Sloping Off - June 2005
A Cautionary Tale
or " Safe Flying is Snow Accident" (with apologies to the Chairman - Ed)
by Derek Longman
Location: Christchurch airfield, early ‘60s, Air Cadet hangar.
It was customary for gliding staff to have a “jolly” at the end of each year, to enjoy a bit of relaxing flying after all those Cadets in the passenger seat. On one such day, briefings, Met and DI’s were completed and T21 WB990 was towed out and positioned at the designated launch point. The met was light SW winds with snow flurries, temperature near zero. The winch was positioned at the old compass bed just the other side of Mudeford Lane.
Bloggs was first on the list. The snow flurries were replaced by about 15 minutes of wet snow of the type that occurs in this coastal area. This cleared up and 990 was launched from the winch. The climb out was slow to about 700 ft, even though the winch was at full power.
To our consternation, the entire circuit was flown in a semi-stalled condition followed by a heavy landing.
I jumped into one of our Bedford GP trucks and drove to 990’s position. Bloggs was still in the cockpit: he was shaking but it wasn’t just the cold... We gave him a lift out and I carried out a FOD check - this was OK - but the controls seemed heavy. A walk round 990 found all horizontal areas had a thin layer of ice and snow stubbornly clinging to the airframe and control surfaces.
At a subsequent interview with the CO, Bloggs admitted that the ground crew had offered him a “snowbrush” before launch: “no thanks,” he had said “it will blow off on the launch...”
Moral: even if the C of G is in the right place, snow can seriously affect your flight characteristics!
I wonder if having an Air Cadet in the front might have made a difference... by the way, the photo is from the Lasham Gliding Club website and although it is not WB990, that very glider is still flying (and was the first one I found on the Net when looking for a photo to support Derek’s article - Ed)
