2 Gliders Hit Trees After Takeoff: Instructor Reacts!
Doing your checks is critical. Not getting distracted is hard. Here's a few videos to demonstrate what happens if you get it wrong, and miss your air brakes check.
I also tell the tale of when I left my brakes out during a contest launch in Australia.
Shoutout to @BeckiandChris for the helicopter checks:
www.beckiandchris.com
BGA Video Brakes Open:
• Airbrakes Open
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00:00 Intro
00:27 BGA Brakes Open Video
02:57 Black Friday Special
03:26 The time I left my brakes open
06:03 Hard Crash Landing Video
08:32 Becki & Chris's Checks
09:48 What was the beeping?!
10:24 Glider Lov'n
Comments from an instructor at the club the heavy landing happened: The Puchacz pilot flies at my club, The Gliding Centre Husbands Bosworth UK He missed a number of things on the day 1 He should have called the tug to establish radio communication. 2 He should have checked his A/B had been locked. 3 He should have heard the radio call from the tower, "Take up the slack" 4 he should have heard the radio call from the tower, "ALL OUT " 5 He did not have the radio on.! 5 He did not monitor the speed or the rate of climb 6 Both the tower and the tug had called "BRAKES OPEN" but he did not have the Radio on! 7 The tug pilot had hoped to get over the trees but could not do it so dumped the glider. He is still flying after a long stay in the hospital. I have flown with him a number of times and survived. We have changed our checklist 1 Controls Full and free movement 2 Ballast .. Checked 3 Straps and security 4 Instruments, Radio on frequency check COMS 5 Flaps (Set) 6 Trim 7 BRAKES Full open,1/2, Closed & locked checked 8 EVENTUALITY S unable to keep the wings level, Poor rollout. Quit division if we are not airborne by X crosswind consideration. 9 If all are satisfactory, check, Winch, weak link colour, or A.T. rope OK to be attached? 10 CLOSE AND LOCK THE CANOPY If all is in order, We are good to go, "hook up" I also suggest, "Look at the sky before you fly" as often in the UK, we have witching days with a 1000 ft cloud base. Nothing puts a student off more than going into the cloud. unexpectedly. The Puchacz pilot flies at my club, The Gliding Centre Husbands Bosworth UK He missed a number of things on the day 1 He should have called the tug to establish radio communication. 2 He should have checked his A/B had been locked. 3 He should have heard the radio call from the tower, "Take up the slack" 4 he should have heard the radio call from the tower, "ALL OUT " 5 He did not have the radio on.! 5 He did not monitor the speed or the rate of climb 6 Both the tower and the tug had called "BRAKES OPEN" but he did not have the Radio on! 7 The tug pilot had hoped to get over the trees but could not do it so dumped the glider. He is still flying after a long stay in the hospital. I have flown with him a number of times and survived. We have changed our checklist 1 Controls Full and free movement 2 Ballast .. Checked 3 Straps and security 4 Instruments, Radio on frequency check COMS 5 Flaps (Set) 6 Trim 7 BRAKES Full open,1/2, Closed & locked checked 8 EVENTUALITY S unable to keep the wings level, Poor rollout. Quit division if we are not airborne by X crosswind consideration. 9 If all are satisfactory, check, Winch, weak link colour, or A.T. rope OK to be attached? 10 CLOSE AND LOCK THE CANOPY If all is in order, We are good to go, "hook up" I also suggest, "Look at the sky before you fly" as often in the UK, we have witching days with a 1000 ft cloud base. Nothing puts a student off more than going into the cloud. unexpectedly.
Sounds like couldn't have done more things wrong had he tried.
Gonna be honest, the list of mistakes is fairly damning on this one. I can't fathom not having the radio on when you are strapping yourself in, at least for SA of what's happening around you. The french common checklist is CRIS : Controls and trim ("compensateur" in french), check full movement by wiping the controls and check AB for symmetrical deployment at half/full. Check trim works and reset to neutral. Radio and various settings ("réglages") depending on airframe, check radio on, volume, frequency. Instruments and Installation (sweep the panel from yaw string down to the bottom) check hat/glasses/seat position/belts etc. Safety, check runway condition, wind direction, brief yourself for takeoff much like an airliner would (abort on runway, abort just after takeoff, abort during tow). We also pretty much always have a two way comms check with the tow plane before takeoff, including mentioning if the glider is ballasted or not.
Are you sure the tow dumped him? It sure looks like he pulled the release.
Husbands Bosworth? i tought you were from New Zealand
@@mathiasskrlund7319 Tim looks at video from all over the world :D
Big respect to the pilots who released their videos for us to learn from, I think that requires a good deal of intestinal fortitude.
The first clip was released without the pilot's permission - quite a controversy at the time ..... the pilot's family was extremely upset regarding this, but lots of unethical arrogant self centred bozo's used and re-posted it without permission............. not the only time this has happened.
@@soaruk3697 and he’s still sour about it. He’ll copyright strike people for it.
@@soaruk3697 Why is his family upset, did he die? Not sure what there is to be upset about., it's not like he's going to be identified by the stain on his hat.
@@justsnappy Lol
@@winwinogaming No it's just because he's a loser who likes striking people's channels.
Very important video! And I think you said it: if interrupted, do the checks again -- from the beginning. On a related note, a thing that always stunned me when I was instructing was that I could be sitting in the back seat listening to a pupil run through their checks, and a club member would wander up and start telling me about their holiday, or something of the sort. Often the most experienced pilots would do this. I could never understand it. I guess it was complacency -- nothing had happened for years, so it wasn't going to happen. And I cannot count the number of times I dropped the rope on the ground because someone had hooked me on before I asked -- a kind of automatic behaviour. Complacency is one of the biggest enemies of safety.
Yeah great points, cheers for the comment
Thats why in airliners they have steril cockpit from "engine Start" to cruise and from descent to gate.
