Rope break 100 feet glider

Maybe she has bigger stones than you but it looks like a non event.
 
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Brad Z said:
The video made the rounds about 9 months ago (I'm guessing) but still cool.

And I hope for her sake she doesn't have any stones, regardless of their size. She's just confident and well trained.
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It's a metaphor Brad, at least as applied to her. This is supposed to be a non event to glider pilots, but still, she did a great job.
 
PaulS said:
It's a metaphor Brad, at least as applied to her. This is supposed to be a non event to glider pilots, but still, she did a great job.
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I'm aware of the metaphor, but hopefully one day we will come up with a better term for strong, confident girls than to suggest they have large male reproductive organs.
 
A bit more than a non-event.

Rope breaks are routinely practiced at 200’+, the minimum altitude where a return to the airport is deemed possible. Rope breaks at less than 200’ are discussed and game planned but at many glider ports, actual practice is not possible. Sort of like single engine training on a twin; the training is most safely done at safe altitudes.

At many glider ports I’ve flown out of, an unexpected rope break at 100’ is the worse possible thing that could happen.

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.

And she had a distraction in the back seat that was almost as effective as the CFI who managed to surprise me with two out of three 200’ rope breaks last month.

Anyway, that’s about as good as it gets... with video!
(I missed this the first time so excuse a bit of gushing)


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Bill Watson said:
A bit more than a non-event.
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So this will be perceived by the woke people as an attempt to diminish a young pilot who had a non-event...Look at the airport, by my fuzzy math she had about 5000' of usable area straight ahead. Try a 100' rope break in Boulder and you will probably need new shorts, with or without stones.
 
Bill Watson said:
A bit more than a non-event.

Rope breaks are routinely practiced at 200’+, the minimum altitude where a return to the airport is deemed possible. Rope breaks at less than 200’ are discussed and game planned but at many glider ports, actual practice is not possible. Sort of like single engine training on a twin; the training is most safely done at safe altitudes.

At many glider ports I’ve flown out of, an unexpected rope break at 100’ is the worse possible thing that could happen.

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.

And she had a distraction in the back seat that was almost as effective as the CFI who managed to surprise me with two out of three 200’ rope breaks last month.

Anyway, that’s about as good as it gets... with video!
(I missed this the first time so excuse a bit of gushing)


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
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I felt it was very impressive, not sure I would have been that cool. And I have no clue about glider operations.
 
That happened at Warner Springs. That’s where most of my sailplane experience is from. Great folks and lots and lots of surrounding land.

I’m glad all went well.
 
Landing Fees said:
So this will be perceived by the woke people as an attempt to diminish a young pilot who had a non-event...Look at the airport, by my fuzzy math she had about 5000' of usable area straight ahead. Try a 100' rope break in Boulder and you will probably need new shorts, with or without stones.
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These days "they" may be actually sporting a set of stones, not the metaphoric kind. My newly woke self asks "who am I to question?" (my non woke self says no way)
 
Great video, and great calm skilled pilot.

The term "woke" has always rubbed me the wrong way. It implies that anyone who does not subscribe to the necessity of politically correct speech or the opinions of certain political and social factions is somehow "asleep" and wrong.. until they wake up and agree. I took absolutely no offense to describing this pilot as having "big stones," as mildly vulgar as that phrase is. My wife's got some pretty big ones, too, about a lot of things, and she'd be proud to have that description applied to her. She uses it herself about some of her female running buddies. Sooo... get "Woke" to the fact that not everyone is offended by the minor things that offend you... and just work on not being offended by stupid stuff.
 
MuseChaser said:
Great video, and great calm skilled pilot.

The term "woke" has always rubbed me the wrong way. It implies that anyone who does not subscribe to the necessity of politically correct speech or the opinions of certain political and social factions is somehow "asleep" and wrong.. until they wake up and agree. I took absolutely no offense to describing this pilot as having "big stones," as mildly vulgar as that phrase is. My wife's got some pretty big ones, too, about a lot of things, and she'd be proud to have that description applied to her. She uses it herself about some of her female running buddies. Sooo... get "Woke" to the fact that not everyone is offended by the minor things that offend you... and just work on not being offended by stupid stuff.
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I woke therefore I am.
 
