Fly Safe: Safety Corner August 26, 2021

Following our recent mishaps, our Chief Pilot and Safety Officer separately conjectured that our desire to "get going" and "keep flying" might have played a role in the B4 and 18 meter incidents. During our time at the WSPA event in Springfield, one of our instructors wrote up a Safety Report about an incident in which the same tendency might have been at play. We urge you to read the full report online. Here's a brief excerpt: "The Blanik L-23 was being assembled somewhat 'under pressure' with the understanding that a number of pilots would soon want to fly it...Shortly after liftoff I had to use increasing forward stick force to maintain position behind the tow plane...[Later] examination of the elevator/trim tab showed the trim tab was jammed in the full down/nose up position."

Instructor, George Young, has filed a Safety Report about the hard landing he and his student sustained in the Blanik on 7/31. George continues his difficult rehab from spinal surgery to repair a broken vertebra. In addition to the lessons he took away from the mishap as an instructor, the incident serves to remind all of us—students and certificated pilots alike—never to make abrupt control stick or dive brake inputs close to the ground.

If you see any threat to safety at all—whether you're an instructor or a student--please write up a Safety Report.

At the conclusion of the WSPA event, one of the locally-based tow pilots told event organizer, Cathy Keller, that on a particularly hot, humid day "...he only had one bottle of Gatorade all day, which he had to finish drinking so he would have a pee bottle, and that he didn’t have anything to drink for the remainder of the towing day and got dehydrated..." The tow pilots worked from 10:00am until after 4:00pm doing tows and did not have tow pilot shifts. Cathy informed that club's safety personnel, and wrote to our Safety Officer that she "...hopes our tow pilots know that staying hydrated during a busy day and safety is more important than the continuity of towing for the line. And that the glider pilots shouldn’t groan if there has to be a 15 minute lapse in towing due to safety. We have shifts, so that is done well."

To that point, back in June, Chief Pilot, Roy Bourgeois, sent this guidance to our tow pilots: "First, stay well hydrated while you are towing and use some type of sports drink that replaces sodium and electrolytes if you can. If you are sweating profusely, water alone is not enough. Start hydrating an hour before you fly and don't wait until you are thirsty. If, after 3 or 4 hours, you don't have to stop for a pee break, you are probably not drinking enough."

In the same message, Roy noted that "The climb performance of the tow planes suffers significantly in the high density altitude situation. Stay closer to the airport on climb out to make sure that both the glider and you can get back in any emergency." Another club recently had a mishap on a hot, high density altitude day when the instructor released from tow not far above 200 feet to simulate a rope break. The 2-33 did not have enough altitude to make it to the runway and landed in the trees, causing damage. Fortunately, neither pilot was hurt.