This is my first blog as Dartmoor Gliding's new Safety Officer, so Hi to all.

From Mid February to Mid March 2017 we have been relatively quiet, mostly due to the weather, so this report comes straight from the BGA recommendation:

The instructors’ manual and the safe winch launch leaflet/booklet teach:

After power loss in mid-launch, adopt the recovery attitude, wait until the glider regains a safe approach speed, and land ahead if it is safe to do so.
Why not turn? The BGA has been teaching ‘do not turn’ because:

  1. after a push-over the airspeed can be less than the attitude would suggest
  2. turning before the glider has accelerated to a safe speed after a launch failure can cause the glider to spin.
After commencing a turn, although the glider may have sufficient airspeed to avoid a stall and spin, no landing area may be immediately available, and this can expose the glider to other hazards which can prevent a safe landing. Sink is one such hazard, often associated with strong winds and wave. A glider making a 360° turn in still air at a bank angle of 35° and 50kt typically descends by only 70ft. But with 15ft/second sink the height loss in a 360° turn is over 400ft. If the launch failure was at 300ft the glider would crash before completing a 360° turn.


The existence of additional hazards from a turn adds force to the advice:
LAND AHEAD IF IT IS SAFE TO DO SO.

Nuf Said.

Dene (Scratch) Hitchen SO