Sailplane Student Crash Landing: Instructor Reacts!

How could a glider landing go so badly? Well, I don't think it was the pilot's fault.
Original Full Length Video:
• Glider crash land
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Table of Contents:
00:00 Video
00:40 It's not the student that's the problem
01:22 When to send a student solo
02:12 A lot to keep in mind
03:10 Pat your head and rub your tummy
04:03 Bounce Landings
04:50 Conclusions

[@danielpaulson8838]

Practicing touch and goes without an engine can take a long time for skill development. The student is brilliant.

[@PureGlide]

Well they certainly got a few landings in this flight!

[@GizziMoD]

@@PureGlide lol!

[@99kevin99]

@@GizziMoD Agree with always looking on the "positive side of life"...LOL!

[@davidallan9624]

A useful reminder to instructors of the importance of sending someone solo when they can fly safely and consistently. Someone I sent off solo ended up doing a PIO on landing (not as bad as the example in the video) and had a few bounces. My fault, as I thought that I had managed to get him out of the habit of doing shallow approaches with too little airbrake. This makes the glider more pitch sensitive and prone to be "twitchy" after round out. No harm done and the guy is now a very accomplished pilot.

[@PureGlide]

Yeah you never know how they'll handle things like that until it happens! I think it's essential to make sure they can handle something like a bounce, or pilot induced oscillation for that reason

[@vilmarmoccelin]

First I'm not a pilot of any kind... 0 seconds under control of anything that fly, but want to try soon. That said, imagine a student that is at a stage that he does everything right, have multiple flights with everything perfect from engine start to engine stop without instructor corrections aside normal instruction stuff. He even encounter some harder situations and handle it well without the instructor having to take the controls... But now you take their safety net, they are alone, and still something's new can be thrown on them like a real engine failure or something equivalent on dimension on gliders. How a student is prepared to confront this kind of situation? I know that airplanes the instructor can turn off the engine by surprise, lets say in a stall training, an already trick situation made worse buy surprise, but in a glider how instructors induce this kind of situations to test the ability of the student when a little error could evolve to a harder to solve problem in an already stressful situation?!? You induce bounces and pilot induced oscillating or is impossible to a student to get to solo level without inducing this kind of thing with a instructor still present?

[@davidallan9624]

@@vilmarmoccelin There are training situations on a winch launch that are akin to an engine failure where the instructor pulls the release to simulate a cable break at various stages (heights) in the launch. This doesn't deal with issues on the landing, such as insufficient flare, or problems on the approach, such as too little airbrake, but it does test the student pilot's ability to deal with "emergency" situations. Dealing with a bounce, or ballooning, at round-out (flare) is trickier to demonstrate. There is a simulated launch failure mode where the winch power is chopped just as the glider leaves the ground. This requires the instructor to demonstrate holding the glider in a float, on the ground affect, with the airbrakes closed until the glider starts losing energy and the main and tail wheel settles on the grass. The airbrakes can then be extended to spoil lift and bring the glider to a halt. The exercise is a demonstration only as the student may be tempted to pull the airbrakes open too early, and way too much, with the glider stalling onto the ground. The demonstration shows how far the glider will float on ground affect with no airbrake and how sensitive the elevator appears to be in this configuration. Another useful exercise is for the instructor to gently close the airbrakes just after round-out from a normal approach. The P2 can then get a feel of how sensitive the gilder appears on the ground affect and the tendency to induce a PIO if overly course elevator control is used. The instructor needs to guard the controls very carefully for this but it can be a useful lesson. Quite often the student will balloon some of the early landing attempts, even from an approach with sufficient airbrake, and these can be used as a learning experience for what to do on any subsequent landing attempt when this might happen. With airbrakes squeazed away and the nose gently lowered we are back to the long-float scenario. A bounce can be dealt with in a similar fashion - depending on how severe it is.

[@jamesmaddison4546]

@@vilmarmoccelin A competent instructor would of took you through every situation multiple times with them on the controls, and then multiple times with you on the controls. They will also cause "failures" when none are planned during a training flight as a surprise and leave you on your own to handle it. Mine used to say nope you can't ask me im unconscious from hypoxia its all you buddy lol but this was after I was fully prepared to handle it of course. He would say something like look out to your left and find whatever landmark, and while I was looking for it he would start screwing around with the gauges, messing with settings like trim tabs, turning certain things off like fuel flow which after however long the engine would completely quit of course and leave me to troubleshoot. Sometimes he would set things up that would cause a whole sequence of failures back to back to back and if he noticed I became too focused on one thing he would mess with something I already fixed and see if I caught it after sorting out the other problems. He wanted me and all his other students TO BE ABLE TO DO ALL THIS WHILE MAINTAINING LEVEL FLIGHT, if maintaining same altitude wasn't possible then he wanted us to be able to minimize the loss of altitude just as much as he could. If we lost too much he would fail us for that flight and we would have to do it again. For every failed flight we had to do 3 successful flights in that scenario we originally failed in order to pass it. He was an old school pilot. He flew fighters during ww2 and Korea, it was a straight up honor and privilege to learn to fly from him. The aircraft had all the fancy glass cockpit gizmos but he would turn them all off and say too many pilots are too reliable on all this stuff and have no idea how to properly & safely fly using the standard "6 pack" which is the old way. All his students learned to fly the old way first and once we had 15-20 hours under our belt AFTER being solo certified did he let us start using all the tech in the aircraft.

