Was he coming in so fast and with wings on level on purpose, or couldn't see, or something else? As a fellow glider pilot, I want to learn from this (before it's me).
you know now that i watched the video again it probably wasnt the best idea to jsut run out in the open somebody coulda got hit by lightning a truck woulda been a better option cause then the pilot coulda stayed inside where it was safe.
just goes to show ya storms can move in without notice on a really nice day. i know last night there was a storm but it said nothing about storms in the weather forecast
i saw something kinda like that happen to a powerd parachute pilot once i was out at a lake and theres a small ultralight strip nearby and i sawa guy out in the thing with a thunderstorm headed our way he was flying into the wind and not going forwards very fast . then he turned around and the wind pushed him and i think he might have had to make an emergency landing in a field or something cause all i saw was the chute starting to collapes becuase it wasnt getting lift.
This landing was made at the 2007 U.S. Sports Class Nationals. I witnessed the landing from the left of the camera. A sudden overdeveloped squall line came through. All the armchair quarterbacks second guessing the situation here have no knowledge of the conditions and extreme skill shown by many pilots that day in getting safely on the ground during this race. Don is an excellent pilot and his plane had only a green grass stain on the starboard wing. Gary Adams GA2
i dont know what i shall say to taht, but i am stunned. the people on ground, the pilot .. all make SO MANY mistakes at once. when i was 16 years old and started, i used my brain, flying is not driving a rollercoaster careless. must be that this country is not the motherland of soaring, but very amateurlike. yet you should get far farther with just using your brain. mistakes started 20 minutes earlier. our flight instructor would bash us to hell when we were 16 yr old. these are adults ...
Some days, there is great lift... then a monster cloud comes along and sucks up all the tiddlers. If you are cleared to fly cross country, you can go and watch from ten miles away, and come back when things get better!! I had a first flight on type in similar weather... three hours in the log book for what should have been about 20 or 30 minutes.... and a great view of the lightning! Ah, nature....
Ouch, this is hair raising.. and very very lucky. Maybe also in a bit of panic...
A glider cannot see out front when its raining.. you can however look out the side window.. you will get wet, but at least you will see something. You should fly faster with wet wings.. but thats about 10 to 20Km/h not 30 to 50..
The error here however started earlier, you are a glider: you don' t fly into bad weather. If worst comes to worst: outland. Given the circumstances this should have been an accident.
With that weather and no engine, your being pushed down, and when landing, it takes longer to stop, because the grass is slicker, and you cant slip it, because you can barely see the landing strip, and you cant really slip a plane in a thunderstorm without getting struck by lightning and being killed. Kudos to those pilots.
well, it was not pattern ground speed, but we have no idea of his airspeed, it looked pretty windy and it looked like he had a quartering tail wind. Intentional ground loop I think too. Lucky landing.
In heavy conditions, a high speed in approach is necessary, but no until touch down, like here. Think this was a hard landing of a low experienced pilot, and somone, who also ignores the wheathercondition until he is in this Deathcorner, like shown....absolutly unnecessary...anyway these conditions were landable - savely
Two thumbs up for the landing in extremely dangerous conditions. Composite construction and the good possibility of a lightning strike demanded an immediate landing. Without a mesh in the layup to allow the current to flow a direct strike would have caused a catastrophic structural failure. Is that a Genesis sailplane?
I'm glad they walked away from this arrival. However I wonder if there were other options available rather than trying to land at this airfield during a storm? With a thunderstorm working, clearly there was convection going on so possibly route to another airstrip or plan for a field landing and recovery via trailer/ground crew. I'd wager that glider had quite a repair bill! Oh well they're safe at least.
not necessarily, in a thunderstorm, or any windy condition, you have to account for windshear, and sometimes a much higher approach speed is prudent. all i have to say, is god almighty.
He was correcting for the crosswind with a slip and I guess he misinterpretted the length of his wings, thus hitting the ground, and he did what he could to stop it.
The point is, everybody made it through safely. It's fun to point out every mistake that was made, but in difficult situations, the important thing is safe return. This isn't a walk in the park, that much is obvious. Performance in that kind of rain is rock bottom.
Try landing with half your performance in <100m visability with no guiding instruments... Not to mention the gentle slope of a glider canopy meaning your looking through 5 or 6 rows of water droplets as you try to land... Very lucky it was a Genesis 2, otherwise the tail would be history with the groundloop....
