Glider Crash Landing: Instructor Reacts! Decision Making and Avoiding Ground Loops

Filmed a number of years ago, this clip shows a glider trying to circle low level, resulting in a bad landing and crash. We look at a couple potential factors in this accident, in particular decision making, and keeping the wings level to avoid a ground loop.
Accident Video: • Segelflygplanskrasch p...
Multiple gliders landing in grass: • Segelflygplan landar i...
Low level turn outlanding: • Kartena Gliding Club. ...
Glider doing a ground loop: • Video
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Contents:
00:00 A crazy circle
00:59 Let's dive in shall we, and react to the video
04:23 Landing Decision Point
08:25 A look at my own Decision Making
09:11 Wings Level and Ground Loops

[@EirikAnd99]

Seeing stuff like this reminds me again how important it is to practise proper patterns, sideslips and keeping wings perfectly level. It is easy to start slacking once the landing becomes too much of a routine.

[@PureGlide]

Couldn't agree more!

[@av8tore71]

Everyone's an expert

[@stonelaughter]

The main problem I was taught about with low turns is the really sharp changes in wind speed below a couple of hundred feet; if you're a little slow and turning with a nice low wing, that wing can stall. This very thing killed a friend of mine - spun in from a low final turn.

[@PureGlide]

Yeah it's very common, I think it's just the turbulent nature of being near the terrain. So always safer when faster near the ground.

[@pilotgianni]

It's amazing that the pilot managed to do a 360 so close to the ground and not hit the trees or crash! Gliders are so cool! Nice video!

[@sodster68]

Just read the Swedish Accident Investigation Authority report (his was in Sweden). Indeed a DG1000T but the engine was broken so it was flown as a pure glider. The pilot changed strategy in the final stage due to excess altitude, hence the turn, and then chose a different path forcing a ground loop to avoid a stone fence. The original plan would have given him a longer landing roll but he would have overshot that landing. Your assessment looks spot on; not committing to land in good time! Instead of flying an established pattern, which would have given the pilot ample room to adjust altitude, he instead tried to solve the situation second by second. Surely stressed and not able to make decisions properly. Thanks for bringing this up and letting others learn from mistakes!

[@PureGlide]

Interesting thanks! Do you have a link to the report?

[@sodster68]

Couldn't find an English version but you get a picture of the terrain and flight path. :-)

[@sodster68]

@@PureGlide I have tried to paste the link but SewerTube just deletes it constantly.

[@PureGlide]

Email it if you like [e-mail] thanks and I’ll put it in the description for the video

[@InForTheLonghaul]

3:52 “The farm dog searching for possible survivors” lol

[@77thTrombone]

The chortles and squeals from the crowd suggest they thought s/he was barnstorming. Meanwhile I was white-knuckling the arm of the sofa in my imaginary cockpit.

[@BruceDuncan]

I remember once having cramped a circuit into a tiny grass field in the Pirat. I ended up having to ground loop it to stop myself going feet first into the hedge 🙈 Great video Tim, keep up the good work!

[@PureGlide]

Thanks Bruce, yeah nothing wrong with doing a ground loop deliberately to stop if you need to! I've had to do one once too.

[@flomoose7315]

I admit, I’ve been guilty of this. Just a few weeks back I made my first outlanding. To take the excitement out of this: everything apart from some scratches and a little bit of back pain went great!. But because the terrain was above the level of the airfield where I started from, my altitude was much lower. I thought I was about 800 ft higher than my airfield, but it rather is ~1000 at that point. Out of that resulted my decision altitude, which was a bit too low. I already put the gear down and made my landing checks before “trying to catch that last thermal” because I knew it would be stressful… Oh boy, no training can prepare you for this stress level… I flew my circuit, but because of the rather low altitude, I had a very short final which made things a little bit stressful. I later checked the IGC file: when making the decision I was just about 200 meters AGL (~650ft) when turning downwind 180m (~600ft). I will definitely leave myself about another 200+feet on future out landings… makes things much more relaxing.

[@christopherstevenson9737]

My personal hard deck is 1,500 A. Because my CFI trained me to use this altitude; plenty of time to perform a proper landing w checklist (TOWARD) and B. I’m still a low-time (new) pilot. And C. Extra altitude is much better than not enough. Thx for sharing. Good insights as always.!

[@PureGlide]

Yes sounds very sensible, especially at the beginning

[@Slarti]

Every experienced pilot, from fixed wing to rotary wing I have heard talk about power-off landings has always said decide early on where you are going to land, commit to that landing area and do not change your mind unless you are going to hit a mast etc. Even when years ago I did my parachute jumps, we were trained to ascertain our drift and to know well before landing where we would be landing.

[@PureGlide]

Sounds sensible! Cheers

[@snigel7995]

I like how the narrator/commentator admits to making misstakes himself, recent ones at that.

[@PureGlide]

Thanks! Yeah we all make mistakes. The concern should be if you’re not willing to share them with others

[@CLdriver1960]

As usual, your assessment was bang on.

