On 7/27/2011 3:31 AM, wrote:
Let me try to make my point a little clearer.

Glider pilots are divided in opinion and react to an accident like
this one with two distinct ways of thinking....

If seems most on this group react in an emotional way:

"Oh, that was terrible, oh if only (fill in blank) they would be alive
today.....Oh, we have to come up with some new regulations, some new
mandates, some new training methods, the FAA and SAA oughtta do
something......lets add a new layer of technology (radio)..... that
'll save the next guy....."

I make it a habbit of reading about glider accidents.......Purely for
selfish reasons....(well not totally selfish, also to teach my
students and friends)

I want to figure out what happened to those poor fellows, and make
sure it doesn't happen to me....I like to learn from the mistakes of
others (especially when it comes to fatal mistakes).

So I have read about several "pull the release instead of closing the
spoiler" incidents over the years.....some having bad outcome...

So what am I gonnn do so that this doesn't happen to me?.....

For me, instead of reaching "outside" as suggested by most guys on
this group....I reach "inside"....

What can "I" do......not what can "somebody else" do? (I take
responsibility for my safety)

I then imediately "go back to basics"....what was I taught and what I
learned over the years....

In this case I come up with some simple remedies which will prevent
the problem.....100%

Preflight inspection with checklist
Pre take off checklist
Keep hand near / on spoiler handle
Cockpit management
Situational awareness (poor climb rate)
Know the signals
Formulate an emergency plan for "this" flight

See....two completly different ways of thinking...about safety...

I think you have completely misunderstood how most of us react to this
situation:

1) Most of us agree with your list
2) Most of us don't see how using a radio, or LEDs to warn of open
spoilers, isn't an improvement.

Personally, I know that even a well trained pilot , who is also a CFIG
for 16 years, very safety conscious, who has flown accident free for
thousands of hours, sometimes unintentionally skips a step or two. That
pilot thinks some technology to mitigate those lapses is a good idea.

Yep, I'm talking about me.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to
email me)
- "Transponders in Sailplanes - Feb/2010" also ADS-B, PCAS, Flarm
http://tinyurl.com/yb3xywl
- "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation Mar/2004" Much of what
you need to know tinyurl.com/yfs7tnz