That person should have taken his/her time. Looks like the pilot was in such a rush to get to the ground that they didn't mind going fast and wing first eh?
He had to come in fast as it was raining very hard. Below is copied from an earlier post.
The other glider which had landed just before this one had tried to turn to the left but skidded on the wet grass. His glider didn't turn left but it spun around partly and he watched this glider coming at him. This was a glider racing competition and many gliders were coming in. Several other gliders landed in fields and a few were damaged.
If you have a tailwind. My point was that the pilot should have stayed calm, overflown the field, turned around, then landed into the wind, right? I don't understand why rain is a factor. No matter what direction the pilot landed, there is gonna be rain...
If you land at normal speed (110Km/h) and a flurry occurs with 40 Km/h in your back you get a stall if the plane can fly only at 80 km/h properly. In a thunderstorm you don't know where the flurries are coming from so you have to fly a bit faster than usual.
Rain is an also important factor for glider planes. If the raindrops lie on the wings the resistance rises because the air can't flow properly.
Okay, I see. Thanks for explaining that. The wind gust(that's what you mean by flurries right?) factor would make a difference. It is hard to tell in the video which direction the wind is coming from. How much of an effect does water have on a wing's lift? I never though it would have made much of a difference.
If the raindrops lie on the wings of the plane the wind resistance rises because the air can't flow properly over the wings because there are raindrops on it that disturb the flow.
Rain reduces the lift of the wing, right? I think its because the raindrops create a turbulent airflow over the wing and therefore the stall-speed increases.. Anyway, thats what I think is the one of the main reasons..
Rain is falling, the air between the raindrops is falling and the
glider is descending through the falling air. The raindrops on
the surface add drag and increase the descent rate. It is a glider, there isn't a motor to add thrust so it's coming down. All it could do is trade speed for some altitude.
whit wet wings the stall happen at higher speed, so you have to augment landing speed. Of course, you have to land into the wind, then you have to rise the landing speed of the same speed of the wind.
Believe me, landing in a thunderstorm is never an exact science and you never have time to think due to strong vertical wind from the clouds.
The final factor about wing aerodynamics and the rain, is that the wings are heavier, increasing wing load and speed. Also, droplets form into corridors supporting the lokal wake on wing surface, thus making any vortex responsible for stall to be more durable.
yes lets all praise the pilot for crashing...I've landed in similar conditions no problem....just approach at 100kts and keep the wings level like you would as normal...on the plus side at least he walked away from it
I think the pilot was forced to take those speeds due to the huge down wind. The pilot was lucky for not stalling at 200 feet. That would have been horrible!
nowadays, even in gliders, we follow procedures. if the landing is not 'standard', something went wrong, and the pilot has to think about his procedures. imo, every sailplane accidant happens because of pilot-failure. only sometimes, the mistake is made much earlier than the accident. and yes, i know how it feels being washed down by a thunderstorm..
You are right, and it's much better to crashland on an airfield than outland somewhere without wittnesses. Although, it is better to get away from Cb clouds. :S
I think this was idiotic on behalf of the pilot especially if he was just flying locally.. cross country maybe.. but even then I would not risk flying in a thunderstorm. Even if it was a competition.. I would've either waited it out or landed at a nearby airport or field, outside of the storm.
With that amount of rainfall I doubt if the pilot could see very much during the approach. Gliders do not have screen wipers. There may have also been a strong cross-wind, sink and turbulence associated with the thunderstorm.
As a glider pilot, I also think that the pilot's speed (the angle this guy is flying!) and horizontal allignment (that right wing is *way* too low) were terrible. It's clear that his base and final, if present, were such that he required a constantly correcting right turn not to end somewhere in the scenery and this took until touch down! That he "landed" without damage is not due to his flying skills, I'm afraid.
This would have snapped the tail boom of a "normal" glider. The Genesis is very robust. Also check out Winch Launched Glider Flight for a really neat launch and flight sequence.
There is no a big problem with visibility out of the canopy during this landing, it is similar to what You see on the video. The drops will me moved by the speed and that keeps the canopy cleaner as in a car with wipers.
For me that was a horrible and stupid landing with way to high speed. The hanging right wing could have killed him, but like we say in germany: "as more stupid the farmer, as bigger the potatoes".
