At 09:10 12 August 2008, John Wright wrote:

I don't have the full context from the quote above, and while I am
normally loathe to contradict Langewiesche, I must report I have
successfully produced turns with just the rudder in gliders. Give it a
try, and you will find you can produce an adequate turn, because the
yawing causes the dihedral to bank the glider in the desired direction.


I suggest you give it a try at or near the stall...

(Only in america would we come across such a technique even being
discussed!)

So what would you do if your aileron's became disconnected
from the control stick in flight? Interesting problem, right?

It happened to a partner of mine several years ago, in
his 1-26. Exactly how is a bit of a mystery, but using one
safety pin for both control pins was certainly a contributing
factor, and he doesn't do that anymore.

Anyway, what would you have done? He proceeded just as
outlined in the double-indented comment above, flew a wide
pattern and landed successfully back at home base. Of
course, the fact that he was dealing with a 1-26 made the
task somewhat easier than it might have been.

Jim Beckman