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OSTIV TSP - Startseite

STOP CHRASHING
Introducion
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

STOP CHRASHING

Part 2

The Club and Flying Safety

We all know about the difference between gliding clubs in the country. There is a way of talking about their members and certain notions of a healthy development embedded in the culture of gliding. Behind the perceptions of the qualities and the intrinsic values of different clubs, producing the image of good or bad, we will find a significant variation between them:

- Small clubs with only small resources and few members
- Large clubs with a large number of members and comprehensive support from their side. 

Fact is, the degree of activity per member is broadly spoken the same, regardless of the club size.

Show overhead 1.

The curve represents club activity over a longer period. Could it be like this? Does a club sometimes move down with regard to activity and commitment from the members' side, sometimes finds itself on its way up?  

If so, how does it influence the work of flying safety?

By experience we know that there is a relation between the actual position of a club and the way safety questions will be solved, and therefore we will examine the raise and fall of club activities; things might be governed, planned for, or at least noticed.

Show overhead 2. A club on its way up.

Question: Is it true? Are there more factors involved.

A club moving down! What is it like? It could be like this…

Show overhead 3.

Question: Can we accept the figure? Any additional comments?

Presumably most club members will agree and hold the periodical variation for certain. From that follows another question:  Where do you position yourselves on the trace?

Show overhead 1.   

Group session 1.

Time:  20 min.

Divide the participators into groups with about 5 participators. Do not exceed this number. Provide each group with a transparency and a colour pen, only one colour per group.

Task 1.

Mark the present situation of the club on the sheet, inclusive previous and coming positions until the year 2000. 

Connect the positions in a curve. Sum up and present the trace in colour on the sheet…

Presentation:

Collect all the transpararencies and make the presentation yourself. Note, there will be no time for extensive reports from the groups on what they have found. Place the curves over each other. When they defect, start a discussion about the preconditions and ask for their ideas.

Tell the audience there is a need for consensus in these matters, so that all the officials and members share the same view and above all, know where they are along the curve. We know the actual stand of flying safety work might be affected negatively depending on where the club will be found on the curve.

How does this curve position influence flying safety?

A club on its way up.

Show overhead 4.

Let us notice the signs of rising activities. The positive development of a healthy club is producing signs of confidence many optimistic elements. 

Contrarily, a club on its way down may look like this.

Show overhead 5.

Growing or diminishing activities are not the only factors of importance. A situation characterized by decline may influence flying safety negatively; there are also transition zones between the varying levels of development.

These zones are presumably most dangerous! 

Show overhead 6.

Conclusion
Cognizance of the actual position of the club along the growth/decline curve is crucial for all categories — both club officials and ordinary members. I some situations necessary steps must be taken to prevent accidents.

Crash situations and their different phases.

Now we will look at some typical incidents/accidents situations representing clubs on their way up:

Show overhead 7.

Familiarisation — type conversion on a new type of glider.

The comments that follow are extracts from an accident report.

Case study 1:

The pilot completed a written examination with another instructor earlier. This instructor recommended the pilot to continue flying those types he already was checked out for. The actual day. The pilot intended to fly an ASK 21 which was not available. He asked for a check flight in LS 4. The instructor gave his permission and answered ok. The instructor had never flown together with the pilot during the season. The actual stand of the pilot´s flying skill was unknown to him.

A short pre-flight instruction concentrated on the written examination and the recommended speed at landings.

The pilot turned into finals with a severe nose-up, close to stalling speed. The tail of the glider hit a road 2-3 metres short of the field. The machine touched the ground on its main wheel and nose, then turned up and down. The pilot was safe and sound.

Instructors tend to over-estimate the capability of pilots, which to some extent is embedded in the atmosphere of a rising club — “anything is possible“.

Case study 2:

The pilot, an instructor, carries out a type conversion flight in a Jantar 2 for himself. The gilder belongs to a category which he has not flown earlier. On his third flight, he enters a final glide from 25 km. He approaches the landing field and continue on the down wind leg while sinking to about 10-15 metres when passing the extension of the starting point.

Then he ascends instantly while entering the base leg, observing that there is not sufficient height to turn to the landing field and decides to land straight on at a field of oats.

While flaring the machine got stuck in the crops. The glider was heavily broken, a wing separated, and so on.

The pilot starts for a check flight which he is not permitted to do alone. His conviction tells him, that he knows the glider perfectly, and finish with an extreme low-level approach at a high air speed, about 150 km/hours. You may say: “Will has grown far away from concern.“ 

Discuss: Why did these accidents occur?

Certain conditions might be hidden behind the rich facade of the growing club. You realizes many things, life is hectic, but you may lose control over upcoming situations and tend to neglect a fair view on what is possible. 

Show OH 2.8 Narrow escape

Show overhead: Collisions with trailers 

Discuss: Why do such incidents happen at all?

The reason usually is, that rules and orders are detached from the consciousness of the club members. An additional effect is that nobody will react when something seems to go wrong or somebody breaks the rules, ignoring any situation of potential danger.

The body of formal rules for gliding activities are usually not available but if you will find them somewhere in the club house or the hangar, they are supposedly of ancient date and not valid. 

Another feature of common accidents, representing declining clubs, are related to training. The number of training related accidents are fortunately decreasing but still we must deal with the category.

In most situations they emerge from an instructor´s negligence, or/and lacking experience. There is a significant positive correlation between training accidents and declining club activities. The fact is that the instructor often works on his own, with no assistance from the officials' side. More, such instructors are often inexperienced and loaded with heavy training duties. 

Behind these training related accidents we usually find

-ignoring the check-list

-the instructor reaction time is to slow when he should take over

Show overhead “Eric“

-the teacher misjudge the student´s skill.

-the teacher is in a great hurry about completing the student´s training.

Discuss: What can be done to avoid such accidents?

Comments:

-Preflight check in accordance with the check list must be carried out very carefully, no matter if solo or dual flight.

-When solo flying the instructor shall look after the student´s preparations and control his preflight checking carefully.

-The instructor must always be alert and prepared to intervene, to control the machine, giving personal assistance or solving problems in the situation as a whole.

-The instructor should always consider the student´s actual training position before any solo flying. After a period of non-flying activities there must be serious considerations about the refreshment of the student's skill and the way back to the training scheme.      

Show overhead 2.11. The training trace

Comments:

The curve shows the variation of technical and mental readiness. Let us look at the following situation. After being off from flying during a longer period the pilot will usually control the machine adequately well, but only as some sort of “mechanical flying“. If there is a minor disturbance, the pilot will often respond irrationally with clear cut difficulties to solve the problem. The result might be an accident. The preconditions are a shortage of mental readiness and a false feeling of sufficient airmanship. Such pilots are not psychologically prepared to fly a glider in its environment — but they rely upon their self-confidence, and trust their own mechanical skill. With no systematic re-training scheme comprising air exercises, specially linked to “problematic situations“, the process of forgetting is an important, compelling circumstance behind many accidents.

Keeping the curve in mind is a good advise. Being away from gliding for periods, and long lasting breaks of a training commitment, contain certain risks. However, it is the process of forgetting which too many pilots today actually deny.  

The curve we have examined so far provides us with another insight; mental readiness grows slowly compared to mechanical readiness, and at a later phase of training. Nobody should beleive that the only thing that really matters is getting into the air as soon as possible after a long-lasting break, as if nothing really happened during the pause. Better, think over the situation carefully and try to estimate the actual stand of a student. 

-When feeling uncertain, never hesitate to ask another instructor for advice.

Because of the serious nature of “being off and back again“— there must be a responsible leadership in the club. Later on we will focus on leaders and their effects on flying safety.