Landing with one spoiler

I committed one of the worst errors - an incomplete preflight check.
I did not check the hotelier locks to the spoiler rods with enough care
before takeoff. Coming into the pattern I extended the spoilers and
noticed immediately that something was wrong. The glider (SparrowHawk)
was pulling to one side and the rate of descent was not as much as I
expected. However the glider was easily controllable. A few seconds and
I saw that the right spoiler was not deploying. What to do? A couple of
attempts to close and open the spoilers did not actuate the right
spoiler. Then, oh well, lets check and see the effect of landing with
only one spoiler. The situation was less dramatic than expected.
Maximum sink rate was halved and the SparrowHawk needed some cross
control to fly straight but no problem. The landing was easy and
controllable. The lessons to be learnt from this are 2 fold: 1) landing
a glider with only one spoiler should be easy for most pilots and 2) do
a serious preflight inspection especially after assembly.
Dave

You did better than a very experienced local club member who had the
same problem many years ago in a DG300. He had one air brake open on
tow, released early instead of gaining altitude and time, misjudged the
approach and rolled it up in a ball.

In the worst case you should be committed to an approach and landing
with both airbrakes full open. Don't we practice that?

Andy

Andy wrote:
You did better than a very experienced local club member who had the
same problem many years ago in a DG300. He had one air brake open on
tow, released early instead of gaining altitude and time, misjudged the
approach and rolled it up in a ball.

In the worst case you should be committed to an approach and landing
with both airbrakes full open. Don't we practice that?

Andy

Same thing happened to my partner in the ASW17/23m we had due to a
universal coupling failing at one of the rod ends in the left wing.
Ground checked okay, but failed on final. Some damage to the wing
underside and a hunt for parts, but we were flying the mighty 17 again
before long.
Rich

rich schrieb:
Same thing happened to my partner in the ASW17/23m we had due to a
universal coupling failing at one of the rod ends in the left wing.
Ground checked okay, but failed on final. Some damage to the wing
underside and a hunt for parts, but we were flying the mighty 17 again
before long.
Rich


We had the same happen in a ASK-21 on final. Looked spectacular, but
fortunately the rear-pilot was experienced enough to keep calm.
Touchdown was a bit sideways but rather normal - no damage.

Reason: after rigging the plane it was checked by someone who did not know the
(then new) Hotelier connections on the '21. ouch... and the person he asked to
check his work later forgot....

Cu around and happy landings!

Markus

On 21 Sep 2005 21:16:29 -0700, "Andy" wrote:

You did better than a very experienced local club member who had the
same problem many years ago in a DG300. He had one air brake open on
tow, released early instead of gaining altitude and time, misjudged the
approach and rolled it up in a ball.

Hmmm... the DG-300 has fully automatic control hookups for the flaps.
How could that happen?


Bye
Andreas

At 15:06 22 September 2005, Andreas Maurer wrote:
On 21 Sep 2005 21:16:29 -0700, 'Andy' wrote:

You did better than a very experienced local club member
who had the
same problem many years ago in a DG300. He had one
air brake open on
tow, released early instead of gaining altitude and
time, misjudged the
approach and rolled it up in a ball.

Hmmm... the DG-300 has fully automatic control hookups
for the flaps.
How could that happen?



Bye
Andreas

The last DG300 I flew was standard Class, what flaps?

I recollect once watching someone land an ASW20 with
only one brake deployed. The pilot didn't even notice
there was a problem, just wondered why one wing dropped
a little earlier than usual. Lucky, I would agree.

At 04:12 22 September 2005, wrote:
I committed one of the worst errors - an incomplete
preflight check.
I did not check the hotelier locks to the spoiler rods
with enough care
before takeoff. Coming into the pattern I extended
the spoilers and
noticed immediately that something was wrong. The glider
(SparrowHawk)
was pulling to one side and the rate of descent was
not as much as I
expected. However the glider was easily controllable.
A few seconds and
I saw that the right spoiler was not deploying. What
to do? A couple of
attempts to close and open the spoilers did not actuate
the right
spoiler. Then, oh well, lets check and see the effect
of landing with
only one spoiler. The situation was less dramatic than
expected.
Maximum sink rate was halved and the SparrowHawk needed
some cross
control to fly straight but no problem. The landing
was easy and
controllable. The lessons to be learnt from this are
2 fold: 1) landing
a glider with only one spoiler should be easy for most
pilots and 2) do
a serious preflight inspection especially after assembly.
Dave

