Jack wrote in message ...
in article , Tom Seim at
wrote on 2003/09/08 23:52:

Character assignation is a definte debate loser.

Perhaps you meant "...assassination", rather than "...assignation"?

Yes, my fingers were a couple words behind my brain. Shows the problem
with spell check.



...pull up stall-spins following the low pass [are] an
essential part of the maneuver which would not have been
attempted had it not been for the low pass. Thus the low
pass was directly contributory to the accident.

I think you may have to go further and tell us how you define
"low pass". Are pull ups from three feet more dangerous than pullups from
ten feet, or one hundred feet, or three hundred? And by how much,
statistically speaking?

Now you are in the 'bring me a rock' mode. You are no more interested
in additional stats than you are in changing your mind on the matter.
The maneuver is an inherently high-risk one with little margin for
error. Blasting thru a busy GA airport such as the one where I fly out
of with piston A/C, turbine A/C, ultra-lights and helicopters is using
questionable judgment. Not all pilots are on the correct frequency or
have their squelch set properly. Some don't have radios at all. None
will be expecting this maneuver.

Some maneuvers are inherently more dangerous than others (i.e. ridge
soaring and landings). Their accident rate per flight hour WILL be
higher, but you don't see it referenced. It gets lumped into the
overall rate. All of us will be doing one landing for each flight; few
will be doing a low pass.



...training...for high speed low passes...isn't part of
the practical test standards and it certainly wasn't a
part of my training.

Then please don't do them. Nor should you presume to decide who is qualified
to do them and who is not, nor how much risk exposure is involved.


Judgment is the integration of training and experience.
Let the record speak for itself; this maneuver is,
deservedly, a high risk one.

The record merely tells us that some glider pilots have performed the low
pass maneuver poorly. You have no idea how many do it every day with success
and even aplomb.

Not many. I seldom see it performed. Most of them were done at
contests until the rules were changed over concern about safety. I
personally have done them at contests. And I admit it; they were fun!
With the new tasks which had gliders coming in to the finish line from
any direction, even though we all crossed the finish line in the same
direction, heightened the risk substantially.


It is a failing of our government-approved so-called system of training
which refuses to even acknowledge, let alone prepare pilots for, any number
of maneuvers which a competent pilot should have in his repertoire. No
wonder they occasionally do them poorly.


The current program doesn't even address cross country soaring. It
basically teaches gliding, not soaring. Yet much of the glider hours
flown are cross country. The Feds will change training requirements
when they see unusually high accident rates, which is probably just as
well because we would have a real problem getting instructors.

Let me be clear about one thing: the low pass maneuver is legal except
where prohibited by local A/P rules (assuming you don't violate some
other rule in the process). I have no intention of petitioning the FAA
otherwise (have you read the posts by the club that is having major
difficulties with the A/P management?). I was expressing my opinion to
which I am entitled, and just think that low time pilots should not be
attempting it. Now, the bird man thing is another story.