Glider lands during thunderstorm

[Grey Ghost]

What I find is people start to panic when they get themselves into abnormal situation. In this case, it looked like the pilot rushed to land because of the rain. I know most glider pilots are not powered pilots and most have never experienced IMC condition. There is no need to rush the landing. Take your time to do your checks and land it like you normally do.

Ok thanks, boss

 

[TWA]

Holy Sh!t, I remember that storm! That was taken at the Ceasar Creek Soaring Club airport near Waynesville, OH. My FBO is located about 10 or so miles away, and we are a favorite ditching spot for them. This happened during the national competition last year. The weather looked good in the morning, but the thunderstorms surprised them in the afternoon. The old saying "there are old pilots and there are bold pilots, but there are no old bold pilots" holds true for gliders too. That day, we had a total of 6 gliders ditch with us. The first 5 were older guys (mid 30s or later), who landed once they realized they weren't going to be able to finish for the day (When the storm started, they declared a safety finish, where it was considered a finish if you got within a few miles of the airport). This one kid, couldn't of been older than 17, flew right over my field, but opted to go for the safety finish. Not only did he not get is coveted finish (for a bottle of cheap wine and a $12 trophy), but barely made it back to my airport. He didn't have enough altitude to land upwind (mind you there were 5 other gliders scattered at different positions around the field, trying to watch for traffic as they get their gliders off the runway), but came in so hot, he couldn't even get aligned with the runway. He almost touched down where the parallel meets the runway, nearly hitting a tree, then goes across the runway, up a little hill and into the corn field before he finally got stopped. He got a stern talkin to from some of the older guys there. It was really something to see.

The year before, we had 17 gliders land during the thunderstorm on the competition week.

 

[svcta]

Never mind.............deleted.