On Wednesday, May 29, 2019 at 7:30:04 AM UTC-7, Jonathon May wrote:
At 13:48 29 May 2019, Roy B. wrote:
"Last year, I did 400 off field landings with students in a a motor
glider.=
{Emphasis by Tom Knauff} With few exceptions, each one of those pilots
wou=
ld have crashed during one of their first attempts at a real landing.
(Reme=
mber we begin with easy fields.)"=20



Let's not lose sight of the fact that each one of those students likely
had=
very limited prior experience in the 2-place motor glider being used and
w=
ere likely doing one of their first motorglider landings of any type in
tha=
t exercise. It should be obvious that one does not attempt an off field
la=
nding in a glider they are not fully competent to land at an airport. I
do=
n't see this "statistic" (if that is what it is) to be meaningful and it
se=
ems more designed to alarm.
ROY


Simulated field landings in a motor glider are not ideal.
But they are a lot better than no advance practice.
I remember my first landout,my heart was in my mouth and my pulse going
like a jack hammer.When I came to a stop I only had 1/2 a mile left in
front.

My only early xc training was a couple of flights in a Grob 109. I thought it was invaluable Training!! We planned a triangle, flew it and made simulated landing on a bunch of landout spots, flying the approach to perhaps 20 ft AGL adding power and flying away. These powered flights taught me how know to think and plan safely as I started to fly my own XC flights. I have never had a high heart rate in an unplanned landing. Few years ago I did my first damage to a glider scraping the nose while landing on a somewhat dry lake, with lots of debris on roll out. Frankly I was too low when I arrived and too slow, turned final at 78 ft agl and 51 knots. Still have not had an insurance claim though, knock on wood.