5:34*am, GARY BOGGS wrote:
No link?

On May 16, 2:40*am, Reed von Gal wrote:



Had some fun with a banging gear door last Friday and made a
precautionary landing. Learned a great deal. Check out the write up on
my blog at the SSA website.

Reed- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

http://ssa.org/myhome.asp?mbr=309520...w=blog&id=2500

Does that work?

On May 17, 1:40*am, Grider Pirate wrote:
On May 16, 5:34*am, GARY BOGGS wrote:

No link?

On May 16, 2:40*am, Reed von Gal wrote:

Had some fun with a banging gear door last Friday and made a
precautionary landing. Learned a great deal. Check out the write up on
my blog at the SSA website.

Reed- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

http://ssa.org/myhome.asp?mbr=309520...w=blog&id=2500

Does that work?

It's a pity that these blogs are restricted to SSA members...

On May 16, 3:15*pm, smithcorp wrote:
On May 17, 1:40*am, Grider Pirate wrote:





On May 16, 5:34*am, GARY BOGGS wrote:

No link?

On May 16, 2:40*am, Reed von Gal wrote:

Had some fun with a banging gear door last Friday and made a
precautionary landing. Learned a great deal. Check out the write up on
my blog at the SSA website.

Reed- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

http://ssa.org/myhome.asp?mbr=309520...w=blog&id=2500

SSA Home
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Welcome, Gary

Log Out
MyHome
First Emergency
Hello everyone,

The weekend initially looked good for possible cross country soaring.
Forecasts were for high cloudbases and light winds out of the east.
Unfortunately, a system blew in and shut down soaring for most of the
weekend. I was, however, able to make two flights, and one of them
proved rather eventful.

On friday, I preflighted our Grob 102 and prepared to fly. XXC in his
good looking Discus B had a nice thermal just north of the field, and
although an inversion was capping lift at around 9500 feet, the
prospects for a nice local soaring flight looked promising. After a
thorough preflight and required positive control check, I towed the
glider out to the runway to start the flight.

Takeoff was fairly uneventful except for a slight crosswind correction
to maintain position behind the towplane. Winds were out of the
northeast at around 5 to 9 knots. At around 50 feet, I heard it! A
loud bang seemed to come from underneath and behind me. I kept tow
position and then heard it again a few times. Hearing an unknown noise
at a critical point (or any!) in the flight is especially unnerving
and after taking a second to process the information, I elected to
keep flying the airplane and worry about getting to a safe height.

My first instinct was to pull the release at 200 feet and make a left
turn back to land downwind on Runway 26. I quickly discounted that
when I realized the airplane was flying fine, and there would be no
need to make what could be a small problem into a much larger one. At
around 400 feet, I radioed the towpilot to let him know I was
encountering a strange noise, and to turn left crosswind to set me up
for a downwind on Runway 8.

I had the towpilot climb up to our pattern altitude of 6100 feet MSL
and released abeam midfield on a left downwind for Runway 8. We
normally enter on a midfield crosswind, but due to the abnormal
situation, I had the towpilot put me straight on a downwind to the
runway. With plenty of altitude to play with, I sped up to around 80
knots and then slowed down to just above minimum controllable
airspeed. I noted no control problems and I felt I would have no
problems landing the glider. I declared a Pan Pan on the CTAF as well,
and voiced aloud what the problem was.

After a safe landing and pushing the glider back to her bay, I met up
with my CFIs to discus what the problem might have been and how I
could have reacted differently. The consensus was that it was the
landing gear door banging into the fuselage. Looking at the springs,
they were fairly shot. When I crabbed into the wind on takeoff, the
slipstream must have banged the gear door into the fuselage. The
banging stopped shortly after takeoff when the wind dictated I end the
crab. Made perfect sense on the ground, although a fairly unnerving
noise while I was airborne.

What could I have done differently? A few things, for sure. First
thing I was told, which makes perfect sense in hindsight, would be to
continue the tow normally up to a higher altitude. If the glider is
flying fine, there is no reason to release at a fairly low height when
something might be wrong. I could have flown east toward open fields,
with plenty of altitude to work the problem and potentially bail out
if needed be.*

Secondly, I could have had the towpilot fly next to me and check out
the glider after release to see if there was anything amiss and
flapping around. This would be accomplished at a higher altitude and
east of the field.

What did I do right? Safely land the aircraft! Aviate Navigate
Communicate was drilled into me from day one. I never stopped flying
the airplane, flew where I needed to fly, and communicated my
difficulties over the radio in perfect order.*

What I took away from this was to have a more open mind when something
goes wrong. Don't think the first course of action should be to
immediately get the plane on the ground. Keep flying, think of what
the problem might be, and climb to a higher altitude if you can in
order to liken your chances of a successful bailout if necessary.

On another note, I had my first flight in our new DG 505 that I
recently drove to Wisconsin to get with my CFI. Low ceilings and rain
were pushing their way east off the foothills, and I knew a short
flight was going to be in order. Towed to about 6500 (MSL) feet in
drizzle and less than excellent visibility (about 6sm I would say).
Ceilings were at around 7500 feet (MSL). The glider flew great! I had
my first experience with rain on the canopy and the wings as well. I
was noticing about 4 knots of sink, and realized it was not due to
normal sink, but the rain disturbing the laminar flow on the wings. It
was also a bit harder to see out of the canopy due to the light
drizzle, but not bad by any means. After a nice short field landing,
the field went IFR about 20 minutes later as I got to have the fun of
drying off the glider while putting the covers back on.

While no great flights were had, I learned a hell of a lot this
weekend. Not about cross country soaring, but about general airmanship
and glider performance in marginal conditions. It just goes to show
you that with aviation, there is always new knowledge to gain and
decisions to make.