If you were a glider pilot you would know that landing in any size of thunderstorm can be a very challenging task, maybe he had a 40 kt crosswind, his approach speed seemed fairly close for the type of glider.
I own a glider and a motorized plane. No one glider pilot would let a wing hang down during landing. He was really lucky: the airfield was so slippery. If that would be dry concrete, I wonder if he would survived after a hanging wing touch the ground. I have seen a similar situation when the ground stopped the hanging wing immediately, and turned the plane upside down. High landing speed may make sense in some ocasions, but definetly not here. Strong crosswind You could see on video.
The wing is hanging all the time during the whole landing. I do not see any strong turbulences. Those You could see on plane reaction, independend in what direction the turbulences would be.
Sometimes the turbulences are so strong, You can not override it with steering, but that is definetly not the case here.
The wing hanging looks to me like somebody who is used to fly Cessna (with high and short wing) but no sailplane.
The Genesis 2 has a Cleveland main gear, (no damage); Graphlite carbon rod wing spar (not glass or carbon fiber rovings) and since the tail is short and ellipsoid it is far stronger and stiffer than the tail of any other glider. (no damage) Also, the cockpit has fibreglass, carbon fiber and two layers of Kevlar to protect the pilot. (no damage) The Genesis 2 is like a flying Corvette with a Humvee chassis. Designed and prototyped in Ohio, refined and built in Lithuania by Sportine Aviacija.
At 5 miles out he was told there was light rain. It changed very quickly to a major downpour with strong crosswinds. The glider came in fast because he was in strong sink and had to clear trees at the end of the runway. Visibility was poor because of the rain pounding his canopy and at the last instant he saw another glider on the runway where he would have stopped. He veered to the right at the wrong instant to avoid colliding with the other glider (unseen in this video)
The other glider which had landed just before this one had tried to turn to the left but skidded on the wet grass. His glider didn't turn left but it spun around partly and he watched this glider coming at him. This was a glider racing competition and many gliders were coming in. Several other gliders landed in fields and a few were damaged.
This type of landing would have broken a tail boom and probably the wing of a typical glider like the ones in the foreground. The pilots of those two gliders were sitting in their cockpits because they were afraid of the wind and lightning and hadn't had time to tie down.
I never asked him. From my vantage point standing on the ground it appears that two things happened. 1. He was in a region of very high sink and 2. I really don't know how he could even see out of the canopy as it was a heavy thunderstorm. I never asked him about his landing as I never met the man.
There was no structural damage to the wing, landing gear or tail boom and the glider flew in a contest the next two days coming in third place in the U.S Sports Class Nationals at the Caesar Creek Soaring Club in Waynesville, OH.
Was he coming in so fast and with wings on level on purpose, or couldn't see, or something else? As a fellow glider pilot, I want to learn from this (before it's me).
saildapper2001 2 weeks ago
you know now that i watched the video again it probably wasnt the best idea to jsut run out in the open somebody coulda got hit by lightning a truck woulda been a better option cause then the pilot coulda stayed inside where it was safe.
gtafan2006 7 months ago
just goes to show ya storms can move in without notice on a really nice day. i know last night there was a storm but it said nothing about storms in the weather forecast
gtafan2006 7 months ago
i saw something kinda like that happen to a powerd parachute pilot once i was out at a lake and theres a small ultralight strip nearby and i sawa guy out in the thing with a thunderstorm headed our way he was flying into the wind and not going forwards very fast . then he turned around and the wind pushed him and i think he might have had to make an emergency landing in a field or something cause all i saw was the chute starting to collapes becuase it wasnt getting lift.
gtafan2006 7 months ago
Why did they fly in the first place? sounds ridiculous with weather like that, ESPECIALLY for a glider
Podaliny 7 months ago
This landing was made at the 2007 U.S. Sports Class Nationals. I witnessed the landing from the left of the camera. A sudden overdeveloped squall line came through. All the armchair quarterbacks second guessing the situation here have no knowledge of the conditions and extreme skill shown by many pilots that day in getting safely on the ground during this race. Don is an excellent pilot and his plane had only a green grass stain on the starboard wing. Gary Adams GA2
GarrardA59 7 months ago
Looking at the conditions he was under, That is a very good landing. I take my hat off to the pilot.
Airborneready 8 months ago 2
He should have flown away of the rain and landed in a field
qHighFlyerp 9 months ago
i did a thunderstorm in my hangglider,ya i sshhiitt my pants.GOD bitch slapped me.
