Amazing: Two Gliders Landing At Same Time: Avoiding A Collision

I'd been out flying my Libelle and noticed the thermals were getting weak, so headed back. I was only 150m away from my last turn point, but made the judgement call. I did not connect with workable lift all the way back (though did leverage the reduced sink). It was the right decision.

Because of the wind we were taking off and landing from the west end of the runway, but because I wanted to put my glider away, I wanted to roll to a stop by the trailers at the east end, so radio'd that I was in the circuit and landing long.

Part way in, the student in the trainer turned and joined the circuit mid-field.

This was an unplanned approach for the student, and no doubt they already had a high mental workload. I could radio and negotiate landing long/short/whatever, so only radio'd to make sure they knew from my previous radio call that I was in the circuit and where, at that moment, I was, so they would not need to look for me.

Normally they'd land short. If they landed long, they would not land very long. Worst case, they'd land a bit long, pull off to the side, but I was going to land a lot longer as I wanted to disassemble my glider and put it away in my trailer at the far end.

I closed my spoilers and flew as slow as I could, to increase the distance between us, and therefore the time to respond to any surprises. I followed in their flight path so I would not hit sink they didn't. I sped up before my turn to final, then slowed to a safe approach speed.

Surprise! Not only did they land long, they did not pull off at the end of their roll and were parked dead down the centre. So much for flying right or left over the runway to avoid a fly-over. I was very high by the time I turned on base, and a fly-over was really the only safe option. I was definitely planning to land well past them. If I kept my spoilers closed, I'd definitely sail past the end of the runway an in the river, so I was definitely going to have to use my spoilers to land, but held off as long as I could.

I'd done such a good job keeping height, a short landing could have been problematic. Long landing it was.

My collision system/FLARM noticed them in my path and sent an alarm. Good to know it works.

I sailed over them with lots of height and parked in the holding area by the trailers.

Stay cool, give yourself as many options as you can, and all will be well.

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Music:
Mayday ( feat. Laura Brehm) - TheFatRat

Видео Amazing: Two Gliders Landing At Same Time: Avoiding A Collision канала Dave Villeneuve