On 25/06/14 01:29, son_of_flubber wrote:
On Tuesday, June 24, 2014 10:48:14 AM UTC-4, Evan Ludeman wrote:
If you were to try this (ed. landing inverted), the glider would touch down on the tail with the nose pitched rather high and the fuselage would drop hard on the cockpit, still with significant forward speed.
Then maybe the fuselage would break behind the wings, thus dissipating a great deal of energy and the pieces would come to rest relatively intact like in the photo of the Long Mynd landing. I conclude that 'flying the glider' until it stops is the better option even if the glider is inverted.
When someone crawls out of a wreck that stops inverted, it's because the glider flopped on its back at the end of some sort of tumble and it happened to do so in a relatively gentle fashion....
Tumbling a glider in 'a relatively gentle fashion' is a possibility??
Related: Does anyone know of a case where a glider was flipped inverted on turn to final in rotor-in-pattern conditions? I'm curious because I got thrashed severely on turn to final a few weeks ago.
Similar but different...
An acquaintance told me he had been the K13 pilot in the accident below.
He stated that he plowed into the grid upside down. I didn't quite believe
him - because I couldn't quite understand why he was unscathed.
Perhaps someone with less tenuous connection to the accident can comment.
http://www.lakesgc.co.uk/mainwebpage...Jul%201977.pdf
page 128
VORTEX CREATES HAVOC AT LASHAM
One air scout hurt (two broken ribs), four badly
and one slightly damaged gliders were the
result when a K-13 on finals was 'hit' by the
vortex of a Boeing 727 at Lasham on Saturday,
April 30, and lost control.
The K-13 came in to land just after the 727
had taken off from the opposite direction (in
cross-wind conditions) and flew into the take-off
vortex at its worst point of turbulence. It dived
or spun in towards the gliders in the aero-tow
queue and others parked along the side
damaging a K- 7. K·8, Astir and Std Libelle in
the process. luckily the K-13 pilots were un-
hurt. 'The accident is under investigation. but
the cost of this mishap is estimated to be in the
region of £25000.