Gliding Rope Break

[kloakovalimonada]

Why did he turn? He had to follow the direction straight a-nose!

[GaryLaaks1]

Brilliantly done I would think. Thought that the turn at the final was a tad daring but I was not there to decide for myself. Happy flying gentlemen and ladies

[Aussiebattle]

looks like he actually does a full circuit and lands headwind. I was a student 20 years ago , never went solo . I suppose i got a bit chicken in the end. From what i can see the decision to circuit was wrong as his turn to final was executed too low. possible choices would be land straight ahead full air brake or if that's not possible a 180 degree turn and land with tailwind.

[PuertoRicanVideo]

I don't fly gliders but I could have done this so much better....

[Sharma17]

This is extremely good talent !!! Gliding WIN !

[severniae]

I hope that particular instructor doesn't teach this to his students! Far too low final turn, almost verging on unsafe.

[deimos2k6]

that's not insane, probabily he's a very skilled pilot. nice landing for that position...

[okaponkoji]

@deimos2k6 If you take a careful look at the turn (around 0:08-12), you will notice the glider was side slipping. The pilot was not very skilled, because of the wrong decision to turn at that altitude and poor execution of the turn. He/she could have spun the glider and smashed into the ground.

[francois330]

@okaponkoji How can you see that sideslip on this video ?

[okaponkoji]

If the turn is executed correctly, glider axis is a tangent line of the circular course. This means at the very moment the nose was pointing at the camera (0:08), the plane's apparent movement relative to the ground must have shifted to your right. Nonetheless, its relative position against the ground continued moving leftward even after that point until 0:10 because the bank was insufficient to cancel out the centrifugal force. Therefore, I have concluded that the plane was sideslipping then.

[CDeWeerdt]

@okaponkoji Because the plane is turning its base-leg, it 's possible that it had to face some side wind coming from left (viewpoint pilot). Never conclude a sideslip when you're on the ground, because you can't see the wind!:) The only person who knows it, is the pilot. I think the pilot did a good job!

[okaponkoji]

@CDeWeerdt I shouldn't have concluded whatsoever. Nonetheless, I still suspect the possible sideslip. If the glider had flown the normal downwind leg, some side wind can be coming from left (viewpoint pilot) during the following base & final turns. On the other hand, at a simulated low altitude rope break, the glider must be released into the head wind in order to replicate a take-off incident. Then, the wind should come from right (viewpoint pilot) at the turns.

[okaponkoji]

@CDeWeerdt I may be wrong. The other gliders on the ground seem to be awaiting their takeoffs. So that the landing should have been executed into the head wind. My guessing induced a poor conclusion, I must confess. Even so, overall danger of the turn at that low altitude must be blamed. The pilot could have turned earlier while high enough or when already too low he/she could have landed tailwind. That's a poor and too late decision for a prospective instructor. I wonder he/she passed the test.

[MrEngelchen]

@okaponkoji The glider turns relative to the AIR not the ground. You haven't taken the wind into account in your analysis. Therefore, I have concluded that you don't really understand what you are talking about.

[okaponkoji]

@MrEngelchen In my most recent reply to @CDeWeerdt a few weeks ago, I no longer talked about glider motion relative to ground. You don't have to conclude anything about my comments any more. The point is the danger of low altitude turn. You don't really understand what you are talking about, Sir.

[ninjasailor1]

Very bad flying.

[akneal]

Last second....GROUND EFFECT!! Superb landing!!

[TheDudeFrom0Z]

i shouldnt of watched this before i went gliding

[HelgeBuk]

@TheDudeFrom0Z And you should'nt have said "of" instead of "have"... Still you did.

[marjar3046]

Is it Puchatek ?



[jlillie2]

Wow, practicing to die, and he almost did it..... I think I'll mentally prepare, and only carry out the execution in the even of a real emergency, and not create one....

[graememg]

As a glider pilot and winch driver I have seen some disastrous decisions including two that were fatal, seeing that turn onto final was mindlessly stupid.

The pilot should not have been in that position and I don't care what the pilots perspective might have been it was wrong. I don't care how many hours the person has this can leave a bad impression on other people who see such an act, thumbs down to what I say is a fail to recover safely !!!

[optyqus]

This maneuver is so dangerous that even instructors avoid it!

