I must be missing something.

During a BFR a year or so ago I was asked to fly the
aircraft - a Grob 103 - without the benefit of each
of the controls (one at a time!). The no-airbrake landing
worked out fine. Yes you have to set up a low approach
and use slips, but the key thing for successfully executing
the maneuver is to point the nose at the runway threshold
(or just short) and let the speed build up. Higher
speed plus a sideslip produces a fair amount of additional
drag, even on a 'modern' glider. As I remember, we
got up to about 80 knots, leveled out at about 20 feet
and held the slip to bleed off airspeed until just
before the flare. This way you don't have to turn final
at 50 feet to make the landing spot. I'm not fond of
S-turns on final as I know of at least one high-time
pilot who died in spin doing this.

I'd rather practice all of this ahead of time when
I know I have a backup plan rather than having to do
it perfectly the first time in an emergency. Whether
it should be part of a practical exam for a private
ticket is debatable I suppose, but I highly recommend
that all glider pilots practice for jammed controls
every so often.

9B


At 17:54 31 October 2004, Andreas Maurer wrote:
On Sun, 31 Oct 2004 05:50:43 GMT, 'Roger Worden'
wrote:

I'm preparing for my Private test, and in discussing
it with the local FAA
examiner, he indicated that one item on the test is
a landing with no drag
devices, using only a turning and forward slips. As
he explained it, the
task in the PTS is to demonstrate the ability to land
totally WITHOUT
airbrakes, to simulate a landing wherein the airbrakes
have failed.

This requirement is one of the major bull**** things
I ever had the
pleasure of reading on RAS.

My advice - get some other FAA examiner. This one obviously
doesn't
know anything about gliding.


Throughout my training I've practiced many turning
slips to FINAL APPROACH
(to lose altitude) without airbrakes, but I have always
ended the slip and
landed normally by using the airbrakes.

I bet that this FAA examiner has never done that either
in a modern
glider with an L/D over 30 - otherwise he's know that
it's going to
take a runway of *at least* 6.000 ft and a sideslip
to *very* low
altitude to be able to land without using the airbrakes.





Bye
Andreas