[@bartjoboy]

@@vilmarmoccelin It's kinda like learning to drive a car. At some point you also need to do that without an instructor next to you. But new situations can happen anytime also on the road. The idea is that at some point you have the experience and instinct to correctly deal with new situations as well. And when you have enough experience to make these kinds of judgement calls successfully on your own is up to the instructor. Will it be perfect? Probably not, but that won't matter as long as you're able to deal with it in a safe way.

[@RoamingAdhocrat]

"And the sponsor of this video is… me" ;)

[@PureGlide]

Why not eh :)

[@gaminghawks1174]

Oh😭🥺🥺🥺

[@davy1458]

I need you to sponser my racing corvette.....the only thing im missing is the corvette

[@nicohellmuth5275]

@@davy1458 and the racing parts I think

[@davy1458]

@@nicohellmuth5275 baby steps

[@hamstermomoco]

This landing video is so classic that every glider pilot has probably seen it. Apparently, he never used the brakes before touching the ground.

[@PureGlide]

Yeah it's been around a long time! Cheers

[@jamesk48676776]

@@PureGlide I think he had confused the airbrake for the elevator if you look at the timing of the A/B deployment and the bounce.

[@Turbo999be]

@@jamesk48676776 Yep ! I think first he forgot the airbrakes, he was at least 50% too fast and used the air brakes after the first bounce when he realised he forgot them and then overwhelmed by stress he accumulated mistakes over mistakes, maybe to the point of pulling the stick thinking he was pulling the airbrakes... you never know.

[@Make_Boxing_Great_Again]

You can land with no breaks, you just can’t land at like 3x your stall speed 😅

[@Smachfest]

He should have used the 'Go Around' option.

[@e.a.p3174]

To state the obvious the pilot was not ready to solo.

[@bigc208]

High Energy Landing Problem. HELP. As old as aviation itself. Forcing an aircraft on the ground that still wants to fly is bad form.

[@jiyushugi1085]

I always told students that the key to a good landing is to try and prevent the plane from landing. That is, once configured, hold it off until enough lift bleeds off so that the glider/plane lands itself.

[@coptertim]

Outstanding!! Now I can show someone what it is like to hover a helicopter for the first time. That too is a humbling experience. And with an engine to help!

[@ThePaulv12]

Well this was me with a gliding instructor LOL. The other members decided to start calling 'me one approach 5 landings' and refused to address me by my name. Needless to say I got jack of them and never ever went back and naturally didn't go solo. With hindsight, they probably wanted me gone. I went and got commercial pilot's licence after that. Look I'm a failed glider pilot but I do know how to land a plane. So when I was getting my powered licence I was so traumatized by my gliding experience, I told my instructor about it and he taught me this: In the aircraft he pointed out, If you notice in the correct flare the ground 'interacts' with your peripheral vision. (for me it's like a piece of cardboard - representing the ground, rising up my body and stops at the corner edges of the eyes). Once noticed and refined is a very reliable gauge for judging flare height. If the peripheral vision thing goes above the corner edges of your eyes then you're on the ground. You get so good at it that even steep approaches present no problems because it uses the eyes to teach feeling, which refines judgement. This is how it works in practice. Firstly I've had it drilled into me, aim before the touchdown point - touchdown point is always beyond the aiming point. So I want to land beyond the piano keys. I aim for the point about 10 metres before where the grass meets the edge of the runway. I set my approach glideslope for that point and as I get to 50' above airfield elevation I begin to gently transition out of the glideslope and fly parallel to the ground while looking at the end of the runway then wait for the ground to interact with the peripheral corners of my eye to create 'the feeling.' (Inertia causes the plane to sink through the 50' pullout point and puts you in the ballpark elevation for landing) As the plane sinks I arrest the sink to keep flying parallel to keep the peripheral eye interaction going. Speed is decaying because I'm not substituting speed for elevation. Next thing you know you're on the deck smoothly. I understand gliders have more ground effect than most powered planes and could present more difficulties for solo students but the feeling technique is valid tool. Gliders would change the initial aiming point and the deployment of the dive brakes factored in. It's a cliche but a good landing is always preceded by a good approach which in a glider would be preceded by a good circuit entry.

[@PureGlide]

Hey don't think you are for a moment a failed glider pilot. They are a failed club and failed instructors! Unbelievable they could treat people like that. Great to hear you got into aviation anyway. And yes what you said sounds very good around the peripheral vision. That's what we teach too. If you're ever in New Zealand stop by our Piako Gliding Club and we'll show you how you should have been treated :)

[@henrih3080]

In my opinion you would have experienced no problems if you would have deployed your airbrakes fully before the round out! It looked a lot like pilot induced ocillation!

[@fritz4345]

I am sorry that your club failed you.

