I'm flying way too fast, Or am I?

Ever had the sensation that you are flying way too fast for your landing? It
happens when you see objects coming by the cockpit, going way too fast for a
normal landing. When does this happen? Well, when you're landing down-wind or
when you forgot to put the flaps down. I have done both and got a powerful, but
DEAD WRONG sensation of *I'm flying way too fast*

Why do I bring this up? Because I believe we have just experienced 2 accidents
that were caused by this phenomenon. In the accident at Air Sailing, after a
rope break, the pilot made a 180 and was approaching the departure runway at
very low altitude, when he suddenly stalled and crashed. Why? He had a 15 knot
head-wind on take-off which would give him a 15 knot tail-wind for his
down-wind landing???

In a recent Salto accident in Oregon, the ship was seen heading for an
off-field landing, with a significant tail-wind. At about 60 feet, the ship
suddenly banked 90 degrees left and crashed. Stall??? Did the pilot get the,
*I'm flying way too fast*, sensation???
Food for thought,
JJ Sinclair

Astute observation, JJ. To that I would add high density altitude. Even
landing into a breeze a high density altitude will produce a high true
airspeed that makes the approach seem "way too fast."

Everybody, keep the ASI in your scan during approaches.

Bill Daniels

"JJ Sinclair" wrote in message
...
Ever had the sensation that you are flying way too fast for your landing?
It
happens when you see objects coming by the cockpit, going way too fast for
a
normal landing. When does this happen? Well, when you're landing down-wind
or
when you forgot to put the flaps down. I have done both and got a
powerful, but
DEAD WRONG sensation of *I'm flying way too fast*

Why do I bring this up? Because I believe we have just experienced 2
accidents
that were caused by this phenomenon. In the accident at Air Sailing, after
a
rope break, the pilot made a 180 and was approaching the departure runway
at
very low altitude, when he suddenly stalled and crashed. Why? He had a 15
knot
head-wind on take-off which would give him a 15 knot tail-wind for his
down-wind landing???

In a recent Salto accident in Oregon, the ship was seen heading for an
off-field landing, with a significant tail-wind. At about 60 feet, the
ship
suddenly banked 90 degrees left and crashed. Stall??? Did the pilot get
the,
*I'm flying way too fast*, sensation???
Food for thought,
JJ Sinclair

Bill Daniels wrote:

Astute observation, JJ. To that I would add high density altitude. Even
landing into a breeze a high density altitude will produce a high true
airspeed that makes the approach seem "way too fast."

Everybody, keep the ASI in your scan during approaches.

And, fly by attitude, not by ground speed.
--
Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly

Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA

I have long asserted that many more accidents are caused by the
illusion of speed than it is given credit for.

I Agree with Eric with this added thought. "Fly by Attitude, below
1000 feet check it with the ASI"

I 1st noticed this on my third off field landing in my 1-26. Flying a
base leg close the ground the Attitude and speed looked good but the
faithful 1-26 began its pre-stall rumble. A look at the ASI confirmed
that I was very slow. I pushed the nose down and I now looked like I
was way to nose down and fast (for a 1-26). At this point I noticed
that I had to force myself to maintain this attitude becuase it did
not feel natural. A very simlar feeling to leans when flying on
instruments. After this experience I can easily see how I could have
got in trouble if I had been flying a less forgiving airplane or one
that I was not as familiar with the stall characteristics.

Brian Case
CFIIG/ASEL


(JJ Sinclair) wrote in message ...
Ever had the sensation that you are flying way too fast for your landing? It
happens when you see objects coming by the cockpit, going way too fast for a
normal landing. When does this happen? Well, when you're landing down-wind or
when you forgot to put the flaps down. I have done both and got a powerful, but
DEAD WRONG sensation of *I'm flying way too fast*

Why do I bring this up? Because I believe we have just experienced 2 accidents
that were caused by this phenomenon. In the accident at Air Sailing, after a
rope break, the pilot made a 180 and was approaching the departure runway at
very low altitude, when he suddenly stalled and crashed. Why? He had a 15 knot
head-wind on take-off which would give him a 15 knot tail-wind for his
down-wind landing???

In a recent Salto accident in Oregon, the ship was seen heading for an
off-field landing, with a significant tail-wind. At about 60 feet, the ship
suddenly banked 90 degrees left and crashed. Stall??? Did the pilot get the,
*I'm flying way too fast*, sensation???
Food for thought,
JJ Sinclair

One of the major failings of the aviation community and manufacturers
is the design and installation of angle of attack indicators. AOA
indicators, long used by the military, are the only true solution to
these types of stall accidents.
Especially valuable to soaring performance as AOA can be used
throughout the performance envelope.
Soaring organizations world wide could easily fund the research and
development of accurate, reliable and inexpensive AOA units for new
and to retrofit gliders.

On 6/21/04 8:29 AM, in article
, "Rod Pool"
wrote:

One of the major failings of the aviation community and manufacturers
is the design and installation of angle of attack indicators. AOA
indicators, long used by the military, are the only true solution to
these types of stall accidents.
Especially valuable to soaring performance as AOA can be used
throughout the performance envelope.
Soaring organizations world wide could easily fund the research and
development of accurate, reliable and inexpensive AOA units for new
and to retrofit gliders.

How about a "yaw" string on the side of the canopy?

--
Bob
bobgreenblattATmsnDOTcom --fix this before responding