Hi all, In the video that starts from 06:04 I was flying the tug. Before reaching the trees I was absolutely not sure that I would make it over them. Very unfortunate position to release but I felt I had no other choice. Now I know I should have released it during roll out but I had absolutely no idea even the main switch was off in the glider so it did not help shouting on the radio. I was off the ground when I realised the airbrakes were fully open because the mirror stopped vibrating. Of course, during ground roll something was not right but I didn't know what. I made another wrong decision with giving him a little time to realise what was wrong and I thought we could make it over the trees. When we got closer, it was not so obvious. My speed indicator showed 55 kts or below and I was towing a huge drag behind me. He had some serious back injury but recovered completely. Next time I'll know better.
Hi Zoltán thanks for replying! I don't think anyone can fault you for your actions. It really is the responsibility of the glider pilot to release if things aren't going right. And we'd only expect tow pilots to release if there's a threat to themselves e.g. a tow upset, or trees ahead as you say. I suspect other tow pilots would have reacted the same way. Anyway it's a great reminder to us glider pilots to release early if anything isn't going like normal, while you can!
I am a tug pilot and in Australia we teach tug pilots to waggle the tail (rudder side to side) if you believe the glider has his brakes out and teach and test all glider pilots to react to this. In an anual check the tug will do this and the instructor will confirm the pilot checks his air brakes. If this not the case in the UK?
@@tugpilothrs The same in the UK but the speed was just a little bit above stall speed so I decided not to. You can find a discussion about this below another comment here.
@@tothzoltan89 It happened pretty quick. As pilot in command your decision. You did what you could. Better to drop him than both of you going down. These decisions need to be made quickly and without emotion..... Try not to dwell on the what iffs... glad nobody got seriously hurt......
Thank You. I was wondering what the tuggies situation was.... tough decision.
I had a brakes open takeoff in my clubs' PW-5 as a B Cert pilot, recently certified in this single. I was nearing the end of my pre flight checks when my wing runner interrupted me to ask to connect the rope to the hook. I hooked up, the wing runner indicated OK and lifted my wing. The tow plane took up slack and we were rolling shortly after. The first thing that got my attention was the super fast rolling speed just as the tow plane lifted off, I was still on the ground! Normally I would be in the air well before the tow plane. Pulling back more and full up trim all I could do was get the glider to hop off the ground before landing again at speed. I was just ready to release to abort (still plenty of grass ahead of me) I looked down my left wing and saw the brake panel open, fully. I immediately slammed the brakes closed, 70kts+, and the little Smyk launched into the air like a rocket. A little shaken I continued a normal aerotow, release and short unnoteworthy flight. Upon return I was wondering if I would get a bollocking from the DI, but no-one mentioned anything. So I sheepishly brought it up, "Did anyone see me launch with my brakes open?" (crickets)
So common. Luckily the pw5 behind a big Pawnee can be hauled into the sky even with the brakes open! I’ve seen it a couple of times
@@PureGlide a 172 in this case. Thinking back, "CB SIFT CBE", I had closed the canopy and probably had my hand on the brake to close them when I was interrupted, took my hand off to actuate the tow hook, then started thinking about the eventualities. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, or wiser.😬
I think this is a great example of NZ's new checks CB SIFT BEC. The canopy remains open until the glider is ready to be hooked on.
When I'm running wing I try and be part of a solution rather than the problem. Say, then check to the pilot "brakes closed and locked. Canopy closed and locked. All clear above and behind." Should be a training checklist for wing runners too.
@@waynerussell6401 Yes, except that "Brakes closed and locked" should actually be a Challenge and Response. The wingrunner should ask the question "Are your brakes locked?" prompting the pilot to check and give the response "Brakes locked!" Ditto for canopy.
Thanks to both of these pilots (and you) for sharing your experiences so we don’t have to experience them ourselves. One contributor to interrupted checks is the bully ground crew or duty pilot who makes their displeasure with slow checks abundantly clear, thus flustering the pilot, who is probably low hours, not current or under confident. This pilot then flubs their checks AND launches in a state of mental agitation. I’m a strong believer that the space between wingtip and cockpit during pre-launch should be a sterile zone, where the only ground person allowed inside during checks is the ‘competent crew’, who should only speak when spoken to or as part of the set challenges/responses (small ring, airspace clear etc).
Yeah good points, cheers
Mary Meagher from the UK mentioned such a situation in her book. She felt hurried by the launch team, with a helicopter hovering nearby, the tow plane impatient to get out there etc. She confessed to her instructor that she was not mentally ready before takeoff and her instructor RELEASED the rope on the ground, stationary, demonstrating that a pilot must never accept time pressure, that would compromise flight safety. NEVER. It's OK to increase the pace, if one is experienced and can do it safely, but not otherwise.
@@rnzoli Hats off to that instructor! What a great reaction (and boosting the confidence of the student against that kind of pressure!)
I was an instructor at the Mynd where the video was shot. The pilot holds it on the wheel brake while the ground crew walk down the hill stretching the bungee. A tail holder is present as well. The glider in the video had the wheel brake on the stop of the airbrake lever. He clearly was focused on getting in the air, it is quite a weird experience, and nerves probably came into play. He didnt close the handle fully as he launched and moved his hand to the cable release.
Literally came here to say this... If you're bungeeing with a type that has wheel brake at the end of the airbrake you can easily either 1) Not shove the brakes closed hard enough (bearing in mind you will be accelerating as soon as you ease off back pressure) or 2) Shove the brakes forward so hard they bounce back a bit and unlock.
Thanks for sharing, so you'd think if you had used the brakes, you'd put them back correct, but obviously he didn't due to unfamiliarity with the glider and the different seating position. I was wondering why that was mentioned as a factor, that would explain it.
@@PureGlide Yeah. I flew at the Long Mynd mostofforever ago, and we definitely held the brake s open until we were ready to go. That was flying an Olympia 2 :)
Brakes open. One problem is change of procedures. I was taught to hold left hand on the braked on t/o, to ensure they were closed. Then someone changed that to ‘hold the release knob’, because of release incidents. So are we now returning to brakes open incidents? R
In our club before raising the wing the wing runner has to check that airbrakes are closed before raising the wing. We listen for the "clack" of the locking mechanism to make sure they close properly. Not a foolproof method but it definitely helps with safety and adds a bit of redundancy to the checks.
