Wingrunner Checklist

My club is considering implementing a wing runner checklist. The wing runner would perform this mental checklist at some point before they give the Begin Takeoff signal.

"CATP"

Canopy....CLOSED AND LOCKED (to the best of their judgement)
Airbrakes....CLOSED AND LOCKED (to the best of their judgement)
Taildolly.....REMOVED
Pattern.....CLEAR

A FEW QUESTIONS....
1. I heard about this at the 2012 SSA convention in Reno. Does anybody know which club has implemented the checklist?

2. Have any of you implemented this or a similar wingrunner checklist?

3. Pros & Cons?

Thanks,
Jamie Shore

Many pilots of single seaters will start the take-off run with open spoilers to increase aileron effectiveness and some pilots will deploy them to activate the wheel brake to prevent the glider overrunning the tow rope on taking up slack.

A clear pattern is overly conservative and in most cases it is best to get the tow- plane and glider off the runway to give landing ships more options. I usually hold a take-off only when a glider is on short final and there may be a potential conflict.

Good judgement is better than a one-rule-fits-all.

But tail dollies - definitely!

Mike

"CARDS"

This one was taught to me for wing runners to be part of the safety process:

C- canopy (closed and latched)
A- airbrakes (as briefed)
R- rudder lock (removed)
D- dollies (removed)
S- scan (in front of glider, up the rope, in front of tow plane)

Turns out it also works for Final Items in the cockpit.

Raul Boerner
LS6b

On Tuesday, March 5, 2013 4:51:55 AM UTC-7, Jamie Shore wrote:
My club is considering implementing a wing runner checklist. The wing runner would perform this mental checklist at some point before they give the Begin Takeoff signal.



"CATP"



Canopy....CLOSED AND LOCKED (to the best of their judgement)

Airbrakes....CLOSED AND LOCKED (to the best of their judgement)

Taildolly.....REMOVED

Pattern.....CLEAR



A FEW QUESTIONS....

1. I heard about this at the 2012 SSA convention in Reno. Does anybody know which club has implemented the checklist?



2. Have any of you implemented this or a similar wingrunner checklist?



3. Pros & Cons?



Thanks,

Jamie Shore

You could make this required of new members, or present at your annual safety meeting.

http://www.soaringsafety.org/school/wingrunner/toc.htm

It's good for people to know what things are important. If you've been following RAS for a while, you'll know that a pilot nearly took a launch with the horizontal cover in place.

Frank Whiteley

On Tuesday, March 5, 2013 5:51:55 AM UTC-6, Jamie Shore wrote:
My club is considering implementing a wing runner checklist. The wing runner would perform this mental checklist at some point before they give the Begin Takeoff signal.



"CATP"



Canopy....CLOSED AND LOCKED (to the best of their judgement)

Airbrakes....CLOSED AND LOCKED (to the best of their judgement)

Taildolly.....REMOVED

Pattern.....CLEAR



A FEW QUESTIONS....

1. I heard about this at the 2012 SSA convention in Reno. Does anybody know which club has implemented the checklist?



2. Have any of you implemented this or a similar wingrunner checklist?



3. Pros & Cons?



Thanks,

Jamie Shore

As one who takes off with spoilers open -- spoilers either closed and locked, or all the way open. The trouble sign is spoilers cracked, but not all open. On fiberglass gliders (not blaniks) the spoilers will not stay open by themselves, so if they are open you know the pilot's hand is on the spoiler lever and it's intentional.

A checklist is a good idea. As others mentioned, the pattern need not be clear, but looking to see who is in the pattern where they are and helping to decide whether the tow can proceed, or needs to wait for the landing glider is important.

What's nice about this one is you proceed in a logical direction from front to back.

John cochrane

John, that's not always true. My LS8 spoilers will stay open by themselves, even without me in the cockpit. I agree with the rest of what you say.

-John, Q3

On Tuesday, March 5, 2013 10:18:35 AM UTC-5, wrote:

As one who takes off with spoilers open -- spoilers either closed and locked, or all the way open. The trouble sign is spoilers cracked, but not all open. On fiberglass gliders (not blaniks) the spoilers will not stay open by themselves, so if they are open you know the pilot's hand is on the spoiler lever and it's intentional.

A checklist is a good idea. As others mentioned, the pattern need not be clear, but looking to see who is in the pattern where they are and helping to decide whether the tow can proceed, or needs to wait for the landing glider is important.

What's nice about this one is you proceed in a logical direction from front to back.

John cochrane

I thought all this was the pilot's responsibility. I don't want someone blaming the wing runner if I take off with my canopy unlatched or tail dolly on and something happens. No harm in wingrunner checking these things but it is not their primary responsibility.

On 3/5/2013 8:47 AM, Clay wrote:
I thought all this was the pilot's responsibility. I don't want someone
blaming the wing runner if I take off with my canopy unlatched or tail
dolly on and something happens. No harm in wingrunner checking these
things but it is not their primary responsibility.


I know it's still winter in the northern hemisphere, and, that we're
discussing a perhaps fine point, but "I'm pretty much in Clay's camp" insofar
as primary (key word) responsibilities go...with the exception of the pattern.

Because Joe Glider Pilot doesn't fully control all that goes on between
pushout/pilot-installation in the cockpit/pilot-readiness, "by definition"
s/he isn't in the best position to "have up-to-date knowledge" of what's going
on in the pattern behind the glider.

When I run wings, I "naturally" check everything I can (on tug/rope/glider) to
the best of my ability, but I've long considered it MY primary responsibility
to "clear the pattern" prior to giving the thumbs up to the glider pilot (the
signal at our field it's OK for JGP to signal the wingrunner that JGP is ready
to raise the wingtip to level & launch).

As Joe Glider Pilot, my hope is (& I do try to be aware of this aspect of the
wingrunner's actions) my wingrunner has "the pattern aspect" adequately sussed
out. Responsibility for "everything else" glider-related associated with the
launch is mine.

A properly handled preparation for a wing-run glider launch is a dance of
beauty, with much happening "not in obvious sight"...

Bob W.

On Tue, 05 Mar 2013 07:34:11 -0800, John Carlyle wrote:

John, that's not always true. My LS8 spoilers will stay open by
themselves, even without me in the cockpit. I agree with the rest of
what you say.


Its not limited to just single seaters either: the spoilers will stay
open on a parked Puchacz.



--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org |

of course the buck stops with the pilot but the wingrunner, towpilot and any knowledgable bystanders are all part of the safety net. an american cheese model of safety does not work, we have swiss cheese. case in point, Sean Fidler (F2) who does like to drive us all crazy in the winter, managed to save a couple pilots lives at Uvalde as they nearly took off with the cover on their horizontal stabilizer. the wing runner didn't notice, the two presumably experienced pilots didn't notice, and their presumably well trained crew missed it. sometimes you need a lot of layers of swiss chees before all the holes were filled.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuTBQIb721g