[DavidMcMahon1]

Cable snapped on me once, I was just the passenger, so I just kept quiet and turned green!, we made a single circuit and landed safely and here I am typing into the internet lol

[ussraf]

i love adventureres like you :D making that fancy turn in that attitude :D

[SuperAviatar]

Perhaps I should also mention that as a professional winch driver with over 15,000 launches I spent a lot of time watching the decisions being made, some of them totally toe curling!! Another aspect was simulated power failures, when the winch quits during the climb... getting this wrong can be serious. I've also done stupid things myself, fortunately not fatal. Approaching the fortieth anniversary of my first flight, I suppose I'm lucky to get this far - my instructors will certainly agree.

[SuperAviatar]

It's hard to judge without seeing the pilot's view of the field and all the surroundings. The important thing is to avoid the mentality called 'get-home-itis' that compels you to land back at the launch point. A really bad instructor will tell you it's a long walk back for him.... My response is, if it is in the next field, then it is better than a crash. I learnt on a small triangular field, and flew a glider type that would achieve a 500 foot launch on a calm day. Different decisions!!

[helipilot727]

wow no way I'd try make that turn! straight out!

[beedylove]

thats how people die in gliders... 300 feet min turn!!

[pyro999maniac]

I would just land ahead in that situation

[m1leswilliams]

How come instead of training for something like this all the time you don't just use two ropes to tow the gliders ? If one fails the other takes over, problem solved !

[muggles1985]

@m1leswilliams A lot of things can cause a launch failure. It could be that the cable has broken, it could be that the weak link safety device has broken either due to age or because it was overstressed in some way. If the weak link has broken there would be no sense at all in being attached to a second cable which could continue to overstress situation.

The fact is that there are a number of reasons for launch failures, and these eventualities need to be trained for just in case

[funfly3]

@m1leswilliams adding another 1000m of steel cable would just add to the strain on the glider as they weigh 200 kilos or so , so the glider would have to lift an extra 200 kilos and would not be able to get as high on the launch and would be a pig to manage as they would tangle on the release

[helipilot727]

@m1leswilliams Because you WANT the the rope to break in some cases.. rather than pull you into the ground, damage, the plane, or if you are flying tow, ripping the tail off the tow plane, or having both planes out of control because the rope didn't break, etc. Tow rope is 80-200% of the glider gross weight.

[bigbfoot1]

Going along with pilot5054, because it was a training mission they could of added a factor in that everyone knows expect for us watching this video. For example they could of said that the runway was blocked making a straight landing impossible to do. Because this is what training exercises are for, training for the worst, hoping for the best.

[Sergeantsteamer]

That guy has skill... That was a BEAUTIFUL recover right there now.

[Ebdan88]

This is Creasy....What if things went wrong and he killed the people on the Ground!!?

[pilot5054]

There's a lot of criticism of this pilot and I know it's drummed into us glider pilots to land straight in a launch failure; however landing straight ahead sometimes is not possible.

From this clip we can't see what was ahead of him and although he was low, still had the speed to make his manoeuvre. Experienced pilots will tell you safety is not about altitude, it is about management of energy.

Although this is not how you would teach someone else, the pilot did made a skilful safe landing!

[PBparatroopingpilot]

@pilot5054

yeah, but you could also just land after turning around 180 degrees with a bit of downwind, better then this shit

[699backstab]

i agree, dangerous pilot with poor judgement is what this is. They will meet darwin at some point soon. Huge ego on them i imagine

[Adrenalfix]

nicely done for a downwind landing onder pressure

[catsfiveuk]

I don't know where that was filmed, nor what the prequel to it was, but I know I would normally find a reception committee at my club if I did a final turn that low after a winch launch failure.

Looks like there was room to turn in earlier and higher and still stay on the airfield. Possibly a case of either 'I have' far too late, or 'launch-point-itis'. A friend of mine was spun in by an instructor with the later problem, thanfully they were unhurt, unlike the K13.

BTW I have a Silver C.

[chrisrobsoar]

I am a professionl gliding instructor.

The examiner, playing the student has turned, when he should have landed ahead and is asking the potentail instructor to get out of that!

The potentail instructor should have taken over sooner and stopped the student from from getting into the situation in the first place, it is possible that the examiner intercepted "The I have control" and asked the question, what would you do if you took over too late.

If you can land ahead.

[chrisrobsoar]

do so.

[ehallstr]

Foolsih to do a 180 degree turn at that altitude, especially when it is a test.