[@PureGlide]

Thanks :) Keep in mind I don't know much about this accident, other than what was seen in the video. Who knows maybe there were other factors...

[@CLdriver1960]

@@PureGlide Understood. In a previous working life, I had the duty of participating in two separate accident investigations. Recorded evidence was key, but not the only form of evidence to be gathered in order to put the pieces of the puzzle together.

[@tadeksmutek5840]

Thank you, Tim - good review of the incident and also good lecture for other glider pilots. Of course, I know - anyone is an ideal person, who does not do any mistakes but it is good practise to learn from other people's mistakes, especially in general aviation or gliding. This lecture might safe somebody's life later.

[@PureGlide]

Oh yes we all make mistakes, I do often! Yeah hopefully it helps someone

[@ClausMallorca]

Incident??? This was definitely an accident!;;!

[@randytolle6706]

A friend of mine repaired several broken tail booms from from ground loops. No easy to do without adding weight. Special tools and techniques required for a solid safe repair. (Tight inside work.)

[@sidtp7307]

What a great video. So many pointers

[@PureGlide]

Glad you think so!

[@TheSoaringChannel]

I don't think that was sink when he made the 360°. I think that was the loss of airspeed because of the tailwind and he instinctively slowed to make the same GS. I've seen a million experienced pilots do it during powered commercial ground reference maneuvers. Loved this assessment Tim. Cheers buddy.

[@bikersoncall]

Looked to me like an incredibly poor choice of a landing strip, poor choice by anyone associated with this flight. I mean what is anyone to do; ''hey , I'll just do a go around and come back to land in my friends backyard where's that starter switch again..'' :shrugs:

[@TheSoaringChannel]

@@bikersoncall yeah I can't disagree at all man. I hate to throw them under the bus. But I think you're right. I think they DID correctly assess that they were FAR too low to start the engine by the time they realized they had to land. I hope I'm never in this situation.

[@bikersoncall]

@@TheSoaringChannel Thanks, yeah, I was actually kidding about the 'engine' I assumed there was none. As best we know by the title and a little bit of the narration, there was an instructor involved, with a new pilot, if I was the new pilot, (never flown a glider) I would seriously want a mile long or 3 mile long meadow or some good farm land, long glide slope/final, nothing rushed. A lot of planes go down when they miss their down wind, base and final then side slip trying to make it up, then stall, I'm actually shocked that he didn't stall and die, I think that's why there were women screaming in the background, they could see it too. I would say that the fact that he landed alive would be my take away from this clip, I mean the errors were obvious, right, they almost go without saying, he survived, that's something for them all to celebrate, Imo.. :)

[@MikelLee]

Thanks for this, I appreciate your videos. I agree there are better ways to lose altitude on final then doing a 360 turn. Slips on base and final with full spoilers is much more effective. Practicing slips to final at the proper airspeed (see your POH) is something to be practiced often. At the end of any routine flight, if I'm not overly tired, I'll always practice a short field approach, including slips to and on final. It's actually fun and confidence building. Thanks for this!

[@PureGlide]

Yeah that's great advice. I might make a 'how fast can a glider descend' video at some stage, or 'how to do a short landing' video. To cover things like slips and speed dives to loose altitude. Cheers!

[@MikelLee]

@@PureGlide that would be great. Too often in our fight training we are taught a standard pattern for landing. Then as new solo pilots or after getting our license we try not to depart from those normal approaches. Short field or high approaches over obstacles at high sink rates is not comfortable at first but should be practiced in my opinion. Get with an instructor during a day when conditions are not working for soaring and take some tows with the intent of practicing non-typical approaches 😁

[@12345fowler]

@@PureGlide How do you sideslip in gliders ? Opposite ailerons / rudder input AND a serious pull up trough the manoeuvre ? I remember doing it in a Bücker Jungman in the final approach because I would be always like 3 times the height of a normal circuit and it was awesome. No speed gain (you have to pull up on the elevator to not gain airspeed) and you tought you would ride in a elevator instead of a plane. Center the stick just seconds before touchdown and do a perfect 3 points landing.

[@SeegzB]

Yet another unbiased fantastically explained analysis

[@PureGlide]

Thanks, glad you think so

[@NWA320DRVR]

Looking at the video it appears that the gear was down in the second sequence, so their decision was likely made to perform an off-field landing at a decent altitude. To me, it looks like the low turn was to lose altitude. A poor choice in this case. A question I have is their orientation to the chosen field. The low right wing just before touchdown could be a last ditch effort to change direction and the subsequent ground loop a result of trying to avoid something. No doubt the field was more than adequate to effect a safe landing.

[@PureGlide]

Yeah I agree, the direction of landing must be iffy, looking at the pics there should have been plenty of room!

[@JimForeman]

It appeared tome that he either tried to turn or let the right wing drop and drag the ground just before touchdown and he struck the ground going sideways, You can tell that from the deep ditch formed by the main gear sliding sideways.