Landing Fees said:
So this will be perceived by the woke people as an attempt to diminish a young pilot who had a non-event...Look at the airport, by my fuzzy math she had about 5000' of usable area straight ahead. Try a 100' rope break in Boulder and you will probably need new shorts, with or without stones.
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Not this ‘woke’ person. Yes there seems to be about 5,000’ of runway and useable overrun in total so they may even practice 100’ straight ahead rope breaks at Warner Springs.

She’s still a star. Perhaps only normal sized ovaries.

Thanks for the image. The discontinuity at about 5,000’ downrange looks like a road, which usually include a ditch and often includes a wire, all of which usually mean damage if you overrun the overrun.


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The term “balls” or “stones” originates from “nads”, or more specifically gonads. Both men and women have them. It has always seemed weird to me as an adult to hear other adults use it to express what is basically a testament to a person’s cool demeanor in stressful conditions. I mean, in times of stress the sexual reproductive system is the last thing receiving blood flow. One would think all that stuff shrinks under a condition of stress.

Enjoy your Sunday! :D:p
 
1RTK1 said:
I must not be hip, never heard of woke, but I do know some people with big stones.
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Being woke is where you correct everybody else on a perceived slight of a population (especially a population you are not a part of).

For example when somebody comes onto the forum and tells you that it is about time that somebody came up with a more appropriate term for strong, confident girls than to suggest they have large male reproductive organs, you have to recognize that you have been scolded and put your nose in the corder. It is also called begin a white knight (I think Sean Connery said something about white knights - "white knights are always talking about their best and winners go home and have pre-approved (in writing) consensual coitus with the prom queen". When you are really good at pointing out the sexism and misogyny of others you get a medal or something. Be thankful you now know what being "woke" is, I wish I could just go back to being a guy that says dirty words.
 
woodchucker said:
The term “balls” or “stones” originates from “nads”, or more specifically gonads. Both men and women have them. It has always seemed weird to me as an adult to hear other adults use it to express what is basically a testament to a person’s cool demeanor in stressful conditions. I mean, in times of stress the sexual reproductive system is the last thing receiving blood flow. One would think all that stuff shrinks under a condition of stress.

Enjoy your Sunday! :D:p
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Hmmm, not in my experience, lol.
 
Landing Fees said:
Being woke is where you correct everybody else on a perceived slight of a population (especially a population you are not a part of).

For example when somebody comes onto the forum and tells you that it is about time that somebody came up with a more appropriate term for strong, confident girls than to suggest they have large male reproductive organs, you have to recognize that you have been scolded and put your nose in the corder. It is also called begin a white knight (I think Sean Connery said something about white knights - "white knights are always talking about their best and winners go home and have pre-approved (in writing) consensual coitus with the prom queen". When you are really good at pointing out the sexism and misogyny of others you get a medal or something. Be thankful you now know what being "woke" is, I wish I could just go back to being a guy that says dirty words.
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I think I'm kinda woke, I originally wrote balls, but changed it.
 
PaulS said:
I think I'm kinda woke, I originally wrote balls, but changed it.
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It is decidedly not woke to point out that somebody who is defending women against perceived slights is a symbol of the toxic patriarchy and sexist. I don't know if changing something potentially offensive to something potentially less offensive counts as woke. Maybe some decidedly woke forum walkers can help out.
 
I don't want to ruin the narrative, but it sure looks like the glider was higher than 100'. She was on the rope for 34 seconds before it broke. Does a Super Cub climb at just 200' FPM towing an old Schweizer?
 
That was an easy recovery.

In Vicenza Italy, the runway is 4921 feet long, tall chain link fence near the ends, joint military civil use.

A very low time solo pilot lifted off too high, and held the tail of the tow plane high enough that he could not lift off. At the end of the runway, he released the tow rope, and climbed steeply away. There was no place to land without serious damage ahead. The glider jettisoned their end before it caught on the high chain link fence with barb wire, and circled back to a landing near the departure runway, ending near the middle. I don't know how long the tow rope was, but at an up angle of less than 20 degrees, not much altitude to work with. The return bank had a wing tip less than 10 feet above the fence, and touch down was in the grass, diagonal to and across the runway, luckily missing the runway lights. No spoilers were needed.

The tow pilot refused to wait for the glider to be walked back to the end of the runway, told the dummy that he would have to accept whatever speed he had at the end of the runway, and if he was again too high, another dump, just lower and slower. This being Italy in the late 50's, there were s lot of very graphic hand signals the Italian were famous for. Since we are sensitive to political correctness here, I will not give a summary of the insults, so no one will be offended.

