June 6, 2009 - Shows deciding which thermal to take and then spin entry in a rough strong thermal east of Delta, Utah in a glider. More info visit phoebus.vassel.com
OK, I've watched the sequence at 2:30 a couple dozen times now, and as a fellow glider pilot, my heart just about stopped every time, because you are better than me in general, and I would have done exactly what you did, but with a crappier, more delayed recovery. When the ground fills the plexiglass and it's inverted and spinning, the casual fun has definitely ended! Thanks so much for posting this! You've probably saved a lot of lives!
I own an ASW20B and have done for many years. I have had exactly the same experience in a thermal, with a very docile recovery, a testament to this magnificent aeroplane. When you get to the 'downwind' side of the Dusty your airspeed is robbed and a spin can occur, on rare occasions, generally when the thermal is particularly strong or turbulent. What the pilot did here is textbook. Flaps to the negative, to reduce the angle of attack, stick pressure released and top rudder, perfect job Bruno! Thanks for the video.
In Britain we stopped using rudder to pick up the wing in a stall. We now teach stick forward to regain airspeed and then level the wings with aileron. This is because if you use top rudder to pick the wing up it could induce a spin in the opposite direction.
Rubbish. I glide n the UK, and you NEVER pick up the wing with aileron. Of course stick forward to increase airspeed, but recover with the rudder. What Bruno did was textbook.
MrSkeeja Using aileron will increase the low wing’s aoa puttung it deeper into a stall expediting the spin. A little worrying that someone teaches you to do that...
Once you reduce the angle of attack you can use aileron again, doesn't matter at all about airspeed, if the AOA is low, then the wing is un-stalled and aileron can be used. If you are un-stalled then all your controls a back to normal, use them as normal. Only use opposite rudder (without aileron) initially to stop yaw and minimise the rotation while you reduce AOA (which usually only takes about 1 sec after you move the stick forward in a small aircraft). Once AOA is reduced and rotation has stopped you are now in a possibly high bank, nose low attitude BUT un-stalled, so you can use aileron to roll back to level with coordinated rudder. Use of aileron will only aggravate the situation if you are still flying at an AOA close to the stall
It is a PCAS - traffic collision avoidance aid that helps tell me if other planes or gliders are in the area. It worked ok but there are better tools available now. This was filmed over 4 years ago. Thanks for watching and best of luck with your own flight training! You will have a blast. :) Bruno
When you focus on looking at what you do with the controls, it just helps going in the spin, seems like you had the stick back to left, and right rudder which is how you do a spin to the right. Luckily you weren't close to ridge! Nice videos you have, I enjoy watching them. Greetings from a Finnish glider pilot :)
@@MrTiti The recovery procedure was no noob tho. You gotta know exactly what to do when entering a spin. The spin recovery procedure is counter intuitive. Luckily, he didn't actually enter a spin. Had JUST ennough energy to power out of it.
In the early 1960's, Australia's No.1 BFTS was located at RAAF Base Point Cook, on the west side of Port Philip Bay, well away from heavily populated Melbourne, Victoria. This was the favourite location for our instructors to insist we do stalls and spins out over the water, until competent in the recovery procedure. I guess it was a good choice because the chance of hitting a recreational fisherman in his boat was a lot less than demolishing a shopping centre. We used Winjeels powered by large radial engines, so would make quite a mess compared to a beautiful light glider.
I used to to be a soaring instructor in C-Springs and man do I miss it. I wish we had your videos back then because I love how you can see your control inputs, sight picture and the instruments from this perspective! One of my favorite techniques was to demonstrate how responsive the plane was by literally "flying with your fingertips". It was a joy to see that practice in effect so clearly with this great video!
If you watch the video 2:30min, you were turning RIGHT with rudder, and trying to keep turn bank level LEFT with ailerons, the SPIN ENTRY happened by mixed opposite controls and a gust.
They are absolute delight in the air. They allow keeping perfect track of thermalling/ridge/wave soaring while monitoring the airspace around the plane. They make soaring more efficient and safe.
That is the flap handle. High performance gliders change flaps quite often depending on airspeeds. It seems like a lot of work but you get used to it after the first 5 minutes on the first flight. Good question. Bruno
Nice vid. Note that right before the spin you moved the stick nearly to the left stop. That's likely what stalled the inside wing. You also kept the stick well to the left throughout the recovery. The better bet (even though it goes against one's instincts) is to put the ailerons initially to neutral or even into the turn to reduce the camber and AOA on the inside tip. This will reduce the severity of the spin entry and hasten the recovery. Also a good technique for wing drop on takeoff. 9B
To clarify - if the wing starts going down and you are still pretty slow on the roll try to refrain from full aileron deflections. If you put in a fair amount of opposite aileron and the wing keeps going down, neutralize the ailerons, then use smaller inputs to try to pick it up. This takes focus and nerve. Also be ready to pull the release if you don't get the wing up after 2 seconds or so.