[@johnbrooks5705]

I totally agree with your analysis, Tim. Just one thing: the field where the glider came to rest appeared to be big and green, yet the glider approached into a fairly ratty looking and short paddock. I wonder why he didn't make a proper circuit into the green paddock, even if the wind was not right on the nose. Of course, I haven't read the Swedish accident report and I have only the video from the ground observers to go on.

[@PureGlide]

Yeah it doesn’t quite make sense. It looks huge. I suspect it was just different angles of the same field. And it might have been their approach which was the problem. But still no excuse!

[@EVJ-World]

Very valuable lessons.

[@PureGlide]

Glad you think so! Cheers

[@emergencylowmaneuvering7350]

I teach on airplanes. Some cannot do good Forward Slips. Or are afraid of steeper approaches. So they like to do low approaches instead. Land short sometimes, too long other times..

[@PureGlide]

Yeah sounds about right too! Cheers

[@trevorpienaar7979]

Second time I see the same problem. No planning of setting up an out landing.

[@greybirdo]

I well remember on my Silver badge distance flight, thermalling away from a nice paddock in a Blanik at 650 ft at the point of joining base turn. Ten miners later, I was at 6,000’. I was a rock star! Until my Instructor and Official Observer looked at the Barograph trace. He tore me a new one - threatened to withhold my distance claim because of unsafe flying. Sweated me for 24 hours. He was right, of course. If I’d turned left instead of right, who knows what the outcome would have been? One of the best-learned lessons from my early solo flying career.

[@Augusto5610]

regarding the ground loop at 9:45, I think the pilot did it on purpose as it approached very close to the front glider and the left wing might hit it so he did the ground loop to avoid wing strike.

[@PureGlide]

Maybe!

[@captarmour]

great video! just thinking maybe a benefit of a v tail is it may keep the tail off the ground in a ground loop

[@PureGlide]

Possibly! Cheers

[@robinmyman]

I’m a fixed wing ppl student. Hats off to gliders…a lot of my training is about when something goes wrong eg engine out.

[@JimForeman]

As an old Glider CFI, it's called staying ahead of the glider. Know what steps need to be made in the landing and get each one accomplished in time to move to the next task.

[@PureGlide]

Exactly right Jim! Cheers

[@inquest777]

I like the term "Stay ahead of the glider". Action rather than reaction.

[@jessiegeorg8438]

It's interesting how so many of the points that you raise, apply equally to powered aircraft. The risk of low turns, and ESPECIALLY your last point about flying the aircraft all the way until it stops moving. No point giving up just because the wheels are on the ground, gotta fly it all the way through the [out]landing

[@PureGlide]

Thanks Jessie, pleased to hear that!

[@StefanGarvander]

Taken from the official incident report. Causal factors  The glider was flown to an area where good landing fields were not within reach.  The field was inappropriate in terms of available length.  Change of landing line took place at a late stage.  The 360-degree turn in the final meant that speed and altitude kept over the obstacle did not happen with precision.  Obstacles in the form of trees in the direction of approach meant that a large part of the field could not be used and that the setting took place far into the field.

[@PureGlide]

Thanks for sharing! weird they say it wasn't a long enough field, in the pictures and video it looked more than big enough. But sometimes pics can be deceiving. Cheers

[@bengtsvensson7762]

@@PureGlide approx 250m total field length with ~20m obstacles to clear, the ground loop was intentional to avoid rolling in to the stone wall at the end of the field. The misjudged altitude in the pattern and the resulting 360 on final goes hand in hand with poorly managed speed(too fast). The mental component is interesting, it is not mentioned in the report but I'm guessing the pilots really didn't think they would have to land out - the last day of a regional competition in a plane with U/S Turbo, generally the last day gets an "easier" task so that everyone gets back in time and not miss the party.😁 Being too high and too close to the field you've selected to land at is a textbook mistake, and a ground loop is a textbook maneouver to avoid rolling into obstacles.

[@brushitoff503]

Bloody fantastic video Tim! When I was "Learning To Fly" (Floyd) out of Bond Springs NT we had to be in or near the pattern by 1,000 ft agl always for any pilot with good reason! Cheers!

[@PureGlide]

Thanks mate, yeah very sensible :)

[@darkredvan]

The main problem I see on this video is one that I watched some of my comrades do: 1. Decision height: some eager pilots set a very low decision height in their mind, circling just into the ground to find the last, the flight saving lift (that does not come) 2. due to 1. they are not able to perform a wide (enough) circuit, they would be at zero altitude on the outward end of the downwind 3. as they can not do a normal downwind or base leg, they force themselves to 2 possible difficult maneuvers a) stay very near to the landing field longitudinally and laterally and b) do very steep and narrow circles at a low altitude. By this they force themselves to make decisions and actions very fast which can lead to hasty, panicky and erratic flying. If you come out of a 360 low hopefully in front or at the start of the landing strip, you might find it is quite short. So you force your glider down. All this could be avoid, as you described. High enough decision to land, keep to your decision, fly a regular circuit (because your landing field is unknown it would be wise to choose a bit higher and wider approach), fly regular 90 degrees curves , stabilize your glider on final far enough out so you have to use your airbrakes to do a proper landing. What most people do not realize: the deciding point for a good outlanding has to be made much earlier and higher than the last circle. I never was a good competition pilot, maybe I made my decisions too early, too high. But I did not destroy any glider when landing off airfields. One of my comrades damaged 2 gliders 3 times in a season.

