Lesson of the day,,,, beware of the gulley! (all the gulleys).

Saturday 23rd March.

All forecasts for Parlick looked promising, so I arrived at the hill 9.00am sharp grabbing a vip parking spot right next to the gate and off I went.

After the usual slog up the hill myself and a couple of other pilots sheltered behind the wall on the west face, talking parabollocks and waiting for the wind to drop slightly, which it did 30mins later.

Everyone did the usual set up and launch into nice smooth conditions around 10.30ish.

I'd set my self a bit of a goal to get to Fairsnpe so off I puteled on my own scraping round the bowl at ridge height, not great in a wnw and with not much height, as soon as I got onto the corner quite low I anticipated a struggle to regain altitude.

Making it around the corner of Fairsnpe I was low, the wall was getting closer so I figured the best option would be slope land, walk up and re-launch again. I then make a speedy dash back to the safety of Parlick. All went well except for the 15 minutes wasted walking the rather steep rocky hill to get to a grassy patch for take-off.

Landing back at the Parlick west just below the wall was predictable and easy, had a chat, drink, chill, then set up and off again for more flying fun.

Had a nice boat about chasing gulls, got a few thermals and then decided to go for another slope landing in the same spot.

I knew I'd ****ed up on the approach. The wind had picked up slightly, plus it had a bit more north in it of a few extra degrees. I had lost my height out front to scoop in off that wsw shoulder to the usual launch /landing area. On the down wind leg of the approach I left it far to late to break left and had drifted to far south

I went to far round the corner, hit massive sink, and the increased wind speed that funnels round the hill reduced my forward speed to a snails pace. Going down I glanced over my right shoulder realising how close I was to one of the many large gulleys, this is not the place I wanted to be, possibly rocks and rotor. Uncross the legs getting ready for the inevitable dump I was mentally prepared,  then as soon as my feet touched mother earth I was going backwards falling backwards onto my arse! A fast shock stall yank on the brakes brought the wing down immediately and I jumped back onto my feet rather relieved to gather my glider and make the walk of shame back round the corner of the originally planed landing area. Maybe I should have had hold of the C's on touchdown?

Lucky to get away with it unscathed sprang to mind.

Stay safe out there folks

YouTube link of the event-

https://youtu.be/qO7soeMGvoU

Regards, Barry

“Every landing you walk away from is a good landing”. That’s the mantra we use when we’ve ****ed up the compulsory bit of the flight, telling ourselves it was OK, we survived. But that’s not good enough, is it? Aviation is a serious business and it’s vital to review any part of the flight that went wrong and learn from it. So here’s my tale of a crash that could have had much more serious consequences:

Parlick west bowl, lovely February day, wind strong enough to keep most sensible pilots on the ground well below the west bowl wall. I’d been to Tailbridge, arriving there just late enough to watch a few PGs landing backwards after some stationary moments, so after rushing  back to Parlick I was keen to fly. The wind eased a bit, a few of us took off and experienced the usual single-digit groundspeeds you get when the wind is so strong. It was smooth enough but a bit nerve-jangling so after a while, one by one people were going down and landing well below the wall. By the time I got round to penetrating forward far enough to spiral down, the wind had increased significantly. I was still climbing in full speed bar and big ears.

Now, I’m the first to admit that my landing skills aren’t the best, so I planned to make several approaches to get the timing right. Each time I turned towards the hill from 100’ lower than before, getting used to the speed of approach, the rapid climb that happened as soon as I got near the ground, and practised timing the turn across the slope, ready to touch down and kill the wing. Finally, ready to commit, I was down at 900’ AMSL (below the fence at the bottom of the hill) and lined up my approach. . . .

Hurtling over the green grass in the lower field, everything went to plan: as I got near the fence I started to climb and could see I was going to clear the fence easily, so got ready to turn. That’s when the vario stopped its happy sound. I was clear of the wall but now had no room to turn as there was a slight gully. All the brake in the world didn’t get me out of trouble, and I hit the ground. Hard. Legs, backside, bounce, legs again before the world went quiet. All well, no injuries and no damage but I was worried the wind would reinflate my glider and take me for a drag.

So, what happened? As I sat there checking myself over, the weird thing was the wind: there wasn’t any! What little there was blew DOWN the slope, so no dragging danger. I was in rotor. I need to go back and have a look at the ground, but clearly the fence, gentle undulations and hollows down there can create enough turbulence in strong winds to spoil your day. Wind creates turbulence; strong wind and gradient creates more turbulence; close to the ground it gets worse; changes in the terrain amplify this. Close to the ground we are vulnerable.

