Winch Launch Fatality

At 00:15 23 June 2009, Don Johnstone wrote:

A Grob 103 has excellent airbrakes and will land straight ahead from a
height which many other gliders would be forced to turn at.

Que? The Grob G103 airbrakes are at best adequate, but nothing like as
powerful as those fitted to K13s and DG1000s.

Derek Copeland

P.S. Don't know what happened to my previous posting which lost the text?

The routine we are taught is as follows, all part of the pre-flight
eventualities check before each launch:

1. decide on appropriate approach speed for conditions

2. in the event of a launch failure (not just cable brake) lower the nose to an
appropriate attitude (well down if in full climb, but less if it happens at 50'
for example)

3. wait for the speed to reach the nominated approach speed

4. land ahead if possible

5. If not then turn in downwind direction and make an an abbreviated circuit as
necessary.





bildan wrote:
On Jun 22, 6:15 pm, Don Johnstone wrote:
Much has been said and written about winch launch failures and here is my
"Guide to Surviving a launch failure"

Launch fails

1 Pitch the nose down, at least approach attitude - snip

I have to take issue since anyone following this advice might/will get
hurt.

If you stop the pitch down at 'approach attitude' from an initial
attitude of 30 - 45 degrees nose up, you will be stalled - the nose
must be pushed far below 'approach attitude" to achieve prompt
airspeed recovery.

This is easy to demonstrate without a winch. At an altitude that
allows safe spin recovery, zoom up at a 45 degree nose-up attitude.
When the airspeed drops to 65 knots, pretend you have a rope break and
push over to 'approach attitude' and stop the pitch down there. Note
the airspeed - it will be around 20 knots. If you turn you will
spin. This is a classic killer on a winch.

An excellent "rule of thumb" that works under any condition is to push
the nose as far below the horizon as it was above it at the rope
break. If it was up 45 degrees, then push it 45 degrees below the
horizon - and WAIT for 3 - 5 seconds for a safe airspeed with an
increasing trend. If it was up only 5 degrees, then go down 5
degrees. This way you won't dive into the runway if the break happens
low and you will get prompt airspeed recovery at greater height.

Pilots not expressly trained to do so will resist pushing the nose
down far enough for airspeed recovery when near the ground. They may
complain this is "throwing away altitude". If you are low enough that
it matters, you will be landing straight ahead anyway and you WANT to
get down. If you're high, you can convert most of any excess airspeed
back into height so it doesn't matter much.

Also, there is absolutely no reason to land anywhere except into the
wind on the departure runway. You can do this with huge safety
margins - even greater margins than with a 200' aero tow rope break.
All it takes is proper training.

If anyone wants to practice this, get a copy of Condor Competition
Flight Simulator, set 'Notams' to winch launch and set the rope break
probability to 100%. You can practice random rope breaks all day at
zero risk.

In message , ucsdcpc
writes
The routine we are taught is as follows, all part of the pre-flight
eventualities check before each launch:

1. decide on appropriate approach speed for conditions

2. in the event of a launch failure (not just cable brake) lower
the nose to an appropriate attitude (well down if in full climb, but
less if it happens at 50' for example)

3. wait for the speed to reach the nominated approach speed

4. land ahead if possible

5. If not then turn in downwind direction and make an an
abbreviated circuit as necessary.

Also consider if a 180 & downwind landing will be a useful option or
not. On nil-wind days it can be though it's necessary to fly forwards
for a distance before turning otherwise one will run out of airfield to
land in... (fly forwards to somewhere near where a base leg at the
current height would be)

Some airfields also have suitable fields outside the boundaries, again
they need to be considered before launching.

