Low pass

On Aug 25, 5:07*am, Cookie wrote:
After giving it just a little thought...

Not to deflate some of those egos out there...but.....the low pass is
a maneuver requiring no particular pilot skills whatsoever! * I mean
it's...go fast...slow down...turn around......duh...not *particularly
dangerous.....I mean anybody can do it....Especially if you don't mind
the occasional fatality..........

Now glider pilots with real skill....they do the low pass
inverted.......got to be more fun, right?

Cookie

Can you please define what you mean by a low pass. I've been flying
gliders for well over 30 years and flew contests for many years where
the line finish was the only way to end the task, but I'm still not
sure if I ever did a low pass.

Andy

Bravo Kirk......

Well put......in your two post. Some simply don't get it or haven't
found it. As to Cupcake.....maybe he's not cut out for low passes or
they frighten him and hasn't come to terms with it.
He sees it as a 'show off maneuver' while we fly it to enjoy a part of
the performance envelope not always available. I bet he has never done
one followed by practicing a low altitude save climbing back to
altitude. Every serious racer has climbed out of a 400-500' hole.
I practice this manuever often, but I have the benefit of operating
out of a private strip.
Bottom line.....enjoy the magic....enjoy all that the sport has to
offer.

R

On 8/26/2011 3:42 PM, hretting wrote:
Bravo Kirk......

Well put......in your two post. Some simply don't get it or haven't
found it. As to Cupcake.....maybe he's not cut out for low passes or
they frighten him and hasn't come to terms with it.
He sees it as a 'show off maneuver' while we fly it to enjoy a part of
the performance envelope not always available. I bet he has never done
one followed by practicing a low altitude save climbing back to
altitude. Every serious racer has climbed out of a 400-500' hole.
I practice this manuever often, but I have the benefit of operating
out of a private strip.
Bottom line.....enjoy the magic....enjoy all that the sport has to
offer.

R
There's a big difference between doing these kinds of maneuvers at a
private strip where you aren't going to kill anyone but yourself, vs.
doing them at a public airport where there's lots of other traffic you
may or not know about who aren't particularly appreciative of having
someone hotdogging in the pattern.

--
Mike Schumann

On Aug 27, 9:15*am, Mike Schumann
wrote:
There's a big difference between doing these kinds of maneuvers at a
private strip where you aren't going to kill anyone but yourself, vs.
doing them at a public airport where there's lots of other traffic you
may or not know about who aren't particularly appreciative of having
someone hotdogging in the pattern.

Missed approaches are a standard thing that is practiced by power
pilots all the time. It is true that glider low passes are a bit
faster followed by a steeper climb than Cessna missed approaches, but
they're a very similar speed and climb angle to 737 ones.

So It all just depends on how mixed your traffic is.

I learned to fly Tomahawks at Wellington International (110,000
movements/year), where most of the traffic was in fact 737's,
WhisperJets, A320s plus the odd 747SP/767/777 depending on exactly
which year you're talking about. But there aren't gliders there.

At our actual glider field there is a lot of light aircraft and
helicopter training, plus small turboprops (e.g. Cessna Caravan), plus
a Q300 ("Dash 8") service starting in October.

If you're flying somewhere that's only got single-engine 1950's spam
cans from Wichita or Vero Beach flying around fat dumb and happy then,
yeah, gliders could exceed their expectations.

On 8/26/2011 8:01 PM, Bruce Hoult wrote:
On Aug 27, 9:15 am, Mike
wrote:
There's a big difference between doing these kinds of maneuvers at a
private strip where you aren't going to kill anyone but yourself, vs.
doing them at a public airport where there's lots of other traffic you
may or not know about who aren't particularly appreciative of having
someone hotdogging in the pattern.

Missed approaches are a standard thing that is practiced by power
pilots all the time. It is true that glider low passes are a bit
faster followed by a steeper climb than Cessna missed approaches, but
they're a very similar speed and climb angle to 737 ones.

So It all just depends on how mixed your traffic is.

I learned to fly Tomahawks at Wellington International (110,000
movements/year), where most of the traffic was in fact 737's,
WhisperJets, A320s plus the odd 747SP/767/777 depending on exactly
which year you're talking about. But there aren't gliders there.

At our actual glider field there is a lot of light aircraft and
helicopter training, plus small turboprops (e.g. Cessna Caravan), plus
a Q300 ("Dash 8") service starting in October.

If you're flying somewhere that's only got single-engine 1950's spam
cans from Wichita or Vero Beach flying around fat dumb and happy then,
yeah, gliders could exceed their expectations.
There's a big difference between a missed approach in a power airplane
and a low pass in a glider. A power plane has the option to change
course and/or extend the pattern if unexpected traffic shows up. A
glider doesn't have a lot of options.

I don't care what airport you are flying out of. You never know when
someone unexpected comes out of no where, clueless about the existence
of gliders and their limitations. This was drilled home to me a number
of years ago when I was turning on to base at a remote airfield (after
announcing our pattern on the radio), only to discover a helicopter
hoovering 5' above the ground just off the arrival end of the runway.
We barely avoided a collision. It turns out the helicopter pilot and
his instructor where so engrossed in their BFR they were oblivious that
anyone else was in the pattern, particularly a glider that didn't have
the option to do a go around.

--
Mike Schumann

On Aug 26, 6:01*pm, Bruce Hoult wrote:
On Aug 27, 9:15*am, Mike Schumann
wrote:

There's a big difference between doing these kinds of maneuvers at a
private strip where you aren't going to kill anyone but yourself, vs.
doing them at a public airport where there's lots of other traffic you
may or not know about who aren't particularly appreciative of having
someone hotdogging in the pattern.

Missed approaches are a standard thing that is practiced by power
pilots all the time. It is true that glider low passes are a bit
faster followed by a steeper climb than Cessna missed approaches, but
they're a very similar speed and climb angle to 737 ones.

So It all just depends on how mixed your traffic is.

I learned to fly Tomahawks at Wellington International (110,000
movements/year), where most of the traffic was in fact 737's,
WhisperJets, A320s plus the odd 747SP/767/777 depending on exactly
which year you're talking about. But there aren't gliders there.

At our actual glider field there is a lot of light aircraft and
helicopter training, plus small turboprops (e.g. Cessna Caravan), plus
a Q300 ("Dash 8") service starting in October.

If you're flying somewhere that's only got single-engine 1950's spam
cans from Wichita or Vero Beach flying around fat dumb and happy then,
yeah, gliders could exceed their expectations.

Bruce,
Would you do a low pass if you knew there was an FAA inspector on the
field? Then try your "missed approach" tale on him?
JJ