Holy Shit....this dude is one lucky SOB!

[Rocketman]

I found some clips of a guy flying unlimited aerobatics in the same type glider (Swift S-1) that was wadded up in the pics Hal posted. The air show clip above is a Grob 103 I think. The 103 has better energy retention but also a longer wing span so the Swift rolls much quicker.

The Swift is rated for Load Factors: +10 g / - 7.5 g. Think you boys could handle it?

Swift off tow at about 00:45. Good stuff with and outside push at about 2:38

[video]http://www.youtube.com/user/Swiftmaxu#p/u/1/ENswowneZZ8[/video]

From the cockpit. An outside push at about 1:43. Swiftmaxu's Channel on youtube has some good stuff on it.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/user/Swiftmaxu#p/u/8/kRROt9Etykg[/video]

Very nice clear cockpit view. Snap-roll (I think) at 1:54

 

[Rocketman]

That makes sense....as you can tell, I know NOTHING about gliders. I'm assuming the other lever he was grabbing was the landing gear.
-ea6bflyr

Yea spoilers. For this conversation you can almost think of the spoilers as a throttle in a glider. He's holding them in during parts of the routine because at certain speeds and or G loading the air flow over the upper wing can suck them out. In a 103 full deployment takes you from 36/1 down to 4/1 glide ratio. Not good while doing loops with no engine. Spoilers in a glider are very very effective. Most good glider pilots have no trouble at all hitting small marks on touchdown mostly because of the spoilers. I think the other lever was the gear although all versions of the Grob don't have retractable gear.

What he is flying really isn't much of an aerobatic glider. Certainly no where near as good as the Swift S-1.

 

[Flugelman]

YouTube video of the accident .

 

[Rocketman]

Wow. Looks like he had to get off tow early. I won't comment on the rest except to say that IMHO none of that looked anywhere near normal for a high time pilot.

 

[Swanee]

YouTube video of the accident .

Looks like he got off tow real early (maybe a rope break?). But I agree with Rocketman, you train for that situation and have to be able to recover from a low release before you can solo as a student.

 

[craftingraptor]

Wow. Looks like he had to get off tow early. I won't comment on the rest except to say that IMHO none of that looked anywhere near normal for a high time pilot.

Dunno if it changes things much (as a private pilot myself that hasn't been in more than a few sticky situations), the commentary seems to be that there was unpredictable weather that day (huge gusts and random wind shear).

 

[Swanee]

Dunno if it changes things much (as a private pilot myself that hasn't been in more than a few sticky situations), the commentary seems to be that there was unpredictable weather that day (huge gusts and random wind shear).

Doesn't mean much at all. This really shouldn't have happened with a high time sailplane aerobatic demo pilot.

 

[nittany03]

Doesn't mean much at all. This really shouldn't have happened with a high time sailplane aerobatic demo pilot.

You're forgetting Rule #1 of Aviation. You're only as good as your last event. You can have more hours and quals than God; you're still not immune from totally Fing it away.

 

[Rocketman]

Like Swanee said I don't think weather conditions played a role here at all.

All glider pilots are trained for rope breaks or for early termination of tow. Before you solo you are required to demonstrate you can handle actual early releases. There are exceptions based on the field you are flying from, but usually you brief that 200ft agl is the decision point. Under 200 ft you land straight ahead, 200 ft and above you can usually return to the field.

In almost every case returning to the field from 200 ft means a down wind turn to a down wind landing. The direction of the turn is usually dependent upon the wind direction, your position over the field and obstacles. Other than that there isn't much to it other than watching your airspeed and flying the airplane it until it stops moving.

The point is that every glider pilot with a private ticket has done this several times in training. Most of us have done it at least one or two times for real. I wouldn't call it routine because it definitely gets your attention but it's just another type of pattern.

What absolutely is not routine in a glider is a 180 degree turn once you have committed to landing straight ahead. Especially if you were using your spoilers just before said turn. The link Fugleman posted is very telling. Fucking up near the ground is never good. Fucking up near the ground when you can't go around is really not good.