CLARK WROTE ON 29th JUNE :-
Yup, I stalled it - it was a total non-event. Slow flight and stalls are
im****tant areas to check out when learning a new aircraft. Some people
claim to not like stalls but they are a normal part of every flight.
Yup I knew what speeds to fly. Yup I flew most of the tow on the second
go. Couldn't hold it for more than a few seconds on the first go, man
what a mess I made of it. The tow is an unreal experience. Pattern and
landing was easier than any powered craft I've flown.
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Hi Clark.
I have recently found a gliding chum on my Mazda MX-5 (Miata in the USA)
forums. He is getting on fine flying a club K8 off the wire and soaring,
but like you (initially at least) is having problems with a*****owing. We
started a 'Gliding' string and it might be worth copying an extract from
my recent post for his attention regarding begining a*****owing. The MX-5
forum strings show a count of the 'views' and strange thing is our
glding string has had nearly 700 'hits' in the first couple of weeks!
This is how I tried to encourage him with a post :-
Don't worry about a*****owing titus, its the "learning to ride a bike
syndrome", it suddenly comes and then you can't understand why you found
it so difficult in the first place. The cycling analogy does not end
there!
For various reasons I left gliding and went off sailing from 1982 and did
not return to gliding until 1999. However, to my complete surprise, on my
first a*****ow I coped. It was not a very pretty sight, but but the sturdy
P1 managed to resist intervening. That's the other cycling analogy, once
you get the hang of it you've got it for life. If you can do the K8
flights that you explained I'm sure that you will soon be "Boxing the
wake" on a*****ow.
Stalling and Spinning :-
You will find stalling is only the tip if the iceberg in gliding. Much
more emphasis is put on incipient spins and full spinning. I was amazed
when I did power training up to PPL level in a Cessna that the instructor
demonstrated one spin and that was it! The end of my power spinning
training! I was quite dissapointed not to be asked to do a series of spin
recoveries on my own.
In my UK gliding club we have three K21's which are excellent and very
stable for pre-solo pilot training, but due to this they are useless for
good meaningful training. We have retained our older SZD Puchazc polish
two-seater for spin training and annual checks. Just as you are
approaching the stalling point and a wing may be starting to drop, the
ailerons switch into reverse effect and therefore any attempt to pick up
the wing results in matter getting even worse. The Puchacz will then
suddenly fully drop the wing, virtually flick over on it's back, and drop
into a full spin. (Imagine flying it a bit on the slow side at 600'!)
However, it's spin recovery characteristics are very good and there is
very little delay after the spin recovery actions are taken.
Now let me explain what happened about four years ago when I was flying a
glass single-seater at 3,500'. The thermal was unusually strong (over 10
kts) and rough for the UK. I was flying at the min sink speed, which is of
course is only a few knots above the stall speed and must have gone
through
an extra rough patch or a shear plane, as suddenley, within two seconds, I
was looking down at the ground and the fields were spinning around. Hey! I
thought, "I do believe that I am in an unsolicited spin". Because of my
glider spin training I recovered almost automatically. centred on the
thermal core again and carried on clinbing.
This is why glider pilots do so many stalls, incipient spins, and full
spins in training and again at annual checks
Regards
Tony
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