Lee captured my less-than-graceful landing at Mount Washington so we can all enjoy it now. Pilots often talk about "intermediate syndrome", where an advancing pilot messes up by getting in too deep too fast. This landing was a classic case of "advanced syndrome", where an advanced pilot messes up by being sloppy or forgetful. I'm not going to point the things I recognized I could have done better. I want to hear your opinions instead, so please leave comments.
The wind in the restricted LZ was switching around and we are realistically restricted to either a north-to-south or south-to-north final approach. These pictures Lee took show Jeremy making the south-to-north approach. I came in the other way, but had flags showing me the wind in that direction for several minutes.
Thanks Lee for capturing the landing on video. I had some of my best landings ever on the flights that followed this "wake up" call. I did feel bad putting the first scratch on a nose cone that remained unblemished after years of heavy use. Sigh.
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4 comments:
SkyOut returns, yeah! As to the landing, beats me. Up until the last second, it looked to me like it was going to be sweet. Wha'appen?
Looks like the right wing stalls and the wingtip slaps the ground first. The sound is noticeable. After that, a graceful landing is difficult.
I’d say you slowed down too much before initiating your flare, which was also less than aggressive.
Your technique was probably fine for a consistent 5 mph headwind. Not so much for switchy conditions.
Hopefully this critique-er will manage to avoid a role reversal this season.
OK, I'll put in my observations.
The video starts with you in a mild left hand turn. I am going to assume that was your turn on to final.
You roll level and then bump to initiate a mild right hand turn as you approach the ground. As you roundout you bump to straighten out the turn. It is hard to tell from the camera angle but I don't think you ever completely get your wings level.
As the glider slows in ground effect your right wing starts dropping and you make no effort to correct. The right wing bounces on the ground just as the wing stalls and your feet are still at least a foot in the air. Your elbows are still bent some and your body is hanging down instead of back in line with your arms.
As your feet come down you relax your arms and the glider falls over your head and into the ground.
As you were on final it appeared your track would take you to Lee's right but you initiated a right turn so that you tracked to Lee's left. I think this right turn was the start of the trouble. Either you should have not initiated the right turn and landed to Lee's right or you should have set up your final earlier to be on the track you wanted.
When your right wing started to drop you needed to bump to the left to try to correct and keep the wings level. If you couldn't keep the wings level then not flare as much and run out the landing.
When your feet did touch down you didn't keep your arms up and you allowed the glider to fall. I am not sure but if you had kept your arms up and taken a few steps you might have avoided the whack.
Two complete guesses. The first is you wanted to land near the other gliders so you made the right turn. Second, it is hard to tell but there was another glider near you to your right and you may not have wanted to run out your landing as it might have caused you to run into the parked glider.
How did I do?
Jeff C
Thanks for the comments.
My initial thoughts aligned with Rodger, I flared too late and my flare technique was too much "out" and not enough "up".
Jim R thought I should have flared when I shifted my hand position.
As Jeff points out, there were several other minor things that added up to a whack as well. I wanted to land near the road so I had to use a short "S" type final. When I flew through some turbulence from the tail-end of a thermal I really didn't have enough time to get the glider really level. There wasn't time to correct so at least I didn't try which is a good thing. (You might be able to correct something like that on your glider Jeff, but a topless glider takes too long. If I had wasted time trying to level the glider, I would have further messed up the landing sequence.)
Bottom line is the entire approach and flare was sloppy. My landings since this one have been some of the best I've ever had. I just have to keep reminding myself to "be perfect every time".
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