Every pilot, private or professional, especially ultralight pilots should have the opportunity to experience and recover from a spin entry, accompanied by an experienced pilot. Unintentional spin entry can be deadly for the uninitiated: Suddenly a wing drops and the windshield is full of terrain! If you have never experienced this, instinct is likely to make you pull full up elevator, ensuring a full spin to develop in many aircraft types. You are pre-programmed to do exactly the wrong thing! Recovery at this initial stage is SO simple: Center the controls, take a deep breath and then recover normally. The deep breath is just for timing, to allow airspeed to build up a bit before recovering. Once you have experienced and recovered from a few spin entries, you have been programmed for life to do the right thing.
Ola! :) I was using a Compaq 3975 wired to a GPS NAV flight computer and GPS unit. Yes, I use a cable for the data and also to power the pda. The pda was running SeeYou Mobile soaring software which I love. The 3975 is an ok pda but now I highly suggest getting an Oudie 2 to run SeeYou Mobile because it is completely sunlight readable, portable and has a built in gps. Take care and fly safe. Bruno
Damn, I was just going to leave a simple post to say that had happened to me years ago. I am glad (fortunate) it is a really rare occurrence for me. Now that I have read the comments from all of the experts, I have to say something. Flying principles and sailplane aerodynamics are simple to understand and simple maneuvers to execute with expert training. As long as you take the time to read, understand what you read, and get proper training and experience. Mixing Mother Nature and her weather into the mix adds a complexity that can and will kill you. In these posts, I read so many different techniques for recovery that I have to ask myself, "why are so many really good, expert, high time glider pilots dead? Some have even written books on the subject. Why did they crash and die? Maybe with so many different ways to recover it is hard to pick which one until a crash occurs? Humorously morbid but rhetorical question. I am always amazed to find someone ready to find fault with every ones recovery or flying technique but their own. Over the years, I've gotten advice from many, now, dead pilots. Why am I still alive? Because I knew they were wrong due to my experience and I did not take their advice. Bruno, good recovery. Know why? You recovered. Did you learn from this event? For me, I leave the ground to get away from people, to have fun while enjoying the flying experience, and to learn from every flight.
Bruno Vassel Thanks Bruno. My post might have seemed like a rant but it was to just tell the truth from the perspective of a 35-year glider pilot with a lot of various flying experiences (glider and power). My experiences in both glider and power finds most other pilots, clubs, FBO's, CFI's, A&P's, AI's, and government agencies think of themselves as all knowing immortals, but sad to say, they are noticeably lacking in their own professional skill sets. In my opinion, one major reason that soaring is in decline. When the old guys are gone, I see only a remnant of the glory days that soaring used to be. For the few who make up the rest of us mortals, we go out and have fun while always learning and when we get back, we gladly share our good, bad, and ugly flights in hopes to help ourselves and others to learn from our experiences. For years, now, I have been flying from a remote area that rocks with no other gliders and only an occasional GA plane passing through. I am having the most fun and best time of my life.
Ryad Arlan Thank you, I think. Interesting response. If you are a pilot, I hope you perform a lot of stall entry and spin recovery. It will save your life someday.
+Jon Heckendorf I would like to think I am but my experience hasn't caught up to my research and knowledge of the topic. I referred to Medical and communications because I was dragged away and a file was fabricated after trying to communicate with various defense forces on how communications companies were using them and media was moving entire populations around with false information. I am sure it still happens today but they moved to where it isn't noticed yet. This is why I have been "Disabled" and put in a spot dead in the water. I miss flying, I wanted nothing else growing up. its a life story that is going to waste and I dont know what to do anymore. Anyone and everyone around me directly or indirectly wants nothing else than to screw around and talk crap.
@blancolirio 1. the ocasional "ding, ding" is the variometer which beeps acording to the air currents. When the air is sinking it beeps with a low tone when it's rising it beeps rapidly and also with high pitched sound. 2. Every sailplane has different levers for spoilers and flaps. Usually the spoiler lever is blue and the flap lever is black. Hope i helped! Cheers!
Opposite aileron and stick way back induced the spin..... along with flying at what it seems way below minimum sink speed with little bank. With a probably tail heavy sailplane. A good sailplane that recovers very well loosing almost no altitude. This is not a gusty thermal. It seems like a nice wide thermal at a good altitude. I WISH I WAS THERE!!!! To fly at min sink banked a little more to gain more altitude......
@saildapper2001 I know what your saying however one thing I had drummed into me while learning is that departures from normal flight should never catch you by surprse nor should you be scared of them, you should practice and practice departures from normal flight until you have no worries or issues in recovering from them like Bruno did in this video.
A couple powered plane guy questions... What's the occasional "ding ding" sound? Are the spoilers on the same lever as your flaps? Or a different lever out of view?