Snip

--
Surfer!
Email to: ramwater at uk2 dot net

ucsdcpc wrote:
The routine we are taught is as follows, all part of the pre-flight
eventualities check before each launch:

1. decide on appropriate approach speed for conditions

2. in the event of a launch failure (not just cable brake) lower the
nose to an appropriate attitude

Wrong, very wrong, very dangerous. The correct sequence is:

1. Push the stick forward and pull the release knob.

2. If possible, land ahead on the remaining runway.

3. If you're too high to land ahead, you have all the time to decide
your further actions. This can be an abbreviated circuit or a downwind
landing, depending on the circumstances.

And yes, doing a 180 too hasty will put you in a situation where you
don't have enough runway to land. So whatever you do, don't panic.
Everything else depends.

On Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:20:51 +0200, John Smith
wrote:

Andreas Maurer wrote:

Completely wrong for a winch launch.
In case of a rope-break, you are either able to land straight-on on
the airfield, or you have sufficient altitude(300 ft+) to fly a
*safe* pattern.

Or, at some places, when you are too high for a straight landing but too
low for a complete circuit, you do a safe 180 and make a safe downwind
landing.


Yup.
Standard procedure at my home airfield.

John Smith wrote:

The routine we are taught is as follows, all part of the pre-flight
eventualities check before each launch:

1. decide on appropriate approach speed for conditions

Wrong

Oops, I should read more carefully before answering. Deciding the
approach speed as part of the pre-flight check ist correct, of course.
Sorry for that.

On Jun 23, 4:23*am, Surfer! wrote:
In message , ucsdcpc
writes

Also consider if a 180 & downwind landing will be a useful option or
not. *On nil-wind days it can be though it's necessary to fly forwards
for a distance before turning otherwise one will run out of airfield to
land in... *(fly forwards to somewhere near where a base leg at the
current height would be)

If you work out the numbers, you will find that a 180 turn to a down
wind landing has much lower safety margin than a 360 turn with an into
the wind landing. The only logical (though still unsafe) reason for a
down wind landing is to stop near the start line - trading safety for
convenience is never a good trade.

On Jun 23, 4:34*am, John Smith wrote:
ucsdcpc wrote:
The routine we are taught is as follows, all part of the pre-flight
eventualities check before each launch:

1. * *decide on appropriate approach speed for conditions

2. * *in the event of a launch failure (not just cable brake) lower the
nose to an appropriate attitude

Wrong, very wrong, very dangerous. The correct sequence is:

1. Push the stick forward and pull the release knob.

2. If possible, land ahead on the remaining runway.

3. If you're too high to land ahead, you have all the time to decide
your further actions. This can be an abbreviated circuit or a downwind
landing, depending on the circumstances.

And yes, doing a 180 too hasty will put you in a situation where you
don't have enough runway to land. So whatever you do, don't panic.
Everything else depends.

Please explain why pulling the release is priority one. Most likely
the remaining rope and parachute gear has already back released. Even
if you somehow manage to land with it attached, it will back release
as soon as it drags on the ground.

Diverting attention to the release knob when other critical decisions
are pending seems odd when you think about it. I'd put pulling the
release toward the bottom of the priority list. Priority one is
always FLYING THE GLIDER!

Note to Schweizer operators: Schweizer CG hooks require MUCH more
force to back release than the Tost release so you folks should pull.

On Tue, 23 Jun 2009 06:24:24 -0700, bildan wrote:

On Jun 23, 4:34Â*am, John Smith wrote:
ucsdcpc wrote:
The routine we are taught is as follows, all part of the pre-flight
eventualities check before each launch:

1. Â* Â*decide on appropriate approach speed for conditions

2. Â* Â*in the event of a launch failure (not just cable brake) lower
the nose to an appropriate attitude

Wrong, very wrong, very dangerous. The correct sequence is:

1. Push the stick forward and pull the release knob.

2. If possible, land ahead on the remaining runway.

3. If you're too high to land ahead, you have all the time to decide
your further actions. This can be an abbreviated circuit or a downwind
landing, depending on the circumstances.

And yes, doing a 180 too hasty will put you in a situation where you
don't have enough runway to land. So whatever you do, don't panic.
Everything else depends.