69NOMAN69 10 months ago
thats not a landing, its a crash landing ;)
joshpugfan 11 months ago
i dont know what i shall say to taht, but i am stunned. the people on ground, the pilot .. all make SO MANY mistakes at once. when i was 16 years old and started, i used my brain, flying is not driving a rollercoaster careless. must be that this country is not the motherland of soaring, but very amateurlike. yet you should get far farther with just using your brain. mistakes started 20 minutes earlier. our flight instructor would bash us to hell when we were 16 yr old. these are adults ...
MrTiti 1 year ago
Wet grass forgives a lot :)
sleeptyper 1 year ago
Some days, there is great lift... then a monster cloud comes along and sucks up all the tiddlers. If you are cleared to fly cross country, you can go and watch from ten miles away, and come back when things get better!! I had a first flight on type in similar weather... three hours in the log book for what should have been about 20 or 30 minutes.... and a great view of the lightning! Ah, nature....
SuperAviatar 1 year ago
Lucky the grass was wet, do that in the dry and it would have got very expensive
thecartel69 1 year ago
Ouch, this is hair raising.. and very very lucky. Maybe also in a bit of panic...
A glider cannot see out front when its raining.. you can however look out the side window.. you will get wet, but at least you will see something. You should fly faster with wet wings.. but thats about 10 to 20Km/h not 30 to 50..
The error here however started earlier, you are a glider: you don' t fly into bad weather. If worst comes to worst: outland. Given the circumstances this should have been an accident.
l0rdf0lken 1 year ago
@l0rdf0lken i've been in the same situation....i had to open the DV panel and land as if it were crosswind.
pyro999maniac 1 year ago
Exceptional pilots use their exceptional decision making so they don't have to use their exceptional skills.
Should've decided not to fly.
FlightLevelHeaded 1 year ago
Was it downwind ?
martinussen34 1 year ago
yeah, rain, unexpected things happen but nonetheless when you try to land any aircraft at max speed ur gonna eat shit...major pilot incompetence
nicklking 1 year ago
that was some brave landing... i wonder y the weather forecast was not confirmed?
do anybody have experience of flying wwith eagles??? or just chasing the eagle.. or took same thermal?? i had that beautiful experience.. twice
manzar589 1 year ago
With that weather and no engine, your being pushed down, and when landing, it takes longer to stop, because the grass is slicker, and you cant slip it, because you can barely see the landing strip, and you cant really slip a plane in a thunderstorm without getting struck by lightning and being killed. Kudos to those pilots.
AirCanada04 1 year ago
WTF, three of four guys run out and not one of them brings out an umbrella??? ;-)
Glad everyone was ok.
wa1zlv 1 year ago 4
ugh, yeah gliders and rain dont mix well, you cant see anything in front of you, only on the sides, and from the tiny window.
r2kordmaa 1 year ago
amazing.
bajesus666 1 year ago
what the hell .. is the teacher flown or the pupil?
Reson11 1 year ago
@Reson11 Rain gets onto the windshield, there are no wipers on a glider, or autopilot or advanced navigation / altitude / speed indicators...
All this combined with strong crosswinds and turbulence, I'd say he did pretty well!
Scwirul 1 year ago
@Scwirul you didnt answer this question. He attempt to ask if it was the pupil flying or the teacher . not referred to any helps like autopilot
StadtkewitzTV 1 year ago
@StadtkewitzTV Except, that's not what it sounded like he implied...
Scwirul 1 year ago
@shess0501 Nah, he just screwed up thats all.
Myfaceisonfirenow 1 year ago
GOD DAMMIT! reminds me of Five Miles Out from Mike Oldfield xDD RESPECT
ComandanteJ 1 year ago
scary twist ;-)
kinekcinek 1 year ago
Moments later, all of them died from a lightning strike in the middle of that open field.
rugbynimbus 1 year ago
@rugbynimbus A shocking epitaph to a thunderous landing! LOL
JaleelJohanson62 1 year ago
@vtk137 : the airplane is a genesis.
jonasRichardt 2 years ago
SOB, I can understand his speed to get the hell down, lucky. So who cleaned the seat? LOL
Senegal01 2 years ago
Looks like the Grim Reaper was looking the other way that day...