[@ThePaulv12]

@@fritz4345 Cheers man but they're still going strong so they must be doing something right. I guess they're got their business model so refined they can pick and choose members. It's not how I'd do it but they're a club of pseudo alpha males and privileged Boomers so being Gen-X, I probably had no hope.

[@niederwildjaeger]

Nice explanation and easily comprehensible for at least any GA pilot or sim pilot. As others (and you as well) said, speed during the final phase was too high and led to this "non optimal" landing. I disagree with your aiming point though, in my experience an aiming point 50m (around 150ft) in front of the selected point of making contact with the ground is more accurate.

[@leozerba]

Every time I watch this, I am thinking "no no no no NO NOOO". I agree, not all the blame should go to the student, he was just not ready for solo. I still remember when my instructor pulled my first unscheduled cable brake. I knew all the theory, but I had a complete brain freeze! Pitch down? Wait for manuvering speed? Brakes for landing ahead? The GoPro footage just shows 3 second of insisting in pitch up followed by "I have control". After a few of those it became second nature.

[@PureGlide]

Yeah we don’t do actual unexpected brakes now, it’s always prebreifed. But still a surprise when it actually will happen on the tow :)

[@ascherlafayette8572]

Lol I remember my first rope break. Instructor asked what the first thing I should do in a rope break is, I answered and he pulled the thing. Definitely took a second to sink in

[@ascherlafayette8572]

I also remember how light my ask was without someone else in the back. On my landing, I had to consciously fight the urge to put the thing on the ground until it started to settle.

[@PureGlide]

Yeah it is lighter, definitely different for pilots. You get used to it pretty quick :)

[@vortex_un]

multitasking dance made my day. haha.

[@PureGlide]

That’s a good name for it!

[@airlogic]

On the first bounce I would have done a go around!!!

[@PureGlide]

lol yeah he almost had enough energy for it too

[@TheSoaringChannel]

Go around flaps! 😂

[@floatingchimney]

A go around in a glider? Not gonna work unless his airspeed was 280kmh / 160knots (and it wasn't).

[@tomdchi12]

Yep. That big of a mess? Throttle up and .... oh, wait...

[@jonathanrabbitt]

He couldn't find his TOGA switch in time.

[@davidholmgren659]

After the 1st bounce you have to completely realign you're thinking, stabilize the aircraft and start all over. A very dangerous situation. Great video and analysis 👍.

[@PureGlide]

Thank you!

[@rcbif101]

Yep. After that first bounce, many get that "gotta get it on the ground!" panic and are intimidated by the thought of running out of runway. I had a small embarrassing bounce earlier this year, but relaxed, reestablished, and made a smooth second touchdown with immediate full braking. Still stopped with plenty of runwag to spare. The Grob 103 wheel brakes do get em stopped pretty fast. Just not used to really needing them all that often, so end up forgetting how short you can really land one of these.

[@jme104]

@@rcbif101 If you bounce , don't push the stick forward, just let the glider land by itself .

[@nickcaro4755]

Great landing he's alive and the plane is usable again At least he did not give up. Fly it as far into the crash as you are able

[@PureGlide]

Yeah very true, although he was overwhelmed he still kept flying it until the end. That is good :)

[@maximusboscus]

In my exam I remember perfectly one of the sentences of the examiner that day during the briefing: "My job today is to make sure this guy has done his job properly" while pointing at our instructor.

[@jugganaut33]

Love the way he forgets air brakes exist until 5 seconds before he hits something.

[@JustinRinehart]

In my humble opinion, the best determination of when a student is ready for a solo flight is when they are able to hold a decent conversation about something other than the flying while on final. If they stop talking, or start over controlling and inducing PIO, they need more time in converting the landing process from a high stress active mental state to a rote or muscle memory level. Let your subconscious do all the hard work. Great video!

[@PureGlide]

Thanks! Yeah that makes a lot of sense

[@andrewkelk8414]

You actually make a very good point. I'm not a flyer, but learner attitude is paramount. If they display confidence like that, they probably are.

[@HobbyView]

During my check ride for my license, the examiner tried to distract me with conversation to see if I would lose concentration on my flying.

[@DavidNewmon]

This is a classic Pilot Induced Oscillation. They call it porpoising too. It's important never to push the yoke forward and "chase" the up & down of the airplane. You want to bleed off airspeed so the yoke should stay pulled back slightly or basically level, but never pushed forward. I've had a few flat landings with a little too much airspeed myself and it did a little bounce a few feet up, and then you just settle the plane back onto the runway. I fly powered airplanes but the same applies here I'm sure.

[@TheHelac]

Appreciate the details… the timing of audio+video “bounce” was nice :)

[@PureGlide]

Thanks! Unfortunately I didn't have footage of a real proper bounce, or bounce recovery...

[@eugeniobb]

This took me 30 years back in time... thanks!

[@PureGlide]

Cheers!

[@sidstevens9035]

Always wanted to fly in a glider until I did it. The noisiest, most uncomfortable experience of my life. Nothing like I expected

[@PureGlide]

Interesting! Getting comfy is important, we spend quite a bit of time making sure the cushions are good. Also some gliders are much quieter than others. Sounds like you had a bit of a dud!