I landed our ASW22A with one brake deployed. It had
been flown previously that day by my syndicate partner,
without problem. Luckily I usually pop the brakes on
the downwind or base leg just to check all is well.
In this instance (at Dunstable) after a bang, the
LHS brake deployed OK, but the RHS stayed down. There
was a roll and yaw. I shut the brake(s) quickly looked
again and the RHS was now open and LHS closed, with
the opposite affect. Gulp, panic at thought of landing
Open class without brakes, etc. Landing was just OK
with a slight groundloop (stick forward and lots of
brake (tail lifts, so no probs).
The Hotelier for the brake had popped off after a previous
flight. We used safetys after that with no further
problems.

1) I still pop the brakes to check on base or final
(and often just after settled into first climb). Cheap
insurance.
2) On the assembly, I always give the Hoteliers a good
tug to ensure they're WELL AND TRUELY connected.
Stay safe.
Pete.


At 15:48 22 September 2005, Chris Rollings wrote:
I recollect once watching someone land an ASW20 with
only one brake deployed. The pilot didn't even notice
there was a problem, just wondered why one wing dropped
a little earlier than usual. Lucky, I would agree.

At 04:12 22 September 2005, wrote:
I committed one of the worst errors - an incomplete
preflight check.
I did not check the hotelier locks to the spoiler rods
with enough care
before takeoff. Coming into the pattern I extended
the spoilers and
noticed immediately that something was wrong. The glider
(SparrowHawk)
was pulling to one side and the rate of descent was
not as much as I
expected. However the glider was easily controllable.
A few seconds and
I saw that the right spoiler was not deploying. What
to do? A couple of
attempts to close and open the spoilers did not actuate
the right
spoiler. Then, oh well, lets check and see the effect
of landing with
only one spoiler. The situation was less dramatic than
expected.
Maximum sink rate was halved and the SparrowHawk needed
some cross
control to fly straight but no problem. The landing
was easy and
controllable. The lessons to be learnt from this are
2 fold: 1) landing
a glider with only one spoiler should be easy for most
pilots and 2) do
a serious preflight inspection especially after assembly.
Dave

Guess I'm just unlucky as I've had this twice.
Many years ago in a Kestrel 19 the brake drive in one
wing failed. Didn't even notice till I'd landed and
saw one brake out and one in.
Second time was test flying a club Grob Acro after
C of A and rigging. It had some cosmetic work done
on the brake slots. On the ground everything worked
perfectly, it had a rigging check, DI, and 2 pre flights
because we initially had a ground run cable break.
On approach the brakes would not open, but did so after
applying quite alot of pressure. In fact one opened
and the other side wing pushrod bent.
After repairs we tried again, after first getting a
lot of people pushing up on the wings, the brakes were
OK. Top of the launch, they would not open until we
pushed over for some reduced G.
It turned out that the cosmetic repairs had closed
up the end gap which the caps need to move about 3
mm tipwise before opening, and the caps were jamming.
It needed a lot of removal before they worked properly.
The point is that there were no control problems whatsoever
with one brake in and one out.

Dave Salmon





At 04:12 22 September 2005, wrote:
I committed one of the worst errors - an incomplete
preflight check.
I did not check the hotelier locks to the spoiler rods
with enough care
before takeoff. Coming into the pattern I extended
the spoilers and
noticed immediately that something was wrong. The glider
(SparrowHawk)
was pulling to one side and the rate of descent was
not as much as I
expected. However the glider was easily controllable.
A few seconds and
I saw that the right spoiler was not deploying. What
to do? A couple of
attempts to close and open the spoilers did not actuate
the right
spoiler. Then, oh well, lets check and see the effect
of landing with
only one spoiler. The situation was less dramatic than
expected.
Maximum sink rate was halved and the SparrowHawk needed
some cross
control to fly straight but no problem. The landing
was easy and
controllable. The lessons to be learnt from this are
2 fold: 1) landing
a glider with only one spoiler should be easy for most
pilots and 2) do
a serious preflight inspection especially after assembly.
Dave