Outlanding WITHOUT Airbrakes!

[@berndkorthaus5082]

My full respect that you dare to show this landing. There is so much to learn from it for all of us other pilots.

[@TheSoaringChannel]

Nice video Stefan. I'm truly serious when I say that videos like these are great for us aviators... The other stuff is great for the sport and attracting more to it. But videos like the gear up and this outlanding are so important to share and diagnose and be open and relatable to us normies who don't fly as much and incredible flights as you. To see KZbinrs like yourself show safety videos like this is important for the sport to survive. Every accident pushes people who are curious away and shuts down clubs. We don't need that!

[@aaronpahler5410]

Absolutely agree with you, the more input you get, the more possibilitys you have as an aviator 👍🏼

[@SteFly]

Thank you so much for the motivating words!!

[@TheSoaringChannel]

@@SteFly In my very humble opinion - these self diagnosis videos appear to be very very popular. First I commend you for doing these. Second it looks like they are pretty enjoyable for everyone. I know I did. They remind me of Pure Glide and Bruno's recent videos either talking through incidents or accidents, and discussing what could've been done better. I know I'm enjoying them!

[@SteFly]

@@TheSoaringChannel It´s a commonly used method for KZbin channels to reuse content and avoid recording own videos ;) But as long as others can learn from them or get entertained, it´s fine.

[@TheSoaringChannel]

@@SteFly I'm going to upload a video critiquing your video of you critiquing yourself 😂🥴 just kidding! Happy soaring! Or... Condor Soaring if you're stuck inside for the winter.

[@jochen_ls]

Perfect example for not how to make it (like we were trained). But never the less every save landing without damages or even injuries is a good landing! Thanks for sharing Stefan!

[@SteFly]

Thanks Jochen!

[@soaruk3697]

Glad to see you revisiting this video and commenting on the mistakes - it so easy to push things too far, especially competition flying, when low if you have good landing options below..... been there, done that....

[@SteFly]

There are more pilots doing it but only a tiny amount is sharing their bad experieces.

[@soaruk3697]

@@SteFly Yes many pilots start doing crazy things in competitions where normally they wouldn't - just have to watch the film 'The Sunship Game' for examples of that..... the guy boasting about flying under wires, over a car, and landing on a road in the middle of the town of Marfa is my favourite. I'm glad some of that stupid 'macho' attitude is now frowned upon......

[@b_wisniewski]

This video with your comment makes fantastic lesson for inexperienced pilots. Thanks a lot Stefan! Publish more if you have 🙂

[@SteFly]

Thank you! I´ll have a look what I can find and comment on that. 🙂

[@tadeksmutek5840]

Thank you, Stefan, - I really appreciate your frankly analysis of this particular out-landing situation. For many old & young (more or less experienced) glider pilots this safety lesson might be very useful for sure.

[@SteFly]

Thank you, Tadek!

[@dcraft969]

Excellent teaching moment. I wish more pilots would be more forthcoming with passing this type of info. I was a Safety Officer for a Corporate Flight Dept. We would have quarterly meetings, that offered these “training moment” scenarios.

[@kevinFRESSON]

Stefan you are a star for sharing mistakes. It perfectly shows how one cannot think clearly when stressed. Having a cut-off height to then say “I am landing” keeps field landing safer. Having prior planning & options are just part of TEM! We all have so much to keep learning about this huge subject.

[@carljacobs1287]

I remember this video well, and I remember commenting at the time. Nice to see my comment in the screen shot - lol. I think we all end up having at least one flying experience we would rather forget, but remain strangely grateful for because of the way it changes how we fly. The only danger is brushing these experiences off as nothing too serious - turning a bad action into possibly a bad habit, which can so easily end in tears. Keep posting the good content, it's always enjoyable to watch your videos.

[@palleh.jensen4648]

Hi Stefan, thanks for sharing, video and the track plotter are valuable de-briefing tools for any kind of flying, see how the military does it on the fast jets with the HUD Camera. Safe flying. Best regards Palle

[@SteFly]

Thanks Palle!

[@chrisj800]

I would like to see more outlanding analysis videos like this. Very interesting!

[@SteFly]

Will try to make some more outlandings :D

[@Rickenbacker69]

@@SteFly It's how you know you really tried! :D

[@flytelaw1]

Good lesson in decision making, crowding the field, the risks of low altitude turns and making a plan and sticking to it! Great video, Stefan!

[@thilobielefeld7177]

Hallo Stefan, Super das Du Deine Erfahrungen teilst, insbesondere die nicht so guten !!! Finde ich super!! Ein Online Streckenflugseminar wäre auch genial, die wenigsten guten Streckenflieger teilen Ihr können gern..... Grüße aus der Altmark

[@SteFly]

Hi Thilo, vielen Dank! Wie genau stellst du dir ein Online Streckenflugseminar vor?