The next departure was properly done, a good tow to scheduled altitude, and release.

The tow pilots were paid by tows, and that counted as one tow, shorting him by a tow for the days total.

As a side note, I had been standing beside the radial engine tow plane while the pilot did the run-up and other checks, the engine was rough on each mag, but smooth on both. The tow pilot shut down, and told the manager the plane needed some spark plugs replaced, the manager did a run-up, same results, and told the tow pilot, runs fine with both, use both, and tow or go home. I found the tow pilot's attitude toward the glider pilot more understandable with that knowledge.

I decided then and there that I was not going to take any training there, I would wait until I returned to the states. I had been envisioning the pleasant combination of aerial sight seeing and training combined.
 
Rope break under aero tow is certainly a none routine event which she handled smoothly. Cool, calm, and collected...professionalism in action!

Rope break during winch launch is VERY attention getting. These normally occur when the nose is way up and airspeed is very low. Guaranteed to help you monitor your situational awareness and proficiency level.
 
PaulS said:
Don't know her, but you best be careful with that talk around here.
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?

Cute girl who’s a great pilot and seems to have a good head on her shoulders, and heck if she is on here I’d be game to fly with her anytime :)
 
PaulS said:
Don't know her, but you best be careful with that talk around here.
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Aw, c’mon......used to be “I’d hit that”....when did that become unacceptable?;)
 
Glider Pilot Iceman:
You can be my tow pilot any time.

Tow Pilot Maverick:
Bullsh**t! You can be mine.

If they make a movie about it I hope Tom Hanks plays both pilots.
 
3393RP said:
I don't want to ruin the narrative, but it sure looks like the glider was higher than 100'. She was on the rope for 34 seconds before it broke. Does a Super Cub climb at just 200' FPM towing an old Schweizer?
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I kind of thought that it looked higher than 100 feet, but I have never been in a glider and didn't want to say anything....
 
LOL, logged on this morning, read a few threads, dropped a couple posts on this one and went on with my day...lol the ****atorm I started...

My wife can assure you I'm about the least "woke" person out there. But I just watched some Alex Honnold videos on YouTube and sorted through a bazillion comments about how heavy his balls must be, which must have been funny the first few hundred times it was written.

I'm not sure what toxic masculinity is, but as a group I think we could probably come up with some wittier and more original than suggesting that a girl must have a lot of testosterone (the presumption that we're supposed to make when someone says that someone has large testicles) when she does something cool and nontraditionally feminine like flying an airplane. I'm sure there are ladies who joke with each other about having big balls for doing daring stuff, but as a group of (mostly) dudes we could probably skip the lame big ball jokes.
 
It's hard to tell from that video because camera lenses can play with perspective. When I was training, I was taught to always call out "200 feet" - that's the magic number for a 180. I heard her call out "100 feet", then a few seconds later the rope broke so she landed straight ahead. At the end she said pretty much the same thing, "Well, the rope broke at 100 feet so we landed straight ahead." No sense in panicking, gliders land slow and don't roll very far.

When I was towing I was always ready to dump a glider right after takeoff. My habit is always to keep my hand on the throttle, but in the towplane I always tried to keep the release handle in my line of sight. I never did dump anyone, came close, but I did have a glider release right about 200' and make that 180 because something didn't feel right.
 
3393RP said:
I don't want to ruin the narrative, but it sure looks like the glider was higher than 100'. She was on the rope for 34 seconds before it broke. Does a Super Cub climb at just 200' FPM towing an old Schweizer?
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Yes, at least initially. Definitely short of 200’ given the timing.




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woodchucker said:
The term “balls” or “stones” originates from “nads”, or more specifically gonads.

Enjoy your Sunday! :D:p
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That reminds me of an inter mural fraternity football team I was on that we called the NADS. When our little sisters would come to the games they cheered us on by saying “gonads gonads”.
This woken crap sounds like some new age psycho babble.
 
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Brad Z said:
...I'm not sure what toxic masculinity is,
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..

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.

Brad Z said:
but as a group I think we could probably come up with some wittier and more original than suggesting that a girl must have a lot of testosterone (the presumption that we're supposed to make when someone says that someone has large testicles) when she does something cool and nontraditionally feminine like flying an airplane. I'm sure there are ladies who joke with each other about having big balls for doing daring stuff, but as a group of (mostly) dudes we could probably skip the lame big ball jokes.
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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!
 
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