SSA Calendar October, 2008

The caption reads, "Here a competitor comes in for a smooth landing."
But just how smooth will this touchdown be? I see gear-up in
progress, but my eyes have failed me before.

What am I missing?

:-)

....those that have, and those that will...

Skip
ASW-24 JS

The caption reads, "Here a competitor comes in for a smooth landing."
But just how smooth will this touchdown be? *I see gear-up in
progress, but my eyes have failed me before.

What am I missing?

:-)

...those that have, and those that will...

Skip
ASW-24 JS

I noticed the mismatched caption too. I just figured with the amount
of bend in the wings that ASH-25 was doing a high speed pass/
wormburner/flathatter/pick your term...

If not, at least is was on grass!

-Paul

PS. As one who has suffered a gear collapse (failed to ensure gear was
locked), where do I fall on the' those who have and those who will'
scale?

You have did! Join the club.

At 17:44 30 September 2008, sisu1a wrote:
The caption reads, "Here a competitor comes in for a smooth
landing."
But just how smooth will this touchdown be? =A0I see gear-up in
progress, but my eyes have failed me before.

What am I missing?

:-)

...those that have, and those that will...

Skip
ASW-24 JS

I noticed the mismatched caption too. I just figured with the amount
of bend in the wings that ASH-25 was doing a high speed pass/
wormburner/flathatter/pick your term...

If not, at least is was on grass!

-Paul

PS. As one who has suffered a gear collapse (failed to ensure gear was
locked), where do I fall on the' those who have and those who will'
scale?

there are a lot of miss matched captions in the 2008 calendar..
IIRC I saw one that said "landing", but the tow rope was attached.

BT

wrote in message
...
The caption reads, "Here a competitor comes in for a smooth landing."
But just how smooth will this touchdown be? I see gear-up in
progress, but my eyes have failed me before.

What am I missing?

:-)

...those that have, and those that will...

Skip
ASW-24 JS

check out the gear deployment on this one @ ~1:30
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qCGuQsSgc8
*whew*

wrote:
The caption reads, "Here a competitor comes in for a smooth landing."
But just how smooth will this touchdown be? I see gear-up in
progress, but my eyes have failed me before.

What am I missing?

:-)

...those that have, and those that will...

Skip
ASW-24 JS

--
Message posted via http://www.aviationkb.com

The caption reads, "Here a competitor comes in for a smooth landing."
But just how smooth will this touchdown be? I see gear-up in
progress, but my eyes have failed me before.

What am I missing?

:-)

Snipperoo...


PS. As one who has suffered a gear collapse (failed to ensure gear was
locked), where do I fall on the' those who have and those who will'
scale?

My experience is Damnation via Perception rules!!!

There I wuz, both wheels planted on a hard surface runway, rolling for
every foot toward a distant trailer, when - and I am not making this up!
- the gear collapsed. (No, really!!!)

Cockpit air perfumed with the scent of molten fiberglass, I skud to a
halt, wings-level, a death grip on the wheel brake. Desirous of
clearing the runway ASAP, I begin walking the 1500 feet or so to the
nearest group of glider types I can see, near my club's hut. Like the
salt fanatic gal in the Bible, I couldn't help but look back once at my
forlorn glider, wondering what had failed. Well before reaching my
(once upon a time, caring and considerate) compadres, the humor of the
developing situation dawned...

What glider pilot of the human race is going to believe what you tell
them about that scenario...that none of them saw happen?!?

So call me an optimist. "Hey guys, I need some strong backs to help me
clear the runway; my gear failed on rollout."

Vaguely polite disbelief...at many levels.

Years later, there I wuz at a glider camp when the gear-up topic arose.
I couldn't help myself; I had to tell my gear up story. (Hey! *I*
think it's funny.)

I finish my story and we all begin laughing for our various reasons. A
fellow club-member eventually manages to regain his composure and sez,
"Hey! I was one of those guys that helped you!!!"

"Really?!? I'd forgotten that. Thanks again!" Then I couldn't help
myself. "You didn't believe me then, did you?"

"Heck no!" Pause... Of COURSE not!!!"

More laughter.

"What about now?"
- - - - - -

No reputations have been harmed in the telling of this True Story.

Everyone can guess his reply.

Thanks for the memories!
Bob - tarred by a tired gas spring - W.

At 03:04 01 October 2008, Bob Whelan wrote:
The caption reads, "Here a competitor comes in for a smooth
landing."
But just how smooth will this touchdown be? I see gear-up in
progress, but my eyes have failed me before.

What am I missing?

:-)




PS. As one who has suffered a gear collapse (failed to ensure gear was
locked), where do I fall on the' those who have and those who will'
scale?

My experience is Damnation via Perception rules!!!

There I wuz, both wheels planted on a hard surface runway, rolling for
every foot toward a distant trailer, when - and I am not making this up!

- the gear collapsed. (No, really!!!)

Cockpit air perfumed with the scent of molten fiberglass, I skud to a
halt, wings-level, a death grip on the wheel brake. Desirous of
clearing the runway ASAP, I begin walking the 1500 feet or so to the
nearest group of glider types I can see, near my club's hut. Like the
salt fanatic gal in the Bible, I couldn't help but look back once at my

forlorn glider, wondering what had failed. Well before reaching my
(once upon a time, caring and considerate) compadres, the humor of the
developing situation dawned...

What glider pilot of the human race is going to believe what you tell
them about that scenario...that none of them saw happen?!?

