Near Mid Air Collision with Tow Plane 😐
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- Опубликовано: 31 июл 2024
- In this video we analyse a near miss with a tow plane and glider on tow. How it happened, what went wrong, and what we learned to help avoid such incidents in the future. It was closer than we would like! We talk about how important lookout is, how FLARM should be used, and how easy it is for a near collision to occur. Is it weird to instructor react to your own video and incident?!
Glider I'm flying is the Ventus cT 18m glider
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00:00 Introduction
00:51 Walk through up to the incident
01:59 The incident itself
02:39 Why lookout didn't work
03:30 FLARM problems
04:04 What happened after
04:50 A look at the tracks on SeeYou
05:25 Lessons to be learned
06:50 How to support the channel
07:18 Nice timelapse to finish things off 
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Best advice I ever had on lookout was "soon as you spot an aircraft, look for the other ones"
That is great advice
Good advice for sure.
Yeah I have definitely heard several accounts of near misses where the pilot was focused on tracking an aircraft and didn't notice another one
When you find yourself suddenly close to another aircraft like that, also consider moving vertically to increase the separation. With the help of gravity and some negative g, you can accelerate quickly downwards which may be a better option than banking and turning, especially if the other aircraft is climbing. Its a quick way to separate two converging paths.
That’s a great point, not always practical if you’re In A thermal with other gliders but certainly a good option. Pitch is fast, roll is slow.
When I saw the video for the first time I didn't see the tow plane at all. just the glider behind it. It must have been an OMG moment for you.
Yeah exactly! I think it's a bit easier to see planes in real life than on the video, but not by much!
Well done!
In other aviation circles, that would be considered a ‘Blue Threat’, meaning that there isn’t as high level a threat as when in say, a gaggle in a thermal (Red Threat) IMHO, Blue Threats are for more dangerous, simply because we are not expecting incidents like that to happen, and therefore tend to be more relaxed.
Anytime I’m in close proximity to an airport, no matter how quiet it may appear to be, I’m in ‘Red Threat’ mode...and I still get the occasional surprise.
Thanks for the comment! Makes sense
Had exactly the same thing happen in 1997. The tow plane was diving in a turn after releasing another glider. My instructor grabbed the stick and took us inverted, and we missed by about 40 feet. The tow pilot never saw us because he had his eyes on another glider over his shoulder. Without a doubt, it was the closest I ever came to death.
What's amazing if you ask a room full of glider pilots, most have had at least one close encounter in their lives
@@PureGlide Not to mention a few no longer in the room.
1997 was a long time ago, the word app was not in the the common vocabulary. Now there are options for all price brackets and some form of FLARM should be as required as wings. Hang gliders and para gliders have them too and they bloody well should.
Thank you,Tim, for sharing this video - quite important lesson we could learn from this situation.
Very welcome
That was close and your quick response changed your destiny.
Cheers
@@PureGlide a great time to have the shorter wing tips on eh?! 😂
Ooh err, colliding with the CFI, probably not the best plan of action! LOL Glad everyone was ok
Thanks!
Thank you for sharing. This has been invaluable to understand that it can happen to anyone at any time. We have to keep our guard up contantly!
Exactly right, cheers!
That was close Tim. Thanks for staying airborn safely! 🤞 And sharing with RUclips off course
Your welcome, cheers
Awesome video! THANKS for sharing this "there I was story!"
Glad you enjoyed it!
Hi Tim, another good vlog to get us all thinking.
Flarms are another piece of the avionics and instrumentation in a glider or tow-plane, but unlike mandatory items these may not get properly installed and tested, or subsequently have much in the way of ICA so you can be confident it is working correctly every time. It is always the time you actually need it that it may not work - Murphy's law.
The new ADS-B out would need the additional B input display to allow you to see where other aircraft are. Whether a pilot has his transponder turned on or not is another matter - especially if battery power in the glider needs conserving...
As a towie, I can vouch for the fact that most towplanes have major blindspots. The high nose attitude in the climb is one, high wing aircraft blanket much of your view in the climb or when banking, while low wing planes restrict vision in the descent.
As someone mentioned, gliders change direction at any time and the tug towing a glider cannot make abrupt movements without causing a potential upset. It works best for all if glider pilots listen for take-off calls and keep an eye on the towplane if at all possible.
