LOW LEVEL FINAL GLIDE - Scary but possible - How to return to Unterwössen safely
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 27 май 2024
- A final glide after a long xc-flight is always a critical point and highlight of the whole flight. Follow me in this video through a highspeed low level final glide from a seemingly hopeless position. I take you on this training flight flying a parcours through tight valleys from a low position and without having the airfield in sight.
Please note that I am a learning glider pilot, sharing with you my experiences and the magic of soaring, including my mistakes and goodtakes, aiming to make this sport better and safer together.
00:00 Intro
00:52 Starting the final glide
01:32 1st checkpoint: Steinplatte
02:19 2nd checkpoint: left turn to Reit im Winkl
02:34 3nd checkpoint: entering the valley of Reit im Winkl
02:53 4th checkpoint: passing the antenna
03:21 5th checkpoint: passing Oberwössen
03:45 6th checkpoint: arriving in Unterwössen
03:58 7th checkpoint: arriving at the airfield
04:18 lessons learned
Check out the flight at: www.weglide.org/flight/304447
Date: 8.7.2023
Airfield: Unterwössen @deutschealpensegelflugschu7668
Pilot: Christoph Wieland Blaas
Glider: HpH 304 CZ
Outlanding: landewiesen.streckenflug.at/i...
Camera: Insta360 One X2 @insta360
Wingman: @the.flying.adventure
Navigation app: www.xcsoar.org
Music: The Dutchman - Mintz (artlist.io)
Recommended books in German (some of them have been translated):
The Art of Gliding: www.viento.aero/the-art-of-gl...
Das Stille Abenteuer: amzn.to/41MazLO
Segeln über den Alpen: amzn.to/4aKfMHO
Meteorologie für Segelflieger: amzn.to/3S1CRi2
Thermik im Gebirge: shop.streckenflug.at/bs_produ...
Mental zu Sieg: shop.segelflugbedarf24.de/Zub...
Camera: Insta360 One X2 : amzn.to/3NJ4CJp
Phone/camera holder: amzn.to/3TR5srL
#glider #pilot #pilotviews #flight #commentary #cockpitview #alps #dassu #crosscountry #adventure #sports #mentalstrength #justculture #aviation 
Спорт
Nicely done! Both the glide, and the video, very interesting to see the decision making. Thanks
thanks for your feedback! thats an honor! i am a big fan of your videos!
Thank you so much for this contribution. Really exciting and helpful for us "Unterwössen Locals"! ;-)
Andrea
XC beginner here. It was a great day, had lots of lift in my Astir CS jut below the clouds. Got cocky and light-headed and thought, this day is perfect.
At some point I noticed I was starting to lose concentration and I caught myself being too relaxed. So I decided to go home, with 300m or so safety altitude to arrive at my home airfield.
Then I noticedm while going straight home, that there was more and more sink the lower I got. -2m, -3, -2 again, and the computer accordingly told me that my margin was shrinking FAST.
So I got a bit uneasy but then found a thermal just on the track, and pulled 150 to 200m altitude out of it, and then went back to final glide. half a minute later again I encountered serious sink. it just got worse and worse the lower I got.
In the end I managed to turn into long final at 200m AGL, but let's be honest here. I made huge mistakes. First, I should have taken that last thermal and stayed in it ALL THE WAY up. I was just eager to get home. Also, I started considering landing out as an option, but way too late. At the point where it became a real possibility in my head, I was out of good options and all I could have taken, were bad fields with lots of unknown ground features.
Just telling my story, my thoughts, and so on. I think such a mistake could at some point threaten my life. I just should have pulled my act together and made more clearer decisions.
Thanks for your comment and insights! I appreciate that your share your experiences including the critical moments. It can helpy many other pilots to learn a lot. And yes, final glides can be very thrilling. The situation can change very quickly from full confidence to terrible desperation. As far as I can read from your story the topic of "shifting gears" during a flight is so important. I experienced a similar situation where I got to much used to good weather conditions and I was still pushing to much. It ended with an outlanding. I learned that switching from good weather conditions to weak conditions is something difficult to accept for pilots and something to be improved. Good luck for all you future flights!
Your story is very apropriate - thanks.
One of my brothers was a keen glider pilot. In one occasion when we was under instruction from a guy flying in loose formation, they ran out of altitude to get back to the airfield. His instructor told him "follow me" and pushed the stick forward to get into ground effect, then pulled up several times to hop over trees. They arrived with some speed to spare then pulled the airbrakes.