Yeah certainly adds another layer of detection. Some however aren’t very obvious from the outside that they aren’t locked.
@@PureGlide Yep that's definitely true, also sometimes you can't hear them locking because of the noise from the towplane, still, better than nothing :)
In addition to the wing runner check, in our club the pilot glider says to the tow-pilot: "X from Y, Air brakes closed and locked, ready to take off". It is better to say this with the hand pushing the blue handle and the eyes on the wings...
@@gdineyt clubs I flew at we used to have to say “canopy and brakes closed and locked, cable on please” before the person with the rope/cable would attach it to the glider.
Done it! In the motorglider with an extremely stiff lock. I remember the thought process as I realised I wasn't climbing: check airspeed, fly the aircraft, check engine instruments, fly the aircraft, look out on the wing, oh that's the problem! I learned a lot from that.
Let me guess: it happened because you had to do a back taxi first. That was mine. So a checklist, then a cockpit flow routine before any takeoff has been incorporated.
It is why I developed the habit of checking brakes during the launch in the regular intervals. Sometimes instructors on check flights ask me why I push the airbrakes lever forward every 20-30 seconds :). This video shows me that I am not paranoid :)
At our club (Staffordshire Gliding Club, UK), the person attaching the rope or cable is required before doing so to challenge the pilot "brakes closed and locked, canopy closed and locked?", and has to get a positive response before continuing. This gives another opportunity to catch this error.
Somebody on the ground must have seen the brakes out.
@@scotto7924 They weren't "out" - simply unlocked. Very easy to miss. They came out during the roll/lift-off.
Early morning, I was preparing our double seater with the instructor and the other students as one of the most experienced pilots on our airfield (1500km wave flight in the Alps, nothing more to add...) took off in his Ventus 3T with full ballast. Right before the end of the runway his brakes chucked open and he slammed back onto the concrete runway. The wings (as I said full of water) bent down heavily because of the inertia and he pushed the brakes in again and climbed away safely. My heart skipped a beat and I thought he was gonna pull down the tow plane as well but luckily didn't happen. This shows: It can happen to the best and most experienced pilots, do your checks properly!
Great that pilots post their story. It's something they're not proud of. But they and others can learn. This instructor does a hell of a good job, explaining what we can learn.
I've had my door come open in flight on a solo cross country flight. The standard Piper cockpit door has a double latching system that you need to latch both or it will come ajar as suction caused by wind passing over the fuselage will pull it open. I did exactly the thing you said, it was a hot day and I had it slightly open to stay cool while I did my pretakeoff checks and in a chronic case of get-home-itis forgot to latch the second lock before taking off. The wind noise was so loud I couldn't hear the radio even though I had a headset on. Fortunately the airfield was quiet so I was able to rejoin the circuit and land without delay. I relatched the door properly, collected my wits and took off for an uneventful flight home.
Nasty! glad it all worked out OK :) we had one of our NZ tow pilots killed when the door flew open and hit him in the head so badly he then crashed, many years ago. Not good at all!
A really good vid on how we can miss the obvious. At my local club ground crew go through a number of checks before launch (aero tow only) one of which is 'brakes in and locked' and we expect the pilot to put their hand on the brake handle and confirm the brakes are locked in. @Tim I absolutely sympathise with being stuck behind MCF/BXP, you will get to altitude.... eventually.
Something to note on the crash video is the pilot instinctively pulled the stick into his lap as he clipped the trees and held it there. This is a very hard instinct to overcome. Had he jabbed it forward for just a second, he could have brought it into ground effect and softened the landing/crash. He was entering a stall/spin from 20 feet up, and using ailerons to arrest the spin. Only training and practice could overcome this instinct.
Such a fantastic compilation. I recently ran through my pre-flight after switching gliders. Ballast, controls, etc. Flew successfully and on the return a fellow pilot asked me if the ballast was still in (I fly without) and sure enough there it was. Thankfully I was still within limits for that particular flight, so no flight safety incident. But it was a little un-nerving and a good reminder to me that simply verbalizing the checks (which we're taught to do) is not enough. You must do the check every time. Complacency kills. Thanks for your channel. I share it more and more.
Fogot to do my FUST checks before joining in circuit, undercarrage raised for doing spin training. Instrcutor and I both did not notice. Landed with the gear up. Hopped outside the glider, instructor takes one look at the aircraft, "ah s@#t". I didn't even notice untill he pointed it out. No damage was done to the glider (L-13 Blanik). A great lesson learnt. Now I never forget to do them.
Blaník Is a great Scholl glider. I had simillar lesson...
As far as I remember ,the Blanik never retracted the undercarriage fully.
Dust check eh! Sounds like you might be from AUS. Iflew really ancient wooden gliders in Aus about 45 years ago. (Schneider ES 60 Boomerangs) They were so basic you could hardly go wrong--no flaps_no retract wheel' no electronics no radio, no A Horizon crude Vario and such tiny dive brakes a piper cub wouldn't notice they weren't retracted. So the fust check was basically just Trim !
Excellent video as usual Tim. Although this has never happened to me, I've seen it happen to someone else. It happened at a very small club in the Midlands, UK. A fairly experienced pilot was awaiting the return of the tug aircraft whilst sitting in the cockpit of the club's Ka6 CR single seater. While waiting he chatted with some of the groundcrew and fellow pilots on the field that day. I was curious as to why he didn't do at least some of his pre-take-off checks as the tug entered the circuit. When the tug landed and taxied back to the launch point another glider entered the circuit from the high key area. Instead of waiting the pilot decided he would rather go before the other glider got near to finals. However, in his haste to do his checks he got himself into a real panic and failed to lock his brakes. As the combination gathered speed along the bumpy surface the brakes sprung fully open and the pilot failed to close them. The tug struggled to gain enough speed to take off and eventually released the glider before climbing away to re-join the circuit. The glider on circuit managed to land safely. It was a lesson I never forgot.