[mulymule12]

that took some skill

[nitrokrumpt]

wow great landing

[killmodell]

Gutsy, but a beautiful recovery. Nice flying.

[Weltbevoelkerung]

perhaps he couldnt land there...

[Lothoril]

When I flew many years ago, we were taught with a break below 150 feet, to land ahead. 150-300, fly an s shape to lose height and land ahead. Above that, fly a shortened circuit.

[szaychuk]

I agree. I'm a student private pilot and we are taught to pick a suitable field +/- 30 degrees from runway heading for simulated take off engine failures at less than 500ft AGL. :)

[CaptRH]

There is no such thing as a student private pilot.

[szaychuk]

Erm. I guess that's right. I'm a student pilot working toward his Private Pilot License, then. :)

[chrisrobsoar]

This clip is part of an instructor test, it might be that the examiner playing the student role Bloggs having turned when he should have landed ahead, is asking the instructor student, now how do we get out of that.

From the start the glider appears to be well flown, good speed control, well banked turn, air brakes opened after wings level.

Good practice back on the ground is that the examiner declares: we were just checking that if you get it wrong the instructor can fix it.

[pilotwhitus]

land ahead

[masterpilot94]

what if there isn't enough room or the pilot thinks there isn't after the rope break?

[Likano2]

The pilot has to decide to land ahead or to turn. A landing strip for gliders must be long enough and the pilots education includes many simulated rope breaks. Even with a license many pilots ask for training rope breaks. He should always face the rope break.

[masterpilot94]

i know, i fly gliders myself, but there is a point on which you're too low to make it back to final again.

[yvesbastien1]

Waaay too low to have completed a compressed circuit to the field. They were lucky. Hard to judge from a short clip, but this instructor sez they should have landed on their initial heading or downwind. The wind sounds high in the clip which begs the question, what were they doing practicing a low-level (?) rope break on a windy day. The glider looks like a KR-03 "Krosno"

[bananasfoster2]

at a low altitude. read the description buddy

[yonieter]

it really depends on how high he came of the cable if it's (i think) below 100 mtrs you're not allowed to make a turn but you should push the nose down and make a safe landing

[Likano2]

It totally depends on the situation (altitude, wind, position, traffic on ground ) there is no hard limit below no turn is allowed. If it avoids a crash then you must turn in even 30 m but you must be aware that your wings should not touch the ground. You are allowed to do anything for a safe landing.

[yonieter]

well we have quite a large field and not many traffic so we're not allowed to turn just above the ground we have enough room to land straight out

[DrifterThai]

this plane is PUCHATEK ??

[DrRClavan]

I would never make a turn at that altitude, they should've landed straight ahead after the cable broke.

[Motoman232323]

agreed, we use the 200 feet rule

[DrRClavan]

Even better, we use the 300 feet rule which can lead to tricky situations.

[Pilnowac]

@DrRClavan thats true! in that altitude you never should make a turn with a glider thats to dangerous !!!

[j963214]

@Pilnowac yeah but he made it

[TheLTproducts]

@DrRClavan I know, right? :S

[GAFAAAAAA]

@DrRClavan he wouldn't have made the turn unless it was absolutely necessary so i assume there wasnt enough field left to land safley, but he did a very tight turn which is the safest thing to do at low altitude so it was all good.

[MelihAlex]

@DrRClavan you must look at the wind.

[JetlinerXPilotXFSX]

@DrRClavan I think they were trying to land into the wind.

[Birel1992]

@DrRClavan Yeah,.. But maybe the runway was to short to land??

He took a risc and he had luck ;)

[nik0lhc]

@DrRClavan That's what you do when your cable snaps.You turn 180 and back to the airport

[Squirrel9901]

i find it funny that all the powered pilots and peopel who don't fly at all believe gliding is more dangerous than powered....

[Valy18]

I've witnessed two rope brakes at my club . one at about 40 meters the pilot put the glider at normal speed and then landed it and another at about 160 meter in witch the pilot was able to make a very short runway tour .

[winxclub4evers]

where was this?i have a glider club near my house and i just watched them launch a glider...but it took half an hour to launch one!

[GerbilEssences]

Thats hard work with such long wings!!!