Wow my grammar was kinda shotty on that last message, im glad you understood it! Thanks for getting back to Bruno I really appreciate it! I just received an email from a local club and im already getting everything lined up for training! As soon as I get get my cert im coming and soaring with you brother! Thanks for the videos, they have really motivated me!
The primary instrument for monitoring airspace is your eyes. With audio variometer you will hear how you're doing with the thermal, allowing you to keep an eye out for traffic around. It's only annoying if you're a passenger along for a ride.
Now I do not have a PPL or a GL but isn't the reason of your spin/stall induced by cross-controlling? It appears that you gave right rudder in the turn but due to the 'Gust' you had to counteract with left aileron is this correct? Just trying to learn haha
@whiteTiger941 The occasional 'ding ding' is SeeYou Mobile, not the variometer. It bleeps to help you find the best part of the thermal, but in reality pretty much sucks. I always turn it off, you really shouldn;t need it to centrate a thermal....
Opposite aileron? I learned that when you get into a spin with a glider, you have to neutralize the aileron and go opposite with the rudder. And then, when it's neutralized, you go neutral and pull it out of the dive. Is this different in a glider with flaps? Or am I just confused with the English translation from the Dutch? ps. I can't wait for the season to start again. I really want to fly again. Nice video and nice thermals :) Have a nice flight.
no, your spin recovery is correct. You can see leading up to it he gets caught off gaurd and gets into it with a sloppy recovery. I think most everyone's done at least one of those while thermalling a lot, but the faster you recognise it the better.
Seeing that the video was posted 5 years ago it would be interesting to hear your thoughts on what you were doing wrong? when you first dropped to the right ! was that the lift hitting the left wing more so or was it wind ? what if you had gone left and not right ? would you have got the thermal centre thus being a lot smother,thanks )
What is that lever on your left that you keep clicking in and out??? Is that flaps? (I know gliders have spoilers but you wouldn’t be deploying spoilers in a spin.) Cool video though! 👍
the reaction was good............ and quick recovery took barely 100 feet altitude you can have very strong gusts / shear while thermalling, when you are in between strong rising air and strong descending air, one wing can be inside very strong lift and the other inside very strong sink, then you can flip over. Somebody calls these air pockets.
What's the lever on the left you keep pulling? Flaps? Because the glider I fly doesn't have flaps. Also does this aircraft not have a trim lever because when you get into the thermal you're constantly applying back pressure on the stick?
I had the feeling that the powerful lift was coming from the left as you thermalled to the right. Do you have a preference for right thermalling? Me, I prefer left - no idea why. Speed in the rough stuff especially in proximity to the unyielding terra firma helps with a get out of jail card.
best glide is not the best speed to thermal...... minimun sink IS THE BEST SPEED to thermal, or lower if the thermal is small.... and this is not a gust stall, but a stick stall. Look at the stick position before the spin.
Hi! This isn't a critic since im a beginner glider pilot so you most probably know much better than i do but i have a question: it seems to me that you're making the turns a little uncoordinated because i can see your yaw string is sometimes either slipped to the right or the left. It could be a bad angle i can't see it right. Dunno. Peace!
@glpxt Why is the over-the-shoulder look important. Just to clear the turns? I fly PG's and although a spin is rare for us it is neat to see that gliders get them too - recovery is about the same: some opposite control (in our case just letting off the inside brake, gain airspeed... It is very impressive how fast you guys go, the rougher conditions you can fly in and how far your glide range extends. At this level of flying do you guys ever leave the range of an actual airport landing field?
what is that thing with the antenna on top of the cockpit? by the way your videos are awesome! Im moving to Switzerland next week and will be starting a course. Your videos really inspired me!
Hey Bruno, I've looked at at 10 times and it seems to me like the stick was moving continuously to the left before, during and after the spin entry. You also mention in the video that it happens regularly - I'd suggest you thermal faster. Edge of the stall on most ships is out of the drag bucket anyway. On takeoff most tailwheel gliders are at a high AOA - on a wing drop if you give opposite aileron you will raise the AOA even higher - better to neutralize the stick then make small inputs.
Could you explain different instruments in the cockpit?what's those red and white stuff stuck to the canopy walls, and what's that device right in the front making whining noises!?
