Glider Pilot Confessions - 2 Turns that Almost Killed Me 

Damn sneaky mountains creeping up on unsuspecting pilots

"Everything was perfect, right up until the point I almost kill myself" The name of my autobiography

1:33 *me when I’m cooking dinner*

Just throttle a bit more next time

And that‘s the difference between good pilots and stupid pilots. A good pilot recognizes his mistake, thinks critical about it and learns from it for the future. ...and when he‘s a good guy, he shares his experience with others. Thank you

In aviation, you never ever ever stop learning.... ever.

You know he gets close when the bushes turn into full grown pine trees 😳

"What saved me was, I was high enough..." There you go kids, eat your vegetables, listen to your elders and get high, might just save your life some day

Thank you for sharing. It takes guts to admit and share your own mistakes. We must never forget that regardless of the hours/kilometers under our belts we are always one blunder away from Terra Firma.

Flying with a constant engine failure scares me enough... ;-) Very good mea culpa mate. It takes a real aviator to admit their mistakes. Thanks for sharing. Just remember a famous quote from Frank Borman, "A superior pilot uses his superior judgment to avoid situations which require the use of his superior skill."

I learned very early in my flying career that it only takes one mistake to buy the farm. Thus the old expression; there are old pilots and bold pilots, but no old bold pilots. My father was a career USAF pilot and he taught me several things about flying: 1. Section lines out West always run north, south, east, west. 2. They always write the name of the town on the side of the water tower. 3. Railroad tracks always lead to civilization. 4. If lost over water DO NOT CIRCLE, but fly your original heading until you either run out of gas or you find land. When I was flying hang gliders back in the 70's the rule of thumb was to never make a turn into the mountain. So, every turn when ridge soaring was a 180 degree turn away from the mountain and never a 360. The reason is exactly that you've given. The air mass blowing against the mountain is carrying you along for the ride. Some of the guys I flew with in Colorado were over confident and a few of them made the annual stats section in Hang Glider Magazine. Hang gliding is a sport where even the BEST got killed. Bruno, I'd hate to see an NTSB report on you in the future, so please mind your own advice. :) And, btw, the first time I watched the climbing Mt. Nebo video I found it very strange that you'd complete that 360. There is little in flying that is more thrilling than flying close to a huge mountain, so I get why you do what you do. I get a rush just from watching.

That was very bad. Lucky you made it out of that turn.

They don't appear as dramatic as you describe, but that is most likely because of the fish eye lens of the camera, making things appear further than what they really are. Still, thanks for sharing Bruno.

You always carry plenty of airspeed, Bruno, which I like. Even when the instinct might be to pull, you don’t. That’s part of what keeps you alive especially in a sailplane. My one near death experience was with an instrument student. He was under the hood doing a hold or something and I saw traffic to the east and it was stationary on the horizon. Those are the scary ones. I stared at it for what seemed like only seconds to determine if he was opening the gap or closing. When I realized the gap was closing, I said, “My airplane” and I stuffed the nose and pulled the throttle. The Mooney just passed over us. I actually was half curled in a ball waiting for impact but it never came. There was no reaction from the Mooney. He never saw us. I leveled us out and gave the controls back to the student. He was really cool. He said, “Do I even want to know?” And I said, “I’ll tell you later.”

It’s so peaceful that you don’t realize that just one little mistake could cost you everything💀

Me, who will never pilot a glider in my life learning what not to do when piloting a glider

You're right! I watched both and didn't really identify those turns as dangerous. I thought that they were 'little close but alright', but reviewing this does show the severity of those close calls. Anyway glad you're still amongst us... Keep up the great work and stay safe! Greetings from a student glider pilot from Germany btw...

Hey Bruno, that's a great thing to know that you learned from your mistakes. And it's even greater that you shared them with us, so that we are all aware and can learn as well from them. This said, I'm not even a pilot, but it's one of my goals for next year. Keep up the safe flights!

Great video! Thanks for being humble enough to learn, and help us newer pilots to learn. Glad you're still with us! Keep going!

Thank you for sharing your experience, it is rare to see a pilot telling about his mistakes. We all have taken wrong decisions sometimes and there are no perfect flight. Cheers from Switzerland !