[elrobto]

how u meen with long wings is easyer to fly then with short wings

[crewealexfan]

lol

[slapstik89]

i think he may have been referring to the fact that a tight turn at low altitude with long wings can be difficult due to a slower turn, but yes long wings do have advantages - hence their use on gliders.

[ysflightman]

sure, aircraft with long wings... gliders fly better, but stick forces (force required to move the stick around) are considerably higher. In a schweizer SGS 2-33, in tow, it can take up to 10-15 lbs of force to move the ailerons, if your doing a 3000 ft. tow, it can be REALLY exhuasting, trust me, i fly a 2-33 and a Blanic L-13

[DrRClavan]

Excuse me! High stick forces? If you're flying Schweizers maybe but not in anything newer than an LS-1!

[ysflightman]

yep, schweizers are not user friendly. I really don't remember posting on this vid either.

[DrRClavan]

Following your reasoning it would be easiest to fly with no wings...

[shiftnizzle]

absolutely beautiful. it takes a lot of skill to pull a turn that low and tight in a glider, not to mention the precision of levelling the wings.

[A319CROATIA]

if there is a rope brake below 50 meters you should fly straight, but if you are above 80 meters then you can make one safe turn

[shecanatakeitcaptain]

So what if you are at 65 meters?

[A319CROATIA]

below 50 meters you cannot make safe U-turn and above 80 meters you are able to do that. between 50 and 80 meters you should decide what you will do. Maybe you will proceed straight ahead or make a turn.

[priorleon]

i was gliding with the air cadets and the winch cable snapped at 300 ft its actually quite fun lol

[Brewdison217]

Lol, nice, I haven't seen it happen yet :P

[skierplaterandy]

too bad out squadron hasnt used the winch yet....

[were562]

lol i went today with air cadets it was great fun i love it when it starts getting bumpy lol

[FenixOfDeath250]

holy shit whoever that did this is fucking crazy! thats probably the most insane landing ive ever seen a glider preform

[MMisi]

Good landing.. but dangerous

the rules are made to observe them, not the violate them. you can say the wind was blewing..

all the time the rules're must be observed. If u crash by observed the rule, it's np. but if u crash by the violated rule... you know what's next

[existentialvoid]

nice landing. . .gripping all the way till the final correction. I wonder if the pilot was breathing for the last 15 seconds of that.

[SenorSpode]

That was a very good emergency manoeuvre, especially considering the sudden urgency of action, a 180-degree turn to downwind and performing that tight of a downwind turn without stalling the inboard wing. Great job!

[stevesei999]

Another believer in the dangerous downwind turn? If dangerous, due to the pilot's inputs only, not the aerodynamics.

[brenoribeiro2007]

Did you even bother to think about why he did that?

[cafeconpizza]

it's an instruction test, they release on low altitude on purpose to practice in case it does happen in real life which can be dangerous depending on where and how the rope snaps (dangerous for the glider if they don't release on their side fast enough).

[jhmcglynn]

He landed upwind so I suspect the rope break was at significant altitude. The rule is up to 200ft land straight ahead otherwise nose down, spoilers out, turn with rudder and ailerons into the cross wind, PULL THE ROPE RELEASE, and land downwind.

[PBparatroopingpilot]

that's not the rule, it depends on the winds that day, the height where you should turn and make an improvised pattern is always given in the briefing of that day

[Yllod]

Aside from the decision matrix he went through... nicely done!

Smooth, coordinated, and nice landing.

Way too low for comfort, but maybe he didn't have any other chance.

[cirrusflyboy]

Rather low final turn (understatement)!

[alltheotherusernames]

should have landed ahead, or turned in early. If it was a winch launch then there will probabaly be almost a mile ahead to land in. If it was an aerotow then the pilot can be forgiven, i would still be tempted to land downwind in that situation.

[russy810]

you dont know the length of the airfield.....Plus he got back on the ground so you cant complain..

[formychar1]

you h ave to be below 300 feet to do a u turn above it you land in front of you and above 1000 you enter circuit

[russy810]

these arnt concrete rules btw... is depends all on the day

[charlieechovictor]

what do you prefer, imagin you're the captain and you have to do an emergency landing on the closest rwy that is just below you, You will say ok i'm under 300ft AGL so I can't turn and I'll let myself fly right into the forest or the houses in front of you and kill yourself or you would try to land safely on the field and talk about your adventurerous flight with your wife when you get back home.