Lessons? There is no substitute for experience and practising the things we find hard. I was doing the right thing by rehearsing my landing, but failed to realise what could go wrong: the fence was limiting my options and disturbing the airflow – I had to maintain course while climbing in order to clear it, but when I lost height I was in a corner. These days of soaring in winter are ideal for practising the skills of taking off and landing. Not to self: need to do more.

Tight lines

Brian

What a day! 24 Feb 2019, glorious warm spring sunshine pulled over 2 dozen members (and others – see below) onto Parlick East bowl. Once the ground warmed up, the early light winds were supplemented by some half-decent thermals. Unfortunately, most of these were chopped up and broken, possibly by some wave type effects but more so by the very obvious inversion limiting thermalling height to around 1600’ ASL. The narrow range of altitude available meant with that number of wings in the sky it was going to be crowded; throw in some sailplanes and a hang glider and the scene was set for carnage . . .

So, it’s great to be able to commend all concerned on a remarkable display of airmanship. I wasn’t aware of any conflict; rules of the air seemed to be well observed and even the low airtime pilots were able to gain experience of dealing with a crowded sky. One comment I heard concerns what to do when you are heading straight on to another glider: obviously if a collision were imminent, both turn right. However, if you can see from some distance away that you are on a collision course, the sensible course of action is to plan what you are going to do before you get close. If that plan means a slight turn to pass to one side or the other, then make that alteration early so that the other pilot can see your intentions. If you both make a slight correction (one left and one right) and are still on collision course, then I would suggest that whoever initially turned left must then make a positive turn right to clear the other. We don’t want to see the ‘pavement dance’ where each one keeps changing direction and both keep on a collision course. Well done all; it was a challenging day and it’s good to see so many PSC members out enjoying our wonderful site.

On that note, there were some strangers around. Visiting pilots are welcome, provided they are BHPA members (or for visiting pilots from overseas, carry equivalent third-party insurance from their recognised national body) and have studied the site guide. Ideally on a first visit we would like them to speak to local pilots to gain first hand and up to date info on the site and conditions. Committee members were able to speak to one or two of these, but everyone can play a part here: It is our own safety that is compromised if pilots are flying without knowledge of the site and its conditions; it risks the financial future of our families should one of them cause an accident and be uninsured; grieving families looking for someone to blame can employ a scattergun approach seeking compensation. Proving you have no liability could be expensive and highly stressful. If you see a face you don’t recognise, then a friendly approach to introduce yourself is a polite way to start a conversation about this. We want to be inclusive and try to present a friendly approach to encourage all to join our gang, but we must be clear that uninsured pilots are not welcome on our sites. Obviously, don’t get involved in any confrontation, let’s  try to get more people onside.

Tight lines.

Brian

In addition to the proposed change to the airspace around Farnborough, there is a long list of other
planned changes to the airspace in the UK which will affect both general aviation and people on the
ground.
On 5 February, Southampton Airport stated on the CAA’s website
(https://airspacechange.caa.co.uk/PublicProposalArea?pID=115) that it was submitting an airspace
change proposal (ACP) to expand its airspace. At an assessment meeting held at the Hilton Hotel,
Gatwick Airport on 22 January 2019, Southampton stated that new routes would overfly some new
communities, not currently regularly overflown. It also stated that there is work ongoing as part of
the airport’s master plan to consult with local communities including parish councils. The area
concerned is shown below in the diagram issued by the airport.

The proposed change to Southampton’s airspace is one of fifteen ACPs under a plan (entitled the
Future Airspace Strategy Implementation South: FASI South) that are expected for consultation in
the near future. Some of these will affect airspace below 7000ft.
We recognise that there is a need to reduce delay and to save fuel. However, it is important that any
new controlled areas are designed to be safe for all users of British airspace and to use this valuable
national resource as efficiently as possible. At present there is a risk that an uncoordinated
patchwork of airspace will be left for general aviation with numerous pinch-points that will increase
the risk of collisions. People living in previously quiet areas of the country may also be in for
surprises.
As previously reported Lasham Gliding Society has been granted leave for a judicial review against
the CAA in relation to its decision to approve Farnborough Airfield’s airspace change proposal. The
hearing has now been scheduled in the High Court to commence on 5 June 2019.
Lasham Gliding Society and other aviation bodies oppose Farnborough’s proposal because it would
create an inefficient and disproportionately large amount of controlled airspace that would have a
significant and negative impact on safety, and on the Society’s operations and financial health. With
the Southampton airspace and more in the offing, winning this judicial review is more important than
ever to ensure that the needs of General Aviation are properly considered.
To help fight this case, Lasham has set up a campaign fund and asks all to contribute. Lasham would
like to thank all those who have already donated, both pilots and local residents. The target for the
fund is £100,000 and so far, £68,000 has been raised. For details click on
https://www.lashamgliding.com/pages/airspace-campaign
John McCullagh
john@mccullagh.biz

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