[@Mr10string]

I held my breath during the 360 degree turn. I've seen the plane go over the wing and dig into the ground! The two pilots played with life with this maneuver. I doubt they had the speed under control given the many obstacles. Fortunately, they were on a good-natured plane and had a good deal of luck. Comparable maneuvers have already cost many their lives!

[@PureGlide]

Yeah I’ve never seen anyone do one that low before!

[@Mr10string]

@@PureGlide I think it is possible that they flew too slowly for the high bank angle. They might have been on the dangerous side of the polar. Such a strong and extensive sinking close to the ground is rather unlikely on the plain. I don't know the DG 1000, but with the ASK 21 such a flight condition is still stable. Provided the center of gravity is not too far back. In such a case, the flow in the inner area of the wing breaks off while it is still applied on the outside. Look at the sequence again!

[@jamesgrieve188]

How far away from Oamaru are you? Do you do beginning flights?

[@gregw6748]

The energy he lost with that turn......

[@Droladnap]

Golden rules still apply to gliders! Aviate, navigate, communicate. Fly the aircraft first worry about the others later don’t focus on electronics and radios.

[@onthemoney7237]

Looked like there was a substantial dip in the field right after he touch down can’t see it in the stand around pics he did point that direction hard to say you can see it in the landing vid . Very good points good vid 👍

[@PureGlide]

Thanks!

[@Balancedviewable]

In a potential outlanding situation I am set up on a good paddock by 1000ft, and I then will be in the circuit joying area upwind of the field. I will then search this area down to 700ft, wheel down, at all times ready to enter downwind. I rigorously maintain 1.5vs About half the time Ive got away again. The rest have been comfortable landings. I generally fly in areas with vast paddocks and few trees too, so that helps. in other areas I would use a more conservative approach. A tip is if you gain height, do not try to center the turn, or allow sped to drop below 1.5vs until at least 1100ft, even if this means climbing at less than a knot at first. Learnt that the hard way; :) As a prompt I vocalise airspeed every 5 seconds at this height, and carefully monitor drift. On quite a few occasions I have done highly modified circuits from 400ft after winch cable break checks. Its one of the reasons I highly recommend winch training, as it is not done anywhere near as often when training on aerotow. the "circuit" was terrible indeed That said, the ground loop doesnt seem directly related to the approach, as the glider touched down smoothly fairly wings level. I suspect it was a downwind landing (wind change?) or an unseen obstacle. ultimately we werent there to know the full situation so i wouldnt judge too harshly.

[@PureGlide]

Hey thanks for sharing, and yes agreed it’s hard to tell if there were any other factors. Cheers

[@mikebreen2890]

What a shame. Will that be repaired? I'm suspecting a new fuselage, if it's fixed at all?

[@cal-native]

I find this whole sequence perplexing. Even with the hairy 360 he appeared to have sufficient speed to bring it in safely, and was deploying his spoilers on final. Could it have been a really rough part of the field? Or was it simply a dropped wing ground loop? It did appear like his flare stalled out.

[@PureGlide]

I suspect they were approaching the field from the wrong direction or something. Combined with a stall onto the ground or something like that!

[@petrokemikal]

Looks like he tried to burn off some height in the low turn but either hit sink or changed his mind and decided to abort travelling any further away from the field and turned hard which probably then freaked him out and his concentration lapsed.. Id guess that his hands were shaking and mind racing coming over those trees and he just put it down but not under a relaxed fully focused condition..

[@shakranandi8542]

I've been guilty of this myself. First long distance flight, still as a student. Last Way-point before the home run at a neighboring airfield. Still trying to catch a thermal at 650ft / 200m. Not only was I not committing at the right time / altitude to land I also did so in an active traffic circuit. That's many years ago now but I still remember that as the unsafest thing I've done flying.

[@PureGlide]

Hey I think we all have. Good you realised it wasn't good, and it sounds like you learned from it. That's the main thing!

[@Johan-ex5yj]

Excellent advice, Thanks Tim! Exactly right; It is never a good idea to do a 360 on final. At that stage you are low and slow, so turning downwind is risking a stall! In Paragliding, if you’re too high on final you simply do some S- turns (or figure-8 s) to lose some height. Also with ridge soaring, it makes me cringe when I see gliders do a 360 at slow speed right in front of a mountain! ☠

[@PureGlide]

Thanks glad you agree! And you can do some S turns on final too as another option if you were desperate. Better than doing a 360 at least... but I wouldn't recommend it near the ground at all!

