Glider down in a field in Angus
 

Nephew just called and said there is a glider down in a field at Easterton Farm Melgund near Brechin in Angus He said it did not look damaged but the field is so small with a hill in the middle he doubted it was a planned landing. Will go along in the morning and have a look. Here's hoping all is ok

Er, that's what gliders do............:ugh:

Really !! In a 600ft by 600ft hilly and rough field, if that is the case i would hate to pay the maintenance on one. Also how do they get it back in the air or is gliding a one shot deal

Yep, if you get it wrong, you visit a farmer.....

Your friends then come with the glider trailer, help you to remove the wings, load it up, and you all stop at the pub on the way home, after of course apologising to the farmer

But that is not the intention. These days gliders have good performance even into wind, and a cross country triangle typically is planned to end up where you started, saves taking it apart.... On a good day a lot of gliders will manage tasks between 140, 300, 500 kilometers, depending on weather and skill. In the UK several pilots have flown 750 k. I'm pretty sure in exotic places the 1,000 kilometer distance has been achieved...

If the weather or whatever lets you down, a field is chosen; size (large) surface - (not recently plowed) slope (don't try to land downhill, doesn't work). Cows are OK, so are sheep. Horses can be expensive. Crop is OK if you can see the soil through the leaves....etc etc.

About 30 gliders ended up during a regional competition in a couple of fields north of Birmingham. That evening the local Police rang the competition director (people see a glider in a field, must be an emergency). Said the Officer of the law to the nonplussed Director...."The next time you plan to have 30 gliders landing in my district, we will require 24 hours notice in advance......"

Gilder in a field ! Shock ! Horror ! I must be reading The Daily Mail !

If that's the best field available, then so be it. Simple edict for glider pilots is that a good landing into a bad field is better than a bad landing into a good field. Glider pilot had presumably assessed that it was the best landable option. Not actually that big a deal as gliders often land in fields, usually without damaging the glider, pilot or causing any damage to the field. Flying cross country a glider pilot is often operating mentally for much of the flight in EFATO mode....constantly weighing up options, fields, routes, etc. That's part of what makes it so much fun.

This is the equivalent of seeing a small boat sitting on the mud in a tidal estuary and advertising a shipwreck!

Incredible.

I think it is commendable of Piperboy to go along to check things out, and offer to lend a hand if need be.

I suspect that all that will be there in the morning is an empty field. Maybe some tyre marks in the entrance, maybe a tyre mark from the main wheel if the field was soft enough.

Mary, wouldn't have thought you would consider Scotland exotic?:E It's an interesting read:ok:

Epic Flights: 1200km in Scottish Wave

I believe it still stands as the UK record?

I also believe another UK record of 38600 feet was achieved north of the border from Aboyne?

BB

They ring base and someone (or several someones) comes out with the trailer. They take the wings & tailplane off, put it all in the trailer and drive back to base. Then they take it out and rig it again...

I don't think people should be too unkind to piperboy84; many aspects of the sport of gliding appear somewhat strange to the uninitiated :)

The Colditz glider certainly was...................;)

So was operation Market Garden ..... and those must have been some brave guys.

The tows were a bit longer than the ones on the "tugging thread" currently running. Must have been pretty hard work tugging and being tugged for a couple of hours.

They weren't just glider pilots either, they were expected to jump out and start fighting.

I don't think all the speculation on here is appropriate, not until the family of the pilot have been informed.

Please remember that this forum is read by the media.

Hmmmm :D :eek: :E :p

Just been chatting to him. He is very happy as that was his 50 km flight to complete his silver badge. The glider is back at base rigged ready to fly again.

Sounds like some sort of engine problem to me.

"hello dear, I'm going to be a bit late home, I have to buy some beers for the retrieve crew."
"Not again !"
Family informed.

G

Does an outlanding count for the 50km silver assignment? I would assume you've got to land at a "proper" place, for instance another gliding base, or at least a field which you declared in advance. Not just a field which happened to be underneath you once you are 50km from home base.

If not, you could just get yourself towed to 5500' altitude, glide in a straight line, find a field when you get below 500' and fulfill the requirement. (Assuming a 1:30 glide angle.) Where's the challenge in that?

The rules stipulate the height above which you may not be towed befrore starting the 50K attempt. You must carry a barograph which is inspected after the flight to ensure compliance. Even with modern gliders 50K is a real acheivement for the improving pilot.

H

Heston is spot on. The maximum difference between altitude of the airborne starting and the end landing point must not be more than 1% of the distance flown. A field landing is also more than acceptable, as long as it is far enough away. For those being launched by aerotow, the tug driver also has to say where and how high he dropped his victim off. A winch launch simplifies things.

Returning to the OP, a hill in the middle of a field is often quite a good thing. Land at the edge and roll up the hill to stop. Landing uphill also does a good job at killing any float. Ask pilots from Dunstable about that. As for crashed gliders, I've apparently been involved in lots of them. Concerned members of the public call regularly call the police to report an incident. It's quite good really because if you did actually spang it into the ground, it would be nice to found sooner than later. Generally though, it turns out to be a waste of police time.

I just hope nobody tells the press that gliders regularly "crash" into fields on purpose.

PM

Well as you can tell I am somewhat unfamiliar with gliders and there operations, but am truly amazed at the utility of them being able to land it in a tiny/hilly field and get the wings off and back home so easy, I have a few questions, when re-installing the wings and re rigging does that have to be done by a certified airframe mechanic? does a glider have to have a certificate of airworthiness like powered aircraft or can the glider owner upon becoming proficient in the crafts systems work on/and remove and reinstall the wings and rigging themselves?,

They do have certs and the owner can rig and derig their own glider. Well anyone can rig and derig any glider as long as they've been shown the salient points. I had to derig the club K8 after my 50k downwind dash. It's suprisingly simple, gliders are designed to be quickly rigged and derigged precisely because they finish up in fields. Also at the end of the flying day at most clubs, personal gliders are put back in their trailers.

