slips to landing in PTS

RAS fans may be interested in the results of an investigation by an
instructor/examiner in our club. The question is, do the PTS really
require a slip all the way to landing without ever touching the
spoilers?

(Why? We fly from a short runway, surrounded by houses and trees, and
we have modern, low drag gliders rather than 2-33s. For us, this is a
chancy maneuver with an experienced instructor in back, and clearly
dangerous to send solo students off to practice it on their own.)

It turns out the answer is no; not only is the maneuver not part of
the PTS, the FAA says examiners should not ask for it. But many
examiners and FSDOs don't know this, and think that the maneuver is
required.

The official guidance is in the January 2000 designee update. Here's
the relevant text:

We have had questions on whether the applicant
should complete the landing, with or without the
use of drag devices.

There was never any intent to require an applicant to
complete the landing without the use of drag
devices. The applicant is only required to
demonstrate a slip (forward or side) without using
drag devices, to position the glider for a safe
landing. Element 6 of the TASK states; "make
smooth, proper, and positive control applications
during recovery from the slip." Once this has been
accomplished, the maneuver being evaluated is
over. The applicant then lands the glider within the
designated landing area, using drag devices as
appropriate.

Most important for examiner standardization, the
examiner should not add or decrease elements to
this task, or any other task, by asking the applicant
to do more or less than is required.

The direct link is below, but will get broken up. You can find it by
googling "faa desingee update."

John Cochrane BB

http://www.faa.gov/other_visit/aviat..._01_Update.pdf