The rudder waggle signal does not work

On Jul 24, 8:00*am, Pat Russell wrote:
So far you have "blamed" the accident on
lack of radio
the rudder signal
The lack of good instruction
the topilots' use of the signal

everything to divert responsibility away from the glider pilot and on
to something/someone else

By this logic, there's no such thing as a bad training program.

Assigning blame is off-topic.

It's not a question of blame. *No one denies that the pilot is
responsible for all of his actions.

The issue is whether our national training program (as promoted by
SSF) contains an unforeseen flaw that is contributing to the accident
rate.

I agree with you Pat, almost every GliderPort I've flown at has a
different view of how to run things and what's "Standard". Our
training is NOT STANDARDIZED throughout the US!! It should be, but
isn't.

Maybe this is a program the SSA & SSF should address and Certify
Instgructors and GliderPorts as following SSA/SSF Approved Traing
Procedures.

Originally Posted by

Isn't everyone missing the cause of this accident and ones like it?

Written, Pre-take-off checklist is all that is needed to prevent this
accident from ever happening. It is the most basic of pilot
duties........


The pilot made at least 5 obvious (easily preventable) errors leading
up to the accident.

1. preflight inspection (usually states spoilers/flaps to take off
position)
2. pre take off check list..."spoilers closed and locked"
3. During tow, Left hand should be on, near, behind, spoiler handle to
sense unwanted spoiler opening
4. Situational awareness of poor climb should result in immediate
spoiler check
5. Pilot should be familiar with signals


Pilot should also include "enmergency plan" in take off check
list ....planning for emergencies such as rope break, tow plane wave
off signal, canopy opening, tow plane loss of power, and spoilers
opening (and signal form tow plane)....none of these should cause any
major concern if they happen...If the pilot is properly prepared..

Cookie

Well said

It takes discipline to do all that and some people just don't do discipline well. It won't catch every problem or save everyone but it's better than not following a rigorous and proven procedure.

Airline flying for example is one of the safest forms of transport going and it is highly procedural.

I come from a place where we do CBSIFTCB as checks and the best thing that happened while I spent some years away from soaring was the additiion of E for Eventualities to the end of the checks to review briefly before the launch the 'what ifs'

Colin