Cheers mate, yeah there's a lot of factors and layers of protection. Ideally everyone would have FLARM and ADSB. I think we're getting there, and you can certainly merge ADSB-IN data into FLARM, so gliders get warnings about ADSB traffic. And we'll all have to have ADSB-OUT soon so that'll be good (not for my wallet). Cheers
Hope you're able to get some good sleep tonight. I know some people who never got sleep for a while because of something like this. I almost got wiped off the sky by a Cheyenne once. Our club has a lot of run ins since our airport is I kid you not, 4 miles away from a controlled airport. So we have a whole bunch of aircraft coming in and sometimes it's just too busy.
Hi yes, I guess what good is lookout worked, I saw and avoided as trained. So I haven’t lost much sleep over the incident. But it’s still not something we should be experiencing regularly otherwise it’s just a matter of time
Took me YEARS of nightmares once or twice a year before I shook my near miss....
I'm in the same boat unfortunately. So I'm going all out on Flarm and ADS-B.
Looking out simply isn't enough with all the flight training going on. There's not 1, not 2 but 3 big schools within 10 miles, and 2 inside of 5.5 or so. We are just next to a training airport and there another just down the road. Literally. So 3 very popular schools. In my flight training days as an instructor it was my lead motivator to survival was to get another job ASAP. It only took 3 years lol
@@TheSoaringChannel That's where I can understand flarm and ADS-B but I still won't install it. Many people (FAA PEOPLE) that refuse to install it for some odd reason so I'm sticking to their word
@@wackaircaftmechanic2312 it's likely because they think you can be tracked, which you can. But only if you have ADS-B *out*. Imagine this: do you use a transponder to be seen by IFR traffic? They will get traffic advisories (as often as possible) and even vector airline traffic (and others obviously) around the bogie. I have Mode C on mine as well. They can follow you back to your airport and track the radio calls. Ask me how I know (not me! LoL).
If you're worried about being tracked - trust me - you've got XC Soar? LXNAV? You've already been tracked. *BEFORE* you upload. Trust me when I say "they" can see us at any time. Might as well have the safety features of ADS-B out as well.
For Powerflarm Fusion you get Flarm in and out, and ADS-B in data. So anyone with Flarm and ADS-B out you will see. That means you'll see every single jet there is, and you'll see every twin or single engine airplane that wants to be able to go inside of the higher end airspace, no matter where YOU are.
See and be seen. That's the path I'm going for. I get the privacy concerns - believe me - but coming home to my wife and children, and avoiding one of those sad letters being sent out to my pilot group and all the sad things in my community isn't worth the privacy that I've already given away when I bought the cell phone that practically is a part of me.
I feel I already traded privacy for safety when I bought this phone. Watch "Snowden". And imagine this: that isn't the tip of the iceberg of what's happening to our privacy.
I witnessed two gliders collide doing exactly this, at Sealand. One glider went down, killing both occupants the other landed with a metre of leading edge missing near the wing root. No thermal is worth entering if you're in displaced turning circles at virtually the same height. Leave the thermal to the first person there and live to fly another day.
Shoot I’m sorry to hear about that. I’ve flown at the world champs that had 2 mid air collisions, however all pilots survived. Still horrific for those who witnessed it, as they just don’t know if people survived or not until later. We all have to be so careful, it’s just a sport for fun, and not worth dying for.
@@PureGlide It was 25 years ago now. I joined another glider (the one that crashed and they died) in a thermal and soon out-soared him ( I was a lot more experienced). Another glider joined the thermal below me, and whilst they were both turning in the same direction, their circles were displaced which resulted in them flying towards each other, resulting in the collision. One glider lost nearly half its wing and went straight down, killing both occupants. The other was hit on the leading edge, right next to the wing root, and fortunately the pilot managed to land back at the field, even though she sustained injuries from the accident (the wing tip of the other aircraft came through her canopy).
If another glider pilot reads this and makes them think twice about how they fly in a thermal with other aircraft, then it's been worth writing.
aviation-safety.net/wikibase/141494
@@alunjones2550 This must have been a very bad experience for you, thanks for sharing.
The lesson here is two. Patience. Use the time needed to reach correct altitude. Keep equipment on board wording all the time.
