Rope break 100 feet glider

Mtns2Skies said:
Let's keep it out of the spin-zone folks. We've had enough closed threads lately.
Click to expand...

Understood. Thanks for your patience with my thoughts, and I'm sorry if I crossed any boundaries.
 
I don't think she went more than three seconds before deploying the spoilers and committing to the landing. Staying calm and getting the job done is a quality that will help her in future successes!
 
That plane&pilot article is just one notch above bottom of the page clickbait. "We couldn’t believe how she responded to the emergency and you won’t either."
What did they expect ? That she would start to 'scream like a little girl' and plunge the glider into the ground ?

She was fresh out of training. A rope break in glider training is about as surprising as a sudden engine failure during your multi ticket. She executed what she had trained for. A good video, minus the gushing.
 
weilke said:
She was fresh out of training. A rope break in glider training is about as surprising as a sudden engine failure during your multi ticket. She executed what she had trained for. A good video, minus the gushing.
Click to expand...

Also part of aerotow training for hang gliders. It was good to train, as I've experienced both weak link failures as well as premature release.
 
weilke said:
That plane&pilot article is just one notch above bottom of the page clickbait. "We couldn’t believe how she responded to the emergency and you won’t either."
What did they expect ? That she would start to 'scream like a little girl' and plunge the glider into the ground ?

She was fresh out of training. A rope break in glider training is about as surprising as a sudden engine failure during your multi ticket. She executed what she had trained for. A good video, minus the gushing.
Click to expand...
Come on. She didn’t DO anything that impressive, but the way she handled herself was pretty impressive. It Wasn’t that exciting because the runoff area was clear of obstacles, but she immediately and properly executed without panic or second guessing. I strive to be that cool and collected when something goes wrong.
 
PaulS said:
I think I'm kinda woke, I originally wrote balls, but changed it.
Click to expand...
I pity woke individuals. To each their own ...

Edit: To take it a little farther and most likely to far for people on this forum. When I first heard the term woke I did a little reading to find out what it means.

Until it was brought up in this thread I had never really thought about it in relation to Aviation. Now that I am, I think being legitimately woke should disqualify someone for a first class medical.
 
Last edited:
weilke said:
That plane&pilot article is just one notch above bottom of the page clickbait. "We couldn’t believe how she responded to the emergency and you won’t either."
Click to expand...
I don't click on or read anything that has 'you won't believe...' or 'we couldn't believe...' in the title.
 
Woke or sleep, she did a good job. And this entire thread would have ended with that if she wasn't an attractive female. Get it together, boys.
 
So, did she have to pay for the tow, or was it hook up another rope and let's get going.??
 
Zeldman said:
So, did she have to pay for the tow, or was it hook up another rope and let's get going.??
Click to expand...
It’s a flight in the logbook, so it counts as a tow. My old club had a per-tow charge, then another charge for each 500’ above 1000 AGL (or something similar, I forget the details), so she probably got charged the minimum.
 
George Mohr said:
Woke or sleep, she did a good job. And this entire thread would have ended with that if she wasn't an attractive female. Get it together, boys.
Click to expand...

I'll give you attractive female, but come on. It was the first flight for her brother, who has autism, so she had that going on. Plus she barely flinched when the rope broke, she had just cleared 100 feet. She went right into save her ass mode, didn't take her over a second to lower the nose, then she popped in the speed brake and kicked it into a slip. She took the time, albeit a simple "ok", to calm her brother when he realized all was not well. Then she nailed the landing. Then after she stopped, she confidently tells us in not so many words, the she handled her business like the best of them. THEN, she took her brother up again later that day. I would be just as impressed if she were an ugly old guy like me.
 
PaulS said:
I'll give you attractive female, but come on. It was the first flight for her brother, who has autism, so she had that going on. Plus she barely flinched when the rope broke, she had just cleared 100 feet. She went right into save her ass mode, didn't take her over a second to lower the nose, then she popped in the speed brake and kicked it into a slip. She took the time, albeit a simple "ok", to calm her brother when he realized all was not well. Then she nailed the landing. Then after she stopped, she confidently tells us in not so many words, the she handled her business like the best of them. THEN, she took her brother up again later that day. I would be just as impressed if she were an ugly old guy like me.
Click to expand...

We’re on the same side of this event! Sorry if I was less than clear.
 