[@wackaircaftmechanic2312]

I always see these and feel bad. Sorry I haven't been around as much. Really like these videos. Hope you're doing well.

[@PureGlide]

Thanks RetroSoaring!

[@mydogbrian4814]

- 💓 Loved the part of letting go & getting your *"subconscious"* into the act. - Like me back in highschool typing class where in mid season my teachers hands from behind me finally forced my head to stare at only the typing book & not back & forth to the typewriter keys. - And suddenly, *Miraculously* , all my fingers just took over!

[@PureGlide]

Yeah exactly the same! Cheers

[@FlywithMagnar]

My flying career started with hang-gliders, followed by airplanes and gliders. A hang-glider is hard to start and land the first times. An airplane is hard to land (it takes 10 minutes to learn to fly, and 10 hours to learn to land). And when I started to fly gliders, the challenge was to fly in formation with the airplane towing me. With experience from hang-gliders and airplanes, I found gliders very easy to land, tanks to the airbrake. For a beginner, the challenge will always to land in one piece, regardless of what you are flying. As you said, a lot is happening during landing, and you just need time to get things sorted out. Great video!

[@henrih3080]

For me it was really easy to learn the tow-plane launch in the glider!

[@keegan773]

It looks like as he was opening and closing the air brakes with one hand his other hand was making sympathetic movements on the stick.

[@PureGlide]

Yeah just overloaded

[@sfmc98]

I've never seen this channel before but I can already tell that he's an excellent instructor, just by his calming voice. I can imagine doing something new and dangerous like learning to fly a glider with him in my ear giving me tips and pointers with an "you're-doing-just-fine" tone. Also, clearly a natural teacher as evidenced by his attitude about teaching itself, and the examples used to make his point. That seems to be everything a student could ask for!

[@PureGlide]

Thanks for the very kind words!

[@d.b.1176]

Shows how resilient gliders are.

[@PureGlide]

Yeah they are pretty strong in some ways!

[@imbok]

I fly RC model sailplanes and powered RC and the most common mistake I see on landing is coming in too high with too much energy. It took me ages go get that right so, just like with full size aviation, time in the air and guided practice is the way to get there. I love your vids!

[@PureGlide]

Yeah it certainly takes practice to get the energy right! Even worse is not having enough :)

[@DumbledoreMcCracken]

@@PureGlide as you know, it is almost impossible to start too high if you are willing to use spoilers AND forward slip. The only danger there is having some dufus on a shallow approach fly under you.

[@martinusher1]

At least with a R/C model you can catch the thing and so pretend that was what you were intending to do all the time. (Non-R/C fliers -- the goal in thermal competition flying is to land on a point at a set time so you're normally standing just behind where you expect to land the plane.....which is also an incentive to not overshoot.....)

[@cal-native]

Being a proficient R/C pilot was some of the best preparatory training I could ever have experienced!

[@PaddyPatrone]

I would love to see his last three landings before that to get an idea of the decision making from the instructors perspective.

[@CaptainFalc0nPunch]

I think that was a spot on visual aid of when someone mentally gets overloaded and panic.

[@PureGlide]

Thanks! And I bet I didn't look like an idiot at all

[@TracyA123]

There is nothing more awesome on KZbin than a creator who can laugh at themselves! The "good content" caption had me in tears laughing!😂 Subscribed!

[@PureGlide]

Thanks Tracy, glad you enjoyed it :)

[@TracyA123]

@@PureGlide ☺Yw

[@shoomapadoo1141]

This was a very informative video and I can't wait to master that exercise so I can show off at work!

[@PureGlide]

It’s a great one for at work!

[@Trevor_Austin]

It takes a while to teach a student to do nothing quickly.

[@PureGlide]

Exactly! I often say to students "the best thing to do is nothing" like on aerotow and they're over-correcting.

[@Trigenetic]

Simulator time can be gold really. I had all controls and landed with the instructor doing the brakes for my first intro flight. On my third intro flight i did the tow takeoff flight and landing with the instructor handling the brakes but im fairly confident i could have handle that too. Had a minor bounce from a early flare on second flight but just waited for it to come back down. I always let things settle if i get into PIO or that kind of things in simulators and the like. I teach this for Virtual f16 pilots trying to do air to air refueling too where PIO is a big thing. Get it settled (do nothing) calmly and try again.

[@chrismusix5669]

He didn't cut the engine soon enough! I can hear him rev it up as he touches down ≽ܫ≼

[@PureGlide]

lol

[@sicZ32]

Just subbed. Ty for the content brotha. From California!

[@PureGlide]

Thanks mate!

[@bruperina]

Thanks for the content, mate.

[@PureGlide]

Thanks for watching! Cheers

[@dwightlyon3643]

Another issue I saw in this video is that the student was looking over off the side of the runway instead of looking where he was suppose to . Very normal to head where you look. Pick the point down the runway and stay fixed on it!

[@PureGlide]

Yeah absolutely!

[@Olszymanski]

Ryanair: what do you mean he landed

[@PureGlide]

lol

[@djscotty06]

It cracks me up when I hear an accent of a fellow kiwi. I’m so used to US and UK accents on YT. The clip in the alps is awesome 👍

[@PureGlide]

Thanks mate!