MrTommy001 2 years ago
What kind of glider is that?
vtk137 2 years ago
Stay alive first,then worry about the plane later.
winterka100 2 years ago
i don't get one thing. he did not saw "angle" of his wings because of rain, or he did ground loop on purpose, just to slow down at all costs?
Helac332 2 years ago
cheated death again...
818racquet 2 years ago
I would have just been happy to get on the ground. I would also rather ground loop it than run straight into trees off the other end.
Good job.
b26maurader 2 years ago
well, it was not pattern ground speed, but we have no idea of his airspeed, it looked pretty windy and it looked like he had a quartering tail wind. Intentional ground loop I think too. Lucky landing.
helipilot727 2 years ago
He was alive, all that coutns
LotsOfGreatStuff 2 years ago 26
he got the plane down, and even if it was damaged, it cant be too serious - it can be fixed. therefore, great landing.
Allstardk 2 years ago 2
You can snap the tailplane off doing that sort of groundloop.
MrTumnus8896 2 years ago
Very difficult conditions, though
MrTumnus8896 2 years ago
well, it is not a great landing, but true, at least he is alive
TheSoarer151 2 years ago
In heavy conditions, a high speed in approach is necessary, but no until touch down, like here. Think this was a hard landing of a low experienced pilot, and somone, who also ignores the wheathercondition until he is in this Deathcorner, like shown....absolutly unnecessary...anyway these conditions were landable - savely
maennix 2 years ago
the damage sustained could have been avoided had he landed out, which would have been the smartest thing to do before the storm really starts going
TheSoarer151 2 years ago
Two thumbs up for the landing in extremely dangerous conditions. Composite construction and the good possibility of a lightning strike demanded an immediate landing. Without a mesh in the layup to allow the current to flow a direct strike would have caused a catastrophic structural failure. Is that a Genesis sailplane?
grimeuphoria 2 years ago
looks like he had a tailwind, then wind shear or something near the ground, cuz that was NOT pattern airspeed XD
ysflightman 2 years ago 2
wow
very impressive
IrishRail123 2 years ago
Comment removed
Dukerox4 2 years ago
Lucky that the body didn´t caused any damage such as if it divided into two pieces, though it did do a small groundloop.
But best of all - The pilot(s) could walk away from the accident.
8800thomas 2 years ago
Comment removed
LUCKYglider999 2 years ago
skilled pilot!
5***
masterpilot94 3 years ago 2
umm ok
CalxP 3 years ago
yes.. he landed without crashing in amazing conditions
masterpilot94 3 years ago 2
Better decision making requires less skill.
aerialpic 2 years ago 2
that right.
good point
masterpilot94 2 years ago
That was a close call!
cmtecarvalho 3 years ago
I'm glad they walked away from this arrival. However I wonder if there were other options available rather than trying to land at this airfield during a storm? With a thunderstorm working, clearly there was convection going on so possibly route to another airstrip or plan for a field landing and recovery via trailer/ground crew. I'd wager that glider had quite a repair bill! Oh well they're safe at least.
RakkuAmiya 3 years ago
It flew again the next day - no damage.
iflyc77 2 years ago
Excellent all-round then. Thanks for letting me know! Graeme.
RakkuAmiya 2 years ago
Holy shh.....ugar
08CJ09 3 years ago
Jesus hes coming in hot too
mjok2004 3 years ago
ive always wanted to apply that to a real life situation
slide4squad 3 years ago
not necessarily, in a thunderstorm, or any windy condition, you have to account for windshear, and sometimes a much higher approach speed is prudent. all i have to say, is god almighty.
i'm glad he walked away from this one.
abrayer21 2 years ago
he dont like airbrakes??? xD
GodOfBikeStunt 3 years ago
...kudos man...No winshield wiper, I assume so you just put it down...Any landing you walk away from is a good landing...
atenco01 3 years ago 32
This comment has received too many negative votes show
dude, the fact that it is raining and that there is a thunderstorm, doesn't mean you have to crash the plane.
Just take a bit more speed(e.g. 10 kph or 5 mph) and land as you usually do!
Kronosofthetitans 3 years ago
having landed a glider in pouring rain, some canopies dont clear when you fly faster, a K8 is one of them!
Maliciousstig 3 years ago
but that isn't a K8, it is a Fauvel (i think)
hangarrat101 3 years ago
it is Genesis
SklandytojasML 3 years ago
He was correcting for the crosswind with a slip and I guess he misinterpretted the length of his wings, thus hitting the ground, and he did what he could to stop it.