[@thilobielefeld7177]

@@SteFly Moin Stefan, gute Frage !!!! Die rein theoretischen Dinge des Streckenfluges sind durch Reichman usw. oft schon irgendwie bekannt, was davon und vorallem wie in der Praxis Anwendung findet evt. weniger. Ich fände es sehr interessant den Streckenflug aus "Sicht" des Piloten zu erfahren, sozusagen mitzuerleben warum und wie Entscheidungen im Cockpit getroffen werden. Tipps und Tricks eben..... 😉

[@knowledgebyte]

I did a short spin in a K8 many years back over a small pocket of lift over some concrete hangers at RAF Bruggen. Fortunately I had plenty of height and recovered and landed back on the main grass without any trouble. I learnt about scratchy lift and not paying attention to the horizon. I must have been leaning back on the stick. In a few years I will likely take gliding back up as I retire, so am looking forward to relearning the art of flight in thermals and flying in my first glass ship. Thanks for sharing.

[@Gianky640220]

Thanks Stefan for sharing this! Very very helpful, also because it was frightening in some way. Anyway, good that you walked away easily and share it with all of us

[@steinfrich7281]

Great presentation about your own planning or lack thereof. I admire your frankness

[@leifvejby8023]

You are a brave men showing this, but you are not the only on having done that. I've seen it happen from above - I was circling a very weak thermal in a K8 and watching a K6 from an other club circling way lower. Suddenly the K6 straigthened out and stopped, and the pilot climbed out!

[@steilkurbler4973]

Really cool that you talk about this! It kind of resembles my first thoughts watching that video. Beeing a good aviator isn't only about stick and rudder skills, but also about decision making and actually learning from mistakes. Keep it up!

[@SteFly]

Thank you!!

[@greghart6310]

Well done! Always brave to share mistakes yet these are the most important videos of all, they can save lives

[@archivist17]

Thank you for sharing your wisdom and experience with us. The short spin video was quite alarming.

[@SteFly]

Also for me it was really interesting to see. I never got unexpected into a spin so far... but it´s good to know how the gleader reacts.

[@bkailua1224]

Great teaching moment. You make great videos. I also have been guilty of trying too long and too low and lucky to make it to a landing where nothing was broken. I have also found I am very likely to forget something when distracted by a stressful situation and really need to remember to check the gear down. I also know someone who has landed gear up trying to stretch the glide until the last moment and forgot to lower it. I now set a higher min altitude to scratch and below that no more scratching. Most of these high performance gliders have little or no wingtip washout and this is why they tend to snap into a spin if you are skidding in a turn when you stall. Also no big deal with little bounces as long as you got enough runway and recover correctly, we had 9000 feet of runway and it was fun to see how far they would go in ground effect and it was a good way of students learning how sensitive the pitch was during a no spoiler landing. Just log one launch and 5 landings. :) Keep up the great videos.

[@julietsierra7348]

Thanks Stefan for sharing this experience and being honest about it. There is a lot to be learned from it for our up-and-coming XC pilots. :)

[@RichardRichmond123]

Good for you, by putting your ego aside and helping the rest of us not to make the same mistakes you probably saved lives.

[@alpenjon]

Respect for showing us this!

[@TheSkipjack95]

I remember watching that one a few years ago when still doing my training, it seemed to go against everything I was being taught. But now with a few more hours in the logbook I can understand why you made these objectively bad decisions to try and save a competition flight. Kudos to you for showing this and going over it again to show others what NOT to do ^^

[@JorgeCarrizo]

my father uses to say "your own experience cost you so much and arrives late", good to hear you learn from it, I also did

[@Akaflieger]

Stefan, fetter Daumen nach oben sich selbst auch nochmal öffentlich zu reflektieren. Hut ab!

[@lhitchins]

Great video! Speed, brains and altitude, you must always have a combination of two

[@juhakettunen7971]

Thank you for uploading this, very educational situation and good analysis. One minor detail I'd like to add: @1:47 you changed turn direction. This took you even further away from the field (clearly seen @6:55) and made you fly through the same sink twice.

[@RudisGlidingAdventures]

Hi Stefan, thank you for sharing and commenting this experience! It encourages me to publish such a video too in the future. I have had a similar experience with recording cameras on board, but didn't dare to publish it yet 🙈. Maybe I should do it. Thanks

[@erikisberg3886]

Great video Stefan, thanks for showing it! Watching other pilots in these type of scenarios is a great opportunity for us to improve. And decrease the risk of repeating the same mistakes ourselves... great narration btw. And please disreagard the troll comments a video like this may attract. In my mind it is perfectly OK to delete them, some moderation makes the comment section more useful to others as well.