[@Balancedviewable]

ive flown with many instructors, and my current CFI has 30,000 hours instruct time. Ive been told that when the student can conduct a relaxed conversation during landing, that is the sign they are ready to solo, having sufficient extra capacity to cope during landing. Regardless, sometimes people stress and panic, and not being psychic the instructor cannot predict this, so I feel as you weren't there, you are merely speculating, and that helps nobody trying to assign blame.

[@PureGlide]

That is a good thought, as mentioned it's a bit of an art to determining if a student is ready or not. And yes it is speculation, just from the video. Cheers

[@christopherrobinson7541]

Yes, I use that trick. If the student can fly, speak, think and talk at the same time, they should have enough capacity to cope with any eventuality on their own, time to send them solo.

[@hedonzx822]

Agreed, I also make them close their eyes before I put them in a rather uncomfortable position at a high enough altitude and then tell them to open their eyes while stating; your controls. When they can stabilize the glider in a well coordinated and calm manner? Then I will solo them.

[@thomasaltruda]

4:14 the bounce isn’t from the springiness in the undercarriage.. it’s from the excess airspeed and the pitch change in AOA

[@PureGlide]

Yes agreed, not really relevant

[@gedgar2000]

You have to retract the brakes, drop the nose into a proper pitch attitude, and pretty much forget about the bounce. Fly it again, get lined back up, and land it like you should have had the first time. I’ve flown with stellar students that never got themselves in a situation like this. When they did, as they ALWAYS will eventually, you hope they can handle it correctly, especially on one of their first solos. Usually they do, a lot of times it’s TROUBLE, and just bring able to watch from the ground, is guy wrenching!

[@bigdaddy9247]

Any crash you can walk away from is a good one.

[@PureGlide]

I know lots of people say that, but I'd say not damaging the glider is also quite important, so you can do more flying!

[@TheAverageDutchman]

I think, after viewing this again a year later, and after now having flown a Twin a few times that the airplane type in question also heavily contributed to this accident. The TwAstir is heavy (so carries a lot of energy if not properly rounded off and flown until it stops flying) and at the same time very floaty in ground effect. This combination makes if very easy to get caught out and bounce back into the air. You'd be hard pressed to get this much bounce out of an ASK-21 or Puchacz for instance (I've never seen the 21 bounce this way and is fairly easy to recover in my experience, the Puchacz would probably bounce up once and then stop flying halfway up as it runs out of airspeed if not immediately brought back under control.).

[@ChristianSchwarz71]

just noticed, you have made it into chucks glider podcast :-) And thanks for this video.

[@PureGlide]

Yeah hope you like it! Cheers

[@raymoreton3184]

I used to be in the air cadets when I was a teenager and I was lucky enough to get myself on a basic glider course when I was 16 and I am pretty sure we had to do at least 10-15 maybe more full circuits without doing anything bad before being allowed to solo.

[@BJCulpepper]

One other thing that's good to mention is that folks usually get too focused on landing to the point that landing becomes more important than a controlled landing. Once they touch the ground they get into this spastic mode of I now have to get the plane down. For ultralights I've seen a lot of people get into the I have to be on the ground mode.

[@shaunwheeler3484]

"Touch and goes" rock. But....let he among that has never had a PIO cast the first stone.

[@PureGlide]

haha yeah I've done one too! Opening the brakes at high speed in the Discus. The manual explicitly states to watch for PIO in that situation

[@docholiday7758]

I’ll never forget my first couple of transition training hours in a twitchy high performance taildragger. Curing myself of PIO during landings was a humbling experience. That’s why they call it “training”.

[@VinceSamios]

I'd just like to say I managed the exercise you proposed, whilst laughing my ass off 🤣 that was absolute gold, hahahhah

[@PureGlide]

Haha good stuff!

[@donalfinn4205]

Concise and to the point. A pity more KZbin vids are not like this.👍☘️

[@PureGlide]

Thanks! I try :)

[@prosfolifegaming7392]

He tried to do a butter landing by trying to make the back wheels touch down first

[@Anshuman566]

My first solo, used very less air brake, touched down and bounced , closed the brake completely, touched again and bounced again .. 3 landings in one flight😂. Instructor came to retrieve me and pointed out the mistake… all good since then. 🤞🏽

[@gliding_soaring]

In the UK aiming point is called the reference point. Great video, Thank you

[@PureGlide]

Thanks for the info

[@jamesmaddison4546]

This is what happens when a student attends of those schools that promise "you'll solo in x hours, guaranteed!!!" Leading to some students simply not be ready to solo at all but go up anyway

[@PureGlide]

Yeah agreed!

[@themagicrat8803]

My first solo flight was on a motorbike and I definitely wasn't ready.

[@PureGlide]

Blimey!

[@cas1652]

This is me landing in every flight simulator

[@robertkbrooks951]

Also Fly radio Control Aircraft and we call my Club President. 14 bounce. LOL.

