PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - ASI unservicable! Now what do I do?
View Single Post
Old 25th Apr 2009, 08:09
  #24 (permalink)  
mary meagher
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Oxford, UK
Posts: 1,546
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
something I didn't mention in the original post

The go - no go decision is exactly the same for any takeoff, glider, tug, light aircraft or Boeing. It has to be made at the most awkward moment!

Thank you for all your comments. I've been thinking about my experience while driving back and forth from the airfield, and realise now that I was being economical with an important detail of PILOT failure on this flight without a serviceable ASI.

The overloaded mind effect.

I do a lot, and I mean a lot of my flying in the back seat of a training glider, the good old Kl3.

On this occasion, rigged the Pegasus single seater which I had flown only 4 times before this season, and in a hurry to get launched. So overlooked the white tape on the pitot tube. Correct decision not to abort. For all kinds of reasons. Thinking about best plan to do after releasing. Followed tug to cloud base. And absolutely BLANKED on what knob to pull to release from the tug. That actually was a moment of panic. Being in a different glider from my customary steed, it of course was not in the usual location. After a moment of complete blank, I said to myself "LOOK AT THE KNOB BEFORE YOU PULL IT, STUPID WOMAN!" At which point the British Gliding Association requirement came to my rescue. All release knobs in gliders are painted YELLOW. I located the correct one to pull and pulled. So this story ended happily.

But my moment of panic was forgotten in the subsequent management of the flight, and I only retrieved it to mull over on the drive home, and now share it with you, my electronic friends!

Mary
mary meagher is offline