It's obviously sensible to get your rig checked by someone else who knows how to rig that particular glider.

Nope, no licensed mechanic needed to pull it apart or put it back together if you mean the normal rigging out of the trailer or back in. Gliders are built and certified that way, it is normal for them to have the wings and tailplane removed or put back in. At least over here in germany they do have a normal certificate of airworthiness and are subject to normal part M maintenance.

Found a site with a one person rigging assembly which shows some pictures and videos about rigging, however i haven't used any product of that kind, rigging with two or three persons usually takes around 5 to 15 minutes.

piperboy, it sounds like it is time you got yourself acquainted with gliding. It is an absolutely wonderful way to fly. IMHO the mistake is in trying to compare it to power, you can't, they are just different.

I found this Angus Gliding Club Web Site

BB

Actually the rigging/derigging procedure is listed in the PILOT operating handbook of a glider, and (at least here in NL) common rigging issues, like the proper way to attach and lock the flight controls, are tested as part of the written exams.

So, yes, rigging and derigging is a very common task in the glider world, and is intended to be done by a pilot, not by a mechanic.

True, it is a normal procedure covered in the POH. Do you mean it is tested during the license tests? Or do you need to do a written test for each new glider you fly?

PM

Denti, so far I've only done the written exams. There were a few questions in there about common rigging/de-rigging issues, mostly pertaining to control connections and the locking thereof. Things like correct usage of locking pins.

I would assume that an actual rigging/derigging, or at least a discussion of that, would be part of the practical exam, but I'm not there yet.

I don't remember it being in the Bronze exam in the UK, and at present that's the only exam we do - EASA looms. The person I brought my glider from showed me (we rigged, fiddled & derigged when I went to see it), I showed my syndicate partner. We also help rig & derig club gliders which where I fly are all modern glass gliders. We always do a positive control check after rigging, and club gliders get one each time they are DI'd.

BTW there are more gliding clubs in Scotland:
The Scottish Gliding Centre Official Website (Portmoak)
Cairngorm Gliding Club - Feshie
Highland Gliding Club (Easterton)
http://www.deesideglidingclub.co.uk/ (Aboyne)
Home Page (Dumfries)

However so far as I know only the first flies 7 days a week, weather permitting.

As with all things that can kill you if you get it wrong it is a good one a to have someone look over the glider you have just rigged, mistakes in this area are rare but could be fatal.

Interestingly some of the modern powered aircraft like the Diamond's show their ancestry in the way the wings are attached, it is very easy to get the wings off with just a few control conections and two bolts to undo to get the spar pin locks out, the de- rig can be done very quickly once you have taken the fuel out of the wings.................that is if you don't decide to try to remove the spar pin locks with a hacksaw like someone tried to do on an aircraft I recently put back together!

On a typical modern glider such as a Discus or Ventus the spars slot through the fuselage and locate in the oposite wing. They are held in place with a single pin through both spars and safety clipped.
The tailplane is loctated on two lugs that operate the elevator at the rear and a spring loaded pin at the front.
All controls are automatically connected.

Tape up the gaps, DI and fly.
Simples.

Quote:

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I don't think all the speculation on here is appropriate, not until the family of the pilot have been informed.

Please remember that this forum is read by the media.

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That guy makes me smile. Oh and before I forget... A lot of nonsense being said here! ;)

Why does the glider arm of flying seem to work in kilometres when the rest of the UK uses statute miles or nautical miles please?

All the performance flights for badges and diplomas are in metric - meters of height gained, kilometers of distance flown.

Would you rather fly 50 km for your silver distance badge or 26.9978402 nm? They are the same (according to the Google calculator), but the former is less of a mouthful!

However we do use feet, knots and knots on the altimeter, asi and vario in the UK and the placard for my glider is marked in pounds and knots.

Its different on the continent, ASI's are marked in km/h, V/S in m/s, altitude in meters, weights are in kg and so on. Same for most so called ultralights. However modern glass cockpit interiors for gliders display feet and FL as well if you have to fly into airspace that requires that (above FL100/130 in germany).

I use a one-person rigging aid (to put the wings on and off) and it works fine if the ground is reasonably level. It takes slightly longer than if a competent helper is available, but still only 15 minutes or so to rig to the point that the airframe is ready.

Taping up the gaps (almost the last bit of the video clip above) to make for really clean aerodynamics, and putting in carry-on pilot equipment including logger, computer, programming intended route, etc., can take as long again – but most of that needs doing even if it is kept rigged in a hangar, plus a DI (daily inspection – like a walk round plus some bits).

DI is taught by clubs, and pilots have their log books signed to show competence, usually after learning to do it on a club glider. Other types one learns from others and/or the handbook. It is not part of any formal examination in the UK AFAIK.

I think the French invented certificate requirements and nomenclature for records distances and heights, hence the metric notation. It is not just gliding – ballooning and other aviation sporting achievements use them too. There is a clue in the name of the world body that governs it all – FAI (Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, "FAI - The World Air Sports Federation").

Chris N

I flew my glider once without wing tape (too damp to get it to stick) and speed control was all over the place because of the noise.

AFAIK because of legislation changes pilots must now have a Bronze to do a DI without supervision, so no more signing off in the log book. However we do teach doing a DI. Each type of glider has it's own gotchas - or at least each type I've done a DI on.