[mustanglead]

Love the approach.. Very tight! I've had the cable come off but at about 2 seconds after rotation. Hit the ground before I had time to think about it lol. That was my first ever glider flight it just got better from then on.

[miketacoma5]

Broken tow line training/testing. At 200' AGL, you should be able to make it back to the takeoff runway. That was a fine job.

[ToritoNL]

But if he'd done the turn earlier, he'd be higher and be safer. There seems plenty of room on the field to land further. I think one tends to land close to the normal landing spot and do anything to get to it, forgetting one could land safer, but more remote.

[ToritoNL]

OK, i now read it was a test. I can do this too, also did gliding and also did a stunt like that (with an old Röhnlerche, sinking like a stone). Now why is this at Youtube? To admire it? Anyone can do it, if one has to, it's not difficult, and even fun, but it's not wise, unless you have an emergency.

[russy810]

You have to leanr and be competant at it before you go solo BTW... The instructor is there to test you so dont complain but i still get the point why is this on youtube...........

[hartness57]

Are you guys just not paying attention at all? I did the same thing when in glider training. The rope was let go at 200 feet AGL, and you have to either land straight ahead, or turn around. It's part of good training. He's not stupid, he did a fine job.

[ToritoNL]

Not a good pilot at all. He should have made that turn at greater altitude. People who take risks by stunting close to the ground, should take a serie of flying lessons again to start with.

[secret00agent00man]

and again! he had no choice!

[charlieechovictor]

I prefer doing stunts close to the ground and save my life than flying right into the hangar in front of me because the rules said that i can't turn under 300ft AGL pfff... besides Hwo do you think you are to say that he is a bad pilot... actualy are you a pilot? and judging someone with the poor information we have is stupid...

I think that you're the person hwo should take some flight lessons.

[ToritoNL]

charleeechovitor, yes I have been a glider pilot, and that's why I know nice stunts like this are most;y preceeded by a mistake, carelessness, by someone taking risks. We all make mistakes sometimes, or take risks, but getting out of trouble means: first getting into it. All human, but not something to show off with. I can do what this guy did, no problem. One has a feel for speed, movements, for the plane, or not. But the biggest part of the flying lesson is about NOT getting into trouble.

[BelieveHearts1874]

winch launches are so much more fun. I did a couple at Kirknewton near Edinburgh - the acceleration is immense!!

also, hes not stupid to turn at that altitude - its a simulation for when the rope does snap, you have to do something, and HAVE to land a glider on level(ish) ground - theyre not strong enough to withstand a heavy land onto uneven ground. A rope break wouldnt give you enough height to be able to continue flying, you have to land...safely!

[colinhabbo813]

good pilot

[bfhfhs]

stupid pilot to fly a turn at that height

[secret00agent00man]

had no choice! biatch

[xxmrbloodxx]

idk much cuz im dumb but i thought tht wos cool :D

[adamd2906]

must b a gd glider pilot 2 land that so wel and mis d uva glider

[hoody2050]

Nice final turn at 10ft

[bfhfhs]

not nice - stupid

[YoungJim409]

Try it on a winch launch with the nose 60+ degrees in the air. Then it gets interesting.

[hrford]

Yeah, that's why you shouldn't be pulling up to 60°+.

[IC2720]

tidy bit of flying. Good job.

[corbystarlet]

great flying skills!

[fr3ds4t]

yeeeag...if there was a student in the back he would have shit his pants.

[muggles1985]

Back? Students sit in the front. And it's part of normal training...

[Kudel12]

on my 4th day of flying the rope broke just before the takeoff... if it waited few more seconds then I would have this training already done :D

[fr3ds4t]

I know...I'd have better said a passenger...:)

And for now I'll be sitting in the front with the instructor behind...:(

[ysblueangels]

wow, i hope I don't ever have to make a turn that low... looks hells dangerous for just a training sortie...

[guyskygod]

No wonder the bloody rope broke. In my country they call that monster 'The Flying Tank'!!

[mwalaa]

nice landing

[LkOutMtnMan]

Excellant flying!

[Puchdriver]

I hate when I gets a wire break...But gives a kind of a kick...

[IhAwIKiIE]

so it actually like... broke? Wow the dude sure handles it well, no gut wrenching crash.

[Conan1ts]

Every glider pilot has to do that several times in his training and must not fail. It's not that he would crash if he would fail, he can also fail in case the instructor has to encroach.