Yeah if I had held onto the tow plane, he would have dropped me further away and it wouldn't have been a problem. You can always end up in this situation of being in the drop zone for other reasons, but good to be aware of.
Had an encounter similar to this, where I tried to turn behind another glider and that glider made a turn that crossed mine. I didn't realise that the pilots of the other glider hadn't seen me and I didn't consider that it would make that turn, eventually had to duck underneath it in the last second and missed it with a few metres vertically. Difficult stuff
Eek that sounds very uncomfortable to say the least!
Other thoughts. 1. Get gliders to a set contest drop height in a practical time period. You [ an experienced pilot ] should never had been taken up SO slowly that you had, had a gutful and chose not to wait for another 500'. The tow pilot is being paid for a service, it is not a joy flight for him - that's fair and it is also, as this case proves, a safety factor. 2. Aircraft without a functioning FLARM should not be allowed to operate under those, perhaps ANY circumstances. 3. ALL tow planes should be BRIGHTLY painted one colour yellow or red, if they are not already.
Great video!
Thanks Bruce!
As a solo student, i´ve actually also managed it once, was flying late in the afternoon in a weak thermal, another guy was coming towards me and thought about flying like in parallel or get into the thermal... Saw him as he crossed my nose while taking an evasive maneuver and about that time the flarm was also going off, luckily i was already in a right hand turn, and as i later found out by asking the pilot, he had been seeing me for a good portion of time, so luckily nothing happenend
FLARM is a security aid, but you must never ever fully rely on it. There are lots of reasons why a FLARM doesn’t perform as expected. Faulty placed antennas, low battery voltage, wrong settings, the other plane has none. Incidents happened here in the Netherland because a FLARM alarm was misinterpreted by a wheel alarm. Another alarm, caused by a glider on the ground made the pilot look frantically for traffic whilst joining downwind, causing him to stall in a turn.
The most frequently used LED FLARM display does not represent the expected actual location of the other plane, as explained in this article:
So people start looking in the wrong direction. Of course, the graphic displays are much better.
In 2013, a study by the German BFU showed no significant decrease of mid air collisions after the FLARM was introduced.
It may be a bit outdated and it lacks relative information (like number of flight in a year).
Then there are the usual distractions in the cockpit, like concentrating too much on the vario, playing with electronic devices. Pilots need to be aware of what a FLARM can do, and what it will not do if there are technical issues. So the best strategy is to see and avoid. On each turn you have to visually pick up all the aircraft in the vicinity and asses their intentions, so you know where they are in your next turn. If there is a FLARM alarm, and you did not spot the other aircraft, it should be a wakeup call for you.
Well said
Nah you was fine you was trying to get a ride from that tow plane !!! lol
Haha almost did
In North America there's been three collisions between PowerFLARM equipped aircraft where one Flarm was inop. Two fatalities, five write-offs, one engine teardown. Note to towpilots: Always turn on the Flarm, including taxi back to the hangar so landing gliders will have an alert.
Interesting. Personally I think tow planes are some of the most critical aircraft to have flarms especially during contests. They’re the most likely to collide with each other along with gliders
Congratulations on getting a credit for this footage on lucaas' channel! Luckily, no one was injured!
Haha thanks! Luckily!
Great video :)
Thanks!
Had a mate doing take offs and landings in a prop powered light plane.
The tow plane went in front of him, cable dangling.
Way way waaay to close
Yeah you definitely wouldn't want a rope meeting your prop!
Remarkably similar to the fatal mid air that occurred at the Cu Nim club in Alberta, Canada almost two years ago. In both cases, the tow plane FLARM was inoperative. In both cases, the glider was doing something a little unusual.
Yeah it’s a fine line between a near miss and a crash!
You are lucky to be alive.... Kudos that you published this video in your series of incident/accident reports, this time about yourself (OK, also the tow-pilot). One more action that can be integrated into competition rules: the two-pilot could inform the glider ahead by radio that he is coming from behind, as he can see glider, but the glider cannot see him.
Yes that is common practice already if you know you're sneaking up on someone.
About midair collisions. Would it not be safer to have a parachute attached to a strong point on the glider, so the pilot can pull a handle to release the parachute, and stay inside the glider. That way you skip the time, effort and clear mind needed to release canopy, release seat belt, jump out of the glider. And in a mid air collision, when everything is spinning, making the emergency procedure the easiest possible is the best.