This happened at our club to two experienced instructors in a Janus A. It was a combination of multiple factors, as with all accidents and incidents. They didn't notice at first. It was scary. Luckily they managed to get over the powerlines and just skimmed the trees. Everybody was ok, just the wings were a bit green...
Having two experienced pilots in the same airplane is a risk factor on its own....😂 also on a serious note (false assumptions, complacency, competitive attitude).
Somewhat similar to your brakes out tow mishap, i found myself unexpectedly first in line for a winch launch and promptly proceeded to accelerate ... with the tail trolley still firmly attached. An LS1 with well over 2kg ballast in the tail being wildly out of balance. Instant lift off, with no elevator feel until the IAS got past 100km/h (Vs0 is around 70km/h) at a pitch angle i am still occasionally having nightmares about. A spectacular ride that could have had a rather brutal ending. Your flight starts long before you settle into you craft, literally. Never allow yourself to be rushed into anything. When wing-walking, always assume the pilot is in a forgetful mood. ^^
Amazing flying for the first guy. Wow.
The chopper guy was more interested in making a big impression with the girlie.
Long steady beep in the DG-1001 is a gear-up alarm, meant for when you're in final using airbrakes. The first time I used the glider while descending from wave I had the same reaction.
Hi, I was CFI at the time of your second video. I can confirm that the tug actually dumped the glider as he wasn't going to get over the trees. The glider pilot was badly injured and was airlifted to hospital where he remained for some time with bad back damage. The glider was a Puchacz which was written off - the pilot was extremely lucky as the glider was only prevented from dropping over the edge of a quarry with deep water by a small earth berm. Fortunately, the pilot is back with us and flying again. Lessons learned - PRE FLIGHT CHECKS EVERY TIME!! Great videos - keep them coming - we can all learn and, hopefully, all learn from them. (And - Yes - I have taken off with unlocked brakes too - DISTRACTION!!!!
Thanks for sharing Alan, sorry to hear the pilot was injured and the glider written off. It's really had to tell in the video just how close it was to the quarry!
@@PureGlide Its always easy to make judgements on a pilot when sitting comfortably in front of a screen. In real life, when stress and workload kick in, its not predictable how any of us act - no matter what our experience level is. I have around 4000 hours but never think I can't make mistakes, I can (and sometimes do..) All we can really do - particularly on pre-take off checks - is NOT just to say the words like a useless poem, but to THINK about every action! It's all to late when the brown stuff hits the circulating object.
I was instructing on the winch in a K21. We did all the checks as normal and hooked up for the launch with P2 flying. I was monitoring with my feet on the pedals, right hand on the stick and the release ball in my left hand. The K21 has this nifty feature where you can place the palm of your hand on the airbrake handle while still holding the release. About half way up the airbrake unlocked and the handle plopped into my left palm. I just shoved it back into the locked position and all was ok. P2 didn't notice. Presumably the airbrake hadn't been pushed fully over-centre so that they were locked. You have to push very hard on a K21 to get the brakes locked (with quite a clunk) and if you're used to, say, a K13 then a surprising amount of force is required. It wasn't a huge deal in the end, due to the excellent positioning of the release and airbrake lever in the K21, but there is a lesson there about making sure those airbrakes really are locked.
That really is an excellent bit of design in the K21.
I have flown a K13 at another club than my own where you could not feel the brakes lock... I mentioned to the club members and they had never seen it as a problem... I had one start where the brakes came out... Because I did the cockpit check and not the more "experienced" student.
Excellent video that provides experience for the training of pilots... congratulations to the team! keep in that way.
Thanks a lot!
The hard landing video genuinely scared me. Especially since you can't really blame pilot error there. Spoilers opened on their own. I've actually accidentally opened spoilers before in an ask21 when pulling the release knob. With an instructor luckily. Scary stuff
Most of my time instructing was in the 2-32/33 and G103. Never was an issue but was religious about the checklist.
My feelings about leaving air brakes out are you are more likely to make these mistakes the more experienced you are. It’s the old story , familiarity breeds contempt. Less experienced pilots tend to be very methodical.
That is why using your checklist is critical.
Also experienced pilots are the ones flying all the time. So yes they will be the ones making mistakes…
@@PureGlide I have to disagree, experience airline pilots are flying more than any of us and their record is excellent. But they adhere strictly to checklists and procedures. They take it seriously. One issue I had with the gliding community is many think they are toys.
I remember reading about a commercial aviation incident where a co-pilot's relative inexperience and more recent training in the plane type actually helped. The training and knowledge was fresh in his mind and he was able to more easily recall an esoteric detail about the plane's systems that a experienced pilot on the type may not have recalled as quickly in the moment
First pilot was incredible
I witnessed the same thing during a visit at the Innsbruck airfield (Austria) back in the 80's. A lot of planes in a row, waiting for their winch launch and one guy took off with his airbrakes out. We saw him staggering around the pattern, barely making it over the nearby street and the airfield fence on final. After landing, nothing happened for a few minutes, the canopy remained closed. Then the airbrakes went back in... On some planes the wheel brake is engaged with the airbrake-lever, so it wasn't unusual to see airbrakes out prior to takeoff. He just forgot to put them back in.
I'm not a pilot, but after watching this video I will NEVER forget that glider pilots need to check their airbrakes before take off. 🥴
Excellent reminder presentation! Lucky the pilots avoided serious injury. In training, a valuable lesson was to LOOK out at the wings to confirm the position. A glider went into the trees on final and the pilot had confused the air brake lever. The pilot was in total denial the the air brakes were fully open and not closed!
6:52 “ffs” “He realises something is wrong” 😂
The pilot fell short on checking the list before departing, but from there he handled the situation nicely. He kept flying the glider, managed to keep the speed up and even to succesfully put it - and himself - on the ground. Thanks for sharing!
