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I’ll be out today to do a flight in the Krosno. Looking for someone to fill the back seat. (AKA free ride)
Don
I’ll ask the two prospective youth applicants to come out on Tuesday. One is a FAST flight and the other may be as well.
Don
The forecast for today has changed. Forecast winds are now gusty out of the either the northeast or northwest depending on the lake breeze. I’ll keep an eye on it but may have to cancel as the winds may be over my crosswind limit for my glider. I’ll still be going out to the field though.
Don
For the 12Z TAFs... Currently, a narrow band of showers over Lake Michigan is streaming southward toward GYY. The band of showers is being maintained by the confluence of winds via overnight land breezes, allowing for a westerly component to the winds at ORD/MDW (330-350). Just north of the band, a secondary surge of gusty north/northeasterly winds is thought to be occurring over the lake. Taken altogether, a challenging wind forecast remains primarily at ORD/MDW. Going forward, the expectation is the band of showers will remain offshore helping maintain the slight westerly component to the winds at ORD/MDW (though a VCSH remains warranted). Should the band manage to build inland, a flop to northeasterly winds is possible for a few hours before northwesterly winds become reestablished. Additionally, winds may become somewhat gusty for a few hours this morning as mixing commences before the influence of a building high pressure system slackens the low- level wind field. Finally, later today, a modest lake breeze is expected to push inland flopping winds northeasterly (again?) at ORD/MDW. Winds will become light and variable tonight, and then westerly (though still light) after daybreak Wednesday. Elsewhere, a more straight-forward (literally) forecast is in the cards with primarily north/northwesterly winds decreasing with time, and becoming and variable overnight. A scattered VFR cloud deck is possible this afternoon before easing to a few high clouds overnight.Hello Erik,
You picked a good topic for discussion. Their have been disagreements between tow-pilots and some Board members on this subject.
What you are talking about is out and back operations when we are departing on runway 09 and landing on runway 27. Basically, a conflict between departing and arriving aircraft with a possibility of a head on collision either in the air or on the ground if safety procedures are either ignored, missed or misinterpreted by an untrained individual. When doing out and back operations we are counting on every individual to all be on the same page (so to speak). The tow pilot must know if traffic is in the pattern as does the wing runner and the glider pilot. Holding the take-off and waiting for the glider to land is the SAFEST option.
Who is in the landing pattern? Is the glider pilot in the pattern a new solo student or a high time private ship owner? Does it make a difference who it is? No it does not. SAFETY is the priority.
Do the club gliders have wheel breaks? Yes they do but, none of them operate and they are useless.
As we saw this past Saturday, one of our club gliders came within feet of running into the hangar. The pilot was an experienced glider pilot and CFIG with a Day Member on board. A Soaring Safety Officer and DPE just happened to be standing in the hanger when this near collision occurred. The grass was wet and stopping distance for all gliders had increased substantially. Was this glider pilot prepared for that? What if he had rolled into a standing towplane waiting to take-off? Disaster!
Having the towplane take up slack while a glider is on final approach or even on base leg or a low downwind is dangerous in a number of ways;
1. Landing with a tailwind increases ground speed and landing distance as much as 60% with a 10 knot tailwind.
2. A moving towplane on the runway taking up slack is a distraction to the landing glider pilot.
3. A towplane waiting to takeoff puts pressure on the landing pilot to clear the runway usually in the direction of trailers and gliders. If turning off the runway with too much energy, the glider stands the risk of running into a trailer, parked glider, 1000 gallon fuel tank or hangar, remember, no wheel breaks.Our club has lost a number of gliders due to collisions on the ground where one or more of the above played a role in those collisions.
Bottom line is; Safety is the key word here. Always Always error on the side of safety. Remember that in your flying career and you will be a safe pilot.
Occasionally, you will find yourself holding in position for take-off for an extended period. In the event a glider is on final be prepared to release the tow rope and move the towplane off to the side of the runway if you see the glider is landing long.
You are the PIC. Make the decisions that you feel are the safest. Remember, Risk Management. Avoid the risk. No one will fault you for being safe.
I will teach all tow pilots to NOT take up slack and remain off the runway until the landing glider has come to a complete stop.
I’m sure the clubs Flight Chairman and Chief Tow Pilot will agree with me.
Fly Safe,
Don GrilloCONGRATULATIONS ERIK!!! You have put a lot of sweat equity in the club since joining a few years ago. You have gone from student pilot to Private Glider Pilot to ASEL Private Pilot and now have recently completed your instrument rating, high performance and tailwheel endorsements. If anyone deserves to be a Sky Soaring Tow Pilot, it is you. Enjoy flying the Pawnee.
DonPilots deal with ADM (Aeronautical Decision Making) and RM (Risk Management) decisions on nearly a constant basis from the time we start the walkaround to the time we exit the cockpit.
Why do we use checklists? To help mitigate risk.The E on our takeoff checklist stands for Emergency. We train for rope breaks or other failures at 100ft, 200ft and above. While doing that checklist item what are we asking and what is our E plan? We need to know wind direction and speed as it may effect our E plan. Which way am I going to turn in the event I have to return to the field? Or, do I risk an off field landing? (Did you know that wind socks are calibrated? Most windsocks fully extend at 15kts of wind. A half extended windsock would be about 7kts of wind.)
In our two scenarios we have a left quartering headwind reporting 220 degrees at 7kts. Departing runway 27 that gives us a 4kt headwind and a 5kt left crosswind. In picture 1 we are 100ft agl. In picture 2 we are 200ft agl. (Note the location of the Sky Soaring hangar in both pictures). Do we have enough runway ahead of us to land straight ahead in the event of a 100ft rope break? How about a rope break at 200ft?
Austen told us what he would do. You are the PIC, what would you do?
(This is meant to solicit/spark a conversation and maybe do some training as well). Click on reply or visit the skysoaring.com website message forum and reply there.
DonRich, I have been thinking of doing the same thing. We have a few pilots that are going for their add on rating this fall. It’s a good idea to have a ground school that will prep them through the PTS, FAR’s and xcountry. I was thinking maybe the end of August to give enough time for pilots to order a copy of the FAR’s, chart and plotter. Start early morning say around 7am and finish by 2pm or so.
DonLawrence,
These pics are awesome! Some of the best I’ve seen taken at Sky Soaring. Thanks for sharing them!
Mike
