Got the runways reversed again

Fourth contest day and getting worn out - just two flights in my glider before contest and hadn't flown in the area for four years. Tagged a beer can over the foothills and headed back. Gust bonked my head on the canopy (yes, I really do tighten my straps) and shut down the Air Glide S which showed wildly off bank and pitch on restart.

Got back with plenty of height, DID NOT CHECK WINDSOCK or look at wind arrow on Air Glide S.

Landed downwind while announcing the reciprocal runway and got closer to the fence than I've ever been in a glider - still lots of room.

It's been a few years since I've mixed up runways. I'm thinking I should put a geographic name with the runway number - town, river, highway...

I've got a King HSI with heading bug that I'll sell you cheap. Simply
put the bug on the runway heading and you have a visual indication of
which way the runway is oriented.

Of course, it might over gross your ship... :-D

On 7/2/2019 8:50 PM, George Haeh wrote:
Fourth contest day and getting worn out - just two flights in my glider before contest and hadn't flown in the area for four years. Tagged a beer can over the foothills and headed back. Gust bonked my head on the canopy (yes, I really do tighten my straps) and shut down the Air Glide S which showed wildly off bank and pitch on restart.

Got back with plenty of height, DID NOT CHECK WINDSOCK or look at wind arrow on Air Glide S.

Landed downwind while announcing the reciprocal runway and got closer to the fence than I've ever been in a glider - still lots of room.

It's been a few years since I've mixed up runways. I'm thinking I should put a geographic name with the runway number - town, river, highway...


--
Dan, 5J

I once landed a Cessna 150 on the wrong runway when a Citation was getting ready to take off in the opposite direction. Thankfully the Citation had as on TCAS and the incident didn't go beyond a bruised ego.

On Wednesday, 3 July 2019 12:37:55 UTC-6, ripacheco1967 wrote:
I once landed a Cessna 150 on the wrong runway when a Citation was getting ready to take off in the opposite direction. Thankfully the Citation had as on TCAS and the incident didn't go beyond a bruised ego.

On my first solo in a TMG I had a Beech Bonanza line up and take off downwind, as I was on short final. Numerous folks around the field yelling at him on Unicom to no avail. I had been flying unpowered gliders for several years, so just ran the motorglider off the runway into the grass as soon as it was going slow enough. CFI was having a heart attack watching. Of course, I should just have powered up and gone around, but as a glider pilot I forgot I had that option!