Flight Training - November/December 2021 - 35

COURTESY U.S. AIR FORCE STAFF SGT. LAUREL RICHARDS
GLIDERS
Glider pilots are experts at energy
management, reading dynamic
weather and winds aloft, and
flight efficiency.
They also must decide on
every flight whether they can
safely glide to an airfield or " land
out " by finding a suitable field.
And when a glider pilot
commits to land, she gets one
chance to do it right because her
unpowered craft offers no chance
for a go-around.
Glider flying typically begins
with a formation flight behind a
powered aircraft. That cooperative
effort must be coordinated
and precise, and the glider pilot
must stay in position while avoiding
the wake and wingtip vortices
of the tow airplane-and that's a
fairly narrow sliver of sky.
Once released from the tow
airplane, glider pilots seek out
rising air. When they find it, they
typically turn sharply to stay
within those invisible cylinders of
rising air. But turning a glider is a
study in adverse yaw.
Those long, high-aspect-ratio
wings with ailerons on the
outboard panels mean the aircraft
typically rolls slowly, and the
downturned aileron so far from
the fuselage creates massive
amounts of adverse yaw while
doing so. Flying efficiently to preserve
altitude means keeping drag
to a minimum, so it's imperative
for glider pilots to fly coordinated.
Glider pilots counteract adverse
yaw by leading their turns with
rudder and rolling decisively.
Once established in a turn, as in
powered aircraft, the elevator
determines the turn rate.
Rising air can be elusive.
When glider pilots transit areas
of falling air, they do so at relatively
high speed to reduce the
amount of time they're exposed
to it. When they encounter rising
air, they slow their aircraft and
turn to stay within its borders
and gain altitude.
Gliders have many wing
shapes and differing stall characteristics,
but unlike powered
aircraft, there's no spiraling
slipstream, P-factor, or engine
torque to counteract. Instead, a
quiet flight gets even quieter as
airspeed decreases, there's light
airframe buffeting as airflow
over the tops of the wings begins
to separate, and the nose drops
when the wing exceeds its critical
angle of attack.
Airflow reattaches to the
wings as soon as the pilot
reduces the angle of attack, and
the glider accelerates with an
assist from gravity.
When returning to the airport
for landing, glider pilots typically
fly a pattern and configure their
aircraft, but a glider approach
doesn't look or feel quite the
same as a powered airplane. They
generally fly a steeper approach
and use lift-dumping spoilers to
manage their rate of descent.
" Judging and adjusting your
approach by the use of spoilers
will be a different experience
and may give you some new
perspective on your use of the
throttle, " said Wally Moran, an
FAA designated pilot examiner,
former airline chief pilot, and
glider pilot. " Naturally the flare
and landing will be lower than
you are accustomed to, so again a
different perspective. "
For powered airplane pilots,
the benefits of thinking like a
glider pilot are many. You can
avoid turbulence by reading the
sky, wind, and its interaction with
terrain. You save fuel by flying at
the most efficient speeds based
on headwinds or tailwinds. And
an engine-out landing is normal-a
maneuver you perform at
the conclusion of every flight.
FLIGHT TRAINING NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021
35
BECAUSE HER UNPOWERED CRAFT OFFERS NO CHANCE FOR A GO-AROUND.
Flight Training - November/December 2021

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