Originally Posted by
Olympia463
It was disconcerting however to see so how many experienced pilots on this thread who missed this vital clue as to how these clowns got into that mess. I have flown twenty three types of glider in my career (now over) and never encountered one, all the way from T31 to ASK21, that was not equipped with a turn and slip. I thought perhaps I had missed it in my first scan of the panel - but no it wasn't there. I have to tell you that I would not have taken off in any glider not so equipped.
The vast majority of gliders that I have flown were not fitted with a T&S & if I flew with one that was I usually wouldn't turn it on. It's not a required instrument if you remain VMC. The reason these guys got themselves in to that mess was that they committed the gliding cardinal sin of not having a Plan B (& C,D,E . . .) A working T&S might have been a Plan B but they would need to know what track they were flying, not easy with just a compass.