Juliet Hotel said:
I don't click on or read anything that has 'you won't believe...' or 'we couldn't believe...' in the title.
Click to expand...

It's not an emergency in the first place. A rope break during glider tow operations, while abnormal, is not an emergency. It can turn into one if you dont react in the calm and focused way that this young woman did, but a tow rope break with landable terrain in front of you is not an emergency.

Locally a glider pilot/passenger died when he experienced what functionally amounts to a rope break at 200ft. They ended up 80ft up in a tree and the passenger died from falling down from the tree.

ERA11FA401

https://app.ntsb.gov/pdfgenerator/R...tID=20110715X11650&AKey=1&RType=HTML&IType=FA

So yes, if you dont react in a calm and focused way to an abnormal condition, you may end up with an emergency at your hands.
 
weilke said:
It's not an emergency in the first place. A rope break during glider tow operations, while abnormal, is not an emergency. It can turn into one if you dont react in the calm and focused way that this young woman did, but a tow rope break with landable terrain in front of you is not an emergency.

Locally a glider pilot/passenger died when he experienced what functionally amounts to a rope break at 200ft. They ended up 80ft up in a tree and the passenger died from falling down from the tree.

ERA11FA401

https://app.ntsb.gov/pdfgenerator/R...tID=20110715X11650&AKey=1&RType=HTML&IType=FA

So yes, if you dont react in a calm and focused way to an abnormal condition, you may end up with an emergency at your hands.
Click to expand...
I agree, but there's not always such a wonderful choice if your rope breaks at 100 feet. Where I fly, a break at 100 feet, I'd be able to make a 90 degree turn and land on a right angle runway, but at 175 feet I'd be landing in trees or tree stumps at best. It would certainly be an emergency.
 
Salty said:
I agree, but there's not always such a wonderful choice if your rope breaks at 100 feet. Where I fly, a break at 100 feet, I'd be able to make a 90 degree turn and land on a right angle runway, but at 175 feet I'd be landing in trees or tree stumps at best. It would certainly be an emergency.
Click to expand...

That's what I said, right ?
 
Bill Watson said:
<snip>

She didn’t hesitate to make the decision to proceed straight ahead as trained. Then she executed a nice side slip to keep it as short as possible. In a SGS2-33, side slips are practiced in training but generally not required so proficiency is always a question.... but not for her.

<Snip>


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
Click to expand...

On small correction. From the video it appeared the only decision she had to make was to follow the plan or not. She had already made the plan for a rope break below 200 feet and had it planned all they way through to the landing. The lesson there is, we should all be that prepared for when the unexpected happens. That way the only obvious course of action is "Follow the Plan!!!", little or no decision making required, because you have already done that.

Brian
CFIIG/ASEL
 
brcase said:
On small correction. From the video it appeared the only decision she had to make was to follow the plan or not. She had already made the plan for a rope break below 200 feet and had it planned all they way through to the landing. The lesson there is, we should all be that prepared for when the unexpected happens. That way the only obvious course of action is "Follow the Plan!!!", little or no decision making required, because you have already done that.

Brian
CFIIG/ASEL
Click to expand...

Okay Brian CFIIG, you are right and I would guess a good instructor.

At the training and local flying stage of the sport, ‘follow the plan’ is a good way to view one’s flights and the various things that might happen on a flight. Which, if everything is done correctly by the pilot, is limited to tow rope breaks above and below 200’; just ‘follow the plan’.

I’d like to give her an extra point for following the plan to the letter; i.e. she appears to have even pulled the release right after the break in order to clear the rope since she has no idea where the break occurred or even if she had been released by the tow pilot. Anyone else catch that? She’s a YouTube star just because it looked so damn good on video. Just flawless

But, I would submit that there isn’t necessarily a plan for when the truly unexpected happens; like a bird strike, or a middair, or a stuck ballast valve, or a broken wheel brake cable or an a-hole tow pilot/airport manager who decided to spread some toxic masculinity around by trying to scare the only flying female on the airport out of the sport by signaling her to release at hundreds of feet over unlandable territory for no explicable reason (yeah, I watched it and knew her).

Sorry, I digressed a bit, but just wanted to make the point that there isn’t always a ‘plan’ for real world things happening in soaring or flying. It’s just too dynamic. But ‘following the plan’ is the way to start for sure.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
 
Bill Jennings said:
Also part of aerotow training for hang gliders. It was good to train, as I've experienced both weak link failures as well as premature release.
Click to expand...
Rope (weaklink) break at 5 feet with "gear up". Skip to 30 seconds if you don't want to watch me debate whether or not to launch in a light tail wind.

