Originally Posted by
gums
Salute!
Have you ever flown a sailplane or glider?
I am not sure you have to land faster than normal if in an unintentional glider! Having done it myself one day after being shot up, it was not that big of a deal. Especially if you had practiced it a bit. I had the pleasure of being close to a field and could spiral down, but no speed brakes or hydraulics...just fly best AoA, maybe slip a bit if too high without gaining speed and aim for a third way down the runway. Piece of cake. Also a good story for commercial folks if you Google "Gimli Glider". Quite a feat, IMHO.
I can unnerstan faster touchdown if no flaps or whatever, but I can tellya that I lost a lotta speed in the flare and was glad I had aimed long.
Anyway, a good question and we may have a few of His Majesty's best that have done it in the RAF crowd that dominates here.
Gums sends...
Hi! Yes I have copiloted a glider but I didn't land it.
Thanks for all the replies. There is an RAF Honington but it's maybe 150 miles away from Scarborough, where the quoted conversation happened. I wonder if there used to be an RAF Honiton somewhere near Scarborough. When you search for it some results come up, some of them old. The Navy flew the Buccaneer from 62 til 78 and the RAF flew them from 69 till 94. I've asked the RAF if there used to be an RAF Honiton. If there wasn't one near Scarborough this could have happened at another RAF base and he mixed up the names. Just trying to get to the bottom of this anecdote.