On Oct 19, 1:36*pm, John Cochrane
wrote:
- Show quoted text -

If the pilot hadn't rejected some weak lift (by US standards) and then
glid in a straight line rather than faffing around, he might have made
it back!

Derek C

Let's see if I can put the same observation a bit more politely. In
part, as this sort of video makes a great training tool for aspiring
cross country pilots. Lessons learned? One big one, of course, is that
stretching final glides for the last 2-3 miles at very low altitudes
is a coffin corner, and this pilot made the right decision not to try
it. The wisdom of "glid in a straight line" depends very much on
terrain and altitude. Mc 0 + 10 feet and unlandable terrain makes it a
bad idea.

But, as Derek points out, the beginning part of the video shows a lot
of waffling around in 10 - 20 degree bank, with the vario showing all
sorts of lift possibilities, while the pilot chats on the radio. I see
those surges on the vario and push the mouse hard to one side. Now,
perhaps "turn the radio off" is extreme. It is potentially a good idea
to notify others of your predicament and imminent chance of landing
out. But then "I'm too busy to talk" might be a better idea, and focus
really hard on catching those scraps of lift, with accurate aggressive
thermaling and decent bank angles -- while of course also looking hard
at the fields below. There is a maxim, "don't leave any lift below X
feet," which applies too, and the pilot said as much at the end of the
flight. I have also suffered bouts of impatience in scratch
thermaling, and spent many pleasant hours in farmer's fields bemoaning
it afterwards.

John Cochrane

Judging by the angle of the sun, it' was quite late in the day and the
thernals would be getting weak. The pilot was probably tired and
hadn't quite changed gear into scratching mode. Add to that he is
trying to thermal, talk on the radio, calculate his final glide, and
pick fields, all at the same time. He never once completes a turn in
the lift he does encounter, so we can't tell whether a climb was
possible or not. I must admit that I have sometimes made the same
errors at the end of a flight, due to a combination of tiredness and
overload.

Yesterday I retrieved a friend who got a bit carried away by mid
October thermals in the UK and got into the same situation as Bruno.
He landed in about the biggest field I have ever seen about 4 miles
out, rather than risk a very marginal glide back to site.

Derek C