[@Johan-ex5yj]

@@PureGlide You're right, in a glider the air brake is the best way to lose altitude. Paragliders don't have that, thus using the S- turns.

[@galx3788]

I've flown in an IS28, Twin Astir, K13 and Puchacz

[@jamesjacocks6221]

That final turn was made with spoilers deployed, so I hope the pilot was trying to lose altitude on approach. Considering the short landing I think it's fair to say that he would have been better off just putting her down without the turn. He never cancelled a pendulum swing he acquired on final. Also, the field is hilly and that doesn't help with clearing the wings. If you can afford to break several hundred thousand dollar sailplanes, you can afford to get adequate training. Bad decisions here.

[@wackaircaftmechanic2312]

9:57 This clip was recently posted in a Standard Cirrus group I am in. Apparently the Cirrus was ok and not much damage was done.

[@PureGlide]

Good to hear!

[@kennethperian4370]

That’s what I wood do 1000ft land only, not a thing but land. I living 2 miles from a gilder airport south East Tennessee, and never fly Ed one never. But that might be my bucket list thanks to you for telling me what to watch out for. What to do and not do,right right we’ll see you next time see ya bye bye.

[@Firefox131]

Thanks! When do you switch from ailerons to rudder control after landing?

[@PureGlide]

The moment you touch the ground steering is done with the rudder. But you need to keep flying the ailerons too, to keep the wings level. Cheers!

[@12345fowler]

Just before his last 360° turn you can see him pulling some airbrakes. My theory is that he tought he was too high for the landing and decided to do this 360° to land shorter on the (limited ?) field. Difficult call as either you will land long and crash the plane or if you do a last seconde tight turn you risk the spin & crash. This might be a good lesson to teach pilots that in that case it is better to risk the long landing than the tight turn. If you are really high you can always do S turns and/or put the glider in sideslip that will bring it down rather quickly.

[@ColinWatters]

At 1:59 he has air brakes out. Looks like he catches a bit of lift on final and puts them away again to try one more attempt.

[@PureGlide]

Yeah I suspect so

[@BruceDuncan]

Tip for instructors: When the student does their first (or second) successful landing, just take control immediately and do the ground roll for them, while congratulating them on a good landing. Very often the excitement of having landed the glider for the first time means they completely forget to keep the wings level and steer in a straight line!

[@markwilson56]

Some do and some don't - but yes it happens a lot. I'm a bit worried you would actually reinforce the 'it's all over' syndrome by taking control. I always use a pre-emptive verbal prompt - "keep the wings level" - " keep it straight". Take over if they don't but the emphasis is to keep them fully in the game untill it's actually over - a key philosophy for a pilot :-) Doesn't have to stop them being happy about the first one and if they do the whole thing - which the majority do * if* you remind them they are still flying the glider -they are even happier ! and you have now reinforced the 'keep wings level' habit right when it makes the most impression.

[@BruceDuncan]

@@markwilson56 yes that is true, but we don't expect them to do the whole winch launch on the first try, we teach it in manageable pieces, with the opportunity to brief it first. Primacy is of course important too, but there is plenty of opportunity for them to learn how to control the glider on the ground before going solo.

[@henrikflygarepipes5471]

The field is huge! Decide in time, make a normal landing setup with downwind, base, final. The try for ”low saves” are unusual and risky…

[@PureGlide]

Agreed!

[@hamishkay3010]

At first I thought this was an Arcus but it definitely looks like a Duo Discus correct me if I'm wrong.

[@PureGlide]

I think it was a DG 1000 from memory, but might be wrong

[@christopheblanchi4777]

Ouch! That fuselage is probably destroyed (ripped around the landing gear). That is some pretty sad airmanship. I have my share of off field landing, and compromising on my landing was never a choice as I cared for my life too much. 1000 feet off the ground is a good rule of thumb. The choice of appropriate altitude depends of course on whether you need to run a downwind or not to assess the field, the winds, and other factors such as animals, tractors, or other gliders. Rather than altitude in feet, I would recommend to use angles (45% down angle to the field as you enter the downwind leg and adjust for wind!) , rather than absolute altitudes as you cannot use your altimeter to figure out how high you are unless you know what the ground altitude is.

[@PureGlide]

Yes that is exactly what we teach too- angles to the aiming point, rather than altitudes. As you say you don’t always know what the field elevation is!

[@sethhelstrip]

I climbed away from 350 feet last summer. I was positioned downwind of the field I'd already selected, ready to turn in and land. It was a good field, the landing would have been fine - but holding out hope saved me what would have probably been a 5 or 6 hour retrieve. I'm not saying it was the right thing to do, but it can be done safely (unlike the video). I realise with your instructor hat on, you can't endorse that sort of flying.

[@PureGlide]

As mentioned, taking a turn in a thermal that low can either go one of two ways: turn into the lift, or into the sink. So you have a 50/50 chance, or less, as the thermals aren't that well formed down that low. So not recommended! But certainly possible..