Target fixation is a problem when piloting anything but in a glider the problem comes at you much quicker and with no mercy for errors obviously. Amazing video and recovery Bruno. The lessons you give here to pilots could save their life some day. All of your glider flights are incredible by the way, very entertaining even to a video gamer pilot.

I’ve never experienced calm and peace like I have in a glider/sailplane. Thanks for sharing. Be safe

God bless you for sharing this invaluable info. Back in the 70's I used to fly RC gliders, and had a few friends who flew full size. Two of the people did loops and the wing snapped both times. I need to get over my fear and get into a full like you. So peaceful to fly☺️☺️☺️☺️

This is gold for any apprentice pilots, thank you so much for sharing these Bruno!

Infinite thank you's for sharing experiences which allow everyone to learn. That is pilot's brotherhood. I'm subscribing right now.

I've watched a lot of your videos (in fact your and Balleka's videos are what motivated me to learn gliding). This must be one of the best videos - it may actually save lifes. I wish there were more videos like that. If you've got some more 'safety video' ideas, please keep them coming!

Bruno, I am a student and found this very valuable. What strikes me most is your humility in admitting you made a mistake and having the ‘stones’ to dissect what went wrong and share it so everyone can learn from it. This is gold - good work mate! 👌

Finally someone who uses his mistakes to educate others! Thank You! We need more of you!

You probably saved a lot of pilots by sharing these greenhorn mistakes,....ego must always be balanced,...the fact that you were humble enough to share this says volumes about your good character Bruno,..thanks!

I only fly simulators and I get scared from almost crashing, so I can only imagine what you felt in these moments. Cheers. :)

Bruno, thanks for sharing. I not only liked your candor in fessing up about judgment calls that scared you but also giving the state of mind you were in at both occasions. The first one trying to get to grasps with the enormous windfall you were experiencing in a flight with unsuspected soaring joy and the second case happening when you were having difficulty to accept the disappointment of not being able to finish the task. This goes to show that recent (if a decade can be qualified as such) attention in glider pilot training on human factors (not only psychology but also physiology) is money and time well spent!

As a new glider pilot, I really appreciate the honest discussion recognizing a mistake and how not to panic while taking the right steps to avoid disaster.

Each pilot can make an pilot error, good pilot is able to say I was make an error, but only excellent pilot can make video like this and teach other pilots how not to make same error and save their lifes.

I remember reading stories about pilots that flew into a mountain and wondering "How?"... but just like you have shown scary situations can sneak up on you when you least expect them. Stay alert, fly smart, and never let complacency bite you in the ass.

Thanks for sharing your videos. Your experience and instincts clearly helped you recover these turns. Glad you're still here to tell the story...

Very nice your attitude about sharing your experience. Many glider pilots can learn from it and avoid a crash just by watching this video.

I remember watching the first video along the snow covered ridge and when that turn ended I thought wow he's awfully close to that mountain, but Bruno knows what he is doing, so no problem right. Thanks for sharing what you did wrong and even more what you did right!

I'm not a pilot so I have no real frame of reference BUT I reckon (for what it's worth) that a key strength of any pilot (or sailor, mountaineer, off-piste skier etc) is to look back critically at your actions and learn what NOT to do in future. It is far rarer for those same individuals to publicly air and share their mistakes in the hope that it might educate and assist others. You clearly fall into that second group. Nice one Bruno - an interesting and very scary video!

Flying can be like a very friendly dog that you've known all of your life, and then suddenly jumps at you and bites your face off because you teased him too much.

You changed my life with this video. I was a young kid with no clue about anything aviation when this came out. It’s been a long journey but I’m slowly making my way into the skies. Good job on the videos, and even better analysis of your incidents. You are a skilled pilot and it shows

One thing my father taught me (esp' when driving a vehicle, 2 wheels or 4 - in fact, driving ANY vehicle at speed), was to *always* make sure you have an escape route; you should have an escape route REGARDLESS of *anything*. He told me that, after I'd got home in shock after turning down a relatively steep road on my mountain bike into the path of parked cars on the left and right of the street and a single car coming up who hadn't seen me, I JUST missed being sandwiched by mere millimeters going at speed and having to zig-zag in a fraction of a second to get through a gap I really had no right to have got through - the force of the zig-zag broke the main axle inside the bottom bracket and bent the front wheel slightly too; I had to pay for the repairs, (and rightly so). Needless to say, I'm glad I had lady luck on my side that day. Always have an escape.

