BB wrote:
Others have suggested
increasing speed to increase drag. I am not a big fan of this
technique because I feel it minimizes options for the pilot and is
susceptible to pilot error that can end up in over shooting the LZ.

I didn't think so either until Marty Eiler at Cal City demonstrated it
for me as part of a BFR. Practiced, and properly done, it can produce
an unbelievably steep angle from decision point to stopping point. Yes
you have to point the nose at the ground and look temporarily like
you'll undershoot. Definitely not for beginners, but not a maneuver to
be dismissed either.


I had this taught to me as part of my UK Basic Instructor renewal
course/checks. It works well in a glider with good airbrakes, but not in
something like my Open Cirrus (unless, perhaps, it's a long, long
approach so that there's time to drop below glide path with full brake
and normal approach speed, then bleed off the speed and come back into
the approach funnel at the proper speed).

It's one for the experienced (and properly taught) because you need to
know what's going to happen after you round out. In, say, a Puchacz, the
brakes are so good that you get only a comparatively small increase in
float. In my Cirrus, 10kt extra with full airbarke will far more than
double the float at a height where there is nothing you can do about it
except hang on. Libelles are known to be similar, and from a previous
poster the Duo Discus as well. Fortunately, those who fly gliders with
"weak" airbrakes soon learn about approach speed control ....