So call me an optimist. "Hey guys, I need some strong backs to help me

clear the runway; my gear failed on rollout."

Vaguely polite disbelief...at many levels.

Years later, there I wuz at a glider camp when the gear-up topic arose.
I couldn't help myself; I had to tell my gear up story. (Hey! *I*
think it's funny.)

I finish my story and we all begin laughing for our various reasons. A
fellow club-member eventually manages to regain his composure and sez,
"Hey! I was one of those guys that helped you!!!"

"Really?!? I'd forgotten that. Thanks again!" Then I couldn't help

myself. "You didn't believe me then, did you?"

"Heck no!" Pause... Of COURSE not!!!"

More laughter.

"What about now?"
- - - - - -

No reputations have been harmed in the telling of this True Story.

Everyone can guess his reply.

Thanks for the memories!
Bob - tarred by a tired gas spring - W.


OK. So I returned to the airport in a rented glider with an unfamiliar
gear handle on the wrong side of the cockpit, I put the gear down kinda
high and early to be sure that I wouldn't forget ( I was still aboved
pattern height), found a thermal, worked up some altitude, raised the gear
again, and flew away. I did this three times.

Somewhere in all this, I forgot to raise the gear and so, being cautious
(I thought), I continued operating the gear early and high in order to be
sure. Problem was, I was working it backward. On the third episode (if
not the second one also) I flew around with the gear down and raised it to
land on a concrete runway. It was the smoothest landing I ever made; my
first impression was that the weight had not settled and the scraping
noise I heard was (I thought) the bearings turning over in the wheels and
I was congratulating myself how slick this was.

I measured the chalk stripe left on the runway. Repairs cost $100 per
foot! I now look at the icon to see whether the handle is in the right
place.

Mine was - off launch on a winch. At my first contest. All the big boys watching.
Pull gear lever back, but it won't lock for some reason. Try a couple of times.

Third try the handle comes free in my hand - metal fatigue on the weld had caused it to bend, so the handle did not go
far enough to latch over centre. Two more solid tugs were then enough to snap it almost off.

Push rod forward as far as it will go with broken handle and try to wedge/lock it. Land as gently as possible on
greenest, softest piece of runway available. Roll for maybe 5m then plop onto the belly at the first real bump as the
last little bit of weld fails.

No damage to belly, but I certainly provided entertainment.

Bob Whelan wrote:
The caption reads, "Here a competitor comes in for a smooth landing."
But just how smooth will this touchdown be? I see gear-up in
progress, but my eyes have failed me before.

What am I missing?

:-)

Snipperoo...
Snip x2

Nearly 20 years ago at New Castle. First contest after being out of
flying for a few years with my LS-3 that had been in the trailer
during that time. Finish the task on a cold day. Perfect landing right
in front of the finish line. Gear folds up neatly. Well-meaning finish
gate operator gets on the radio: "JB just landed gear up. We need some
help to get him off the runway!" I look over at the gear lever. I'm
flustered so I agree; must have forgotten to put the gear down.

Helpers arrive. John Murray directs crew to kneel under the wing roots
and push up. "Put the gear down!" he orders. I move the lever in the
other direction. "No, put it DOWN!" That's when I finally realized it
had been down all along. Try telling that to anyone who had heard the
radio broadcast, however.

Cold weather weakens the gas spring and also stiffens the damper strut
in the LS-1f/3/4/6. So if there's any dirt in the gear strut pivots,
the main "knee" strut may not quite go over center when it's cold. And
all it takes is a little bump and the weight of the glider and the
gear folds up neatly, leaving the actuating handle (which is connected
to the gear with the gas spring, not a solid link) in the down
position. Happened to me twice, both times on grass, fortunately.

Chip Bearden
ASW 24 "JB"
USA

On Oct 2, 1:16*pm, wrote:
Nearly 20 years ago at New Castle. First contest after being out of
flying for a few years with my LS-3 that had been in the trailer
during that time. Finish the task on a cold day. Perfect landing right
in front of the finish line. Gear folds up neatly. Well-meaning finish
gate operator gets on the radio: "JB just landed gear up. We need some
help to get him off the runway!" I look over at the gear lever. I'm
flustered so I agree; must have forgotten to put the gear down.

Helpers arrive. John Murray directs crew to kneel under the wing roots
and push up. "Put the gear down!" he orders. I move the lever in the
other direction. "No, put it DOWN!" That's when I finally realized it
had been down all along. Try telling that to anyone who had heard the
radio broadcast, however.

Cold weather weakens the gas spring and also stiffens the damper strut
in the LS-1f/3/4/6. So if there's any dirt in the gear strut pivots,
the main "knee" strut may not quite go over center when it's cold. And
all it takes is a little bump and the weight of the glider and the
gear folds up neatly, leaving the actuating handle (which is connected
to the gear with the gas spring, not a solid link) in the down
position. Happened to me twice, both times on grass, fortunately.

Chip Bearden
ASW 24 "JB"
USA

Mine was the day after Christmas 1977 in an LS-3 landing after a
flight in light wave. The gear collapsed right after touchdown. I had
enough speed to pull up and cycle the gear but in the process ended up
slow enough to touch down tailwheel first and slap the fuselage onto
the (thankfully grass) runway. Needless to say with a cold-soaked gas
spring cycling the gear did no good at all. Finding the gear doors
waaay down by the first touchdown point was the only thing to save my
reputation (and ego).

9B