Hi Bruno! Very interesting video, as the others... May I ask you a question?, which model of compaq do you use?, has it gps integrated?, does you use the signal of the pda itself or it receives from a logger apart through a cable? Thanks in advance and kind regards from Majorca (Spain), where I fly a std. libelle
superb videos! really like the view aswell! this looks like such a nice place to fly :-) i also like the way of filming with a static camera... what camera are you using here? and how long does it run while recording? im also thinking about setting up a gopro while flying :-) keep up the good work! greets from germany
There cant be gusts when glider flying? Thats sucks; how in the hell are you supposed to know if there are gusts aloft in mountain terrain? Maybe I wont get into gliders
I had my first glider ride this past Sunday. I'm glad that did not happen to us ! We took tow to 3,000 and worked our way up to cloud base about 4000. Our best reading on the meter was 6 and that thermal gained us 600 feet. I have a question - I helped the pilot check the controls before take off. The ailerons and elevator moved very easy on the ground and were very responsive in the air (he let me fly a little). But on the ground and in the air - I had a hard time getting my foot in position and moving the rudder. It seemed very stiff. Is that normal? I just accepted it as normal and did not question the pilot about it. (looking back I should have) Because the rudder control was stiff to me, and it was my first time, I kept under / over compensating and was uncoordinated in my turns. I did well with the other controls, kept my speed at 50 knots (in ASK21) as instructed by the pilot and made my turns okay, except for sliding because of the difficulty I had using the rudder. He demonstrated a stall and then let me induce and recover from one on my own and that went well. Do you think there was a problem with the rudder? When I got in the plane he asked if I could reach the peddles okay. I'm 5' 8" and I said they were a little hard to reach and he made some kind of adjustment - I don't think he moved the seat but maybe the peddle somehow. This was my first time to be in a glider so maybe it was just me needing to get use to the controls.
Bruno, may I ask you a question? I went for my 1st glider ride last Sunday 7-31-2016. My pilot let me fly some and I learned enough to fly around the field. My question is since you only get one chance to get the landing right let's suppose my pilot became incapacitated and I had to land the plane without help I know enough to get the plane lined up with the runway but how do I judge my distance to the runway so that I descend just right so I don't crash before the runway or overshoot and crash at the end of the runway or past the runway? Would it be best to just circle above the runway and glide down until I was several hundred feet above and then set up for a base turn and final approach and maybe try for 1/2 way down the runway as a touch down spot? It's a private grass field, mostly sailplanes and tow planes, 2200 feet and no obstacles at either end.
Congrats for flying!!! :) Sounds like you needed the rudder pedals adjusted a little bit more. Yes, they can slide forward and backwards to accommodate different height pilots. Everything is going to feel strange and uncoordinated in the first few flights. This is normal!!! Enjoy the sights and sounds and actually enjoy this learning process. No, you will not do everything perfectly. Hell, even us guys that have been gliding for decades don't do it perfectly, but we try to at least do it safely. That is what keeps us coming back year after year - the challenge. :) Good work and hope you get to go up and fly again soon. Don't wait too long. Bruno
I went for my 1st glider ride last Sunday 7-31-2016. My pilot let me fly some and I learned enough to fly around the field. My question is since you only get one chance to get the landing right let's suppose my pilot became incapacitated and I had to land the plane without help I know enough to get the plane lined up with the runway but how do I judge my distance to the runway so that I descend just right so I don't crash before the runway or overshoot and crash at the end of the runway or past the runway? Would it be best to just circle above the runway and glide down until I was several hundred feet above and then set up for a base turn and final approach and maybe try for 1/2 way down the runway as a touch down spot?
So this PCAS is like the TCAS on the airliners? I thought it reminded me of radar detector haha :DI was watching your VSI and you pick up altitude so nicely in this thermal thing! Is it your altimeter that gives a ring ever 500 ft?What i don't get is that on your other video you land on the field and it seems to be 5000ft(ASL?) and here it also seems to be at around 5000(AGL?) i guess i don't see it clearly... i've only tried small DR400 but gliding looks sooo much more amazing from your vids!
fascinating to watch. good quality video too! thanks! please post more. I am a paraglider pilot and have to date only flown glider simulators. (CONDOR) I must say that this glider recovered quite benign. I expected a more violent spin. I guess you caught it prior to developing into something more severe? What is also quite clear to me is that the incidents in flight always happens when you least expect it!
i want to be come a sailplane/glider pilot but kinda hard to find anything to start learning how to become a pilot lol. i fly 12 ft sailplanes that are R/C the highest my altimeter has peaked was 4,221ft its was a long day. lol
Great video man. My wife bought me a sail plane ride for Christmas (2012). So I will be using that certificate this year. It will be my first time up in one. I was just wondering what is with the string on the canopy? I can't wait to go take that ride. I have been up in a 1950's 170 Cessna a few years ago. That was my first time in a small aircraft and it was a great ride. The pilot let me fly it for about 45 min. It was a very calm summer morrning.
@Vogelwiede I am sorry but you are wrong! you fly a few knots above the stall for the given bank angle to stay in the thermal core! I guess your from europe like me and I can tell you our little thermals over here are nowhere near as violent or turbulent as in the USA. Bruno simply dropped a wing into the thermal wall or got spun over by a gust. If you watch any good comp pilot they are the ones shooting up the middle of a thermal and buggering off into the distance. + u should not be to close