[@roguehoro3031]

I always find the combination of sideslip and airbrake awkward. Anytime I find myself in a situation when full airbrake is not enough (it is already a mistake, but it has happened) I speed up the glider (with fully extended airbrake) so it bleeds energy very fast then I decrease the speed and finish the landing on a normal glide slope. I think it is much safer than airbrake and sideslip. It is easier to do and we have a greater authority on the sink rate. Which method is better? Is this a bad habit? Suggestions?

[@PureGlide]

Yeah a number of countries teach that technique. We do rapid descents which is similar but not on final approach. I haven’t tested it on landing so can’t comment. There shouldn’t be any problem side slipping and using the brakes, practice at altitude I suggest! The more tools in your toolbox the better

[@markwilson56]

Depends to some large extent on the glider - light glider and good double blade airbrakes it works well. Some early GRP gliders it's not so great. It's definitely easier! You also need a larger area to slow down so if approaching over trees etc the sideslip allows the flare and touchdown to be less distance into the field due to lower ground speeds. If there is open ground you can do a faster, steeper approach, initially aiming short (the important bit) and shed any excess energy that way. I use both techniques - and generally teach the speed up for pre solo, especially for land ahead after a winch launch failure, but the sideslip is better for rapid energy loss with limited space and height and is a critical part of your toolkit, although in some gliders it's very hard to maintain it or the flight manual reccomends against it. So it's not universal. So practice and become good at both and pick the best one for the situation and the glider. I guess I would have side-slipped the DG1000 if overshooting / too close /too short an area. They do it extremely well- in 18m mode at least.

[@skriuttutt]

I just can´t see the use of sideslips in modern gliders with 2 or 3-panel airbrakes. Why introduce yet another stressor when you’re low and it´s starting to get tight. Get those brakes all the way out and lower the nose and 99,9% of all overshoot situations are resolved.

[@willcoxmnk]

Yeah, definitely don’t try that in a Standard Libelle… 😈

[@markwilson56]

@@willcoxmnk I've got double blade airbrakes and the disk brake fitted to mine :-). Different beast altogether.

[@bikersoncall]

I don't know anything about the pilot but everything about this whether an ace pilot or noob, looked to me like a recipe for absolute disaster from 00:01

[@PureGlide]

Yip!

[@briangarcia8986]

What I see taking place here is he stalled five feet above the ground. That was a stalled wing that dropped and caused the ground loop. Ripped the gear right off the bulkhead. He must be two inches shorter after that hit.

[@PureGlide]

Yeah they may well have done - hard to tell on the video, but it would explain a few things. Cheers

[@briangarcia8986]

@@PureGlide Can't wait for you to take us along on another flying adventure. The scenery is just stunning!

[@edkhan785]

Good Analysis. Proper pattern is best ?

[@PureGlide]

Yeah!

[@EirikAnd99]

In my opinion a proper pattern is the only option! I have experienced having more sink than expected in the base leg and having to shorten my final. That added a little bit of stress. It was very manageable at the home base but in a outlanding you have no reason to add more stress and new inputs than you need. If you do a pattern like hundreds of times before you will feel if you are too high or too low and the circuit can be adapted accordingly without adding stress to the situation. If many factors about the landing are like you are used to, and if you have more time, you have more margins.

[@tungstenkid2271]

Incidentally what's the difference between a glider and a sailplane?

[@PureGlide]

The terms are interchangeable. The US often uses ‘sailplane’ more than ‘glider’. ‘Glider’ can also refer to hang gliders and paragliders, although in NZ when I say gliders, I mean sailplanes.

[@scoobertjoo]

What happens after the off landing? Farmer comes out with a shotgun? Does a tow plane come destroy the crops more?

[@PureGlide]

Here in New Zealand, we track down the farmer and ask permission to drive onto their land to retrieve the glider with a trailer. I've never had a grumpy farmer yet. Most of the time they'll get their kids out to sit in the glider :)

[@av8tore71]

Everyone's an expert

[@PureGlide]

Yeah it’s easy to critique from an armchair

[@VirtuelleWeltenMitKhan]

Soooooooooo much space Oo

[@tjarkwittje206]

Why do you fly with two Yaw strings?

[@PureGlide]

The real question is: why does everyone else not?! kzbin.info/www/bejne/hYOcq32tmKyrpbM

[@esbjornhansson474]

Det såg ju ut som att han landade korrekt på fältet, men med en synnerligen stressad pilot

[@milesinnz]

but why the ground loop ???.. too slow (too high a work load) and the airbrakes are out = high rate of descent and not enough speed to flare = heavy landing (hence the damage around the wheel box), wings possibly flex down a little (little aileron authority - too slow) and he ground loops...

[@PureGlide]

I don’t think it was deliberate! Maybe they stalled and plonked onto the ground hard enough the wing touched the ground. Hard to tell

[@milesinnz]

@@PureGlide no certainly not deliberate... the obvious lesson is the dangers of getting into a high work load situation.. but if you are slow in the last part of the landing with a high rate of descent you should close the airbrakes..

