Bob's fun flight almost turns sour!

[turboplanner]

Well the regulars would know the habits of the gliders, balloonists, differing frequencies, family feuds and anything else, and may use an endearing radio term like "Hey Max, ... off" where the newby (albeit who hasn't fully researched as Major suggests) could have been totally poleaxed by the activity.

 

A lot here depends on who was doing what at the time, and therefore which group should have backed off.

 

It's not uncommon at a busy airfield for an aircraft to line up and take off in the early stage after another has called final - at major centres the tower controllers do this frequently, so the real argument relates to who was moving and when during the approach

 

 

[skeptic36]

so the real argument relates to who was moving and when during the approach

I disagree, I think the real argument is who was involved in the serious business of flying and who was fiddling about on the ground with no intention of flying in the immediate future.

Regards Bill

 

 

[turboplanner]

Maybe Bill.

 

 

[turboplanner]

I decided to look at the video again. What I saw (which is open to interpretation) was:

 

Glider parked to camera left on edge of strip.

 

Sound of a Radio call, glider hasn't moved, no car towing it across strip

 

Aircraft lands with glider still in original position (of AC's turning final call)

 

Aircraft rolls past, camera pans shows efforts being made by car and crew to get glider OFF strip.

 

Looks to me like they just weren't able to get the glider further off the strip in time. An overfly or go round would have resulted in a clear runway. I didn't think they looked like cowboys

 

 

[Exadios]

• My friend Bob takes his Jabiru J-160c for a fun flight to YWSG and back. On his return he is confronted by a situation that requires him to land on the grass left of runway 06. As a bunch of 'cowboys', who should know better, just pull a glider across an active runway without proper lookout of radio surveillance endangering other users of the airfield and in particular the pilot on late finals. Very shabby stuff.
   
   
  

 

 

 

 

 

• Watch Now!
   
   
  

I agree. This is a very shabby operation on the part of the glider.

 

At our club we regularly tow gliders from the hangers down the runways (i.e. "backtrack"). I regularly have to wave these gliders off the runway. I cannot remember a situation when a got off the runway because they have seen an aircraft anywhere in the circuit. The reason is that it is quite difficult to see an aircraft from a motor vehicle.

 

Most of the posts here do not address another possible situation. The aircraft on final could have been a glider. As most of you will know the go around possibilities for a glider are very limited! (This is why you will rarely see a glider practicing touch and goes.)

 

When I tow gliders I carry a radio and make the standard calls ("Entering ...", "Backtracking ...", etc). The radio and calls serve to increase the situational awareness of myself and others.

 

The fact of the matter is that the landing from final to touchdown, without any extra steps, is the landing that has the lowest probability of an accident. Any deviation from the "standard" landing increases the probability of an accident. This is a safety issue.

 

I recently raised this issue with my club. Specifically I suggested that all vehicles towing gliders carry a radio. The club has hand held radios for this purpose. I got some support but not enough to prevail. I am going to bring this up again.

 

 

[tomde]

That is pretty poor of the glider but would it not be better to go round and try again once they were clear? The old saying aviate, navigate, communicate???