[@althalus401]

The glider involved in this incident is a Grob 103 Acro. The Acro is a very stable and simple glider to fly, people will say it is under ruddered but that is only a factor in steeply banked turns. It is a very efficient glider in ground effect and landing without airbrakes was one of the most difficult things to teach. (I never taught it to students, only instructors) The Acro has an unsprung fixed mainwheel. The basic cause of the accident was insufficient airbrake to start with. At 55 knots the airbrakes will naturally sit at half out increasing to full at around 65 knots. At least half airbrake is needed for the flare and touchdown. There is a lot of mass in the airbrakes and if the ground is struck firmly, inertia results in a big closing force on the airbrake lever which makes the bounce even worse. So yes it would appear that the student was not taught, or forgot to maintain half airbrake. This is quite a common Grob 103 accident, not so much by students who have been taught in the glider but by those converting to it, including instructors. If that accident had occurred in an ASK21 the nosewheel would have disappeared, the Grob is fairly solid :-)

[@PureGlide]

Hey thanks for sharing, cheers

[@johndunstan3875]

After the first bounce I yelled GO AROUND! 😝

[@PureGlide]

Exactly!

[@chadmcvlad9794]

Aso someone who is learning how to fly a grob 103A ( im like 90% sure that that is a grob) I ran into the same problem as that student, but I had an instructer who was in the back. We landed fine after he took over, and this was the ( of the glider, not the purge glide video ) that they showed me. Takeaway, it can happen to anyone, and never open your spoilers in the ground effect, or with care if you do.

[@davidbarlow431]

OK, not gliders but at my old flying school, on nice days when everyone was sat out on the apron with a cup of tea, it was common to hear everyone break into a chorus of "skippy the Bush kangaroo". Take heart though, most of the famous bounce brigade from my day are now flying 737's or Airbuses.

[@cal-native]

I completely agree that this guy's instruction seems a bit lacking, simply by gauging some of his set up and reactions. He seemed to be diving at the runway and was carrying a lot of speed, instead of using his spoilers to do that for him. He made first contact at such high speed that he bounced and quickly got into a PIO situation, and then finally he wasn't aggressive enough on the rudder. Glad to hear pilot and plane came through ok, and hopefully he was able to understand what happened and correct any issues👍

[@CaptainCurt07]

Nice summation

[@PureGlide]

Thanks!

[@marianmankowski2371]

Dziękujemy.

[@PureGlide]

Thank you very much!

[@jiyushugi1085]

As a CFIG I never taught students in high performance gliders like the one shown here. I think it best to start with slower, more docile ships like the Schweizer 2-33 or similar. The high performance ships are simply too sensitive to control inputs for most students and they fly too fast. And if a student wrecks one, as they inevitably will, the repairs are far more expensive. As they said in old Japan: if you aspire to ride a horse, first learn to ride a water buffalo. And yes, the student shown here was not ready to solo.

[@DMC888]

In our area most students solo in an ASK13, then they move on to the K8. I spent months on these before moving on to glass gliders.

[@JohnDoe69986]

Just out of curiosity why wouldn’t you start them in something with an engine. I learned in my grandfathers ultralight. My logic being if they are landing and get in a situation they want to get out of they add throttle and circle back around for another try.

[@jiyushugi1085]

@@JohnDoe69986 Well, an engine is just one more thing a beginning pilot needs to worry about when they should be devoting all their concentration to properly operating the flight controls. That is, it's a distraction. Learning to operate an airplane can be overwhelming enough without the added burden of having to operate and monitor an engine. To say nothing of the noise and vibration. The engine is also a crutch. Note how many pilots have killed themselves, along with friends and family, because they panicked when their engine quit shortly after takeoff (or even in flight). A competent gilder pilot in that situation would be able to keep the plane flying and put it down somewhere. Too, glider pilots develop very good 'stick and rudder' skills and are very sensitive as to how the aircraft is moving through the air - sensations that are homogenized when there's an engine (and radio work) involved. In simpler terms: if you were teaching someone to ride a motorcycle, wouldn't you want to be sure they could ride a bicycle first?

[@kaihorstmann2783]

In Europe the Default Trainer is the ASK-21. Older trainers like the ASK-13 are dying out, as they age and/or break. They do not grow on trees. BTW, a Twin Astir flies like a Tank. A SGS-33 is more agile. The Twin admittedly flys faster, but when you train on it from the start that is what is normal. Besides it is very docile, it does not even spin.

[@kaihorstmann2783]

@@DMC888 Where did you train, and more importantly, when?

[@crissignori7482]

best chicken dance I've ever seen ..... well done ..... oh yes .... excellent commentary, thanks

[@PureGlide]

Thank you so much :)

[@saultube44]

Thank you 😀👍

[@PureGlide]

Thank you!

[@8bitorgy]

Since the beginning of flight instructors realized that not everyone is cut out for this.

[@PureGlide]

True! Although in this case, with a first solo, I'd suggest the instructors were at fault for letting him go solo when he's not ready...

[@klausschwabshubris]

Excellent and magnificent, nuff said.

[@PureGlide]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@HotelPapa100]

2:21 "You've got your roll, lift..." Isn't that pitch? "..and right" Oh! THAT lift...