Yeah agreed!
Regarding the airbrakes out video: from the pilots I've talked to, there's different schools of thought for where your free hand should be on takeoff: holding the release or somewhere else. While holding the release on takeoff might be a good thing if you're in an area with limited options as far as landing out, I can see why it would be a good idea to keep your hand near it to save a second or two of having to reach for it. However, I've known of a few instances where pilots have released accidentally when taking off through turbulence, or just pulled it because something happened and it was the first thing they were holding onto. I got into the practice of resting my hand behind the locked spoiler handle during takeoff instead - this lets me feel/catch the airbrakes if they start coming out on takeoff (I've also had a few passengers pull them on accident, so I like to keep my hand braced there just in case they try anything).
That 1st clip was at the Long Mynd. I have flown from there a couple of times. Great video. Thanks Michael
I'm not a full-scale pilot. I fly radio control planes, but the principles still apply. When my son was young, I brought him to the flying field and I was assembling my giant-scale model Extra 300 for a day of flying. Just like the real thing, the models have wing bolts to hold the wing root against the fuselage. Well, didn't my son distract me while I was performing that part of the assembly and I forgot to install the wing bolt on one of the wings. About half-way into my 15-minute flight, that wing rotated on the wing tube and the plane went into a flat spin and pancaked into the weeds just off the runway. Glad it wasn't a real plane and that I wasn't in it.
Please make more videos like this one. This is great learning!
Thanks, will do!
@@PureGlide This is a very good video illustrating how distractions and interruptions can lead to accident scenarios. A common thread in the comments seems to be about the (air) brakes. They deploy and are not understood by the PIC to be extended, sometimes on takeoff, as seen here. Under stress, it's harder to think through problems, a quick solution for critical items needs to be in front of the pilot. (Expensive) sailplanes and modern gliders should have simple caution flags on or above the glare shield to indicate air brake extension and the other big hazard, unlocked canopies. This might be a design or human factors problem; I'm surprised engineers haven't said anything. Diligent adherence to detailed checklists as the only solution, is not always the answer. Having an attractive blonde (who seems to know nothing about aviation) sitting next to you can lead to leaving out important items. My two cents. Would like to see more videos like this, thanks.
Great Video. Thank You. In about 83 I was a passenger / early student in the back of a Blanik with the club President flying. Joining the circuit He said gear down but I could see it was not...twice I asked him to check it again .. but I was risking stressing him out and messing up on finals so I 'braced for impact'...but all that happened was the wheel flaps/doors were damaged. And a very embarrassed club pres...
Happens to the best of us! And good decision to not risk stressing the pilot close to the ground.
Great video and great series to all glider pilots, seasoned and green !
Thanks!
Very important video, great job once again! As I restart my preflight check after any possible distraction my learning wasn‘t only the proper check but also to think about: Why is the climbrate so low? First quick look would be to the airbrakes and the problem is solved. Thanks to the pilots who let others learn from their mistakes!
The first guy, goddamn what a save.
I think the first one had to hold his breaks while the bungee was stretched. After releasing he did not lock them properly or was so shocked by the launch that he was just holding on to the stick..
Interesting, cheers
I mostly do winch launches, rarely aero tow. I had the airbrakes coming out one or two times. Happend when the runway was bumpy, it just jumped out. Since then I always have my left hand applying a bit of push on the brake lever during launch.
I remember one incident when I was landing in nice weather. I was bit low on final and closed the brakes. Or so I thought. Somehow I got confused and instead of pushing the brakes close I pulled them open and to my horror glider started sinking rapidly! It must have took only few seconds before I figured out what was wrong and I managed to land fine but I swear that moment felt like eternity. I had done hundreds of landings at that point and never before (and never since) used the brake lever wrong direction. Brain can do weirdest thing sometimes.
Great video, well presented with excellent analysis and lessons to be learnt. I'll be watching all of these in the future so I can learn from other peoples mistakes. Thank you to the pilots who share their experiences. Subscribed today!
Hi glad you enjoyed it and thanks for your sub! Hope you enjoy the future videos
Never managed to take off with brakes open. Had them slam open and jam solid 'Overlocked'. on an SF27, Bowden cable adjustment out, and the moment lift came off the wing as I touched down they freed up, took it back up again aware it might happen again and it did, put on some negative 'G' and it freed up. Did manage to forget to close the flaps on a Blanik one afternoon after launch, now that was interesting, lucky for me recognised the sink rate and turned into the field, only then recognised the problem as I quickly ran through landing checks, we all have the ability to make mistakes when under pressure so as we know prevention is better than cure, ignore distractions and if you can't then start again.
Due to another rushed launch I've also launched that ASw 20 with the canopy unlatched Jeez gliding seems to be so benign, but it can go so wrong so quick
Never seen this happen. But then we're quite diligent with our checklists. A similar thing that did happen though was on a simulated emergency outlanding with go-around in a Super Dimona where I didn't close the brakes for the go-around. Luckily I noticed after a few seconds of not properly climbing at full power. Flight instructor hadn't figured it out but I'm sure he made a mental note afterwards.
Wow. That first video is a great learning experience for all of us. I fly the Airbus and it’s true that you can get yourself locked in and tunnel vision closes in when you’re stressed. Looking at that sink rate I couldn’t figure out what was wrong either. I just thought maybe it flew like a 152 with an engine failure.
This isn't speed brake related, but a similar story on C172. My buddy and I were flying a C172 the other day, he was PIC, and he pulled right up to the hold short line to do his runup. Normally he would pull up way short of the hold short line, turn the plane 45 degrees, and do the runup, like he had done 100 times before. I didn't think much of it, but when he finished his runup he started to taxi onto the active runway, without clearance from tower...I stopped him with the front gear just over the hold short line, and to top it all off there was a plane on short final. We talked about it afterwards, and it was all about him departing from his routine. Thanks Pure Glide, good stuff.