I used to fly my Cessna 150 ten feet above rivers and occasionally below power lines, scared me enough to stop. One month ago a married couple in Minnesota died while flying low over a river and hit power lines. You have to live long enough to stop making an error which both of us have now done. Thanks for the video.

Wow! You are right those turns were harrowing!! Glad you're alive!

Extremely helpful and humbling, Bruno, thank you for sharing.

Hey Bruno! I enjoy your videos very much! Right now I just finishes my training, got my license and fly in kinda flat lands, with hills neighbored by forests that are rather unlandables then sources of lift, using only thermals. Your videos are inspiring to me and make me look forward to what's ahead down the road in my gliding future. And it's great that you share your thoughts and insights with us. Thanks! Timo

Good to see you reacted appropriately, a novice pilot would perhaps panic and forget to gain speed to make the turn achievable

The margin for error was so thin, glad you are still with us!

I think it's great that you made this video showcasing mistakes that can happen when you're up there and how to keep yourself from making them. You never know, the information you gave in this video may have even saved someone from making a fatal error.

Thank You Bruno. This is very important that someone like You talk about own mistakes... We can have 5000 PIC hours, and die becouse of small mistake.

“Hi it’s Bruno” I like this dude

Glad you’re safe man. This makes you even a better pilot

Love how you had the instinct to drop the nose! Reminds me of every time my CFI would pull the throttle back to idle on me and ask.. "Where are you going to go?" Most often.. at the most inopportune time! Just like a real emergency. Kudos for making a lesson of it for us.. Happy landings!

Thanks for the video, Bruno. Hopefully this will help other pilots avoid accidents.

Very educational....not only the actual evaluation, moreover the ability to self-reflect. Amen to that;-). I know that the competition aspect brings sometimes two conflicting matters on the line. The frustration about 'not winning' and the attempts to still make it. Indeed, as you've mentioned and I think one of the most valuable lessons....while on (improvised) circuit, stay on the circuit....and keep the speed comfortable all the way in that zone. Cheers Bruno.

Thank you Bruno for sharing this ! Valuable to all of us !

Humbleness keeps us alive in aviation. Congratulations on lessons learned and shared so we can learn too. Excellent video.

Bravo! Thank you for puttin up these analyses.

Hello Bruno, this is a very valuable video !!

Great video and thanks to share these mistakes. Not everybody is capable to share it with humblness. You're a great pilot! Congrats from Portugal!

so amazing of you to share this!

I've just completed 14 solos and am looking forward to maybe doing some x-country next year shortly after I get my full license and a little more experience. Some good lessons to pass on. Thanks!

33 years ago, age 16, my 4th solo, I can still remember the biggest mistake of watching my vsi more than my alt....and you can guess the rest. Anyway, landed wayyy down the runway and my fellow cadets had to push me really far back. My instructor was very, very quiet with disappoint.

This is an excellent video and self-critique! Im a CFI, and this has significant value to new students. . Complacency and familiarity have killed many otherwise excellent pilots. What your self-critique shows is that it can happen to anyone. No matter how much experience and proficiency we have, fate is always the hunter. Thank you for sharing this, I’ve learned a lot from your experiences.

I myself have never been in a glider but i can admit i see what you mean by these 2 videos like all said before me, glad to see someone who helps the community you are part of , GG ..

Everyone is so hyper focused on the near crash that I'll bet nobody noticed the sasquatch.

"I was high enough" gotcha, smoke more weed

Wow a RU-vid video that’s not telling everyone how great they are!!! An Honest and insightful video that is all about identifying and how to approach issues within aviation(and anywhere for that matter) and how to go about improving yourself... it never ends.

Your humility is impressive. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you for the humbleness of sharing. As a hanglider pilot for many years scratching the rocks is our middle name. totally understand the missjudgement. Thank you again for sharing. Ps- scratching means literally see birds jumping in the trees between branches.

Its good to confess, it can save others lives , being a humble pilot should mean you live a bit longer !

You may have prevented accidents of other pilots. Very kind that you share your knowledge and experience.