Yeah some gliders have that, but doesn’t help with an on board fire! But for most other things Yes they can save you.
@@PureGlide how often a fire happen on a glider? Never heard about one.
Damn that was close, glad you were able to avoid a mid-air!
Maybe the basic led-circle type of FLARM display is better. With that you would have been aware that there is traffic at your 4 o'clock position and you would have turned left, not right.
RE. circling direction in thermals: At Paragliding competitions (or fly-ins) in Australia we have a rule: On even numbered days (like 30 May) everyone circles clockwise near the take-off, on uneven dates (like 31 May) circle anti-clockwise.
Hey interesting, I would think a constant direction would be easier to remember! But hey I guess it works
And agree I prefer the simple LED FLARM displays, I think they are quicker and easier to convey the critical information
@@PureGlide Yes, it’s just to accommodate the guys that prefer circling left and the ones that wants to circle right.
@@PureGlide Yes, even in your peripheral vision you’d be able to see the led-circle. But not the image on a cld-screen.
Also always better to have a dedicated display for a safety system, than a shared one.
I'm flying a touring motor glider out of a very busy GA airport in southern California. I have a Flarm display and an ADS-B display on an Ipad running Foreflight software. The ADS-B information is far superior to the Flarm for distance information. You would have seen the approaching aircraft miles away with an ADS-B display. Flarm I find useful in close thermaling situations. Most GA aircraft pilots I've talked to have never heard of Flarm. Thanks for your video. fly safe.
Thanks! Yes the sooner we all have ADS-B the better :)
@@PureGlide ADS-B is an open standard so the information is widely available on low cost receivers and even on websites that correlate global aviation data. So in theory if you've got a cellphone with you then you should be able to display information from sites like opensky-network.org/ (although this information might not be as usable as that obtained from a receiver on the plane).
(FWIW -- I can sit on this computer and watch traffic trucking by with nothing more than a $10 software defined radio stick, a small aperodic antenna and the program 'dump1090'.)
On the other side, the tow pilot should have seen you and should expect your turn. The tow pilot should be aware, that a glider is working on the hillslope at low altitude. It was also his mistake.
Yeah to some extent, if a tow pilot sees a glider or multiple gliders they should drop their glider near the gaggle, not in the middle of it generally. In this case we didn’t have a well formed gaggle.
It's obvious the tow pilot saw Tim turn into him, when the plane comes into the field of view it is in a steep banked turn away and the towed glider followed. There's no way he'd do that with a glider in tow unless it was an emergency, which it clearly was. Plenty of learnings for all concerned.
Yet another interesting and informative video. I’m an ex PPL and I used to fly from a glider/powered aircraft shared aerodrome and I would often see gliders in a thermal stack nearby but they are very easy to miss, as you quite rightly said. Why, then, are gliders not painted garish colours so that they really stand out against the background?
Hi testing has shown that solid white or solid black colours are the best to make gliders stand out in the most situations. And we can't paint them black due to heat issues. So white it is! Any extra patters or colours just adds camouflage to some extent. An exception is why flying in snow alpine conditions, when some other colour is useful. I'll make a video about it sometime!
Another great example of Flarm being necessary for contests and frankly for general soaring. I say this because the flarm was basically inop in your case.
Furthermore: TEST IT IN FLIGHT WITH A FRIEND.
Yip agreed
@@PureGlide man that was a close one buddy. How long ago was this particular one?
I can't think of anything worse than a mid air in a 2 seater. At least in my LS4 I was wearing a chute. No guarantees of course but at least a chance. On a separate subject I see the Mill Rd project has been given the chop. Celebrations all round for the AGC?
Personally I think we should wear parachutes in 2 seaters too. Even though it's a hassle. I bet if you need one, you'd appreciate having it. Yeah I just saw that too, must be good news for the Auckland club!
Called downwind. Called base. As I turned final (with an instructor in the backseat) towplane starts dragging another L-23 up. We passed about 150 feet apart as he started turning out with me pulling full spoilers and a slip to lose as much altitude as I could.
Two plane did not have a working radio in it. No idea what the guy in the front seat of the other L23 or the guy launching him were doing. The visibility could not have been better.
Not having a working radio in the tow plane sounds like a bad idea!
