Things You Wouldn't Do in Real Life

[Strider69]

It's called GTF.

[Icarus]

War dance?, National song and a bit of ass slapping into the bargain, Are they all like this down there or are these the sane one's.

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fusea ... oID=180500

And of course the women, Hubba hubba.

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fusea ... eoid=66339

I could be mistaken, but I think the lads in the first video are our friends a little further East

The woman in the second video looks too well groomed to be an Aussie! Don't forget, the only culture down here is in the yoghurt.

[Alpha Whisky]

It's called GTF.

I think I'm going native, too long in Scotland, I see GTF and I think "Get Tae F***"

[Sheephelmet]

I think I'm going native, too long in Scotland, I see GTF and I think "Get Tae F***"

Must admit, the same thing crossed my mind!

[SteveK]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZxvYMC2QvI
Well I wouldn't try this in RL anyway!

[Freebird]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZxvYMC2QvI
Well I wouldn't try this in RL anyway!

I did a 50km MC0 final glide in an open class Cirrus that was long before GPS so it was calculated using a JSW final glide calculator (if anyone remembers those!) margin was zero as well although there were a some good sized stubble fields just before the airfield one of which was on fire (a bit smelly) so I arrived at circuit height in the end

[cruiser]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZxvYMC2QvI
Well I wouldn't try this in RL anyway!

I know the pilot, and it wasnt as scary as it seems on the video
But it does make your hair go on fire when you see it for the first time

[cruiser]

I did a 50km MC0 final glide in an open class Cirrus that was long before GPS so it was calculated using a JSW final glide calculator (if anyone remembers those!) margin was zero as well although there were a some good sized stubble fields just before the airfield one of which was on fire (a bit smelly) so I arrived at circuit height in the end

10 days ago I had a similar final glide from 49km from home, with the nearby storm shutting down all thermal activity for the last 49km.
You really get to appreciate what 40:1 glide angle means. Luckily, I had 10km/h tailwind and came to the airfield at 100m AGL

[Icarus]

I've had the pleasure on a few occassions........it's a LOOOOONG way to sit around doing nothing at best L/D!

[Jack Hart]

This story is going to show my age, but it is true and it is stranger than fiction. This is what happened on my first solo glider flight.

Before I took up sailplanes, I had some aviation experience so it wasn't too many hours into my training when my instructor (a kindly but no-nonsense lady of about 70 years of age) decided that I was ready to solo. The ship that I'd done all my pre-solo work in was a Schweitzer 2-22, a frame and fabric construction ship with an advertised glide ratio of 17:1 and side by side seating. http://www.gliding.co.nz/vintagekiwi/ph ... 202-22.JPG

My instructor had made sure to carefully review the proper technique for clearing the runway, since with no effective spoilers and a roll out distance of about 50 feet, spot landings/clearing the runway and coasting to a parking spot were a pretty uncommon occurrence, even for experts. Basically after landing, the drill was to unstrap, jump out as quickly as possible, grab the tail and haul the glider (not really a sailplane) butt first off the grassy runway, which, coincidentally, was only about 100 feet wide with barbed wire fence on each side to keep the cows out.

Right up until the end of the flight, things went just as planned. After the old Piper Cub towed me to about 2500 ft AGL over the field, I released, wandered around, found a few small thermals, and about a half hour later returned for a landing. Everything looked good as I entered the pattern at the prescribed altitude on the downwind leg. But just before I turned onto final I spotted another sailplane making a straight-in approach that would put him about 300 yards behind me. With a 17:1 glide ratio, my options at this point were severely limited so I just continued ahead and made the best and quickest landing I could. As soon as I ground to a stop on the nose skid, I was unbuckled, out of the glider and dragging it by it's tail just as quickly as I could to get it off the runway. Just as I got the 2-22 clear, the second sailplane passed the spot where I'd come to a stop at an altitude of about 5 feet. At the time, I was relatively young and fearless, so I didn't pee my pants, but it was a close call.

When my instructor showed up in the old Jeep (which had only one working gear and had to be pushed in reverse) to tow me back to my parking spot, she congratulated me on my solo and let me know in no uncertain terms that she was going to have a word with the guy who so brazenly disregarded the rules. I sort of wanted to have a talk with him too, but when we got back to the parking area and I got a closer look at him, I wasn't so sure. He was dressed in a jumpsuit that made him look like an Elvis impersonator and was wearing what looked like a space helmet with a large movie camera mounted on the top. The Schweitzer 1-35 that he was flying had what looked like a machine gun mounted through the windshield. Alarm bells were going off in my head...Danger! Danger! Severe nut-case in close proximity!

As it turned out I was wrong. The guy was mostly sane and sober and was very apologetic about the close call. He just hadn't anticipated the possibility that there would be other traffic at this back-woods field in the middle of the week. Once we settled our disagreement, I found the courage to ask about the strange get-up and the machine gun. The explanation he gave is that he had a government contract to thermal with buzzards and birds of prey and to film their evasive maneuvers as he fired at them with a gas powered BB machine gun. Apparently some genius in the government figured that the maneuvers of soaring birds could somehow be taught to fighter pilots. It sounded like "pork barrel" politics to me and I wondered which Congressman I'd have to bribe to get a similar job for myself. The guy did say that buzzards mostly ignored him or just turned away while birds of prey did resort to some pretty fancy aerobatics to defend themselves and their territory. Given my experience with aerial gunnery, I found it hard to believe that he would be able to even get a close shot at a bird much less film evasive maneuvers; however I did manage to keep a straight face and even complimented him on the snazzy jump suit.

Unfortunately, I never did find out who in the government I'd have to contact to get a job shooting BBs at buzzards, but the story is true.

[Strider69]

I wonder if he ever fired at a Harpy Eagle, That could have been interesting.

[Krejca]

This is one failed FG that I don´t want to do it again. And thisi was my fisrt outlanding. It was on Czech Junior Nationals. We were on finalglide and on the 10. km we had +100 m with 1.5MC but 8m/s headwind and on 7. km we caught stable sinking about -3m/s and now my reserve was in sh*t. So 3 of 5 gliders on the FG landed out just 3 kms before airfield. I and one guy were in 2,5m high corn as you can see on the picture. And one guy landed one field next to the grain. Luckily nothings broken but i dont to get this experience again.



And what i dont want do it in RL? I dont want to fly in black glider
.

[Icarus]

I'm sure you've been regularly "over-cooking" final glides ever since!

[Haldor]

Here is the result of another gilde with too little margins :



Friend of mine had to land in water, no damage to glider or pilot fortunately.

[Polewka]

Here is the result of another gilde with too little margins

You mean "no margins"...

Cya