Marc Sinks Like a Brick

[Flying Lobster]

So I pull up at Woodstock after getting up at 6:00 am and driving all day from Chattanooga on my way to Maine via DC.

I haul Matthews butt back to launch along with 2 tons of trailer and household effects, and decide why not, let's give the PG a go. I kinda knew I was a bit rusty and tired, so perhaps not as sharp as I usually might be.

I get lots of help setting the wing up and reverse is easy and I nail it on my first try--though the glider seems kinda sinky coming off launch. I turn left and feel very strong lift, but the glider seems to stutter and I continue sinking but still feel transitions of lift so try turning some. The glider feels sluggish so I look up to check all the lines--the brakes feel like I'm pulling on nothing while speedbar seems rather stiff. I expect to see a riser twist, brake line wrap or some other line weirdness, but all appears normal--but the glider continues to sink like a brick--and I quickly realize that I'm not going to be able to turn back and make the main lz. In fact, I'm not even going to make the bridge lz. I then look up again to examine the wing, and this time, silhouetted against the sunny sky, I see a rock the size of a brick lodged against the trailing edge at exactly the center of the wing, the wing's profile is definitely mis-formed and even on glide with no brakes the feel is like being in parachutage.

About this time I come across some strong lift or turbulence and the glider pitches up and back and I go to trim getting ready for the subsequent surge forward. Although I hardly put any brakes on, the glider completely collapses in a horseshoe and slides off to my right side. I'm roughly 300 ft over the woods in the bowl to the south of the spine with the road to the top. I knew if I was going to deploy the reserve it had to be immediately, but the wing itself didn't look wrapped up or entering a spin configuration, so I felt (probably incorrectly) that I had enough time to try to sort things out and then huck if I had to.

In a short free-fall mode the glider reinflated and the subsequent surge forward somehow expelled the big stone, but I now was so low over the woods that I knew I wasn't going to make it into anything that reselmbled a landing field. Back in it's normal configuration the glider's glide improved dramatically, so I just made it to the edge of the woods at the base of the ridge where I managed to stick it into somebody's back yard along the edge of road that eventually goes to the top of the ridge. Whew!

So, what went wrong? Probably a series of bad decisions involving being tired after a long drive. I also did not lay out and preflight the entire glider only by myself as I normally do--I may have missed the offending rock or at least laid out in a better area without so much loose stones. I was ver lucky--and I hate counting luck on flight's outcome (except finding thermals).

marc

[eggzkitz]

What color was the wing? What time did you land?

[Flying Lobster]

Purple--about 6:00 or so.

marc

[pink_albatross]

I prefer the version of events as I was told it:
most of it the way Marc relates it here, but I particularily liked this part, which for some reason he left out:
When Marc's wing re-inflated, the brick sized rock shot out and almost hit him in the head.

[Spark]

Marc,

Thanks for sharing that amazing story. I'm so relieved you were uninjured.

[Flying Lobster]

Thanks for the kind thoughts, friend. Good karma on you!

marc

[eggzkitz]

I was right above you when you landed and watched... with curiosity. I thought maybe you lived in the neighborhood!

That was a very nicely done landing.... tight spot but you nailed it.

[Flying Lobster]

Well, you know what they say--necessity is the mother of invention! hahah. Actually, my flying in Maine has taught me to stick it in in tight places, so to speak. Still, I was a bit of a knucklehead for my lack of attention to preflighting and setting up my glider properly--and things could have turned out a lot worse.

marc

[silverwings]

Marc, quite a story! About how large of a rock do you think your passenger was and was it inside of the sail or how attached? Any thoughts on how it contributed to your collapse and was effecting the sails inflation? Sure glad you made it to a safe landing.

[Flying Lobster]

Thanks John.

I've flown with debris inside my sail before--but never anything as big as this. It literally looked to be the size of a brick--though perhaps not as thick. As I mentioned--it was against the trailing edge exactly in the center of the wing, so it was affecting the wing's profile in one of the worst places it could be.

Although the bowl behind the spine may have been turbulent and sinky, I have enough hours on my Lambada to know what normal flying feels like--and it didn't feel close to this at all. I really don't know what I could have done to prevent the situation other than doing a better job of laying out and pre-flighting, though I've seen many pilots over time be less careful than I was. My instinct was to fly through the problem and land as quickly as possible--though in reality I had no other choice except to possibly collapse the glider on purpose to try to get rid of the rock--but that could just as easily have had disastrous consequences if the rock didn't come out and instead locked the glider in a useless spinning ball. I was lucky.

marc

[hang_pilot]

Dude!!!!...I haven't checked out this forum for a few days! Glad you're ok and good job on the emergency spot landing.

Is this what happened: the rock hanging out at the t.e. was like pulling hard on the brake line at that point. High AOA, wing depressurized and collapsed?

Best,
Daniel