[@PureGlide]

Yeah I have no idea what I’m doing most of the time 😂

[@treloarw]

Pretty sure the people that thumbed down were expecting to see an irate pissed off instructor reaction. It’s a spot-on insightful video.

[@PureGlide]

Thanks! There’s always a few negative Nancys :)

[@robertschulke1596]

Great video. Reminds one that the primary responsibility of the pilot is to cause the aircraft to strike the ground in a controlled manner.

[@PureGlide]

Yes well said, the more control the better!

[@brushitoff503]

Classic one Tim. Have you ever had a wind shear event on landing & hit the ground hard? I did once years ago. Still made a good landing after bouncing nearly 50 Feet back into the air. Luckily no damage was done & no-one was hurt. I immeadietly put the nose down & closed the airbrakes, maintained airspeed then landed long but normally. This was in an IS-28 B2 in Alice Springs NT. The strip is surrounded by trees which caused the wind shear. Cheers.

[@PureGlide]

Yeah trees next to a landing is a danger I’d like to talk about at some point!

[@brushitoff503]

@@PureGlide please do!

[@3DLasers]

Roger ?: Roger ?: "IT"S ALRIGHT. JUST PANIC, EVERYTHING WILL BE ALRIGHT"...

[@PureGlide]

:)

[@donrichardson5626]

WHAT, MIDAS FORGOT TO PUT ON THE BRAKES.!!!!...LANDED IN CALIFORNIA IN 747 AND LEARNER PILOT DID THAT TO 400 PASSENGERS IN MISERY... AFTER LANDING I SAID "LET ME AT THAT PILOT" , 400 PASSENGERS LAUGHED THEIR ASSES OFF... LMAO...NOW THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT......

[@PureGlide]

:)

[@donaldingraham5784]

Great advice.

[@PureGlide]

Cheers!

[@flyforfun3604]

Very good video. Thank you.

[@PureGlide]

Thanks!

[@socorrozamarripa6249]

When I was a student pilot at 16 years of age, I must have done very well, that I had recommendations to go to train for commercial pilot or train to be an instructor myself when I flew a Cessna 150 two passengers and a four-passenger airplane, had a solo for my license and my mom didn't want me to finish 😭

[@PureGlide]

Oh no! Well it’s never too late to pick up where you left off!

[@socorrozamarripa6249]

@@PureGlide I wish it was that simple is has been too long like 51 years ago when the Wright brothers were inviting the airplanes lols. Thank you for your support.

[@99kevin99]

Wow! You covered EVERYTHING in 5-minutes!! Wonderful video...would love to collaborate with YOU for sure :). No wonder you have 20K+ ...ohhh and "don't Panik!"

[@PureGlide]

Hey thanks very much!

[@LostAnFound]

Failed to deploy spoilers and didn’t maintain rudder authority

[@Farweasel]

Its never the Child's fault or the Dog's fault. In this case I blame the parents - They let the guy watch too many re-runs of 'Skippy' when he was small. Seriously 'though, whilst the catalogue of what an instructor's checking before turning a student loose on their tod is solidly interesting .......... The real 'dark art' must be determining the Student's stability under stress isn't it? As kind of alluded to in the video, there's a lot going on - But processing capacity goes way down once fright kicks in once something starts going wrong. That's when even 'ingrained' actions collapse (like we saw here) And some folk are 'spooked' a lot more easily than others. But as you can't exactly 'stress test' students............

[@JavierChiappa]

he was bouncing around in the runway and didn't extended the windbreakers on the wings, lol

[@PureGlide]

He just didn't know what to do with them! They did come out a few times...

[@reece8539]

Oh hows it going troop asif the camera just appeared out of no where

[@millandianne]

Great video thank you

[@PureGlide]

Glad you enjoyed it, cheers!

[@colinjacobs176]

Very good analysis and it's good how you de-emphasized the fault of the student. Obviously they messed up, but they shouldn't have put in this (rather terrifying) situation.

[@PureGlide]

Yeah exactly right!

[@captarmour]

think "step on the runway" like how we step(stamp/mash) on the ball to trigger the brain to use the feet instead of hands to steer. runway on my left, step on it.

[@PureGlide]

Good idea!

[@captarmour]

@@PureGlide thanks. thought of it years ago when I noticed even very experienced pilots land often with wrong wing down in a crosswind. I've seen even test pilots do it in videos. I realized its muscle memory to turn towards the runway with our hands kicking in, which means we need some sort of "trigger" to get our minds in gear. Interestingly I find my hand seems to automatically keep the wing down into wind when I'm "stepping on the runway". Works like a charm!

[@CoryTyler__]

Good video! 📹

[@PureGlide]

Thanks!