That is the ground crew not doing their job. The pilot can’t see behind him, so the ground crew have to check for *“Airspace clear for launch”* , and signal *“STOP”* if it is not clear (behind).
@@PureGlide There were portables available with headset adapters. The radio in the other L23 worked too, I had been launching other sailplanes most of the day. As Johan (Below) points out, the ground crew did not back the instructor and student in the launching sailplane either. Landing downwind with tows into the wind isn't a big deal until somebody isn't listening, then, it's a big deal.
If your FLARM range is limited, you may want to look at installing a better antenna.
See here >> ruclips.net/video/Zwuzi9cAIHU/видео.html
Oh thanks, in this case it was a configuration problem rather than antenna. Definitely worth making sure you have a good antenna though!
Had two A-10'S head on whilst thermalling at 1000ft I pushed, he pulled, has did his wingman about 2 seconds later. This was a new gliding club in between several military bases - had lots of shenanigans that day despite a NOTAM being issued, including Harriers flying down the strip whilst someone was on a winch launch. Luckily one of the guys was a SATCO and had a 'little word' with the military controllers. There have been others in my 40+ years of gliding - so guess I have been lucky - the closest was a Hunter 50 -100ft below when thermalling, never saw him until below me and I was reading his instrument panel, don't think he ever saw me, but with fast jets the closing speed is so fast you have to be very lucky to see them..........
Yeah fast jets flying through doesn't sound like fun. And I don't think a FLARM would help. Surely they have some sort of TCAS to detect normal civilian planes, so an ADSB transponder would probably help these days?!
@@PureGlide Not sure, this was some time ago, but haven't had a near miss with a fast jet for over 10 years so maybe they have something now....
Thank you for sharing! My take on FLARM, its sole purpose is to detect the traffic I otherwise fail to detect visually. Never make the FLARM the first or only line of defence against unexpected traffic.. Another small part of the swizz cheese - low release in drop-zone = incoming traffic will converge for some time untill one have climbed above or flown out of the drop-zone sector.
In terms of FLARM advice, its also very useful to use the range analyzer tool available where one upload an IGC-file when you flown with other gliders nearby. This might shed light on blind spots (reduced range) etc.
Happy soaring!
Yeah exactly right, it's just one more layer of protection, definitely not the ultimate solution. And yes well worth checking your FLARM reception. In my case it was a configuration issue, not a range issue.
As a motor flyer I always find gliders dangerous, because they often do unexpected sharp turns.
I'm curious how they manage not to collide with each other, when several gliders are circling in the same thermal.
Hi yeah primarily it comes down to lookout and keeping your eyes peeled. We are also taught “thermalling etiquette“ so we join thermals opposite to another pilot for example, so they can see us. A good topic to make a video about!
@@PureGlide That's a good idea!
Very informative! But what´s about your flarm?
Thanks! It was configured wrong, it was set to receive data externally rather than use the internal flarm
I was flying out of Sky sailing airport in Fremont California I was on tow going up to the Ridge and was just about to release when a metroliner coming from the bay flying perpendicular to our course passed directly below and between the towplane and myself.
We were only 150 feet above the ridge.
MAYBE.
My instructors fiance was flying the tow plane. He NEVER saw the metroliner but said he thought he heard it.
I know WE heard it, and FELT it, rattle the 2-33.
I had my hand on the knob to release.
I would normally visually clear to the right, then the left and then to the right. While looking out the right side I would pull, break high and right, tow plane would go low and left.
If I timed it right, I end up doing a 180° turn and I'm set up on the ridge.
Normal emergency procedure if ANYTHING happens is to release.
So I put my hand on the knob, look right and see a TINY spec but not sure what it was and it looked like it was going away from us, why would it be flying into the hill below us?
I look left, nothing, I look right and all I see are two ENOURMOUS propellers and the pilots looking out the right side of their aircraft and the left seat is leaning to the right pointing at something with this left arm across the front of his body.
He was wearing sunglasses and had dark hair, a mustache, no beard.
He had a tie and a button down shirt with a Black Monte Blanc pen in his shirt pocket......
Ok, seriously, I'm obviously making a little light fun out of this because it's making my palms sweat as I type this.....
I'm not sure what kind of pen it was.
THAT'S how fast they were going and that's how close they were and my instructor and I were the only people on the planet who saw it happen....
