Volume 32 No 1 Feb-Mar 1981.pdf - Lakes Gliding Club

about 17yrs and whose experienceincll!Jdes 3yrs as an instructor filler in theRAF. The compiler of the summary was inno way setting him~elf up as a structuralexpert but merely summarising for publicalionIhe comments contained in the accidenlreport.I suspect Mr Jones considers the words,"Inspectiol'\ suggests failure was progressive"infers some criticism ot the prod uctThis is not tile case. Tile· fail'ure may havehad its or,igins some time previously andeach SlJbsequent landing, take-off andground run could have contributed a smallpart to the final collapse.The purpose of accident reporting is,inter alia, 10 attempt 10 determine thecaljSes witil a view to preventing accidentsof a similar nature In Ihe flut'ure, not toascribe blame. Defecls f,requenlly manifestthemselves when products pass imto theharldsof users and rectHicatlon or modificalionis sometimes required. In ·this casethere is nothing 10 suggest such action isnecessary but as GRP for 'Undercarriagestructures is a relatively new application forthis material the accident prevention messageis that owners should look at theirundercarriages.However, as Mr Jones indicates, therewas rather more damag.e than' one wouldexpect from a simple collapse so it maywell be the. landing was somewl1at heavierthan indicated in the report. Withol,lt thisadditional ,irlformation (and i,t is quiteimpracticable to follow up each 'and everyreport for further informalion,) it is o[1llypossible to 'summarise tihe contenls of Ihereport as submitted.In conclusion, it may interest Mr JQnes toknow the accident was assessed as"undercarriage collapsed" Group 11 inBGA analysis and not as a "technical"accident Group 19.CREATING FRIENDLY FARMERSDear Editor,Takenl from the American magazine.soaring, creating friendly farmers, is a verygood idea to be promulgated.When landinginl a farmer's field oneshould always have a camera and take apicture of him, or preferably his child, sittipgin tile cockpit. One cannot really offertfie farmer money, although a SOp piece tohis ehild wOllld be appreciated, but hewould be thrilled and most grateful to havea photograph.Persoil,ally I have done this on a fewoccasions and have had some lovely lettersof t,hanks. Normally I always write andthank. the fS'rmer for the use of his field. butin 'fulure I liTlust tJse the camera too.My Lasham cl'ub holds a Farmers' Partyevery year for those who hav:e been helpful.Having been bom and worked on a farmmyseU I am able to t.alkfarmill1g to Ihef'armef. As a g,roup lhey are only tooJ:)leased to· have the opporlunity to converSewith eact:, other. and at Ihe Farmers'Party they are more interested in themselvesthan us.'Perhaps other ipilots and c1.ubs will takeIUp tl1ese ideas which mllst give our sporttll1e best possible image.HUMPHRY DIMOCK, Gasport, Hants.42FIRST INTERNATIONAlDear Editor,The first International Gliding Contestwas held In JUly 1,937, but is not included inthe list of International Contests given atthe end of The History of Gilding by' AAnWelch (reviewed on p47), who came intoBritish gliding just after it was over. II is notin the index bllt merltion of it will be foundon p135-6 where itis stated that "The Britishteam won no prizes ..." Actually onJuly 9 Fit Lt P. M. Watt (later Sqd ILdr) wonthe daily prize, which was for height with aclimb 01 2330m. On the 12th W. B. Murrayof the RAF and J. S. Fox put up an internationaltwo-seater duration record of 9hrs48min - the first to be recognised by theFAI.UnfOlrtunately Sqd Ldr Watt lost his lifeearly in the war in an RAF plane Which thepilot was trying to land im fog.A. E. SiLATER, Cambridge.WEEKENO CLUB TRAININGDear Editor,The major problem with weekend glidingfor ab-initios is havingl a bost 01 differentInstructors. from one weekend to another,resulting in a slow progress rale and theneed to jostle for flights om the daily list.Some clubs operate evening COlHses andby having, tile same InslructQrlst·udentcombination continuity is achieved. It islairly simple 10 do the same at weekendsand has beerl done with great success atsome clubs.The weekends are divided into four withmorning and afternoon