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This is just a "What if?" scenario. Any semblance to actual persons or events is completely coincidental.
Imagine, if you will, a beautiful afternoon, lots of puffy cumulus clouds. Just the occasional tinge of gray lining the bottom of the some of the larger examples, filling the range of vision in sky of subdued blue. Our erstwhile (but imaginary) sailplane pilot is enraptured, having skipped from thermal to thermal for the past 15 minutes. Currently cruising inverted, up range at about 250' of altitude, the nose is brought around to point at the upwind end of the landing area, the sleek wings of the ASW28 are rolled upright, leveled to the horizon and the elevator stick pushed forward. Anticipation and airspeed build together as the plane accelerates effortlessly, the controls becoming more responsive with the increased airflow.
Blissful anticipation becomes an unquenchable grin as the sleek machine whistles past 10 feet above the runway, its groundspeed aided by 15 knots of wind feeding into what must be a massive thermal just downrange. All other thoughts are pushed to the back of his or her mind.
Now let's take a minute and examine what some of those thoughts, way back in the mind, are.
1) The wind is a tailwind and unfortunately lift is not based on groundspeed.
2) The lovely sleek imagined plane is actually a fuselage built from the same material as a Clorox bottle with foam wings that are not in their virgin state, having previously encountered obstacles.
3) The trailing edges of said wing are fully 3/16" thick (that's nearly 5mm for those elites who would not fly a plane that used Imperial units).
4) The reviews of this plane strangely omit any praise of its energy retention.
Back to our imaginary present and the "What if?" What if our trusting pilot now pulls the stick back expecting to regain much of the altitude we just traded off for speed in that lovely low level pass?
Let your imaginations wander.
One possible outcome might involve a quick but harsh lesson in laminar flow, a tree, a series of 10 sections of PVC and some duct tape but, as this is all hypothetical, I'll leave you to your own conclusions.
Imagine, if you will, a beautiful afternoon, lots of puffy cumulus clouds. Just the occasional tinge of gray lining the bottom of the some of the larger examples, filling the range of vision in sky of subdued blue. Our erstwhile (but imaginary) sailplane pilot is enraptured, having skipped from thermal to thermal for the past 15 minutes. Currently cruising inverted, up range at about 250' of altitude, the nose is brought around to point at the upwind end of the landing area, the sleek wings of the ASW28 are rolled upright, leveled to the horizon and the elevator stick pushed forward. Anticipation and airspeed build together as the plane accelerates effortlessly, the controls becoming more responsive with the increased airflow.
Blissful anticipation becomes an unquenchable grin as the sleek machine whistles past 10 feet above the runway, its groundspeed aided by 15 knots of wind feeding into what must be a massive thermal just downrange. All other thoughts are pushed to the back of his or her mind.
Now let's take a minute and examine what some of those thoughts, way back in the mind, are.
1) The wind is a tailwind and unfortunately lift is not based on groundspeed.
2) The lovely sleek imagined plane is actually a fuselage built from the same material as a Clorox bottle with foam wings that are not in their virgin state, having previously encountered obstacles.
3) The trailing edges of said wing are fully 3/16" thick (that's nearly 5mm for those elites who would not fly a plane that used Imperial units).
4) The reviews of this plane strangely omit any praise of its energy retention.
Back to our imaginary present and the "What if?" What if our trusting pilot now pulls the stick back expecting to regain much of the altitude we just traded off for speed in that lovely low level pass?
Let your imaginations wander.
One possible outcome might involve a quick but harsh lesson in laminar flow, a tree, a series of 10 sections of PVC and some duct tape but, as this is all hypothetical, I'll leave you to your own conclusions.
AAA TT TN
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