Too many accidents

Someone asked me recently, "Why do you always say, 'Gear down and
locked', over the radio when you turn base?"Â* The stupidity of the
question meant to me that there was no answer which would satisfy him.

And yes, more flying means more exposure but it also means more
experience.Â* I'm much more practiced and proficient and less likely to
make the mistakes that someone flying 20 hours per year is likely to make.

I think the green and red tape on the landing gear lever slot is a
terrific idea, especially if you fly an LS-6; in my opinion the sweetest
flying glider ever produced.Â* The pure logic of pushing the gear up and
pulling it down (everything forward for fast and everything back for
slow (flaps, dive brakes, stick, and gear)) is the exact opposite of
every other glider I've flown.

On 9/7/2018 9:18 PM, Bob Gibbons wrote:
I recall looking at the undercarriage but did not say "Wheel down according to placard"
For what is worth;

38 years flying retractable gear sailplanes.

In addition to the usual landing check list attached to the gear side
of my Ventus.

I put a small patch of red plastic tape at the "retracted" end of the
gear travel slot, and a small patch of green tape at the "down &
locked" end of the slot.

Final check on turning final is always a quick glance to assure the
lever is at the GREEN end of the travel.

Bob

On Fri, 7 Sep 2018 16:05:47 -0700 (PDT),
wrote:

I have been flying since 1980, had one heavy landing a number of years ago, when ASI failed in X country flight. 3000 hours in total solo.
I did however purchase a ASH 31 Mi and despite very good training from the agent in Australia.
Very early on in the flying of this glider I had a flight, both engine problems, refusal to start, and LX screen failing.
I switched to flying glider mode but still managed to land wheels up.
After considerable thought i now figure out the problem.
When stressed we go into fight of flight mode. Blood goes to the legs and leaves the brain. We thus go stupid. I recall looking at the undercarriage but did not say "Wheel down according to placard"
How many good pilots have you seen make stupid errors.
Perhaps you have hit the nail on the head, Older, over confident pilots in very complex aircraft

--
Dan, 5J

On Saturday, September 8, 2018 at 7:30:29 AM UTC-7, Dan Marotta wrote:
Someone asked me recently, "Why do you always say, 'Gear down and
locked', over the radio when you turn base?"Â* The stupidity of the
question meant to me that there was no answer which would satisfy him.



I suppose a radio call adds another check, that a ground observer might hear, look up, notice something, and have a radio at hand. I personally doubt it adds very much, and radio congestion detracts from overall safety.

'There are no stupid questions, only stupid answers'

Fair enough, but I haven't landed gear up because I have had great
training and have good habits in the landing pattern.Â* And "5J, left
base, gear down, 26" is a lot less congestive than a lot of
dissertations I've heard on the radio.

On 9/8/2018 8:37 AM, wrote:
On Saturday, September 8, 2018 at 7:30:29 AM UTC-7, Dan Marotta wrote:
Someone asked me recently, "Why do you always say, 'Gear down and
locked', over the radio when you turn base?"Â* The stupidity of the
question meant to me that there was no answer which would satisfy him.


I suppose a radio call adds another check, that a ground observer might hear, look up, notice something, and have a radio at hand. I personally doubt it adds very much, and radio congestion detracts from overall safety.

'There are no stupid questions, only stupid answers'



--
Dan, 5J

Dan Marotta wrote on 9/8/2018 8:49 AM:
Fair enough, but I haven't landed gear up because I have had great training and
have good habits in the landing pattern.* And "5J, left base, gear down, 26" is a
lot less congestive than a lot of dissertations I've heard on the radio.

On 9/8/2018 8:37 AM, wrote:
On Saturday, September 8, 2018 at 7:30:29 AM UTC-7, Dan Marotta wrote:
Someone asked me recently, "Why do you always say, 'Gear down and
locked', over the radio when you turn base?"* The stupidity of the
question meant to me that there was no answer which would satisfy him.