…wow, this story sounds really adventurous! thanks for sharing!
...and he finally says "...over and out!" which is actually bullshyte, think about it! I think he needs to work on his RT procedures and techique!
@@WilHenDavis no worries, these phrases wont appear again in my videos. i understood that they are confusing…
Excellent video, please keep your content comming ;) However, one remark - where else to try it, if not "at home", with my "home landscape", knowing the wind directions, potential thermals or potential sinks :) If I was in Alps, I would have had to change my underwear after such a flight ;) You obviously know what you are doing and you didn't do it first time, so thank you for sharing that experience. As others already said, wind direction would be for sure a crucial factor in this kind of final glide. But on the other side, you had several escape options, so all was good even in bad wind conditions. That is exactly what makes this art of sport extraordinary - practice and practice :)
Thanks for your very nice comment! I really like how you describe the "art of sport"!
The route between Steinplatte and Reit im Winkl does feel very tense! Sooooo many trees and the ground only just falling away at around the glide ratio. It's worth noting that later in the day when the mountains have been sucking in the air from the north that there can be some horrible sink going through that gap at the Steinplatte carpark. Another great video, looking forward to more to help keep the winter feeling away.
Thanks for your comment, wingman! You flew this route a few weeks ago and encountered a lee at Steinplatte. Yes, that is an important factor to consider that wind from north late in the day can influence the glide path a lot.
I like the expression, "It is important to mention that I am a learning glider pilot... " aren't we all?.... ps: you are one hell of a good "learning glider pilot".... The amount of opportunities for sink along that entire route is still too much for me
...so true, we are all learning glider pilots! To learn to get into flow with nature, physics and mindset is a true adventure for life!
I entered the sport late in my early 30s, so I feel I am defenitely a learning pilot compared to the lucky ones started in their tens...
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and always happy landings!
@@flyneur I don't know if you will see this counter response. Just want to say thanks for taking the time to respond to my posting.
I started a final, some 30 km away, at an altitute of 1200 mts in a 1:30 glider.
No more thermals expected.
A direct opposite light wind estimated to be around 5 km/hr.
Another glider ahead of me, some 100 ahrad but 50 mts below.
Final 10 km was absolutely scary and wonderful at same time with we flying at best speed from the polar and seeing the ground - farmland - so close behind.
Need strong nerves, coolness and high confidence.
Also the airfield we were heading, layed across our approach path ! And that will require a 90 ° turn for landing.
Thanks God we made a correct estimate of headwind and arrived with some 100 mts for the 90° turn.
My companion ahead of me arrived almost touching the ground but in high speed and was able to maje a spectacular maneuver to briefly pass anove the eucaliptus trees line that run parallel to the runway and had a succeful landing.
My right turn over the eucaliptus was more safe and I landed short behind him... What a flight !!!
wow! thanks for sharing this tense story with little margins left. happy that you both made it!
Looked sometimes a litlle scary but well done. Been there a couple times as a gliding instructor and know the area somehow, but never did a final glide that low.
"Don't try this at home..." If only I could! Great video, so beautiful. I'd love to see some more of this (in 4K!).
thanks for your comment! Next season I try to improve image quality for sure!
I like to try this at home....In Condor Soaring 🙂 which I just did...nice exercise even in Condor.
😂
Very nice
Well done, looking forward for more...
Double many thanks to you @Alpha-III: 1st for establishing the great term "goodtakes and mistakes" and for your feedback! I am looking forward to more of your greeat videos too!
Great Job!
Thanks for taking your time to watch and your feedback!
I have been teached differently and thanks fully, I respect even more with time even if it as always been the case. They know who they are
Well done! I focused on your glide ratio, which was conservative (good). I'm sure you considered required glide, and I'm thinking it was close to your actual ratio. I'm also a relatively new glider pilot, and getting below ridge lines, unless in a climb or setting up for a landing, raises the hackles on the back of my neck! Thank you for the video.
thanks for your feedback. actually I tried to keep a lower glide ratio around 25 for training purposes and to get a feeling for the worse case when conditions are not good. If I would go for best glide ratio I would have arrived much higher with the Hph 304 (approx. 1:43). Good luck for all your flights in future! Where do you fly?
A final glide like in the condor soaring simulator. Good video
🤣🙏
Nice video, I am also learning to fly the glider from Hessen. Hopefully get my license by next year.
Good luck to get your licence as soon as possible. It opens the door to many new adventures! See you in the air!
