Does this make the problem clearer?
Yes, I suppose, as said, my experience in gliders is very little.
This is more than likely going to cause a significant change in the previously stable approach.
But the glider was trimmed for a stable approach?
I am learning that gliders have a unique condition (in that a go around is not possible), so I would think that training, and circuit discipline would be employed to mitigate this.
please take a chill pill and relax, in your perfect world of aviation I hope you never have any kind of cockpit distraction
I'm pretty relaxed flying my planes, though I try to not become complacent.
I have endured all kinds of cockpit distraction, and done my best with it. So far, far from perfect, but adequate. I have never made an insurance claim.
I am unwilling to waste my time repairing an aircraft I damaged, and I sure can't afford to pay someone else to do it, so I don't cause the damage - and everyone is happy.
Now, one of my jobs is to train amphibian pilots. Most recently in a $900,000 182. I cannot even afford the $25,000 damage deductible, should I damage it. Sliding the floats down a runway could exceed that. Landing it in the water with the wheels down, will cause a total loss claim, and probably risk to life. Not only must I not do this, I must train others not to do this. When I train pilots who have never flow RG, that sometimes you must land wheels down, and sometimes you must land wheels up, and there is nothing to tell you that you're about to do the wrong thing, there is no part way - it's right or wrong. Wrong is $$.
So, I'm generally pretty relaxed, until I see a change in flight phase coming, then, no guff, we're going to get it right, no matter how much I have to distract or scare you - I'll make it chilling - so it's memorable. To make my point, I have in the past, while training a careless pilot, waited until to later point down final (at which point I could barely get the wheels up myself, should the engine quit) and called out sharply "pull up and go around!". The then VERY distracted pilot must do that, continue to maintain control of the aircraft, and figure out why I called that with no warning. Believe me, It's unforgettable - and that's the point.
I know that it "can" happen to any of us, but it shouldn't. How could I train and send off an RG/amphibian pilot, who I believed did not understand the importance of this? Should they have a water accident in a cold, very remote lake, it will be fatal. So, I like to train it right first time, and with no room for tolerance of getting it wrong.
When you're 100 miles from the nearest other person, and 300 miles from a town, with 3 degree C water, you've got to get the gear position right the first time!