The Puchasz video is missing the very first bit, where the pilot pushes the elevator trim fully back and then fully forward. I am guessing he was thinking this was locking the airbrakes. Not so much. Maybe a new type?
Thanks a lot. As always your insights are great. My first flight in my PW-5 (which was my first solo flight in anything other than a Schweizer), I ran through my check list and actually performed all checks. There was a problem that had developed with my built in radio (which I later learned was from mice getting into the plane chewing up wires), so a fellow member handed me his handheld. I took off and quickly noticed I had a hard time seeing the tow plane. I’d push my head up to keep track of it. We climbed and climbed. Around 1200’ or so, I did hear something over the borrowed hand held to check my brakes. I looked to my left and they were fully deployed. I pushed the handle forward and locked and suddenly seeing the tow plane wasn’t such a feat. As it turned out, I did close the brakes, but due to inexperience with the place , I didn’t lock them properly. As the plane gained speed and airflow over the wing increased, the low pressure above the wings sucked the brakes open. This was actually confirmed by footage of my takeoff that showed the brakes popping open right as we were starting to get off the ground. Fortunately, I was being towed by a Pawnee that could have kept going up whether I had wings or not. It was a learning experience without any negative consequences and I ALWAYS make sure I feel that brake lock now.
You’re not the first, and won’t be the last!
I’m 29 seconds into this video, and already I can see how useful it will be as part of my training to watch the videos of these crashes, so that I may be prepared should I be in the same situation someday. Thank you for sharing! 2:05 He didn’t complete his preflight? He left the air brakes open on launch? He “…just forgot to do his preflight checklist”? It takes 15 to launch a glider with a bungee. Where was the launch coordinator? The launch coordinator at our club always checks with the pilot: “Canopy closed and locked?, Airbrakes closed and locked? “
I have a Stemme S12 (self launch). If you fail to lock the airbrakes on the ground (their weight keeps them closed on the ground), on takeoff, when you hit between 50 feet and 150 feet, usually by 50, suddenly the brake handle will fly back to full open, the Stemme instantly pitches hard over, and as long as you instantly slam it forward, pitch back level, and yell "That was stupid", all is well. I've done it and now my checklist has the brake check in two places, and I've watched an instructor do it as well.
Don't forget the yelling part, or the S12 will stick out it's tongue at you later on the ground (assuming the nose isn't fully closed ;-p
Long finals in A Blanik, crossing the quarry, left hand out to set flaps, lever felt odd, quick glance..it was the spoilers, so found correct lever, landed ok on airfield not in quarry. Glad designers made the 2 handles feel different size and shapes.
Damn...very dangerous situation! That s why we pay so much attention spoilers closed and locked while taking off
On my first flight in a new glider type, Standard Cirrus, I went through all my checks but didn’t realise that my air brakes were closed but NOT locked. I took a winch launch that suddenly became noisy, my air brakes had cracked open. I was able to close and lock the air brakes and continue with the launch. The air brakes felt like they were locked as in the K8 and K13 but needed a more positive action in this glider type.
Yeah great point! cheers
Very good analysis.
I'm a bit surprised that the failure to climb doesn't make one immediately check speed brakes.
2 time I've watched this ...Thank You... I saw a 2 seater take off with the dolly still in once... lucky it just fell out on lift off ...but it did bounce fairly high... ps I watched a lot of that Heli channel in the R44.. because I'm doing some training in Heli's for my Mosquito.... I picked up the check fail back then as well. Thanks for posting... I'll get back to NZ for a fly one day !!! I'm really intetested in the ridge stuff👍
Awesome glad you think it’s useful! Have fun with your heli training :)
Quite a few years ago, a club at my flying place lost a Ka7 trainer by taking off with spoilers open; the tow plane was a Rallye 180CV, it was not able to take up its climbing speed after a first climb of a few dozen meters. Actually, the pilot was not able to turn without risking a stall so he went straight on above the nearby village. The glider did not answer the radio calls, and the towplane pilot would not risk a stall (possibly a spin) by waving the tail (signal for airbrakes open). Finally, the plane pilot had to release the cable so he would clear a tree line ahead; the instructor aboard the Ka7 chose then to crash-land on top of a tree line : there was absolutely no free land available (houses, small gardens,...); miraculously, the glider went down in the trees and came to a stop when the left wing beam hit a trunk, a half-meter from the cockpit, at 3-4 meters from the ground. The glider was lost but the crew was shaken but unwounded. It's possible that the airbrakes were not properly locked, but it also sometimes happens that they unlock themselves from a bump while rolling on the ground. The student was too much of a beginner to realize what was happening (unsufficiently briefed). The level of the radio was not high enough so that the instructor would hear the calls, and the student probably did not understand them. More than one mistale certainly. Hovever, to me the takeaway from this story is this : when the student asked him what was wrong, the instructor just answered "the tow plane is probably having a problem, just fly on". In this kind of situation, NEVER assume that the other pilot/aircraft is the source of what's happening before doing FIRST your own cockpit check. From where he sat in a Ka7, the instructor just had to look 90° right or left to see the spoiler blades, and the glider would still be flying today.
I flew the polish gliders like Pirat, Bocian Puchacz similar like this in the video. What we learned in the beginning of our flying training was to place the left hand on the brake handle. Not to hold it, but to feel it. In addition it is very dangerous to hold the rope release handle during take of. Thank you for sharing the accidents. So everyone can learn from it.
In the UK, we are actually taught to have our hands on the release when launching, both by aerotow and winch, in order to be able to pull at any moment if something goes wrong, e.g. a wing drop on the ground run or low failure on the tow. My club requires a hand firmly on the release all the way up the winch launch, and in the low stages of the aerotow before you clear the trees at the end of the field.
Why is it dangerous to hold rope release? At any point you have to be able to handle a rope break anyway, and land it ahead safely. Also see this kzhead.info/sun/aMepoaqyn39vl5E/bejne.html
@@PureGlide My point exactly, although I did have our club's CFI once pull the release low to the ground on a winch launch with me by accident whilst I was still in training. Although interestingly, when I got qualified to drive our Skylaunch, I was told under no circumstances to hold the guillotine lever in case of emergency.
