Originally Posted by
Chesty Morgan
In the video at about 5 seconds he moves his hand forward under the airbrake lever and you can see it gets moved upwards by a gnats. Is that enough to unlock them?
The pilot appears to be cycling the trim which in the Puchacz is just below the airbrake lever and is operated via a push-rod, for and aft. If, when doing that, the hand should foul the airbrake lever, its not enough to unlock the airbrakes which have a deliberately strong over-centre lock (because its a training glider). If the pilot is used to flying an aircraft who's airbrakes/spoilers do not have a strong over-centre lock, its just conceivable that cycling one could be confused with cycling the other.
The pilot is not early solo in gliders. He also flies power.