SgtRevan 3 years ago
It's actually a Sportinė Aviacija(LAK) Genesis 2.
xsoburg 3 years ago
Notice:
1. None of the gliders are secured. When rain threatens, gliders should be disassembled, stored in a hangar, or at least tied down.
2. The pilot does not flare the a/c. He just flies it into the ground.
3. The spoilers are not deployed until the right wing contacts the ground.
4. The approach appears to be much too fast with little or no round-out.
5. This a/c should be grounded until it has passed a structural inspection by a qualified mechanic that knows gliders.
9cee2w4wf8a 3 years ago
The point is, everybody made it through safely. It's fun to point out every mistake that was made, but in difficult situations, the important thing is safe return. This isn't a walk in the park, that much is obvious. Performance in that kind of rain is rock bottom.
Cut some slack, appreciate the positive side.
RevolutionJetTeam 3 years ago 4
9cee2w4wf8a , good remarks. At least we can learn something instead of stupid saying 'they made it' as if the situation would be under their control.
krbosak 3 years ago
true.
uploader1010 3 years ago
it is not condition fot fly, before take of you have to know flight condition!
i have never seen a landing as bad as this one
max39666 3 years ago
Your wings must have been making VERY little lift! Oh my god!
That is an INSANE glider man!
MLeyden91 3 years ago 3
Try landing with half your performance in <100m visability with no guiding instruments... Not to mention the gentle slope of a glider canopy meaning your looking through 5 or 6 rows of water droplets as you try to land... Very lucky it was a Genesis 2, otherwise the tail would be history with the groundloop....
stefanastley777 3 years ago 5
I wouldn't call this a LANDING...I'd rather call it a GROUNDING...
fr3ds4t 3 years ago
crazy or eximious pilot???
leonardorcc 3 years ago
what a lush glider!
MLeyden91 3 years ago 2
Shouldn't have been out in that, you can all read METAR's, use them or risk your life, your choice.
Raiden47 4 years ago 3
Should read TAFs SHORT-TAFs SIGMETs and so on...
fr3ds4t 3 years ago
ive never seen a glider witch such a short tail
saliordude 4 years ago 2
This comment has received too many negative votes show
srf2008,26022008. efu857,gamoP23.,d,o,e,grippen..clie,irinaSaint,mylo..hannahHM2009dgz
vs1g38274695 4 years ago
i understand the excess speed i guess i just dont understand why he droped the right wing. Was there a heavy crosswind he was needing to correct for?
finntheirishflea 4 years ago
in that rain You dont really see very well.. I think this could be a part of the problem.
5Fiend 4 years ago 2
Man, that guy was realy realy lucky to get away with that landing. That could have ended much worse!
Good video for training though. Shows you, how you should not do it.
AlexGerau 4 years ago 3
also shows when not to fly
tomprid3 4 years ago 2
That person should have taken his/her time. Looks like the pilot was in such a rush to get to the ground that they didn't mind going fast and wing first eh?
ryanm406638 4 years ago
He had to come in fast as it was raining very hard. Below is copied from an earlier post.
The other glider which had landed just before this one had tried to turn to the left but skidded on the wet grass. His glider didn't turn left but it spun around partly and he watched this glider coming at him. This was a glider racing competition and many gliders were coming in. Several other gliders landed in fields and a few were damaged.
sfdavis50 4 years ago 3
if the wind blows hard you have to land at a faster speed.
happy2006283 4 years ago
If you have a tailwind. My point was that the pilot should have stayed calm, overflown the field, turned around, then landed into the wind, right? I don't understand why rain is a factor. No matter what direction the pilot landed, there is gonna be rain...
ryanm406638 4 years ago
no its when you have flurries.
If you land at normal speed (110Km/h) and a flurry occurs with 40 Km/h in your back you get a stall if the plane can fly only at 80 km/h properly. In a thunderstorm you don't know where the flurries are coming from so you have to fly a bit faster than usual.
Rain is an also important factor for glider planes. If the raindrops lie on the wings the resistance rises because the air can't flow properly.
