After 6 seasons of flying my Kestrel 19 ,I finally got around to using my drogue chute. I was very impressed on how steep the glide was even without full spoilers
I used he chute many times without any major problems. You need to get the speed you need first. Pull the deploy and kick the rudders to make sure the box drops off... then a short delay ... You know if it has deployed..!. You need to maintain the speed ... its easy to get slow, but regaining lost speed takes time and consumes a lot of height. The only exception is going into a small tight field, when I would deploy just as I approached the boundary and at about 20 feet and without any extra speed. It would open just as you flare and would help you to stop in a much shorter distance. Another time I deployed at about 300' going into a field and began to undershoot... I reduced the landing flaps from full to half, hoping that would be sufficient but no.... so waited until close to the field... got the speed back to normal and on normal approach path... Jettisoned the chute and then pulled fully landing flap again and then airbrake and got into the field fine, but it was hard work. The Chute was up a tree... which kept me busy for an hour of so...but retrieved it. In a Strong crosswind, I would jettison the chute on the ground when I still had good directional control, to prevent the chute initiating a ground loop. Landing on runways, like the video, gives the chute box a bit of a hard time as it bounces along the tarmac !!...
Thanks for sharing your experiences with your drogue chute Craig. Yes the asphalt is not an ideal surface to be dragging the chute. Unfortunately it was the only option for me to test it out on. At least I know what to expect if I ever need to us it.
I flew many competitions with an Open Cirrus where we had removed the chute. Never felt I needed it, not in outlandings nor when I had to jump trees before a paddock. The same as with the landing flaps in other gliders, it forces you into a step approach, and what you gain by approaching step you lose in the flaring which is longer.
Same here - had to go up in the towplane to find out where it had landed then spend an hour or so retrieving it from a farmers field - but always thought it was unnecessary on the Open Cirrus, as it had decent enough airbrakes - the Libelle 301 I flew definitely needed it though ..........
Thanks for watching. Yes just like the U2 it lands on the mainwheel and tailwheel. But unlike the U2 I do have 2 tiny rollerblade style wheels in the wingtips . I do not have a Corvette to chase. Will a 2002 Chevy S-10 pickup truck do ? 🙂
Thanks for watching my video. Yes is does have spoilers as well as landing flaps. I initially used quite a bit of spoiler during this test but reduced them to almost zero at about 200 feet as I was concerned about making a perfect round out .
Most gliders that have drogue chutes ,also have spoilers. The intent of the drouge chute is to allow for the pilot to land in very small field if necessary. Although the Kestrels' spoilers are not as effective as gliders such as a PW-6, the Kestrels' spoilers combined with full landing flap ,provide for effective glide path control on landing. Combined with the drogue chute , the Kestrel comes down at an extremely steep angle. When I did this test ,I initially had full spoilers on but then closed them as I was coming down like a brick. . Thank you for viewing my channel .
Only the ASW12 had no other landing aids I think - although you could pop the flaps down a bit into full positive - but doubtless there are others. Some 12's were modded to have a belly chute as well as the tail chute and for the flaps to go 90 degrees positive I believe........
@@lessainsbury8508 As a T59D driver - I can attest. If you have landing flap, airbrakes AND drag chute out. If you can see it over your toes, it is probably out of glide range, The approach angle gets extremely steep, and the nose down attitude required to maintain flying speed is uncomfortable... That allows you to make steep approaches over trees or other obstacles into small fields. Of course you still have those 19m wings to worry about - but you can get down in short fields that would otherwise be unusable.
@@BruceGreeff Thank you for watching my video and your comment. When I first deployed the chute and put full spoilers on ,the glide path was alarmingly steep so I backed off to half spoilers then about 1/4 before I rounded out. I have heard others say the same as you. "if you can see it over your toes you won't make it " I will have to do some more tests with it again this year. Where is home for your Kestrel ? Les
How common are these? I have never seen one on a glider before (I'm just a RU-vid spectator of the gliding world) Can this be deployed and retracted multiple times during flight? I have seen videos where pilots had issues with wave lift that was so strong it threatened to push them up into unapproved airspace. Seems like this would be a useful tool in a scenario like that.
Hi Matthew, thanks for watching my video. There have been a few production gliders that have had drouge chutes over the years. the latest being the Concordia with its 28 meter wingspan. The chute on the Kestrel is very effective . After I deployed it, I pulled on full spoilers and it came down at a alarmingly steep angle. I let them off before round out as I was worried I might misjudge my flare. After you deploy the chute, in cannot be retracted, however it can be jettisoned in case you misjudge your final glide. ( you do risk losing it though ) As far as using it to escape strong wave, I'm not sure that would be wise except in a real emergency. What would probably happen is, you would escape the wave but then have to jettison the chute to make it back to the airfield, potentiality losing the chute forever.