I suppose a radio call adds another check, that a ground observer might hear,
look up, notice something, and have a radio at hand. I personally doubt it adds
very much, and radio congestion detracts from overall safety.

'There are no stupid questions, only stupid answers'

Have you considered a gear warning device of some sort? I haven't landed gear up,
either, and I don't say anything on the radio, but I have used a variety of gear
up warnings, including a welding clamp, a buzzer, and a vario. The systems have
saved me three times so far.

The radio call works best when someone on the ground enforces it, as we did at our
recent motorglider camp at Parowan, UT. If your entry to downwind didn't include
the "gear down and locked" phrase, a friendly voice on the radio asked you about
your gear position.

I also have a spoilers unlocked warning. It activates when the spoilers aren't
locked as the airspeed exceeds 25 knots.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to email me)
- "A Guide to Self-Launching Sailplane Operation"
https://sites.google.com/site/motorg...ad-the-guide-1
- "Transponders in Sailplanes - Dec 2014a" also ADS-B, PCAS, Flarm

http://soaringsafety.org/prevention/...anes-2014A.pdf
I

I've had great training and good habits, too. But after 50 years of flying, I landed gear up the first time. It was a long (50+ miles) final glide into Harris Hill at the nationals a few years ago, below glide path nearly the entire way. To my knowledge, no one had been ridge soaring that task but I thought the wind favored it as I approached across the valley. I connected with the Hill just below the crest and turned left to run across it. I gained enough on one short pass that when the finish line/taxiway came into view out my right wing, I simply turned right on very short final to land/finish. I appeared low from behind the trees and turned in so suddenly that no one had a chance to radio a warning. My primary concern was that I was flying downwind and needed to get it down so I didn't roll off the back of the Hill, and also avoiding the crop of finishers landing (properly) in the opposite direction.

I never shifted into "landing" mode. Call it tunnel vision: I was focused completely on finishing until the last few seconds and didn't even think about my landing checklist. There's an emergency field below the Hill that was available if the ridge hadn't worked; I deduced later that probably gave me one less reason to think about landing vs. finishing.

I'd had a gear warning horn in another glider but landed one day in the early 70s with it going off in my ear anyway (the wheel was down but the lever wasn't locked all the way over against the cockpit wall, which didn't cause a problem). I always figured: why have a system if I was going to subconsciously ignore it anyway?

Since then I've used a clip that I move from the gear handle to the dive brake handle when I release, and back again after the gear goes down. I could probably ignore this one, too, but it would be more difficult. That doesn't mean I couldn't make the same mistake again and I'll take all the help I can get. I called "gear down" in the pattern for a while after that. I may start doing it again. Or install the microswitches and connect it to my ClearNav vario this winter.

I was very depressed the night after I bellied in. I was gratified but amazed by the number of experienced pilots who dropped by the hangar to reassure me by confessing they had done it, too, some of them twice, one at an airshow in front of spectators. If the saying about "there are those who have and those who will" applies, there are a lot fewer of "those who will" remaining.

I don't scoff at anything pilots do to avoid making mistakes. None of us is perfect.

Chip Bearden

"I personally doubt it adds very much"

I believe a radio call does add value. I added that to my routine last year.

By making the call every time, I double check before I make the call. I notice if I don't make the call as I make it mid downwind every flight. Pass midfield, no call - oops - I missed something.

YMMV -

Lou

" You can establish margins, but Mother Nature at any time
can blow right through them and put you into a totally
new aerodynamic situation.

Margins are not static, and need to be adjusted for Mother Nature.

Margins on a clear, light wind day differ greatly from those on a day with, e.g., thunderstorms in the vicinity. "

Question: With a windsock showing 8 kt and wind of 15 kt at 300' on a cross country day, how much provision should be made for possible windshear?


After some answers have been submitted, I will share the windshear I once encountered in these conditions.