Sikorsky To Acquire Schweizer Aircraft

Kirk Stant wrote:
Bruce Greeff wrote in message ...


As an example of habit problems - From comments on this group it appears the
most common approach taught in the USA is to fly the 2-33 onto the ground.
Apparently it is so slow and draggy that it is desirable to carry as much energy as possible to the round out - so they tend to learn to leave the flare out - then it becomes the standard taught. Finesse is one thing, but all that energy has to go somewhere and most glass will not take kindly to this.

Bruce


Close. The 2-33 has an achilles' heel - a weak tailwheel - that will
not tolerate low-energy tail-first or main-and-tail landings. So
pilots are taught to fly it on the runway level, touching down on the
main wheel only, usually still a bit above stall speed. Kind of like
a wheel landing in a tailwheel powerplane.

Note that you can land a 2-33 nice and slow, by holding it off, but
that is not trained often for fear of that weak tailwheel.

So now you have a student taught to land by "flaring" to a level
attitude, then waiting for the glider to settle on it's mainwheel,
then slowing by using the skid if necessary, who now tries to land a
G-103 for the first time without a comprehensive briefing: Level off
(a bit fast probably), touch down on the main (maybe a bit firmly due
to the touchy divebrakes), then a wicked bounce as the nosewheel
bounces off the ground, and the Grob jumps back in the air - and the
cycle repeats, more violently each time! YeeHA - there goes the
nosewheel, and maybe the tailwheel too. Seen it happen a few times.

Of course, if all you fly are Schweitzers (except the 1-35, maybe),
that technique will work fine (in the 2-22, 1-23, 1-26, 1-34 and 2-32,
for example).

Too bad for the Grob-103 fleet, however!

Kirk
Hi Kirk

That is pretty much what I was getting at - The 2-33 is held as a paragon of
virtue and the habits it teaches result in damage to the next glider flown. As
logic would have it this seems to result in one of the toughest gliders around
being derided for "always being in the repair shop"

Around here (and most places) the G103 is regarded as one of the strongest and
easiest to fly. Surely if low time pilots are regularly breaking them you should
look for what is wrong with what they are taught?

Bruce