That puckered me as well. I'm glad you posted these it helps every glider pilot. It's not easy posting mistakes and I'm sure you've caught flack from trolls in the comments but by making this video you've helped many learn from your mistakes. For that, thank you.

Second one had my heart drop when you started leveling out in the turn.

KUDOS for telling the stories!

Thank you for sharing your wisdom from your experiences!

Good day, Bruno, a very very good and important video. It ist laudable that you recognize and share you're mistakes. Most pilots doesn't recognize their mistakes or share them so that other pilots can learn from this mistakes. But you did. Very good, thank you :)

In my experience, the video footage alone doesn't show how dangerous a situation was, without knowing what went on in the pilot's head. Sometimes people pick on something looking dangerous, but the pilot was aware and had a great plan B, i.e., "ahead of the airplane". Some othertimes, the situtation looks still OK, but the real danger is that the pilot was caught off guard, "behind the airplane". Getting behind is dangerour every time, because the airplane may just take the pilot directly to the crash site... Thanks Bruno, for explaning how and why you momentarily got behind your glider...

this fighter pilot A-7D in the unit I was in with the U.S. Air Force went flying between the mountains in a C172 in his spare time with 3 other people with a high density altitude and end up getting himself and all others killed. He got trapped there and his airplane didn't responded with enough stuff. Unfortunate accident. Be careful dude good luck!

Ur a legend Bruno glad you didn’t die and learned from your mistakes ur an amazing pilot

they way he flew along that mountain ridge very comfortably is just simply amazing

Man, when I saw you turn up into the valley in that second shot, and you started to turn right, I just about shat myself.

A brave confess, Deserve my respect man!

Kudos to you for showing your mistakes to the world. I was never a glider pilot but a hang glider pilot and hang glider pilots have a tendency to survive crashes. I really think the mind can play tricks on you while flying and it's obviously extremely important to recognize when that happens and to learn from it.

Thanks for your courage in publicly sharing. That second one is particular is very scary.

You're a very lucky man. And I'm not talking about surviving the near misses - I speak of the opportunity to fly your own glider. Cheers.

I flew P2 with an instructor who loved flying as close to terrain as he could. Forget foxholes, there were no atheists in that glider cockpit that day!

Great example of mistake analysis. Thank you a lot for sharing, you might have saved the lives of some pilots in the future!

I always learn best from real-life examples like this. Thanks!

It's easier to learn when you're above the ground, it's impossible to learn when you are in the ground. Nothing wrong with swallowing some pride and sharing it, it will hopefully keep more out of the ground.

This is why I think it's really good for people to learn to fly on gliders. I learned to fly R/C on powered gliders, but the power was used just for launch. A huge number of really good R/C pilots who fly primarily (or solely) powered planes do not handle a sudden dead-stick well. Their instinct when power is lost is to pull, get slow, and fly really inefficiently or stall/spin. When people are flying power but who learned on gliders go dead-stick, they instinctively push and maintain suitable airspeed, just as you did here, Bruno. Airspeed is life.

Your honesty is greatly appreciated!!!!!!

Yikes! That's crazy! I'm glad your instincts got you home, safe.

Nothing wrong with making a mistake that you can learn from, and kudos to you for posting so that others can also learn.

All I hear in my head is, “Terrain. Terrain. PULL UP. PULL UP.” Smart move to dive over and get airspeed. You really did skim over those tree tops.

thank you for sharing Bruno!

Thanks Bruno... I flew my Cherokee 180 from St. Louis direct to Sutter Creek/Westover Airport California. Did it in 3 stops.... we overnight in Milford Utah.. wonderful trip...lots of mountain flying... I cant imagine doing mountain flying trips without an engine.... the Truckee Aviation people told me there are glider pilots that have gone to Mt. Whitney and back ... keep flying...again love the video...

Great vid, out of interest how do you keep warm in a glider over the freezing cold mountains?

I'll be at your back shouting: Woot woot! TERRAIN!

Just in week 3 of glider ground school, and 1 thing we were taught is instinct is to pull back, but instead to push forward to gain speed. Thank you for showing these 2 scenarios.

My uncle was tragically killed in an accident similar to your first maneuver, also involving mountains, so I'm happy that you made it and thanks for sharing your experience