Please explain why pulling the release is priority one.

Apart from anything else, your hand should be on the release knob during
the launch, so pulling it a couple of times immediately after pushing
over and just before letting go of it is an obvious move. That is taught
as SOP in my club.

Most likely the
remaining rope and parachute gear has already back released.

..... only if the cable break was down near the winch. If the break was
near the glider you could still have several meters of cable and the
furled drogue dangling trailing from the hook. Its even more likely that
you'll still have the cable attached if the problem is a power fade at
the winch rather than a cable break.


Diverting attention to the release knob when other critical decisions
are pending seems odd when you think about it.

It should be in your hand already, so no attention diversion is needed.

Note to Schweizer operators: Schweizer CG hooks require MUCH more force
to back release than the Tost release so you folks should pull.

There's the other answer: never train somebody to use a technique that is
unsafe on some types of glider. Murphy pretty much mandates they'll
forget to check the cable is gone when they're flying a type where it
matters.


--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org |

On Jun 23, 9:14*am, Martin Gregorie
wrote:
On Tue, 23 Jun 2009 06:24:24 -0700, bildan wrote:
On Jun 23, 4:34*am, John Smith wrote:
ucsdcpc wrote:
The routine we are taught is as follows, all part of the pre-flight
eventualities check before each launch:

1. * *decide on appropriate approach speed for conditions

2. * *in the event of a launch failure (not just cable brake) lower
the nose to an appropriate attitude

Wrong, very wrong, very dangerous. The correct sequence is:

1. Push the stick forward and pull the release knob.

2. If possible, land ahead on the remaining runway.

3. If you're too high to land ahead, you have all the time to decide
your further actions. This can be an abbreviated circuit or a downwind
landing, depending on the circumstances.

And yes, doing a 180 too hasty will put you in a situation where you
don't have enough runway to land. So whatever you do, don't panic.
Everything else depends.

Please explain why pulling the release is priority one.

Apart from anything else, your hand should be on the release knob during
the launch, so pulling it a couple of times immediately after pushing
over and just before letting go of it is an obvious move. That is taught
as SOP in my club.

*Most likely the
remaining rope and parachute gear has already back released.

.... only if the cable break was down near the winch. If the break was
near the glider you could still have several meters of cable and the
furled drogue dangling trailing from the hook. Its even more likely that
you'll still have the cable attached if the problem is a power fade at
the winch rather than a cable break.

Diverting attention to the release knob when other critical decisions
are pending seems odd when you think about it.

It should be in your hand already, so no attention diversion is needed.

Note to Schweizer operators: *Schweizer CG hooks require MUCH more force
to back release than the Tost release so you folks should pull.

There's the other answer: never train somebody to use a technique that is
unsafe on some types of glider. Murphy pretty much mandates they'll
forget to check the cable is gone when they're flying a type where it
matters.

--
martin@ * | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org * * * |

I don't think you made your case. I have seen LOTS of wire/rope
breaks, including weak link breaks, and nothing has ever stayed on the
hook - even with Schweizers. But, even if pulling the release is
justified on the assumption that something MIGHT be on the hook AND
assuming that something on the hook would cause damage (It won't kill
you), why a priority?

The reason I brought this up is that I have seen many pilots nearly
bungle a recovery while pulling the release. Even with a hand on the
release, there's no guarantee a pilot will pull it - I've seen pilots
take their hand off the release and pull the spoilers. A launch
failure is no time to be multi-tasking. Screw the release - FLY THE
GLIDER!

I want to see this priority list in order of decreasing urgency:

1. Nose way down NOW!
2. Get a safe airspeed ASAP!
3. Decide on the landing option (Straight or circle.)
4. Execute landing option - concentrate on airspeed and coordination.
5. Pull the release - maybe.

I'm not saying don't pull the release - just don't let it get in the
way of more urgent actions.