Ground Handling
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- September 21, 2021
Congratulations! You've just bought a new, or new to you glider, it's an exciting time in your life. All you want to do is put those wings on & go fly it, in all reality, there's nothing wrong with that, but I feel it's better to get all the ground systems in place first. I feel that flying is the easy part, generally, this is not where the problems or damage arises. So where does it?
Ground Handling
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- November 04, 2020
Editors Note: Even when taking precautions tow out gear accidents happen. A report from this accident pictured above. " I heard a metallic sound and saw a wing lift in the rearview mirror, so stopped the pickup. Immediately its left-wing smashed against the tailgate while the tail went swiftly past the driver-side window and slammed into the front fender. Putting this together analytically, a powerful
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- April 03, 2019
Don't get Complacent
You know how this did not happen? Flying. Never have I heard someone come back from a flight “That thermal pushed me soo hard from behind, accelerating me and I heard a loud crack, it must have been the rudder.” However, I have seen multiple pilots push the glider up the ramp and into the trailer with one hand pushing on the rudder, sometimes both.
As you can see below the structure
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- February 14, 2018
Reader-submitted golf cart towing suggestions:
- Carry a Fire extinguisher to help prevent the photo from last week.
- Most golf carts are not designed for the abuse we give them running around an airport. The plastic pieces or tall grass might--or one reader insists, will--start a fire.
- One club suggests running the rope through a tire. When the rope gets slack, it will either back release or wedge itself
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- February 07, 2018
It was brought to my attention that even more difficult than the aero-tow is towing the glider back with a golf cart. Following are my "golf cart tips for dummies" that might seem obvious, but are based on mistakes that have all been done before.
- Make sure the rope is long enough, generally over half the wingspan of the glider. This ensures that when (not if) you get way out of position, you will not
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- April 20, 2016
I fought the light and the light won...
Fine, don't sing it with me, just sit there and cringe, it's understandable.
With open class gliders it is common to see a wing wheel on each wing.
This really helps when you have to make a turn with strong wind and the wing wheel is no longer on the downwind wing.
When the wind is gusty or strong it is important to place the wing wheel on the correct wing, not