landout
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April 27, 2023
Editor: In Outlanding Techniques, Part 1 Roy wrote about landouts at private and small airports. Let's read on as we look into the possibilities of off-airport landings.
Cultivated farm fields
The optimum farm
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September 22, 2022
Outlanding (or an off-field landing as others would call it) preparation starts from a long way out, even at 5000’ when we still have 40km of distance to cover before hitting terra-firma. It starts with a simple, there’s my track line to the turn point, off to the left is a scrub line and generally unlandable terrain, to the right is generally better, this thought at that moment
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March 31, 2022
The genesis of this article was an email question, sent in by a new XC pilot to an XC program panel where I was a mentor. The writer wanted to know if his club’s new acquisition of a higher performance single place glider might mean that newer XC pilots like him could participate in a Regional contest with a plan for “airport hopping” on tasks and thus avoid the challenge
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May 26, 2021
During a landout in a glider, you may find yourself in a hostile environment lasting for several hours to several days. While most US pilots think of the desert or Rocky Mountain areas as the likely place for an extended stay to occur, it can just as easily happens closer to home. In April 2007 a very experienced ridge soaring pilot went down along the forested Alleghany Mountains in Pennsylvania.
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December 21, 2017
It does not take extra Risks to Race. I hear from people all the time that say they would never race because of the additional risk involved. I would not expect my newly soloed student to get away with a low climb that I might do flying solo or at a contest. There are times when a low climb is not safe and I would not attempt it. There are times when you race on a day you normally would not have gone -
June 08, 2017
Don't land out, that definitely defines the line of pushing too hard. You can see on the graph above (graph from @SouthAfricanGlidingTeam ) how devastating one bad day can be.
My classic lawn darting experience was in 2005 at the Standard Class Nationals. The last few days placing were 3rd, 5th, 2nd, a 1st.....Then I didn't even make it 20miles....I had to take a relight that day, and did not -
June 01, 2017
When you have artillery pointed at your tail it's definitely time to go. Otherwise, the simple, fail-safe, hard-fast rule, for determining when to stay and wait it out...well, there is not one. I had some questions and was asked to expand on the newsletter from two weeks ago. But a lot of this is intuition and experience.
Waiting in zero sink while waiting for the thermal to kick-off might be -
March 09, 2017
It is really hard to improve if you do not know what you need to focus on and what you do not. So you need to start with a list of strengths and weaknesses. Once you pinpoint what you need to focus your attention on, you can make a plan to move those weaknesses to the strengths list.
It might not feel like you have a strength but I am sure you do. You might say you are good on strong days or -
June 02, 2016
Standing in a Field in Finland after being in the country for less then 8 hours.
I drove out of the docks by 9:30 am in Helsinki and drove straight to the Rayskala airport which would be my home for the next month in preparation for the upcoming WGC. I arrived on the airfield just after grid time.
The Contest Director recommend I grid and get some points. Someone volunteered