 
Hang 4 said:
Rope (weaklink) break at 5 feet with "gear up". Skip to 30 seconds if you don't want to watch me debate whether or not to launch in a light tail wind.

Click to expand...
Great job on landing straight ahead instead of trying for that 180!

Decisions based strictly on altitude do need a bit of common sense. The 200’ = a 180 back to the rwy for a glider, for example. Depending on climb rates, rwy length, and winds, you might be at 200’ but too far away to get back onto the rwy. In that case, another field might be safer. Scoping out alternatives ahead of time is a good idea.
 
Bill Watson said:
I’d like to give her an extra point for following the plan to the letter; i.e. she appears to have even pulled the release right after the break in order to clear the rope since she has no idea where the break occurred or even if she had been released by the tow pilot. Anyone else catch that? She’s a YouTube star just because it looked so damn good on video. Just flawless
Click to expand...

I noticed something else that I thought illustrated her cool head. Again, I'm not a glider pilot (except for the dacron and aluminum tubing type) so this observation may be incorrect.

As soon as the glider touched down, she pushed the stick full forward and held it there with a confidence and authority that spoke of good training and singleness of purpose. I assume that input is meant to plant the aircraft, raise the tail to prevent unwanted ground contact, and transfer weight to the wheel for better controllability.

It was a very simple thing, but I thought it was a great finishing move on a textbook example of "following the plan".
 
3393RP said:
I noticed something else that I thought illustrated her cool head. Again, I'm not a glider pilot (except for the dacron and aluminum tubing type) so this observation may be incorrect.

As soon as the glider touched down, she pushed the stick full forward and held it there with a confidence and authority that spoke of good training and singleness of purpose. I assume that input is meant to plant the aircraft, raise the tail to prevent unwanted ground contact, and transfer weight to the wheel for better controllability.

It was a very simple thing, but I thought it was a great finishing move on a textbook example of "following the plan".
Click to expand...
I’m not familiar with the one she was in, but one of the gliders I fly has a skid on the nose and the best way to stop quickly is to push that skid into the ground.
 
3393RP said:
As soon as the glider touched down, she pushed the stick full forward and held it there with a confidence and authority that spoke of good training and singleness of purpose. I assume that input is meant to plant the aircraft, raise the tail to prevent unwanted ground contact, and transfer weight to the wheel for better controllability.
Click to expand...
That looks like an SGS. They have a single wheel that sits slightly behind the rear seat. As I recall if you get on the hand brake hard, it's going to want to put the nose on the ground like that.
 
3393RP said:
I noticed something else that I thought illustrated her cool head. Again, I'm not a glider pilot (except for the dacron and aluminum tubing type) so this observation may be incorrect.

As soon as the glider touched down, she pushed the stick full forward and held it there with a confidence and authority that spoke of good training and singleness of purpose. I assume that input is meant to plant the aircraft, raise the tail to prevent unwanted ground contact, and transfer weight to the wheel for better controllability.

It was a very simple thing, but I thought it was a great finishing move on a textbook example of "following the plan".
Click to expand...
Given the video, it’s a bit unknowable but what I see is her doing a normal flair to touch down, then as soon as she touches, her left arm pulls on the spoilers to apply the wheel break which causes the the nose starts down, which it does quite quickly in the 2–33, she let go of the back pressure and yes, pushes the stick forward to get maximum braking with the skid.

Hope she landed on the airport side of the road. NO ONE wants to disassemble a 2-33 unless beer is served.

After my 10th watching, she’s still a freak’n star. Just text book with video captured cool.

And just think what she had to go through... like having every man-child on the ramp trying to help with the belts on first flights, “thank you for your help, thank you as well”, etc.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
 
When she becomes an airline pilot, they'll call her...


Sulllll....try.. sultry... That's it, that's the ticket... Sultry.


She did better'n I might have...
 
Last edited:
MuseChaser said:
..