courses. Someclubs even add an extra course ,iA midsummerby starting al El to ,6:30am until10am.Even if one doesn't reach this admirablelevel 01 enthusiasm, one can Improve onIhe semewhat haphazard morning list. Ihave found instructors wilt always respondto such suggestions because the reward isthat they' start to fly wi,ttlthe same peopleinstead of a chaotic mixture where the firstlIighl is a "get to know you" trip in spite oflogbook notes.Team spirit also results, especially Iromnew members Who really leel t,hey belongto the club instead of turning up Orl thefield and'being asked who they are. Alsothere is more time for proper groundinstruction, wives don't lose their husbandsfor a whole day and the "waiting allday for a flight" syndrome is eliminated.nle system can be supplemented byhaving a casual list for check rides etc.Try it out at your club. You will be sur"prised at the interest it generates.J. S. DOWNES, Booker, Bucks.FIVE YEARS IN FIVE OAYSIOear Edilor,Following V. J. Chambers' letter in theAugust issue (p204) about gliding at the SebrjngSoaring Centre in Florida, USA, I caner:ldorse his recomm.endation wholehear·tedly; not only for the gliding bllt as an allroundholiday with visits to attractive diversionssuch as Kennedy Space Centre andDisney World close by. I decided to visit theCentre on the way back from attending acomputer training ,course in the USA andwas well rewarded.My experience of glidingas'a tug pilot torthe last five years has been to try and getsome gliding hours In between compswhen tugging at the Northern Regionals,but due to the English climate achievingonly 1'4hrs in five yearsl In five days atSebring last MarchJ I flew 14hrs, and as theprevious correspondent also stated, Icould have easily doubled lhal time.J. J. SMITH, Lelgh on Sea, Essex."WE MUST REMAIN BROTHERS"Dear Editor,I am a fellow aviator, a brother not abrother-in-law (see the last issue, p271). Iam a hang glider pilot and a British HangGliding Association Council member. I amin the Ihick of things which is limiting myHying like it does any who get involved withthe organisation 01 our delightlul silentforms 01 recreation in: the sky.I am very concerned, as you .are, that weseem to be coming into conflict in certainareas and are in danger of limiting all ouractivities. I have been charged with theBHGA responsibUi,ly for trying 10 preventthis.Recreational flying is based on the conceptthat the a'ir is ,(,relatively) free. Wewould have no future in the sky if that ideawere completely abandoned. Those whoown the land beneath us would be toorestrictive as they just do not understand orsupport aviation, except perhaps whenthey want to travel on a commercial airline.We all fly gliders, although their characteristicsare different to a degree. We allsearch for rising air. We ,rather reSentsomeone else using il when we want it andthere just is not room for another inreasonable safety. Our experiences tend toenable us to predict and fit in: with 1ll1emovements 01 someone flying a similarmacnine. Patterns can be developed morereadily if all using constricted airspace aretravelling at similar speeds.We seem to resent a fellow 'aviator moreif he is nol only using air we WOluld like, butis also flying a machine that is rather differentfoo often the resentment and differencesare magnified because we do notget t0gether afterwards and socialise.S'uitable hills are rather scarce adjacentto some of the more highly populated areasin this country. Greed for the space availabreis beginning to show Itself and we arebeginnimg to quarrel. There is no doubt atall that open quarrels will be viewed withconcern by others, particularly if there is alack Clf harmony in the air.None 01 us want a collision and we try tofly in such a way as to minimise the risk ofthis. We still flY. Ground lubbers think weare alii too brave 10 be safe anyway and willstrongly oppose our activities if we givethem the chance. If we are quarrelling andapparently prepared 10 have conflict in, thesky, then, it presents them with everyreason for wanting more control. I wouldnot blame them. Collisions are unpleasarltfor those immedialely inIJolved. They areSAILPLANE & GLIDING