His wings didn't rock, no one reported the incident.
Nothing.
Now the "lucky" part.
I didn't release. I SHOULD have. But I didn't.
My instructor screamed because she thought I would. She TAUGHT me to, she EXPECTED ME TO.
I think we would have been ok, but at 100 feet of the top of the hill, the tow plane going left and low on release and he knows I'm right where I normally would so hes anticipating it....
And the recoil on the tow rope.
I didn't do it.
Since that flight I have watched every single release to see where the rope goes.
I'm guessing it was 50/50 chance that rope would have gone into one of those props.
I used to have nightmares about swimming underwater in the ocean at night and a huge shark comes out of nowhere always from the right it appears heading directly at me nothing but teeth.
Never had a problem getting into an airplane again.
But for 20 years I had that dream maybe once or twice a year. Been a long time since I had one but think I'll sleep with one eye open tonight.
Not sure what the takeaway is other than to say, if there's even a dot on the horizon, figure out what it is before you dismiss it.
FYI- no radios back then. I had a couple dozen hours racked up before I even took a ride in an aircraft with a radio.
Great!
I read your story on a other gliding channel. I think it was 25-30 year old footage of a gal coming in to land and then a guy helping her move the glider. In any case, talk about a near collision. Insane.
@@StickandGlider Yeah, that was the actual airplane I was flying in that video.
My buddies and I all got jobs down there as line boys. We got free tow and rental and instruction. All we paid for was fuel for the tow plane.
Of the three of us I'm the only one who didnt go on to make a living flying. One went military started in F-15's....
The other is a white hot kick ass fire bomber....
I have spent 40 years designing building flying any kind of model you can imagine.
For me it's all been for fun.
In the sailing world, sailboats get precedent over powered boats and ships. The exception is in the case of vehicles under tow and barges due to their restricted maneuverability. I would think that the same principles would apply with gliders and planes under tow. Pure Glide, can you elaborate on any gliding exceptions? What are the "rules of the road" for gliders? Thanks
Yeah in New Zealand, here are our rules for those at the same altitude. Other countries might be different.
A pilot of an aircraft that is converging at approximately the same altitude with another aircraft that is to its right, must give way, except that the pilot operating-
(1) a power-driven heavier-than-air aircraft must give way to airships, gliders, and balloons; and
(2) an airship must give way to gliders and balloons; and
(3) a glider must give way to balloons; and
(4) a power-driven aircraft must give way to aircraft that are towing other aircraft or objects; and
(5) all aircraft must give way to parachutes.
See 91.229 in for other rules and exceptions www.aviation.govt.nz/assets/rules/amendments/part-091-amendment-23.pdf
In Europe, a plane with a glider on tow has priority over most if not all other planes, gliders and even zeppelins.
I don't fly but do sail and usually on pretty busy inland lakes, rivers, etc. Same problem applies. Speeds might be slower and the stakes might be smaller but you get many more yachts to potentially track and you don't necessarily get that much time if they decide to cross paths with you.
I am firm believer that most accidents are caused by two people, one who made a mistake and another that made a mistake of not giving enough margin for the other person to make a mistake, did not train themselves to react correctly, were not prepared to look to notice anything wrong to react in time, etc.
I think, given my training, the other pilot made mistake of flying close and parallel to you for a significant amount of time. I never assume the other person sees me until I get some kind of indication. In a yacht it would mean correcting the course slightly or locking your eyes/raising your hand if you are close enough. Until I get that I have to assume they can do anything and potentially turn directly into collision course.
It might be that the tow plane pilot noticed you and had an actual backup plan in case you decided to turn, but I think better than a backup plan would be to not be there in the first place. I can't imagine drop zone was so small he actually had to climb so close to you.
Again, I have never flown, but I know that formation flying is a skill that takes a long time to develop and a lot of preparation to execute safely so rather than fly parallel and close to somebody it is definitely better to just increase separation.
Yeah exactly right - I haven't done any sailing but am pretty sure if I wasn't gliding as a hobby I'd probably be sailing. A lot of similarities...
question: do the tow planes radio to traffic to let them know they are near by and for other craft to do a traffic check?
its more of a GA and commercial thing than gliders but it is done a lot in the US when not near controlled towers or monitored airspace for GA aircraft.
