pwb@fritz.UUCP (Phil Bonesteele) (06/14/85)
Since people have recently been talking about pilot safety recently,
I thought I'd put in my two bits worth. First, I'm not a power pilot
but I am about to complete my time for a private glider rating. The
following is an `opinion' I have discussed with other glider pilots
who also have power ratings.
Basically that opinion is that time spent in a glider by a power
pilot does ALOT OF GOOD for honing safety skills also required in a
powered craft. Most sailplanes have minimal instrumentation
(especially trainers): airspeed, altimeter, and variometer (vertical
airspeed). That's it ... you are really flying by the seat of your
pants. But it's the (mental) attitude adjustment required for flying
a sailplane that I think is very valuable for the power pilot. Every
second you have to face the fact that you don't have an engine to
bail you out of a poor judgement. Thus you have to be constantly
refining your options to reduce the chance of making a poor judgement
(or reducing its impact) when conditions force you to act quickly.
Sooner or later EVERYONE makes a bad call, and having options laid
out in advance help to make a bad call less severe.
On takeoff (aerotow), you must constantly think "what if the rope
broke here?", or "what if the towplane lost power here? ... what
are my options?". Once in the air and off the rope, your altitude is
your fuel tank. You must be CONSTANTLY AWARE of wind direction and
speed AT YOUR ALTITUDE, vertical air movements (lift, sink), what the
aircraft's effective glide ratios will be for a given airspeed, hor.
airmass movement, ver. airmass movement combination (Speeds to Fly).
This determines whether you can fly to a destination with your
available altitude. You must ALWAYS have alternate landing sites
(fields, etc.) identified and rough plans prepared for using them.
Landings need to be right the first time ... you don't get a second
chance.
I've talked to power pilots who later got a glider rating and they
said that the soaring experience greatly improved their power flight
safety. It made them much more aware of the dynamic fluid they fly
in. I believe the FARs state that a power pilot only needs ten solo
FLIGHTS in a glider to get a glider rating, so it's not that big of a
hassle.
Here's an example of what an instructor will do to test you: The
instructor has a little `talk' with the tow pilot before climbing
into the glider. You take off for what is supposed to be a 3000ft
AGL aerotow, silently playing the "what if" game the whole time. At
about one mile (crosswind) from the airport (heading away from it) at
700ft AGL, the towplane experiences engine trouble, dropping
violently while rocking its wings in the "emergency release" signal.
You release IMMEDIATELY and perform a TIGHT 180 degree turn and
maintain a heading directly back to the airport (you don't have the
altitude for a pattern). Fortunately this was one of the "what if"
games you had been playing on the way out. You had already
identified two open fields directly along the path back to the
airport and had determined safe approaches into them PRIOR TO THE
EMERGENCY! Suddenly you fly through lift! You don't circle (too
low), but you do slow down to maximize the time you spend in raising
air. Miracle of miracles, that extra boost gave you just enough
altitude to fly over your preselected fields, into a direct base leg,
to a downwind final at the airport. You role to a stop just in time
to see your `damaged' towplane landing safely with a shit eating grin
on the tow pilot's face. You turn around and see ditto on the
instructor's face. You know you've been had!
Phil Bonesteele FileNet Corp., Costa Mesa, CA
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