[@prodbyjonathan.]

Really like These Type of Videos

[@pblovlz6795]

Thank you for sharing

[@TommyOlsson]

Thanks Stefan for the video. And never, never try to gain hight at that low level, just focus on the landing spot. Nice it did turn out OK for you.

[@mikeviard8195]

Now, that makes you a better pilot, a pilot alive.

[@tanelvi]

No worries. You are not the only one, who has made a "max L/D outlanding" :)

[@chrishamilton4999]

I must say, you looked pretty darned calm throughout the whole process, and that is surely a plus. I think I will start calling you "Sully" for short. Anyway, as for not deploying the airbrakes, that is not a big deal. Some pilots , when under stress, pull the bloody things out automatically. Best keep them in. I am sure that if you were in overshoot you would have had them out quick smart.

[@danestark7372]

Thanks for posting!

[@stanislouse4168]

You made it and walked away. Good landing.

[@ramseyerbruno]

thanks Stefan for sharing, i believe that your alignment in the field (across the furrows) may have contributed to your multiple Landings. It was an unnecessary risk you took to expedite your derigging into the Trailer.

[@charlesbukowski9836]

5:10 REALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?????????????? REALLY STEFAN!? I mean,, would have never thought of that :)

[@mlj9931]

Really great video. I had questions when I first saw this video years ago! I wonder if another reason for not using the airbrakes because you were trying to stretch the glide towards the buildings where you thought that there might be good road access? Some other points that occurred to me: Some of the turns look a little over-ruddered e.g. look at the yaw string around 1:53. Difficult to tell from the GoPro of course. It is a common tendency when low, and the risk is of course an unrecoverable spin, as you mentioned. There is a track that you fly over at 3:12 which might have had a fence by it. You seemed to twitch the stick back at that point. Finally, I was given a tip of stopping as quickly as reasonably possible in a field (rather than taxying to the gate!), because you never know what objects or holes that you might find in it. Somebody at my club once stopped just before an unseen big brick when landing out. Love all the videos of your soaring adventures - keep them coming!

[@SteFly]

Thank you so much for the detailed comment and the tips! Of course I was stressed and perhaps the rudder was not used perfectly. But I think the camera angle makes it look more worse than it is. At 3:12 I nearly hit the track because there were some unexpected turbulences. I didn´t expect a fence there but it´s a valid argument.

[@jank330]

I have to say as a helicopter pilot most of my landings are off airport but you still need to use a very similar decision process where you pick the best landing spot and dont deviate.

[@SimonAmazingClarke]

I know you are trying to get the most points in a competition but a descision height needs to be set and once decided, unless certain parameters are exceeded, you need to commit to the landing.

[@yannvdwalle]

This is not the way to do an outlanding! No circuit whatsoever! Decision hight at -100m AGL?? We teach our cross country pupils that you look for outlanding fields at 700m, you deside which one at 500m AGL and you fly a normal circuit at 250m AGL at the outlanding field: downwind/base and final. When in circuit no thermalling any more. Good you shared this! Now I can show my pupils where they would be grounded for. One of your next failures will cost you money or worse. Keep my advice in mind. I can give you exemples of Belgian pilots who flew like you in this video. And I said FLEW not fly.

[@asmirdelic7763]

Good landing but you managed to scare little rabbit. 👍

[@mikewoodard6984]

I've had a couple of land outs. One was not a great surprise and I had plenty of time to get my act together. The other was a little more like this one. I think yours had a much greater pucker factor, but that was largely due to your attempts to stay in the air when you really should have just put her down. It all worked out even if some luck was involved. Live and learn. Or crash and burn.

[@nicholaskennedy4310]

Stefan- Good analysis on this wacky approach and landing! Fairly good airspeed control but that turn away from your intended landing spot so low was really poor judgement. I enjoy your vids very much! Have a safe 2022 season Nick Kennedy Glider T LS3a

[@CalebNorthNorman]

Wow very exciting!

[@LSVFlachkurbler]

interesting to see how you got on the right side of the arousal curve and did not proceed with the normal airbrakes out due to stress. Bottom line is: Don't put yourselve into situations where you get to much stress because your ability for judgement will be heavily decreased. So many accidents from top glider pilots and often we ask ourselves how this could have happend. A lot of times it begins exactly like this. I know this all to well, my brain also nearly shut down after a mid air and extreme stress.

[@rrocketman]

I broke into a sweat watching the original!

[@michel.b5752]

Shouldn't you land parallel to the grooves of the field ? Furthermore, you were too low to try to catch his lift.

[@breintje91]

Hi Stefan! Quite the educational video! Could you have landed in the green field, going straight ahead and pulling airbrakes at 1:58 ? Or was that too uneven / high crops?