Danke für das informative Video! Gut gemacht, man sieht dass viel Vorbereitung entsprechende Resultate bringen kann. Auch wenn es anfangs unheimlich anmutet, wie du richtig sagst.
Ich freue mich aufs nächste Video von dir 😃! LG aus Linz
Danke für dein Feedback! Das freut mich von Dir hier zu lesen! Ich bin ein Fan von deinen Videos! 😃🙋🏼♂️
Ihr habt's gut mit euren 1:60 Büchsen 😜 Scherz beisite: ich als Drachenflieger habe natürlich meine Polare im Kopf und kriege jede Mal Beklemmungen wenn ich eure Landevolten sehe (oder auch Talsprünge mit 10m drüber). Aber ihr seid leistungsmäßig einfach in einer anderen Welt unterwegs. Man kommt euich leider nie hinterher, selbst bei Vollgas. Danke fürs Video ! Happy landings !
…na ihr genießt andere privilegien…ihr fallt nicht aus engen bärten und habt das traumhafteste und direkteste fluggefühl, so wie ihr da unter dem flügel hängt…👌🏼
ich hatte das vergnügen meine fliegerei mit drachenfliegen anzufangen! 😃
@@flyneur Ohhhh ein Ex-Kollege ! Fliegst du ab und zu noch oder nur noch Segler ?
Yeah, that's some glide ratio numbers we paragliderers only dream of... Nice to see anyways. Cool and informative. I'm doing competitions as well, same but different 😊
...and we gliders dreaming of being able to turn tight circles and land on plates as you paragliders can do! Safe flights and good luck for your competitions!
@@flyneur both sports have their advantages . Definitely!
Likewise, thank you!
Man i live in Unterwössen maybe you can give me a ride :DD all time good Landings :)
You re lucky to live at this beautiful place! By the way the airfield is organizing a special day for locals to try out gliding on 14.-15.10.23. Check it out here: www.dassu.de/termine/2023/10/14/einheimischenfliegen
You will be warmly welcomed there to take a flight! Unfortunately I cannot be there!
thanks for sharing nicely edited and great to follow your thinking and decision making. What was the wind like, would be good to include this as its an important factor in the mountains? most likely very light to non existend from what i can see. Wind could have played a very critical role especially as valleys sometimes create windfunnels or strange conditions you did not expect. your instruments will not tell you this as they only know what was before not wat is to come so only local experience will help you and even then it could still surprise you. ;)
Thanks for your feedback! Yes, wind is very important factor for a final glide, especially when low. You observed correctly, the wind on that day was very week. But it happens often that from afternoon on, there is wind from the north, which means often a headwind for the final glide. It is caused by the main ridge of the Alps, which is sucking the air from the flatlands and hills towards the high mountains. Sometimes its a headwind which makes the final glide shorter, but as well it can help for ridge flying late in the day when thermals becoming very rare. I m planning to make a video on that soon. Cheers!
that glider with red wingtip at the beginning of the airfield. what the...? who would be waiting at such position?
…that is indeed the line-up for tows in unterwössen…sometimes even more crowded…i agree, my approach was a bit too low…🙈
Great shots, nice and close to the site. But that wouldn't do anything for my nerves. As a "little mountain flyer" and someone who doesn't know every Alpine valley, I would fly from Steinplatte via Erpfendorf and Kirchdorf to St. Johann. This is 4 km closer and you don't have to fly so close over the ground. However, I don't know the outlanding situation in this valley. Would that be an alternative?
Thanks for your comment! Yes, this route is tense and needs to be considered very carefully. In case of being low, going from Steinplatte to the direction to St. Johann is for sure more relaxed and there are many outlanding options in the valleys to there. One (Waidring) is just down in the valley under the Steinplatte. An nice video about an outlanding there you can find here: ruclips.net/video/o2zt9XekRoA/видео.htmlsi=TRRetv2TC1SzHYar @the.flying.adventure
Nice video. How much altitude would you have lost when flying best L/D the whole way ? Averaging 155 is a nice dash home, it's not always the case.
The glider has maximum glide ratio of 43 at the speed of 116 kph according to the flight manual. For the distance of 18km the glider would have lost 420m. Of course these numbers are more theory because they have been calculated in still air without any wind. I hope I could understand and answer your question?
