The 3 Crucial Questions

In February one of the topics was about landings and to 'not land' when trying to land. To float and dissipate the energy. The following 3 questions are what I repeatedly ask myself on every landing.

Am I high?
Am I low?
Is my speed ok?

They are new separate questions each time. If my speed was fast, I am going to ask it again, because hopefully, I have corrected it since the last time asking that question.

What I have found is normally a student can get the answer correct pretty quickly. But taking a corrective action to fix it is longer. Normally the student says they are high but it takes a few crucial seconds (sometimes feels like an eternity) before they move the spoilers and/or slip.

Now when I say student, I am not saying that you a 1000 hour seasoned glider pilot is exempt from this error. I notice when I do not make a great landing it was because I was not focusing as well as I should have been. My laziness comes in when I stop looking at the horizon and not tell myself to hold it off.

A large percentage of students that tried knocking tree squirrels out were high 15 seconds before. They were above glide and used full spoilers with a slip to get down. Soon after they got on glide but with a huge descent end up getting low. Once they get low it takes a few seconds before making a correction.

I also take a glance at the spoilers to make sure they are where I want them. I remember a student who went floating by us sitting on the porch at the office. After some time we decided to retrieve him with the golf cart. I asked why he floated so far (a 2-33 can be impressive in ground effect). He was unsure and when I told him the spoilers were closed he looked confused because he thought they were fully open. Since then I always check, just a quick look. They should be where you are expecting them and only really take a second look when they are not there as that will cause some confusion.

I start these questions in full swing once on base. Because now we are using the spoilers and actively descending. Before that, I am asking more about how does our angle look? Students have more of a tendency to start letting the speed get away from them at this point in the pattern, so the questions help.

 Garret Willat holds a flight instructor rating with over 8000 hours in sailplanes. His parents have owned Sky Sailing Inc. since 1979. He started instructing the day after his 18th birthday. Since then, Garret has represented the US Junior team in 2003 and 2005. He graduated from Embry-Riddle with a bachelor's degree in Professional Aeronautics. Garret represented the US Open Class team in 2008 and 2010 and the Club Class team in 2014. Garret has won 3 US National Championships.