Yes I know I'm a wiseass xD
happy2006283 4 years ago
Okay, I see. Thanks for explaining that. The wind gust(that's what you mean by flurries right?) factor would make a difference. It is hard to tell in the video which direction the wind is coming from. How much of an effect does water have on a wing's lift? I never though it would have made much of a difference.
ryanm406638 4 years ago
Yes i mean gust ^^
If the raindrops lie on the wings of the plane the wind resistance rises because the air can't flow properly over the wings because there are raindrops on it that disturb the flow.
I don't know how to describe it better sorry
happy2006283 4 years ago
Rain reduces the lift of the wing, right? I think its because the raindrops create a turbulent airflow over the wing and therefore the stall-speed increases.. Anyway, thats what I think is the one of the main reasons..
OYRUN 4 years ago
Rain is falling, the air between the raindrops is falling and the
glider is descending through the falling air. The raindrops on
the surface add drag and increase the descent rate. It is a glider, there isn't a motor to add thrust so it's coming down. All it could do is trade speed for some altitude.
jetlei847 4 years ago
and thers also the weight of the water on the wings aswell
so you could end up with a less efficiant wing with a larger wing loading leading to easier spin situations
tomprid3 4 years ago
whit wet wings the stall happen at higher speed, so you have to augment landing speed. Of course, you have to land into the wind, then you have to rise the landing speed of the same speed of the wind.
Believe me, landing in a thunderstorm is never an exact science and you never have time to think due to strong vertical wind from the clouds.
maxpiemont 4 years ago
i agree with everything said above, but i think we all agree that he/she shouldnt have been so badly caught out in the first place! :~)
Maliciousstig 4 years ago
The final factor about wing aerodynamics and the rain, is that the wings are heavier, increasing wing load and speed. Also, droplets form into corridors supporting the lokal wake on wing surface, thus making any vortex responsible for stall to be more durable.
krbosak 4 years ago
Please show me one glider which has ILS-System or can even hold an ILS-glidepath without any engine...
Interesting landing! Respect, I made a few landings on a rainy day myself, it's really tricky and not that easy.
Conan1ts 4 years ago 2
yes lets all praise the pilot for crashing...I've landed in similar conditions no problem....just approach at 100kts and keep the wings level like you would as normal...on the plus side at least he walked away from it
6axe1man5 4 years ago
I think the pilot was forced to take those speeds due to the huge down wind. The pilot was lucky for not stalling at 200 feet. That would have been horrible!
Mav1843 4 years ago
any landing is a good one if you can walk away from it.
nosnikta123 4 years ago
that saying is crap, and was maybe true in 1910..
nowadays, even in gliders, we follow procedures. if the landing is not 'standard', something went wrong, and the pilot has to think about his procedures. imo, every sailplane accidant happens because of pilot-failure. only sometimes, the mistake is made much earlier than the accident. and yes, i know how it feels being washed down by a thunderstorm..
truxibk 4 years ago
Dang, never hope to such a landing!
Speed was very high, good reaction of the pilot though he would've fallen out of the sky just by the wheight of the rain :s
byvestuk 4 years ago
to take off - an option. TO land .. a MUST.
petervolfcorno 4 years ago 2
You are right, and it's much better to crashland on an airfield than outland somewhere without wittnesses. Although, it is better to get away from Cb clouds. :S
makos007 4 years ago
I think this was idiotic on behalf of the pilot especially if he was just flying locally.. cross country maybe.. but even then I would not risk flying in a thunderstorm. Even if it was a competition.. I would've either waited it out or landed at a nearby airport or field, outside of the storm.
fastattack1 4 years ago
With that amount of rainfall I doubt if the pilot could see very much during the approach. Gliders do not have screen wipers. There may have also been a strong cross-wind, sink and turbulence associated with the thunderstorm.
cirrusflyboy 4 years ago
yes that is a valid point, the pilot wouldn't have been able to see much but lucky the glider didn't flip
kingarjun93 4 years ago
As a glider pilot, I also think that the pilot's speed (the angle this guy is flying!) and horizontal allignment (that right wing is *way* too low) were terrible. It's clear that his base and final, if present, were such that he required a constantly correcting right turn not to end somewhere in the scenery and this took until touch down! That he "landed" without damage is not due to his flying skills, I'm afraid.
Orwall 4 years ago
Looks like all that bank was for cross wind correction. Hey, looks like he survived, thats a good landing to me.
seanlee747 4 years ago
This would have snapped the tail boom of a "normal" glider. The Genesis is very robust. Also check out Winch Launched Glider Flight for a really neat launch and flight sequence.
jsrobertss 4 years ago 2
What on earth were you doing flying gliders when there are thunderstorms in the vicinity?
