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Old 9th Jan 2017, 19:00
  #8 (permalink)  
mary meagher
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Oxford, UK
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free floating horizontal stabilizer and elevator....

A few years ago a glider pilot got distracted in rigging before an airtow....
(wasn't me)...the controls not attached to the elevator. initially on tow the glider climbed dangerously high behind the tug, so the pilot released.

The glider then entered fugoid ...All by itself. All the way down to the ground, and at arrival point just happened to be in a suitable attitude. On a suitable farmer's field.

Could this take place in larger aircraft? Was the glider technically stalled?
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