At 22:22 06 May 2014, Bill D wrote:
On Tuesday, May 6, 2014 2:41:23 PM UTC-6, Don Johnstone wrote:

Frankly I would be horrified to be required to conduct a turn back at
=20
200ft, I would suggest that this is one of those occasions where the
dang=
er
=20
of practice is to great to justify.

If you should check out in the USA, you'll be required to demonstrate
compe=
tence in this maneuver. Every pre-solo student is required to do so and
mo=
re than a half century of safety records do not suggest a problem. In
fact=
, even with low performance gliders, there's quite a large safety margin.
T=
he most likely outcome is a pilot will find the glider uncomfortably high
f=
or a downwind landing requiring full spoilers and a slip.

The logic is simple - it's better to have pilots trained for the option.
N=
o one says a pilot is required to turn back or that 200' is always
adequate=
to do so. What is illogical is to suggest a pilot be required to crash
in=
unlandable terrain when a safe option exists to land on the departure
runw=
ay.

What are you trying to save? The pilot or the aircraft? The priority should
be survival of the soft bit, that is you and me.
As an instructor with nearly 50 years experience I know that when I
initiate an emergency procedure I do so allowing a margin to ensure my
survival if it does not work out, I have been bold but never certifiable.
Most living instructors have the same survival instinct. That is why I have
lived long enough to do 10,000 launches, and of course landings. It has
already been hinted that the practice you describe involves modifying what
you normally do, in my view that probably makes it pretty useless and not
real preparation for the event. If you did carry out the training in
exactly the same way as the possible real event you might find that the
results were very different, not to mention painful. I will stick with my
300ft thank you, I know it works. Low turns, below that height may have
been acceptable in old wooden gliders, the minimum height in T31 and T21
gliders was 150ft, but for modern glass gliders it is just far too low, you
only have to look at the accident statistics to see that low final turns
figure to a large degree in accidents so why plan for it?
I repeat a controlled descent with wings level is far more likely to have a
better result than hitting the ground in a turn or even worse spinning in
trying to avoid it.

PS Despite all that there have been times when I have initiated a practice
emergency and very quickly wished I had not, no plan survives first
contact.