My first aero tow gaff...

[yyz]

...at least "gaff" in the sense that it caused damage to a plane, fortunately mine.

This past weekend at the Los Banos Aero Tow, I proudly rigged my brand-spanking-new 6-meter Nimbus 4, did a range check and carried it out to the end of the line.

I had been warned by at least one person (yes, that's you Jerry!) that the grass on the field was a little tall and that there were tufts that could catch a wing tip.

My trusty tow pilot, Ken K, commented on how low my plane was sitting low to the ground. I foolishly didn't think much of either warning. About 50 feet into the roll-out, I dropped a tip, the glider ground looped and crashed. Smartly, Ken released me when things got ugly so there was no damage to the tow plane.

My recommendation to new pilots is this: while a glider sitting low to the ground may look cool in photographs, it's a recipe for disaster on anything less than pristine runways.

While rebuilding the cockpit on the Nimbus, I have decided to get rid of the shock absorbers (it's a pretty light glider) and get the gear down as far as possible to hopefully avoid this kind of problem in the future.

Anyway, that's my "My First..." story and hopefully my last....

Mike

[Dean M]

Ouch Mike!!! Hope the damage was not to extensive...guess it's like the first scratch on the new car, once it happens it's no longer so important...lol......

[Len]

Been there!! At my first jr aerotow event

[sruelle]

Same for me Len!

Just using a dolly now if my wings are too close to the grass!

Stéphane

[Steve P]

Mike, that's just awful news. We're all feeling for you.

I had mine last year. Caught a tip on my DG-1000 and before I could blink it was up on that tip (which broke) and down on the canopies (which both broke)

Best of luck getting everything sorted. Share some photos when all is back in shape.

Steve

[yyz]

Mike, that's just awful news. We're all feeling for you.

I had mine last year. Caught a tip on my DG-1000 and before I could blink it was up on that tip (which broke) and down on the canopies (which both broke)

Best of luck getting everything sorted. Share some photos when all is back in shape.

Steve

Absolutely. It happened that fast. I just sat there in amazement/bewilderment for a minute. It could have been much worse. I got away with the cockpit area around the leading edge being cracked most of the way around. It's almost fixed and ready for paint. Better than new!

[klkaye]

Mike -

Glad to hear it is almost fixed. I did the same thing with my Ventus and had a Humpty Dumpty repair job on the nose. After your accident I was so hyper about the problem that I let Rob Johnston's Jantar loose as soon as I saw it start to yaw even though he probably could have straighened it out. Stupidly I continued to watch his plane instead of my Pegasus as it speed along the runway. Fortunately at the last second I saw the impending high speed weed whacking disaster and pulled up.

Ken

[Gunny]

Long wings and high grass doesn't mix well. I am a firm believer of grass skids on all my sailplanes. It too had happened to my Ventus before the aluminum grass skids where put on. Good thing I program in an emergency panic release function on my tx.

[Wilgaman]

Mike,
Thanks for posting!
It's less painful to learn from someone else's mistakes
Mark

[yyz]

Humpty Dumpty in full repaint regalia.