It's a phrase used to demean and indict an entire gender when someone acts more aggressively, boisterously, confidently, or otherwise differently than the person using the phrase would like. Nothing more, nothing less. There is nothing toxic about masculinity... nor femininity... nor anything in between. There is simply inconsiderate, rude, abusive behavior, and no specific gender, ethnicity, or demographic is free from it, nor particularly prone to it. It just takes different forms. As the father of three boys and a retired public school teacher, I have seen enough male-shaming, mistreatment of our boys and young men in school, and favoritism for females in academia that remaining silent about the issue becomes increasingly difficult for me. We are all created equal... but we are not all identical. There are plenty of women who could easily kick my butt, outfight me, out-run me, out-lift me... and I can probably crochet better than most women. However, that doesn't mean anything. It doesn't mean that the men who enjoy beer, tackle football in muddy fields, and pickup trucks (as do I, all three, and lots of other "toxic" aggressive stuff) should be shamed for being "masculine," nor does it mean that women who enjoy primping, shopping, and quilting should be shamed or made to feel like they are somehow less for not being interested in mechanical engineering. WHO CARES what any indidual of either gender likes to do, whether it's "traditional" or not.



It wasn't a joke, it was a sincere compliment. There is simply NO way to take the OP in any way other than that. To think that the OP was asserting that there is no possible way she could have handled the glider incident that well unless she truly did physically posess a pair of unusally large testicles and a higher than normal level of testosterone is just about as warped an interpretation as one could imagine. It's a phrase.. it means calm and fearless in circumstances that would cause panic and fear in most people. We ALL know that. To pretend otherwise is simply fallacious.

AND... what exactly is "nontraditionally feminine?" If that covers everything that ISN'T traditionally feminine (... and... what is that? I mean.. it seems OK to ascribe any manner of negative traits to masculinity... let's see the list for femininity...or is femininity always non-toxic.. sort of like the perfect antidote to the world's ills... maybe that's it.. ), it's a pretty meaningless phrase. Even more meaningless than toxic masculinity.

Suppose the pilot in the video had been equal calm, competent, and of similar attractiveness but male, and a female member of this board had posted "Is he single?" Would anyone even have given that a second thought?.... No?... but... but... I thought we were supposed to be equal... ?

Live well. Be nice. Take no offense to words, because most of the time offense is not intended where you see it. Where it is, the intended offense is only effective if you decide TO take offense. Be kind. Care not what others do or how they choose to live, unless it causes you harm or those whom you are charged to love and care for. The majority of males are genetically disposed to find females attractive, and the majority of females are genetically disposed to find males attractive... is how our species survives, and it's a beautiful thing. Complimenting each other should NOT be so dang difficult.

AND.... this wasn't a "****atorm"... or even a ****storm. More like a slightly smelly belch... ;)

This is the internet, these are written words, and as usual all of this (refering to my writing, not yours) reads much more intense that I mean it to. Let's grab a beer, watch the game, and do some traditionally non-feminine stuff together sometime. We'd probably have a blast.

Cheers!
Click to expand...

Musechaser, somehow I missed this post before today, you have nothing to apologize for here, thanks for writing it, I really have nothing to add, other than you nailed it.


As far as this young lady nailing it. I measured 3,000 feet from what I think is the fence she referred to and the road visible on after it on the google maps. I figure she was maybe going 60 mph when being towed (makes the math easier anyway.) She flew over the fence at 52 seconds left on the video and the rope broke at around 40 seconds left. So she traveled for 12 seconds at 60 mph so she used up about 1,000 feet of those 3,000 feet. Then she was on the ground about 25 seconds later, so I'm thinking she was looking at that road, thinking "I don't want to hit that because it will hurt" , hence the slip and the heavy braking.

I'll do the rest of the math if someone knows what she slowed to for the approach, but I think she had a much shorter space to hit than people think.
 
Last edited:
Approach speed in a 2-22 is 55-60. I think it is similar in a 2-33. Touchdown would be in the 45-50 range.
 
Ok, so 25 seconds at 50 mph, she would have covered another 1,800 feet, leaving about 200 feet to land in. Now this doesn't account for wind, which would increase the available distance and plus it's a swag, but I think the distance to get this done was considerably shorter than it seems. My theory anyway.

Edit: 200 feet (no wind) to land before the road.
 
Last edited:
PaulS said:
Ok, so 25 seconds at 50 mph, she would have covered another 1,800 feet, leaving about 200 feet to land in.
Click to expand...
200ft left to land in? :confused2: Looking at google satellite view it looks like acres of scrub off the end of the runway there.
 
PaulS said:
Before the road.
Click to expand...
Are you looking at the right airport?

There's no road to be seen on the west side where she was heading.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top