Great video. Christ that second video was a tough landing
Yes it was!
It's the same alarm you get in some motor planes when you set flaps into their landing position. Basically the plane saying "Hey, I'm configured for landing but my gear's not down".
Check your tail dolly is removed too, I've seen gliders take off with them still attached
That's pretty bad if you do, we now have pre-enter the cockpit checks to try and catch that. What happened?
Happened to a colleague on an LS8 this summer. Actually nothing major happened, after the tow he made a full circle and landed pretty much perfectly. I suppose it could be a bigger problem, if the CG was a bit further at the back of the envelope. We do have checks in place also for the wing bearer, but four (or even more, as there was a bunch of us nearby) eyes have obviously missed it...
@@PureGlide not really sure what lead up to it? Seamed strange the pilot, passenger and wing runner missed the big orange thing on the tail. Their painted a bright colour for a reason. I noticed it when it was well into the takeoff run and let the pilot know on the radio, he made a normal landing with no damage done.
Useful to have ground crew look at the wings after t/o to check for brake deployment. Can (hopefully) radio to pilot.
Former US Navy jet and prop pilot, flight instructor T-28 (giant radial engine!). Check lists are there for very good reasons. In a glider, there are only a few things compared to powered A/C, but the most important ones for any A/C are the flight controls and trim all free and moving correctly, which may require some ground crew affirmation. Distractions can kill you, just like in a car!
I have walked away from three “incidents” - all antique Continental engine failures. In every one, I missed simples checks that “might” (although I doubt it) have made a difference. I was too busy flying the plane to avoid houses, trees and powerlines (although on the one occasion, I did manage a perfect landing on the tops of densely packed pine trees and walked away virtually unhurt (can’t say the same for the plane ☹️). Hindsight is a wonderful thing and its easy to miss things in the heat of the moment, no matter how good your training was.
Hey, just two more and you'll be an Enemy Ace!
On the topic of checklists, I was flying today at my usual club in Lincolnshire in the North of the English East Midlands. It was a quiet day, the weather was iffy and there weren't many people at the club- a couple of very early pre-solos, a few instructors, and a few solo pilots of varying experience. At morning brief it was decided to only get out two twin seaters, a K21 and a Grob Twin II Acro. Because of rapid canopy fogging on the ground, we decided that everyone was going to only close the canopy after the cable was on, but before wings are leveled. The canopy down and locked is easy enough to remember when you're holding it half open, but it made me think a bit. It would have been pretty easy to go straight from canopy down and locked to switching to the left hand on the release, right hand on the controls as you'd usually have them. But what have you forgotten? Check resists upward pressure. Remember that only twin seaters with two separate canopies were out today. What if the rear canopy was left unlocked and you had forgotten to check before you got in- you've not got that safety net of checking it's actually locked down and will stay down now. The K21 has a linkage between the front and rear canopies that means the front cannot be locked with the rear unlocked- although on older K21s where the linkage is made from nylon this has been known to fail, my club has metal parts instead- but the Acro with its simpler side opening canopies has no such mechanism. What if you've mainly flown the K21 when flying a two seater, have you become complacent when solo in a two seater, not checking the back canopy resists upwards pressure? Now you might be in the Acro where you can lock each canopy on its own. You forgot to check it before you got in, now you've locked it and want to keep a hand on both the controls and release as your wings are about to go level. But you don't really know for sure that the rear canopy is really locked and secure. Of course, I thought of this so it was on my mind while running through the checks. I more often fly the Acro so I don't think I'm likely to get caught out by the lack of linkage between them, but I'm still aware of it.
Pilot from Itxassou, France (LFIX) here. In our club, we use redundancy. Some items are checked by both the pilot and assistant who holds the wing. The canopy locked, tail wheel trolley off and airbrake locked are checked by both pilot and assistant. The gear down and locked is called on the radio together with the enter downwind announcement. If the call is not made, the person on the ground (if he is attentive) will comment.
Yes very sensible!
@@PureGlide And if you land with the gear up (a French navy pilot did that last time!) you have to buy a buy a bottle of somthing for the bar (drinks are on offer only after the day is done of course! Champagne for first solo, and champagne again for the newly qualified pilots!). We land on grass, so usually, it is just a question of patching up the landing gear doors that got ripped off the hinges, that means I gotta mix some resin...
As a systems and procedure consultant, the solutions here are incredibly obvious and should be applied to all gliders immediately. One, a secondary locking mechanism over the travel of the speed brakes. A small metal latch that locks into place, yet has an angle of engagement readily released by a firm tug on the handle, or more normally, simply flipping the lock to the open position. Solves all take off issues immediately. As an additional item, a microswitch (or other sensor) that sounds a tone as the speed brake is engaged. It may or may not be at louder sound levels depending on desire, but again, is a positive indicator of the vitally important for gliders speed brake control. To fly without one or both of these mechanisms is dangerous and irresponsible. This control is vital to the entire flying capability of a glider and should not be simply left to the memory of a pilot when simple mechanisms can make it nearly perfect in operation.
Thanks for posting yet another fascinating video. On a couple of sites on "KZhead", there are two different American young female pilots who regularly post up, "Powered flight," videos. Between the two there are most likely over 100 videos. They NEVER, ever, miss a checklist item and sometimes duplicate checks in reference to checking other systems. A key part of their flights is that they are uneventful for the most part. Neither pilot, let's a minor difference in their procedure develop into a fault, let alone an incident. They do it by the numbers and ABSOLUTELY STICK LIKE GLUE to their personal minimums. Not a bad mantra for all pilots.
Lots of comments on pre-flight checks. On a bungee launch you hold the glider in position with the wheel brake and initiate the launch by releasing it. If the wheel brake is on the end of airbrake, it is a necessity to have the airbrakes open just before launch. You can check them as much as you like but you will be opening them.
