Glider Spin Entry And Recovery At Low Altitude

Near the end of my first check flight of the season, we were about to call in and enter the landing circuit when we hit a thermal.

While trying to work the thermal, changes in wind not observed by the airspeed indicator led to a sudden wing drop. It did start going quiet, but there were no other signs of an imminent stall (spin is a condition of stall). I could feel rotation about to start and had to check it with the rudder and get the nose down.

Recovery complete, but we lost all our height margin and had to immediately enter the circuit to land. Had this happened any lower, a normal circuit would not have been possible. At a minimum, an abbreviated circuit would have been needed.

Why did this happen? You want to keep your speed down when thermalling to be able to turn tighter circles and stay near the core where the lift is strongest, but with the gusts, I should have kept my speed up a bit more.

I had spent time on my gliding simulator during winter practicing spin entry and recovery, trying to make sure it was an automatic response. Earlier in this flight we had soared to 4000' in lift, and had used the height to practice stalls and spin entry/recovery.

Practice, as it always does, pays off.

My relaxed chatter with Steve immediately got quiet and all business. It was clear that with our height, landing was the only option.

Видео Glider Spin Entry And Recovery At Low Altitude канала Dave Villeneuve