At our club we still have gliders originally built in the 1930, still flying, including primary gliders, a plank below and a wing above and on a winch launch 800ft of cable between you and the ground, it gets your attention. A seat belt, but no parachute (too much weight, no room and no time to deploy).
For some reason, (over speed or maybe mechanical), the glider that crashed was pitching up violently. You could see the pilot trying to counter by repeatedly giving full down elevator, which caused the aircraft to dive and accelerate, which would cause another violent pitch up when he backed off the elevator. When the aircraft rolled hard left, the pilot stayed off the down elevator too long while trying to roll level, and whatever was causing the violent pitch upwards ended up looping the airplane. Hard to watch.
We wear parachutes not because of mechanical issues but because we fly so close together in thermals. If the guy takes out your tail this is the best way to survive....
I am glad i am learning to fly now rather than then, although the schulgleiter at 6:00 does look like fun! most of the others just look downright scary!
Considering they had no modern 'high-tech' materials to build with, flights of two hours were remarkable and showed how well designed they were. Also, unlike todays pilots, they didn't have parachutes either....(incidentally, if gliding is so safe, how come so many wear a parachute?)
They had plenty of high tech materials to build with. And parachutes had already been a thing for decades when these were made. The first parachute jump was out of a hot air balloon. The first parachute jump out of an airplane was in the 1910's. These videos were made in the 1920s, post world war 1, where gliding was mostly done for sport and to further aeronautical development
Wow incredible! The guy died because he appeared to be using too much up and down elevator, at too high an air speed. However, I must admit he had guts! Thanks for posting.
Well, these old Types often had Wire/Cable Controlled Surfaces. If the Controls aren't sufficiently tight the Control Surfaces have a lot of Play, which means the Pilot has to Overcontrol the Plane, he basically has to Chase his Plane's Movements which results in Oscillation both Aerodynamically and Pilot Induced, especially on Ailerons and Elevators. That's why by the Mid 30s almost all new Types had Rod-Controlled Elevators at least, and by the 50s Ailerons also became commonly Rod Controlled.
In the 1930s, if the pupil's first flight was solo, and if he had never been up with an instructor, then how could they be sure he wouldn't stall or spin? I know the very low wing loading must be part of the answer, but even so..?
There was a curriculum starting with slides, short hops, longer straight glides, S-turns with increasing bank, and so on, thus at least mitigating the risks. Of course most of these rules, and even today‘s rule books were written with blood.
I guess when they say 'the end' they really mean it lol. Ouch. Never too late for NTSB to investigate? Pilot error? Human factors, pilot was under a lot of pressure to perform bc of audience and cameras? Cockpit resource management? Thx for upload, great stuff.