At our club, ,we adopted a check procedure prior to takeoff involving the wing runner ( trained ) After the pilot has completed their checklist, and is ready to tow, the wing runner will confirm with the pilot that the canopy is locked, the spoilers are locked ,the tailwheel dolly has been removed ,and check for traffic. Only after this has been confirmed by both pilot and wing runner ,will the wings be leveled. This policy was brought into place after an incident where a very experienced pilot had climbed into his glider without removing the tailwheel dolly .( caught by an astute wingman ) Martin Boycott -Brown makes some very good points about being distracted by other pilots prior to takeoff. Adding to that, being rushed because of incoming aircraft constitutes a good reason to push off the active and wait.
I’ve had a few helicopter pilots do their preflight walk around the night before. They said they wanted to be out quicker in the morning. I mentioned to them that was a bad thing to do since anything they looked at may be removed and there was a possibility that we might forget to do something or leave tools behind. Odd that a pilot would think his evening preflight would be relevant the next morning after a 100hr inspection or major component change. 🤦🏻
Some pilots like to have their hand on the release during the initial launch phase. I prefer to have my hand on the spoiler handle because the ground bumps can easily cause the spoilers to unlock. I find this particularly true on SZD gliders (the guy that hit the trees was in a Puchacz, I think.) Having my hand on the spoiler ensures it won’t unlock and it is a comfortable place to rest my hand which is also forward and near enough to the release.
If I remember correctly tow pilots are usually poised in a position to check whether or not the glider's dive brakes are open before the tow starts or else you just sit there until you figure it out for yourself. As a reminder the check list stares right at you on the instrument panel.
🛫📖🛬 Tim, Excellent teaching video.
Many thanks!
I was not the pilot, but saw a similar incident when brakes were not properly locked in place on an ASK13. Winch launch and the glide roughly mid course when the brakes fully deployed. The pilot did a very good job on quickly retracting and locking them (it was a solo flight).
Im a tow plane pilot. Thanks for sharing these experiences, very informative.
I don't know why, but I love seeing those Air Trucks still flying. They're so weird looking, but also neat.
First one was great speed management.
I was trained to keep my hand on the brake lever instead of the disconnect during take off. I think thats appropriate because that way I will never take off with brakes out, and I can quickly reach the disconnect if needed. There are no landing spots ahead of our rwys where I used to fly, hence the choice for making sure brakes are always in. Thanks for sharing the videos.
the worst part is how the glider trolls him by retracting breaks COMPLETELY! after crashing in the second clip LOL!
I've been looking for the clip of the heavy crash for a while, taken at Hus Bos in the UK. Great (terrible!) example of what happens when it goes wrong! You'll also note the quarry he landed just short of, the landing options were just getting worse!
Yeah it looked very close to the edge of something, not nice
Released without pilots' permission at the time by 'mistake' and then distributed around the internet by unethical self-interested arrogant bozos, despite family requesting people to take it down. Not the only time this has happened either.
@@soaruk3697 Hard lessons are often paid for in blood. While it may have been released without their authorization, it's a shame that the embarrassment of this pilot and their family is still selfishly driving them to keep others from learning from their mistake.
there is a reason why we do the pre checks. In my club in Canada it's standard procedure before we hook up for the assistant to ask. Airbrakes in and locked? And the pilot has to check one more time and say airbrakes in and locked before we hook up.
Love your analysis ! compelling truth !
Much appreciated, thanks!
I use the second video for teaching. There´s so many things to learn. Sloppy pre-launch check. He hardly checks anything. He actually checks his trim as air brakes and vise versa, so the air brakes are unlocked and the trim is in full nose down position for take off. He have his hand on the tow release at all times and still did not release even when he started to vocally complain about the abnormal tow, that´s target fascination. The pilot was an experienced pilot but with very limited recent flight time, so he was very rusty and still approached the flight as a normal flight. AFAIK at least he wasn´t seriously hurt, but he was very lucky.
Great video!!! Thanks....
There are two checks to check your airbrakes. The first is during the preflight check, the second when you release the cable. At some types (Ka7, Ka8 and such) the brake over center lock is pretty weak, so keeping your left hand on the brake during starts is a good habit. It has been said here, but repetition works: do your checks or get into trouble.
I did a take off in #Waikerie in a Nimbus 2 with my air brakes open, I remember the late Murray Bradney saying that their powerful Pawnee tug always managed to tow up gliders with open air brakes any, but I was suitably admonished anyway, lovely man.
I'm not a glider pilot but I suspected the brakes in an instant, great vid
Thanks Joe
If you use the same checks and flows, every time, you’ll never forget. Not flown a glider in 33 years but I still remember my before take off and post launch checks. They became second nature. Especially in a low altitude emergency, like a tow cable braking or the winch dying, this becomes critical.
It's over 30 years since I flew gliders (or anything) and I was only a weekend club flyer in ASK13's, never going single seat, but I can still recite CBSIFTCB without a problem.
man that first clip was mad, the way he skirted through and over them trees
A golden rule that we had was to hold the brake handle closed with left hand during take off because our grass strip was somewhat bumpy. We had a variety of sailplanes including a couple of L13 Blaniks . They would rattle like empty kerosene tins and sometimes, if you let them, the handle would pop up and commence sliding back . Our tug was an old Piper Tri pacer which one day, the pilot was forced to dump a Blanik that had its brakes deployed.because he was unable to lift his tug over the fence. The tug barely made it but the Blanik went through the fence causing extensive damage and slight injuries to the front occupant. That was back in the 70s and it made us all aware of the importance of being aware of your airbrake handle at all times when on tow . Cheers from over the pond.🇳🇿🇦🇺👍
Quite a few of these videos appear to be at my local gliding site near Husbands Bosworth near Leicester UK?
At our club, the individual who connects the cables asks P1 “brakes closed and locked?” and “canopy closed and locked?” And gets 2 positive responses before connecting the cable to the glider.