Spring comes a bit earlier down here, so I thought I'd pass on some reminders of the mistakes we're re-learning (again) down here. Perhaps just bringing them up will help to keep them from happening elsewhere.
Disclaimer... I live at a flight park (Quest) so this is all aerotow stuff... I'm sure someone will fire up the talks about mountain flights too.
Tieing your glider down.
"It'll be fine, I have it tail to the wind"
"It'll be fine, I have my harness on it"
"It'll be fine, it isn't gusty today"
And my favorite "Quit worrying, you're just paranoid"
All words spoken just before the first dust devil attack of the season yesterday. Light and variable winds all day... sled city. By no one's account a booming day. Yet 3 gliders were tossed to the winds. One was tied with a dog screw (which was quickly torn out of the ground). It suffered a torn sail. The next was in the middle of a group of other gliders that were tied down (it wasn't). It was lifted up, flipped over and landed on an other glider. Luckily the ground wires (and a very quick groundcrew) kept it from putting its kingpost through the sail. The third was sitting on a cart, unattended, when it made a B-line for the lake. Fortunately a groundcrew was able to grab it before it took the plunge.
Knocking off the rust...
"I haven't flown in a year... do you think it's soarable yet?"
It seems silly to bring this one up, but it's heard nearly daily here. If it's been a while, please consider a morning sledride to knock off the rust. A $10 pattern tow could spare you a $50 downtube (or worse).
Clearing the LZ...
An other seemingly silly one, but there always seems to be someone trying to land on someone else. Hopefully we're all nice and tired from a good flight when we land, but pease be kind and move off to the side.
Scratching over the end of the runway...
We've all done it, and we all know better. No one else can land or take off while you work that last ditch effort of a thermal. Here at Quest, you just hog the entire airport. Back at Highland, you're playing in traffic, awaiting being run over by a Cessna.
I trust that none of these describes anyone reading this post....
"Don't be _that_ guy"
Blue skies.
Jim
Cardinal Sins of Spring
Moderator: CHGPA BOD
Cardinal Sins of Spring
It's not paranoia if they really are trying to get ya... - Hugh
On 1 Apr 2005, at 08:36, jimrooney wrote:
> Spring comes a bit earlier down here, so I thought I'd pass on some
> reminders of the mistakes we're re-learning (again) down here. Perhaps
> just bringing them up will help to keep them from happening elsewhere.
>
> Disclaimer... I live at a flight park (Quest) so this is all aerotow
> stuff... I'm sure someone will fire up the talks about mountain
> flights too.
>
> Tieing your glider down.
> "It'll be fine, I have it tail to the wind"
> "It'll be fine, I have my harness on it"
> "It'll be fine, it isn't gusty today"
> And my favorite "Quit worrying, you're just paranoid"
> All words spoken just before the first dust devil attack of the
> season yesterday. Light and variable winds all day... sled city. By no
> one's account a booming day. Yet 3 gliders were tossed to the winds.
> One was tied with a dog screw (which was quickly torn out of the
> ground). It suffered a torn sail. The next was in the middle of a
> group of other gliders that were tied down (it wasn't). It was lifted
> up, flipped over and landed on an other glider. Luckily the ground
> wires (and a very quick groundcrew) kept it from putting its kingpost
> through the sail. The third was sitting on a cart, unattended, when it
> made a B-line for the lake. Fortunately a groundcrew was able to grab
> it before it took the plunge.
>
> Knocking off the rust...
> "I haven't flown in a year... do you think it's soarable yet?"
> It seems silly to bring this one up, but it's heard nearly daily
> here. If it's been a while, please consider a morning sledride to
> knock off the rust. A $10 pattern tow could spare you a $50 downtube
> (or worse).
>
> Clearing the LZ...
> An other seemingly silly one, but there always seems to be someone
> trying to land on someone else. Hopefully we're all nice and tired
> from a good flight when we land, but pease be kind and move off to the
> side.
>
> Scratching over the end of the runway...
> We've all done it, and we all know better. No one else can land or
> take off while you work that last ditch effort of a thermal. Here at
> Quest, you just hog the entire airport. Back at Highland, you're
> playing in traffic, awaiting being run over by a Cessna.
>
> I trust that none of these describes anyone reading this post....
> "Don't be _that_ guy"
> Blue skies.
> Jim
>
>
>
>
>
On 1 Apr 2005, at 08:36, jimrooney wrote:
> Spring comes a bit earlier down here, so I thought I'd pass on some
> reminders of the mistakes we're re-learning (again) down here. Perhaps
> just bringing them up will help to keep them from happening elsewhere.
>
> Disclaimer... I live at a flight park (Quest) so this is all aerotow
> stuff... I'm sure someone will fire up the talks about mountain
> flights too.
>
> Tieing your glider down.
> "It'll be fine, I have it tail to the wind"
> "It'll be fine, I have my harness on it"
> "It'll be fine, it isn't gusty today"
> And my favorite "Quit worrying, you're just paranoid"
> All words spoken just before the first dust devil attack of the
> season yesterday. Light and variable winds all day... sled city. By no
> one's account a booming day. Yet 3 gliders were tossed to the winds.
> One was tied with a dog screw (which was quickly torn out of the
> ground). It suffered a torn sail. The next was in the middle of a
> group of other gliders that were tied down (it wasn't). It was lifted
> up, flipped over and landed on an other glider. Luckily the ground
> wires (and a very quick groundcrew) kept it from putting its kingpost
> through the sail. The third was sitting on a cart, unattended, when it
> made a B-line for the lake. Fortunately a groundcrew was able to grab
> it before it took the plunge.
>
> Knocking off the rust...
> "I haven't flown in a year... do you think it's soarable yet?"
> It seems silly to bring this one up, but it's heard nearly daily
> here. If it's been a while, please consider a morning sledride to
> knock off the rust. A $10 pattern tow could spare you a $50 downtube
> (or worse).
>
> Clearing the LZ...
> An other seemingly silly one, but there always seems to be someone
> trying to land on someone else. Hopefully we're all nice and tired
> from a good flight when we land, but pease be kind and move off to the
> side.
>
> Scratching over the end of the runway...
> We've all done it, and we all know better. No one else can land or
> take off while you work that last ditch effort of a thermal. Here at
> Quest, you just hog the entire airport. Back at Highland, you're
> playing in traffic, awaiting being run over by a Cessna.
>
> I trust that none of these describes anyone reading this post....
> "Don't be _that_ guy"
> Blue skies.
> Jim
>
>
>
>
>
-
Paul Tjaden
- Posts: 398
- Joined: Tue Feb 08, 2005 10:28 pm
One of the gliders that Jim mentioned having been tossed around by the dusty that came through yesterday was my new ATOS. I had arrived late and all the tie downs were in use. As Jim mentioned, it was a zero wind day, hazy and virtually NO thermal activity but I still didn't want to leave my new pride and joy untied so I did what I THOUGHT was the right thing and screwed a dog tie tightly into the ground and tied it securely. I had decided to work on my landing skills with Kevin and was just hooking into a flex wing that Kevin thought would be better to start with when suddenly all Hell broke loose. The huge wing of my new toy caught the twisting wind and the dog tie tore from the ground like it was stuck in jello. I can't describe the horrible feeling of helplessly watching my beautiful new glider flip through the air and onto it's back. Damage was a small tear in the fabric of the leading edge and minor, repairable damage to a carbon fiber down tube. Considering what COLD have happened, I was quite lucky. These things are kinda fragile and it might have been totally destroyed. Anyway, guess it was a cheap lesson. Thought I had it covered but obviously, not well enough. A lesson I won't soon forget!!
Paul
Paul