It really is dicing with death.
AndrewJM70 4 years ago
my friend was really there wen that happened cuz her dad fly's gliders and his friend was in the glider
volleyfreek27 4 years ago
There is no a big problem with visibility out of the canopy during this landing, it is similar to what You see on the video. The drops will me moved by the speed and that keeps the canopy cleaner as in a car with wipers.
For me that was a horrible and stupid landing with way to high speed. The hanging right wing could have killed him, but like we say in germany: "as more stupid the farmer, as bigger the potatoes".
Gregor6712 4 years ago
If you were a glider pilot you would know that landing in any size of thunderstorm can be a very challenging task, maybe he had a 40 kt crosswind, his approach speed seemed fairly close for the type of glider.
2namelt 4 years ago
I own a glider and a motorized plane. No one glider pilot would let a wing hang down during landing. He was really lucky: the airfield was so slippery. If that would be dry concrete, I wonder if he would survived after a hanging wing touch the ground. I have seen a similar situation when the ground stopped the hanging wing immediately, and turned the plane upside down. High landing speed may make sense in some ocasions, but definetly not here. Strong crosswind You could see on video.
Gregor6712 4 years ago
Have you not ever experienced extreme lift or sink in a thunderstorm? Sometimes it can push one wing up or down which is probably what happened
2namelt 4 years ago
The wing is hanging all the time during the whole landing. I do not see any strong turbulences. Those You could see on plane reaction, independend in what direction the turbulences would be.
Sometimes the turbulences are so strong, You can not override it with steering, but that is definetly not the case here.
The wing hanging looks to me like somebody who is used to fly Cessna (with high and short wing) but no sailplane.
Gregor6712 4 years ago
Yes.... this already happens in moderate thermals
Winzy21 4 years ago
Nice landing though. For a minute he was goin backwards and without fliiping it. that's luck mixed with skills. Kudos to the pilot.
KDAY24 4 years ago
The Genesis 2 has a Cleveland main gear, (no damage); Graphlite carbon rod wing spar (not glass or carbon fiber rovings) and since the tail is short and ellipsoid it is far stronger and stiffer than the tail of any other glider. (no damage) Also, the cockpit has fibreglass, carbon fiber and two layers of Kevlar to protect the pilot. (no damage) The Genesis 2 is like a flying Corvette with a Humvee chassis. Designed and prototyped in Ohio, refined and built in Lithuania by Sportine Aviacija.
jsrobertss 4 years ago
How did the pilot justify that landing? Was he just too blinded by the rain to keep the wings level or is there some other explanation?
ZrednaZ 4 years ago
At 5 miles out he was told there was light rain. It changed very quickly to a major downpour with strong crosswinds. The glider came in fast because he was in strong sink and had to clear trees at the end of the runway. Visibility was poor because of the rain pounding his canopy and at the last instant he saw another glider on the runway where he would have stopped. He veered to the right at the wrong instant to avoid colliding with the other glider (unseen in this video)
jsrobertss 4 years ago 2
The other glider which had landed just before this one had tried to turn to the left but skidded on the wet grass. His glider didn't turn left but it spun around partly and he watched this glider coming at him. This was a glider racing competition and many gliders were coming in. Several other gliders landed in fields and a few were damaged.
jsrobertss 4 years ago
This type of landing would have broken a tail boom and probably the wing of a typical glider like the ones in the foreground. The pilots of those two gliders were sitting in their cockpits because they were afraid of the wind and lightning and hadn't had time to tie down.
jsrobertss 4 years ago
I never asked him. From my vantage point standing on the ground it appears that two things happened. 1. He was in a region of very high sink and 2. I really don't know how he could even see out of the canopy as it was a heavy thunderstorm. I never asked him about his landing as I never met the man.
fr3dcat 4 years ago
gratulation! ihr seits ane hirtn...
spinninghawk 4 years ago
This is a very well built glider. It is a Genesis 2 manufactured in Lithuania.
sfdavis50 4 years ago
There was no structural damage to the wing, landing gear or tail boom and the glider flew in a contest the next two days coming in third place in the U.S Sports Class Nationals at the Caesar Creek Soaring Club in Waynesville, OH.
sfdavis50 4 years ago