Congrats very good video!
will watch others to find out how long you have been flying.
thanks for your feedback! i started gliding very late, with 30 years old. so i feel that i am constantly learning a lot. i started to publish videos to share experiences of gliding, including the mistakes AND the fascination, ups and downs. i hope it helps other pilots to make better decisions and as well just enjoy the fun of this sport.
i also started late with 32. After a 5 years with about 20-30hrs each i managed to do my first cross country into the alps this year.
@@michaelderflinger5002thats great! congratulations!!! were do you fly?
@@flyneur From Wiener Neustadt West.
It was just a tiptoe of cross country flying, but was out of glide range and with a few mountains in between.
@@michaelderflinger5002 It is a dream to make in one day from Unterwössen to Wiener Neustadt. Its a challenge but possible. See you up there soon and good luck for exploring the mountains!
The pucker factor is intense in this one. What if you hit 'Saufen' in one of the unlandable valleys?
Good point. I agree that there isn't much margin if you encounter sink. I tried to approach it like this:
The first unlandable part from Steinplatte to Reit im Winkl is approximately 11 km long. If you begin the route at 1600 meters, the next available outlanding option in Reit im Winkl is at 700 meters (so a difference of 900 meters in height, which we can convert into a distance). This means a glide ratio of 12 would just be sufficient for a direct outlanding on a field. However, if you are flying a glider with a potential glide ratio of 43, and considering the average calculation for final glides in the mountains is 25, there is still some margin left for hitting sink and still reach the next outlanding option (please note that the numbers are just rough calculations). Of course if there is rain shower nearby or wave conditions where heavy sink is to be expected, I would not enter this route.
I hope this answers your question?
I hope you would be able to avoid collisions with paragliders at that speed. Not a fan of such flights and there might be less experienced pilots who feel inspired…
very important points! thanks! avoiding collisions by looking out is so much important. this attention is needed everywhere at any time. as well gliders sometimes fly at much higher speeds under cloud streets where the traffic is higher than down in the valley. there is a edition of late night soaring which adresses the topic and connects the paraglider and glider community. FLARM is for sure a very helpful technology, recently used not only by gliders bit as well engine powered aircrafts and paragliders more and more.
and i totally agree, this route is only recommended after flown and carefully checked with a local gliding instructor.
Why did you do a highspeed final glide and not a glide with the speed for best glide ratio?
…thanks for your question. two reasons: 1st i tried to keep a glide ratio around 20-25 to simulate a glider with lower glide performance. i did this by keeping an eye on the calculated glide ratio to the airfield on the navigations system (xcsoar) and speeded up or slow down if necessary. 2nd in the mountains many pilots calculate a glide ratio of 25 to be on the safe side. i do this too even this glider has a glide ratio of 43.
but to come back to your question, of course its more safe and relaxed to choose best glide ratio for this route.
24:1 and lots of speed, therefore plenty of energy to safely make this final glide. The trees and rocks to make it look scary though.
Me, as a gamer and an incredibly high risk tolerance in RL: 200m above the ground at it's lowest? Ok, easy, we start 150 meters lower and obliterate his PB
😮
Very nicely done, great video too. Just don’t close with “over and out” - “Over” means, I have finished speaking and await your response, whilst “Out’ means, conversation over, and I am not listening any more! So “over and out” means, I expect you to respond but I won’t be listening! (We don’t use these terms at all on aviation VHF, but these are used in maritime VHF transmissions).
Thanks for your feedback and the explanation of the 'over and out' phrase. I learned something -thanks- and better not to use it in future here.
You use over in some cases
Hattest du Wasser geladen?
nein, kein wasser drin…🙋🏼♂️😃
@@flyneur ok Danke
Over and out? 😅
...some people here commented about this phrase too. I learned better not to use it future...😅
Assuming a pilot can fly the numbers, and nat get lured into attempting to climb in weak lift that wastes valuable time and altitude. And assuming there is no severe headwind present, then of course the math will show a glide ratio required to reach a destination based on simple height over distance.
As long as that number is conservative in relation to the aircraft and pilots ability to fly at that lift coefficient to better that required glide ratio , you will make it. Keeping the out-landing field in mind is valuable insurance.
Thanks for the helpful addition and reminding the variety of factors and parameters needed to calculate a safe and considered final glide!
German English😂!
🙈😬! i hope improve fast…😅
Mine also needs to improve!
😅
I liked "good takes" as an antonym to mistakes. Never heard it before but it makes sense so completely understandable
i learned this term from @Alpha-III who is making great videos about gliding. yes, and i absolutely agree, its useful in this context! 😊