[@SteFly]

Thank you! Yes, this green field on the right hand side of the trees would have been possible to land somehow. The biggest problem was the angle of the surface, which was not perfect in this direction

[@svwtsvfcb]

Also, wouldn't a grass field be a better option? When I saw you flying a few meters over the grass (after the last line of trees), I thought to myself I would rather land there than on the last part...

[@Paul-vh6ul]

You normally make better decisions. Were you tired? Dehydrated? Sleep deprived? Competition mindset? This is a cautionary tale for experienced pilots. Low time pilots follow the rules.

[@darkcrow4671]

Stefan Dude u doing great job cong

[@joseaguilar750]

Nice video. In your opinion what it the best way to recover from stall spining?

[@WolfyGamerPro]

Why didn't you consider to land on the road itself at 2:00 ? Wouldn't it be more practical?

[@henriksoderstrom6815]

You went chasing a thermal to your right there when it was clearly on your left :o) Good advice though about having your priorities straight when it gets marginal.

[@troppoandante]

I have about fifty outlandings but your's scared me more than any of mine ;)

[@Rickenbacker69]

Yeah, that's not how you do it. :) Thanks for putting this video up: you have to admit your mistakes before you can learn from them.

[@d3xterown]

Tell me something about your gliding club and the winter work

[@seamuscashin2606]

if you live till tomorrow you can fix the mistakes you make today well done stefan

[@trantronghieu4416]

Wow, cool video!

[@Aloisius3Aloisius3]

Montag, Dienstag, Mittwoch, Donnerstag....... ;)

[@mcartho7807]

love your vids

[@MJ-fu8rh]

Altes Motto: fliegen bis das Rad rollt😂

[@julianday]

Me thinks the glider arrived and landed itself.

[@Josh-vr3ov]

Sehr lehrreich Stefan. Deine Selbstkritik ist vorbildlich. Leider ist es "menschlich normal" dass man wider besseren Wissens aufgrund vielerlei dynamischer, ggf. psychologischer Umstände Fehler macht. Eben auch vernünftige, erfahrene und handwerklich hervorragende Flieger! Ein geeignetes Lehrvideo nicht nur für Flugschüler. Vielleicht hast du auch ein Standard Aussenlandebeispiel mit Platzrunde, Checkliste, Endanflugkurve min. 100m AGL. Vielen Dank!

[@SteFly]

Dankeschön! Ich werde schauen, ob ich noch eine vorbildliche Videoaufnahme einer Außenlandung finde.

[@badman5509]

If you decided to land outside, then land. Concentrate on the landing! Everything else does not matter anymore! Thermals? Doesn't matter! Land!

[@Dzordzikk]

Bad decisions very low to the ground, but in the end a very good and safe landing. Good pilot can make mistake too. For me is much more usable not this bad decision for landing, but how bad you are trying to recovery from spin. Very small movement forward on stick and very long time before recovery. On lower height you will be dead. Thank you for sharing.

[@SteFly]

This spin is an example video of a KZbin video, not from me.

[@Dzordzikk]

@@SteFly Ah, so sorry for that Stefan. Thx.

[@SteFly]

@@Dzordzikk No problem :)

[@sebs8807]

Good to see that you share your bad experience here. That helps everybody to increase the awareness. In my opinion it would enhance safety by a huge amount if there would be a rule that once a cross country flight has started if at any time the altitude above ground level decreases below a prior defined threshold for example 250m the flight is considered as an outlanding- so the pilot can concentrate 100% on his landing. I have seen too many cases where risk is rewarded- especially in competitions.

[@eglide73]

What type glider?

[@NWA320DRVR]

I think he was flying a Libelle at that time.

[@SteFly]

Std. Libelle

[@densysoev2181]

Hey, guy, seems to me you not trained enough. PLease train getting out of spin every fly. Your leg have to automaticly push down to the right pedal in first atributes of the spin. When I have flight I have train spinning out every 10...30 minutes. ) Good luck in your flights

[@Progamer-fz7ws]

How much is that glider?

[@SteFly]

Between 15.000 € and 20.000 € + trailer

[@Progamer-fz7ws]

@@SteFly And what's this model name?

[@frxnziska_maria]

@@Progamer-fz7ws It’s a Libelle (Glasflügel)

[@Progamer-fz7ws]

@@frxnziska_maria Thanks

[@Fukenbumen]

One my worst was landing 500 m short of the runway at a competition and I wasn't the only one. That was a true mass f*ck up. Just like with your flight there are plenty of bad decisions preceding such a situation and the interesting thing was how on that day the bad decision making affected a couple of pilots. BTW, in your case the first bad decision was competing without a Ruckholer, but I'm sure you realized that already.

[@mcartho7807]

love your vids

[@mcartho7807]

love your vids