Hi normally yes but generally not during a contest launch like this, as we all know where the tow planes are operating, and with 3-4 planes dropping off gliders continuously that would be too much radio chatter, and not useful when there are 20-30 gliders in the air
@@PureGlide that makes sense thanks for the explanation!
And glad everyone was okay!
This week I actually did my first solo, and on my second solo flight, I was literally just flying about to get into the swing of things. I made a 180 at about 1800ft and as I rolled out I found myself head to head with a light aircraft coming straight at me. I descended immediately but no sign that he even saw me. There was a light layer of complete cloud cover and I guess my K21 was difficult to spot against a white background. I had FLARM but didn't see anything. Scared the living hell out of me - more in hindsight than at the time! Any advice for a very new pilot in that kind of situation? Love the channel, by the way!
Just to get used to pay attention (which you did). You'll get that majority of your scares in gaggles.
Hi thanks for commenting! My tips for beginners to help with situational awareness:
- Really practice listening to the radio and understanding what you hear, so you can build up situational awareness. This takes time especially for newer pilots. Practice on the ground listening to the radio. Watch those air traffic control videos on RUclips too :)
- Never fly against the circuit direction around your airfield, especially around circuit altitude (under 2000')
- Your lookout will improve with time and practice. Keep eyes out of the cockpit. Don't focus on instruments.
Hope that helps!
As my dad has always said: keep your head on ball bearings!
Based on two close encounters, I assume that light airplanes never see gliders, especially on holiday weekends.
Generally only gliders use Flarm, although my paraglider Vario has one built in it's unusual and I think it only works in Europe
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i want to know what the 7 people didn't like from this video
Yeah same! Cheers :)
Wait, FLARM still isn't mandatory on gliders and/or GA aircraft? How is that possible?!
The problem is there are multiple different anti-collision systems, that suit different aircraft e.g. you won't find commercial jets with FLARM on board, and it doesn't work with fast moving aircraft. And most gliders can't afford, can't fit and don't have TCAS. So you can't really make either mandatory. Most gliders and tow planes do have FLARM these days, and in particular contest flying aircraft, even though it might not be mandatory.
@@PureGlide but some countries like France made it mandatory... Still, I see your point. Its scary to think about all those planes flying near-invisible though. Anyway, glad you're okay, this was a close one!
@@PureGlide My club in NL has recently imposed a rule upon itself that all gliders launching from our site need an operational FLARM system from the 2022 season onwards. Only a handful of oldtimers are, for practical reasons, excluded. In 2020, two lives were lost in a midair accident above Germany involving two young Dutch pilots. One of the pilots was a member of ours. We know his FLARM wasn't operational. We will never know for sure if it would have made a difference. But the rule to carry a working FLARM system follows naturally from this dreadful experience.
What’s a flam and what does it do
Well that’s a great topic for a video in the future, subscribe so you don’t miss it!
Do you think the tow plane should have been flying with a defective Flarm? In this instance the pilot saw you, but it could have easily been otherwise….
It was a very defective flarm in that it was in the tow pilots glider :O due to a failure of the glider flarm, and it was a requirement for our contests.
Whats the beep beep noise? Up/down indicator? 🤔
Yeah pretty much! I’ll make a video about it sometime
@@PureGlide ok, just saw you explaining that on the video where the student/trainer just about smashed into Mt Doom. Wow, that was chilling. 😬
Is this how you figured out your FLARM was broken? flarm.com/support/tools-software/flarm-range-analyzer/ Good reaction, and amazing candid analysis. Did your ADSB not see the towplane's transponder? As you've said, the sooner we get ADSB everywhere the better.
Hi no I was running through the FLARM config on the LX9050 and realised it was trying to use an external port rather than the internal one. Works way better once I changed that :)
Tim, would a display that showed a map of surrounding wind speeds and directions (for example from 0 to 10 km from the glider in all directions and altitudes) be usefull to glider pilots? Or do they get enough information from landscape, clouds, and seat of the pants?
Hi we have forecast apps that give us the predicted wind at various altitudes in any location, so we effectively have that already. Also while we are flying our glide computers calculate the wind speed, and can show us actual measured average wind speeds at different altitudes. The wind is critical for figuring out ridge lift, where thermals are triggering, and direction for landing. Cheers!