[@DumbledoreMcCracken]

No forward slip? Poor speed control. I guess the pilot wasn't experienced at landing on other than home field, and can't establish the 45 degree angle down, and laterally, to the touchdown point from altitude for setting the pattern width and turn points.

[@SuperReasonable]

Where you say “what he should be doing is lining up for a landing” and he’s turning, you haven’t mentioned his brakes are out and his wheel is down. I think he was turning finals to land, but thought he was too high and decided to throw in another 360. He should have remained committed to the original landing he had planned. I’m certain he wasn’t trying to find a last minute climb.

[@PureGlide]

Yeah maybe, either way shouldn’t be doing a 360. But I suspect the real problem was lack of circuit planning much earlier. Hard to tell on the video.

[@willcoxmnk]

Full disclosure: I am not an instructor. But a trick that I was shown by a Full Cat and have once used myself to get out of jail when too high and too close on a field landing approach is to fly a double base leg. Obviously not a clever idea at a busy glider airfield, but if if you turn onto base leg for a field and assess that you are too high and too close to brake your way down, instead of turning final - keep going and then make an outward turn through 180 degrees. Brings you back onto base leg 100 feet lower and 200 feet further back than you were and gives you a bit more time-and-space to sort your life out. And a good deal simpler to execute under pressure than a low-level 360 degree turn (which as Tim points out is a bad idea under any circumstances).

[@hofstee26]

As a safety officer in our club I have a lot of discussions with pilots. Because of low saves (e.g. below 300 ft when talking to world championship level pilots). I tend to ask: Where does "competence" end and "recklessness" start? The answer I came up with is "when you cannot correct a problem that may occur".

[@PureGlide]

Ooh I really like that, a great way to think about it.

[@Johan-ex5yj]

That is an excellent definition. 👍 And it is usually over-confidence in your own abilities that puts you in that situation.

[@jme104]

He is too high on the fist left turn .That was my first impression without reading the other comments .After I wrote this, I just read the comment of Patrick Söderholm .yes too high at 2:07 . He should have keep flying downwind longer and turn on final later .

[@johnwad7468]

I watch,but I will never be able to afford a sailplane. But I can dream I suppose.

[@PureGlide]

Many people don't own their own glider, they either use club owned aircraft, or join a syndicate with others. So it can be more affordable.

[@wrinkledm]

His gear was down during that last circle, I can only hope he simply misjudged where he was

[@PureGlide]

That was a fixed gear down glider, well until it was ripped off!

[@astro_manta9733]

10:17 oh hey that’s my club

[@PureGlide]

Oh hai! What’s the club? Do a bit of promotion:)

[@astro_manta9733]

Pure Glide deeside gliding club up in the cairngorm mountains of scotland, it’s known across the UK for being a fantastic wave site in the winter, the altitude for a flight launched from here being 38,600 feet. Landing in strong crosswinds is a vital skill, especially in the wave season. Launching is aerotow only (major roads close to the club so winching isn’t an option) either behind a eurofox (cheap) or a piper pawnee d (for when it’s too rough for the fox) In autumn we are host to the UK Mountain Soaring Competition.

[@bikersoncall]

You should have edited out the hysterical hen cackling in the beginning sounded like there was an execution taking place, we didn't need to hear that.. A TMI Moment.

[@PureGlide]

Haha sorry about that

[@bikersoncall]

@@PureGlide 🍕🍕👍

[@christiangavrila]

That's an original traffic pattern! They were lucky, they could have ended in a tree or worse.

[@PureGlide]

Yeah could have gone worse

[@robertgary3561]

its hard to say what was under the grass. Maybe he had a nice landing and dropped the nose into a gopher hole.

[@PureGlide]

Yeah might have done!

[@vidtoshow5114]

It's clearly luck of training. I used to do at least 40 off-field landings every flying season. One year logged 123 off-field landings 50 of them were intentional and 10 with instructor as a check-up on L-13. Landed on a highway, someone's backyard, high crops etc. You name it - I probably landed there. Only one time we had to evacuate by trailer - all other times we took-off on a tow behind the Wilga 35A, including a highway and backyard. That includes no wing holder on open class gliders. In-fact I prefer no help to hold my wing by untrained bystander.

[@PureGlide]

Wow that’s a lot!

[@Mike-01234]

Do the farm owners get upset about you landing on their property?

[@PureGlide]

I've been into about 70 farmer paddocks, and never had a grumpy one yet. Even in the couple of crops I've been in. Usually they are helpful and their kids get to sit in the glider :)

[@EirikAnd99]

It is important to have a friendly tone and explain why you had to land there (safety, no engine...) Insurance company pays for crop damage anyways, that is mostly not a problem!

