Report
on Safety Seminar held at the Adelaide University Gliding
Club on 19th
July 2003
Prepared by John Wheatcroft
The seminar was attended by about 50 pilots with 16
from BGC. The following items were discussed:
- Review of recent accidents/incidents Jan 2002-
March 2003: there was one mid-air collision (non-fatal)
and several near misses. Investigation of
past mid-airs suggests in most cases one
pilot was blind-sided while the other pilot
should have had a good view of the other
glider prior to the collision. Few mid-airs
occur in circuit with most occurring on
crosscountry flights.
- Lookout: Better lookout may have helped
prevent some mid-airs. Look before turning or
climbing then look towards the airspace you
are going to fly into. More information about
priority scan time and target of scan will be
provided later.
Train pilots to use audio vario. For
instructing an audio mute control accessible
to the instructor would be useful to assist
with communication with student.
- Personal responsibility for safety: more
emphasis on pilots accepting more
responsibility for their general flying
including safety.
- Outlanding accidents: there were several
outlanding accidents/incidents with most
caused by poor planning or last minute change
of plans. Comments were that out-landing
training is generally inadequate and training
should commence before solo.
In one accident pilot may have been too
focused (blinkered) and not sufficiently
aware of all aspects in the approach to the
paddock
- Local area accidents/incidents: there were
quite a number of these ranging from getting
low, poor circuit planning, overshooting
landing area and ground looping, collision
with a/c on t/o ground run, wheel up landing,
canopy opening or being lost, poor decision
making following launch emergency, heavy
landing. Most of the above were the result of
poor airmanship, inadequate pre-flight checks,
poor or no circuit planning, misuse of
airbrakes, questionable operational
procedures. Comments were: with pre-takeoff
checks pilot should be challenged and
expected to give appropriate answer and not
be rushed. On final approach airbrakes should
be used as required with reference to
overshoot/undershoot situation without over-use
or being "pumped". Avoid "shortcut"
actions to save time or effort. Only a few
accidents/incidents could be attributed to
airworthiness problems.
- Winch launching: only a few winch launching
problems occurred, cable catching on wing of
parked glider (minor damage), trace draped
over stabilizer following weak link break (no
damage). The issue of cable cutters was
raised, while they remain not mandatory there
is the proposed ops directive that there be
no expectation that the winch driver leave
the cabin in the event of a hook up. The RTO
Ops suggested cable cutters should be fitted
to new winches and winches being sold. This
received a hostile reception from the meeting.
Unfortunately this issue will not go away and
seems to have taken on an importance beyond
expectations given the few incidents that
have occurred.
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