I'm a US - S.E.L. Rated pilot... New to gliders. What's a flarm?
Subscribe for future videos where I explain FLARM and how it works. In the meantime en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FLARM
So flarm is an obsolete predecessor of adsb?
Why didn't you push hard down instead of rolling and pulling? The latter takes more time.
Yeah good question, in hindsight that would probably have been better, and much faster as you say
@@PureGlide you're alive. No contact. Win win. Besides, seeing is the important part, take all the time you need to do it safely as long as you know where they are, right?
Besides that, having dueled with many many hang gliders including having them launch off the hill right in front of you.....arghhhh.
Even if you did push over first and got a quicker result on your end, there is no guarantee the other guy is going to do it correctly.
In other words, you can zig or zag, but so can he, instinct and trusting your gut if you have the experience under your belt is most likely going to save your butt when it DOES happen.
In the beginning you learn procedures so you don't have to think when you don't have the experience to KNOW what to do so you can survive long enough to learn how to do it better when you have the experience to identify options and choose the best one.
That's why the more experience you get the odds of survival go up exponentially in an emergency.
Of course the more you fly, the better the odds of having an emergency. Eventually.
Hmmmmm.
Well hopefully the extra practice comes in handy and it doesn't happen till closer to the end of your flying career.
Of course the end of a flying career usually goes hand in hand with a fatal emergency....
Hmmm.
I'll get back to you.....🤔
Wanting to fly without an engine and complaining about a slow towing airplane! /jk
Lol I know there’s lots of irony with my channel. I also have an engine in the glider…
Lack of SA is a big killer in the skies. I still find it crazy however, that when I fly my 85g drone under the tree canopy using FPV I am legally required to have a spotter to "deconflict" the airspace -- yet recreational pilots are allowed to fly without the requirement for such a critical safety element.
Yes those rules are stupid, and yes the sooner we all have collision detection gear on all aircraft the better! ADSB will help a lot, but it's slow to roll out.
I'm not much of a merch guy, if you could setup a one off donation system thing be happy to make a contribution. I know some other youtubers use "buy me a coffee".
Hey thanks, yeah I would like to do that, I’ll see what I can do! Thanks for your support
Hi Glen, I've set up a simple donation product on the store
pureglide.nz/products/pure-glide-donation
Thanks for the idea!
Why there is not an emergency motor on gliders? Is it a problem of weight?
Hi I do have exactly that on my glider, it’s called a turbo engine, I can use it to avoid landing in a paddock or field. Cheers
@@PureGlide is it a turbine? Always wondered how the prop folds in the wing mounted retractable motors. Any idea?
@@christopherleveck6835 ruclips.net/video/Stb1690KLYQ/видео.html
An engine would have made absolutely no difference in this incident. That said, it's firstly a problem of cost. And, secondly, some people prefer to have a "pure" glider, as it feels more of a challenge; the difference in that case being mostly psychological.
If you make your video at least 8min long you can place a mid-roll ad.
I hate mid roll ads, you won’t be finding any around here :)
@@PureGlide refreshing!
@@PureGlide one more reason I will be back at the very moment I get my notification....
JUST NOTICED missed it by 4 seconds....
@@PureGlide Yes PLEASE, no mid roll ads! I hate them with a passion!
It is not fair to expect a tow pilot to perform steep turns whilst towing a glider. Also, you can't blame the tow aircraft for poor climbing performance, which is likely due to high density altitude. Sure the towing aircraft would fly higher only if he could. Regardless, the tow pilot has seen you first because you have seen his (and gliders) belly as they have already started avoiding you.
You also can't blame technology as it is never 100% reliable. I fly both power aircrafts and gliders (as a student), and always carry portable ADSB in my pocket (www.uavionix.com.au/skyecho2/) as I want to see and be seen by powered aircrafts as well. Yes, I have seen flaws in ADSB when aircrafts appearing/disappearing from the screen.. However, ADSB is probably cheaper than FLARM, pity the technology is not standardised.
In any case well done and good job to all 3 of you !
Hi no I think there was something else wrong with that tow plane, it was definitely under performing. But it’s not really relevant to the near miss, other than I ended up right in the drop zone. And yes agreed you can’t rely on any technology, it’s all just another layer to help reduce the chances of an accident. There’s no single solution.