[@Trevor_Austin]

I’ve done about fifty field landings and retrieved at least double that. Most farmers are cool. Some are very, very welcoming and hospitable. Tea, cakes, coffee and sandwiched are very common. Of these I remember two in particular. One got our pilot so pissed she had to be given a lift home. Another was a lady that was concerned that we’d be gone before her kids got home. This was because they’d love to see a glider. So we waited to let them sit inside. The two unpleasant ones were an obnoxious pig farmer (with easily diagnosed health problems - the pilot was a surgeon.) and the other was the 14th Duke of Bedford, The Marquess of Tavistock when I landed out in Woburn Abbey during an un-NOTAM’ed an unauthorised and unlicensed air display. He even dobbed me in to the CAA. Fortunately having recently passed Air Law for my Frozen ATPL I pressed the CAA on the possible offences that had been committed that day. When I suggested that it was in fact the aerobatics that was illegal act there was a fair bit of bluster and conversation was quickly changed.

[@TheSoaringChannel]

Just don't outland in East Texas. They might think you're an alien there to collect their children. And they're respond accordingly 🤣 turns out THAT is why we wear bucket hats to look like Gilligan 🤣🤣🤣🤣 so we're not threatening. 🤣🤣🤣 I crack myself up.

[@PureGlide]

@trevor Haha that’s great

[@songbbo2876]

can that be fixed…

[@PureGlide]

Sure can, they can fix almost anything on a glider. Badly broken wings it might not be cost effective so it depends how much damage there is whether it's worth doing.

[@songbbo2876]

@@PureGlide nice thanks for reply 👍

[@dwightbernheimer331]

Looks like his instructor could use some instruction... 'Nuff said!!!...

[@PureGlide]

Yip!

[@ringaudasnr1]

Full flight from 7:33 video clip: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fYPIfXyHi9Kqp5Y

[@PureGlide]

Thanks! All the videos used are in the description too

[@williamreymond2669]

There are no thermals at a thousand feet, don't kill yourself. Ok, if it's a model glider, if it's a paper airplane - maybe.

[@PureGlide]

True!

[@moontan91]

i bet those gliders aren't cheap. ; )

[@PureGlide]

Nah not very cheap, especially the two seat ones

[@siliconebobsqpts]

Spoilers out 1:56 then back ?

[@PureGlide]

Yeah not ideal

[@auldspider52]

With the size of that field thre should have been no problem.. think he was in Panic mode..

[@PureGlide]

Yip!

[@jimydoolittle3129]

💸😖 crowd induced crash

[@PureGlide]

Haha luckily I don’t think that’s a thing

[@justfly7730]

I fly paragliders for over 10 years and the most important aspect of flying is being mentally prepared for every level of flight. I think he was still trying to find lift. If you are committed to landing dont lose sight of landing zone.

[@planespeaking]

Too low, too slow. Not putting me off having a go though.

[@PureGlide]

That's the spirit :) Yeah he must have come down hard to make a hole like that, and that would be caused by being too slow :)

[@Trevor_Austin]

@@PureGlide I don’t think that was too slow. Crap handling just before, during and after the touchdown is more likely.

[@planespeaking]

@@Trevor_Austin I hesitate to contradict a pilot but it looked to me like he came in too shallow with low energy and flopped down in a slight stall which caused the ground loop. Unless I'm missing something?

[@PureGlide]

Yeah that may well have happened. It’s impossible to tell for sure from the video.

[@jankarlsson5358]

You miss the most obvious. ..which is really strange ... How do you think ... Everyone with some kind of understanding sees that he should absolutely not fly in a place where there are trees everywhere .... He asks for a crash ... and you are apparently blind.😂😂

[@PureGlide]

Look at the field he ended up in! Heaps of room without trees :) I suspect he approached over the trees and that might not have helped. But that’s something you should figure out earlier .

[@luderickwong]

knows nothing about flying, here is my novice question, is that glider total loss? that sounds like an expensive hobby.

[@PureGlide]

Hi, good question. No fuselage repairs are usually OK and worthwhile fixing. Badly broken wings can right off the aircraft. Canopies are expensive And as these wings and canopies look OK it's probably worth fixing.

[@flomoose7315]

I admit, I’ve been guilty of this. Just a few weeks back I made my first outlanding. To take the excitement out of this: everything apart from some scratches and a little bit of back pain went great!. But because the terrain was above the level of the airfield where I started from, my altitude was much lower. I thought I was about 800 ft higher than my airfield, but it rather is ~1000 at that point. Out of that resulted my decision altitude, which was a bit too low. I already put the gear down and made my landing checks before “trying to catch that last thermal” because I knew it would be stressful… Oh boy, no training can prepare you for this stress level… I flew my circuit, but because of the rather low altitude, I had a very short final which made things a little bit stressful. I later checked the IGC file: when making the decision I was just about 200 meters AGL (~650ft) when turning downwind 180m (~600ft). I will definitely leave myself about another 200+feet on future out landings… makes things much more relaxing.

[@brunotagliapietra6397]

didn't it "look low" out of the window?

[@flomoose7315]

@@brunotagliapietra6397 a little bit. But I was trying to catch the thermal😅😂🙈. Now I know I was too low to even catch one…. But you make mistakes and at least I learned from it.