[@MrSheckstr]

This popped up randomly on my feed for some reason but it has sparked my curiosity to the point I have two questions about training someone to fly and land a glider 1 when a student solos for the first time is a weight put into the trainers seat to simulate the same vehicle conditions as when in training? 2 have you ever flown chase with a glider student in a second craft ? In my mind I am picturing the very old footage of STS 1 disconnecting from its 747 carrier for the first time and gliding in for a landing while other NASA pilots flew chase in a variety of vehicles to help talk the shuttle pilot down Edited because I have a third question Do glider pilots use landing chutes with any regularity? I am dimly remembering a conversation I had with someone who explained that landing chute not only help an aircraft slow down upon landing but also maintain a straight line course in the same way a sea anchor helps a ship maintain stability and course , this is a very dim memory and I can’t remember what we were watching that had a jet using landing chutes

[@PureGlide]

Hi, here are some quick answers: 1) Nah your first solo in a twin is usually just lighter without the second pilot, so it can feel different to land. But it's not TOO different, but may have contributed to this pilots issues. 2) No, we do lead and follow with more advanced students for cross country flying, but not early solo pilots. 3) Some specific gliders do have landing chutes. Most modern gliders have effect air brakes, so we don't need chutes, but a few older gliders have them as a backup if you need to stop more quickly. Cheers!

[@MrSheckstr]

@@PureGlide thanks …. A LONG time ago I rode with an uncle several times in his ultra light (he was an agricultural consultant and used an ultralight to commute from farm to farm instead of a car sometimes so he could get an aerial view of their fields) and I have a VERY dim memory of once him taking me up in a glider but I’m not sure how much my own imagination has altered that memory over the years

[@stijnvandamme76]

good content indeed!

[@PureGlide]

Thank you!

[@homeistheearth]

I usually try to get lined up, then i use brake to get closer to the point i want to aim at, then when im sure i can reach this point i pull near full brakes, then park my hand, dont think about it and only focus on steering the glider and flatting out and stalling the airplane around 1-2 meters over the runway. You wont bounce back up when you are stalled out. Also push back in brakes also make you flying again and sudden changes in pulling out the brakes can also make you stall too high up if you dont focus on your speed like mentioned in the video, try to cut down things you need to focus on.

[@PureGlide]

Yeah agreed!

[@Justwantahover]

Seems like he was approaching way too fast.

[@Tom-pc7lb]

Either Shelly or Robin. Lol

[@louislamboley9167]

Nice glider. Certainly wasn't ready to solo.

[@PureGlide]

You got that right!

[@francisschweitzer8431]

All in all…. The student did a good job of keeping the wings level….

[@PureGlide]

True!

[@FlyingHighInAC]

That's not a crash. That's a typical landing with my RC plane.🤣

[@PureGlide]

Lol

[@Ripstop_pilot]

1st thing that was wrong was the approach speed. That should ring bells straight away.

[@Barrawitzkaa]

It´s understood, that every pilot has to gain experience and mistakes can happen anytime. But I think on final airbrakes have to be fully set if you do a standard approch in a glider. So you will have the possibility to flatten your glidepath anytime if necessary and avoid coming in to short. And you won´t "bounce" like in this video if touching down in this configuration. I started gliding in 1983 in Germany.

[@PureGlide]

Yes agreed, they certainly shouldn’t be going in and out like that on landing! Ideally a steady position all the way down

[@stewartbeckman7909]

It's perfectly obvious he had way to much energy coming in. If he had bled more energy off by coming in just above stall speed he wouldn't have had enough energy to bounce around like that.

[@Miksa]

Your list of 6 bullet points is missing the one I think is the biggest issue, "the amount of flare". That is what was the failure on my first solo landing, I pulled the stick too much. Fortunately I managed to limit it to one "liftoff" and bring the glider down without too hard a landing. Another guy on the same glider course did the same thing and he did it hard enough to break the nose gear on the ASK-21. The basic problem is that by the time you are doing your solo, you have executed maybe 50 landings with the instructor on the back seat and the amount you need to pull the stick for the flare has been imprinted in your spine. Now you are at your first solo landing and above all the extra nervousness, when your brain decides that now is the correct timing for flare, you also need to tell your spine that this is the first you only need to pull the stick half as much as all the other times before. This is the big difference for solo flight, otherwise the glider will behave almost the same as with two people on board. How are you supposed to train for this, when during the every other landing before you will have extra weight in the cabin? The only way I had come up with was to fly with some kind of acceleration sensor with audible cue. You would practice doing flares high in the air with the instructor and during the flare the acceleration changes and the sensor would play an alternating tone based on the acceleration. Then during your first solo you would also practice flares high up, and do it until you can consistently produce the same tone. Or as an alternative method when you are nearing your solo you start doing landings with reduced amount of air brakes. This should force you to also do the flare with less stick pull, but the problem is this also trains you for a too shallow glide angle.

[@PureGlide]

Yeah good points! Same thing can happen changing gliders too. The key is the student should be experienced enough at that point to adapt to the different way it flies. And don’t try and make the early landings perfect, be prepared to land down the runway a bit. Unfortunately there’s no easy answer as everyone is different and every instructor is different.

[@sirasbjorn860]

Gosh I miss gliding.

[@PureGlide]

Get back into it! Or watch more videos :)

[@blubb9004]

Me too. Already on mondays after flying... =))

[@hedonzx822]

Hello to you all, please never wear those baseball caps definitely those with the knob on top that can hurt you and even worse might damage the canopy. And in any airborne vehicle it becomes a look-out limiting device.

[@PureGlide]

Good tip!