Fly safe everyone,

Reed

Posted: 5/16/2011 | Rank It!
Does that work?

It's a pity that these blogs are restricted to SSA members...

On May 16, 7:20*pm, GARY BOGGS wrote:
On May 16, 3:15*pm, smithcorp wrote:



On May 17, 1:40*am, Grider Pirate wrote:

On May 16, 5:34*am, GARY BOGGS wrote:

No link?

On May 16, 2:40*am, Reed von Gal wrote:

Had some fun with a banging gear door last Friday and made a
precautionary landing. Learned a great deal. Check out the write up on
my blog at the SSA website.

Reed- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

http://ssa.org/myhome.asp?mbr=309520...w=blog&id=2500

SSA Home
About Soaring
The SSA
News & Information
Sailplane Racing
Soaring Achievement
SSA Partners
Soaring Magazine
SSA Store
Classifieds
Annual Convention
Contact Us

Welcome, Gary

Log Out
MyHome
First Emergency
Hello everyone,

The weekend initially looked good for possible cross country soaring.
Forecasts were for high cloudbases and light winds out of the east.
Unfortunately, a system blew in and shut down soaring for most of the
weekend. I was, however, able to make two flights, and one of them
proved rather eventful.

On friday, I preflighted our Grob 102 and prepared to fly. XXC in his
good looking Discus B had a nice thermal just north of the field, and
although an inversion was capping lift at around 9500 feet, the
prospects for a nice local soaring flight looked promising. After a
thorough preflight and required positive control check, I towed the
glider out to the runway to start the flight.

Takeoff was fairly uneventful except for a slight crosswind correction
to maintain position behind the towplane. Winds were out of the
northeast at around 5 to 9 knots. At around 50 feet, I heard it! A
loud bang seemed to come from underneath and behind me. I kept tow
position and then heard it again a few times. Hearing an unknown noise
at a critical point (or any!) in the flight is especially unnerving
and after taking a second to process the information, I elected to
keep flying the airplane and worry about getting to a safe height.

My first instinct was to pull the release at 200 feet and make a left
turn back to land downwind on Runway 26. I quickly discounted that
when I realized the airplane was flying fine, and there would be no
need to make what could be a small problem into a much larger one. At
around 400 feet, I radioed the towpilot to let him know I was
encountering a strange noise, and to turn left crosswind to set me up
for a downwind on Runway 8.

I had the towpilot climb up to our pattern altitude of 6100 feet MSL
and released abeam midfield on a left downwind for Runway 8. We
normally enter on a midfield crosswind, but due to the abnormal
situation, I had the towpilot put me straight on a downwind to the
runway. With plenty of altitude to play with, I sped up to around 80
knots and then slowed down to just above minimum controllable
airspeed. I noted no control problems and I felt I would have no
problems landing the glider. I declared a Pan Pan on the CTAF as well,
and voiced aloud what the problem was.

After a safe landing and pushing the glider back to her bay, I met up
with my CFIs to discus what the problem might have been and how I
could have reacted differently. The consensus was that it was the
landing gear door banging into the fuselage. Looking at the springs,
they were fairly shot. When I crabbed into the wind on takeoff, the
slipstream must have banged the gear door into the fuselage. The
banging stopped shortly after takeoff when the wind dictated I end the
crab. Made perfect sense on the ground, although a fairly unnerving
noise while I was airborne.

What could I have done differently? A few things, for sure. First
thing I was told, which makes perfect sense in hindsight, would be to
continue the tow normally up to a higher altitude. If the glider is
flying fine, there is no reason to release at a fairly low height when
something might be wrong. I could have flown east toward open fields,
with plenty of altitude to work the problem and potentially bail out
if needed be.*

Secondly, I could have had the towpilot fly next to me and check out
the glider after release to see if there was anything amiss and
flapping around. This would be accomplished at a higher altitude and
east of the field.

What did I do right? Safely land the aircraft! Aviate Navigate
Communicate was drilled into me from day one. I never stopped flying
the airplane, flew where I needed to fly, and communicated my
difficulties over the radio in perfect order.*

What I took away from this was to have a more open mind when something
goes wrong. Don't think the first course of action should be to
immediately get the plane on the ground. Keep flying, think of what
the problem might be, and climb to a higher altitude if you can in
order to liken your chances of a successful bailout if necessary.

On another note, I had my first flight in our new DG 505 that I
recently drove to Wisconsin to get with my CFI. Low ceilings and rain
were pushing their way east off the foothills, and I knew a short
flight was going to be in order. Towed to about 6500 (MSL) feet in
drizzle and less than excellent visibility (about 6sm I would say).
Ceilings were at around 7500 feet (MSL). The glider flew great! I had
my first experience with rain on the canopy and the wings as well. I
was noticing about 4 knots of sink, and realized it was not due to
normal sink, but the rain disturbing the laminar flow on the wings. It
was also a bit harder to see out of the canopy due to the light
drizzle, but not bad by any means. After a nice short field landing,
the field went IFR about 20 minutes later as I got to have the fun of
drying off the glider while putting the covers back on.

While no great flights were had, I learned a hell of a lot this
weekend. Not about cross country soaring, but about general airmanship
and glider performance in marginal conditions. It just goes to show
you that with aviation, there is always new knowledge to gain and
decisions to make.

Fly safe everyone,

Reed

Posted: 5/16/2011 | Rank It!



Does that work?

It's a pity that these blogs are restricted to SSA members...

I appreciate that Gary. I meant to do that myself.

Reed

Wow, thanks a million for that Gary!