How safe/unsafe is glider flying?

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I own a commercial glider operation. It's our second season in business. I'm the CFIG, tow pilot, tow pilot checkout pilot etc.

The picture below are two private pilots that added their Glider rating to their certificate last weekend.. The pilot on the far right got recommend for the check ride on a three day weekend.

I believe the actual flying of the glider is safer than powered airplanes. However, when glider pilots do risky things ie flying to close to the ridge while ridge soaring, then the accident rates go up. There are a lot of glider pilots that are low time too. I think that contributes a lot to the accident rate too.

I have filled many logbooks as a CFI but enjoy instructing in gliders most.
 

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Do all or most airplane pilots learn glider flying?
This shows how important it is:
 
mumblecanfly said:
Do all or most airplane pilots learn glider flying?
This shows how important it is:
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Not sure why but it irks me when people upload sim videos trying to portray accident studies. They are never good.
 
mumblecanfly said:
Do all or most airplane pilots learn glider flying?
This shows how important it is:
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Wrong, it is not that important. I really doubt if many powered pilots who are also glider pilots will seek out thermals or other lift sources should the engines quit. They will set up for best glide which every pilot is taught and head for a suitable landing field whether it be an airport or otherwise. The direction of the available lift might very well take you away from a safe landing and the altitude that might be possibly saved will not be worth it. Too much was made of Sullenberger being a glider pilot. That isn't what saved the day. It was his ADM more so than his actual stick skills. But I guess your vast experience tells you otherwise.
 
Most that thermal in packs with other gliders wear a chute. Also those that play around with nasty lift as it is easy to get tossed around and over-stress the bird recovering.
 
mumblecanfly said:
How (un)common is it to carry a parachute on a glider?
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Common in high performance sailplanes because the cockpit is designed for it. High performance sailplanes are designed for cross country racing which involves flying in gaggles and with as many as 50 gliders on a single task. Midair’s are a distinct possibility in those situations so chutes are mandatory.

Required for aerobatics. Yes some gliders can do a full range of a maneuvers and some are designed specifically for aerobatic competition.

Not common in training ships because training is not inherently dangerous and the type of accidents that occur involve ground contact while taking off or landing.

I’ve never been aware of glider guiders wearing chutes to protect themselves from structural failure in flight except during aerobatics. Design concepts around maneuvering speed and redline apply. The worse turbulence encountered is generally related to rotor in standing wave conditions, e.g. “my eyelids turned inside out as I temporarily lost control of the aircraft”. Since glider flying is usually limited to visual conditions, the inside of thunderstorms are generally not explored.

A story:

I ‘witnessed’ a midair at competition while loitering with 50 other sailplanes waiting to start a task. Both pilots announced “midair” on the common frequency. One then said he had a damaged wing and was going to jump, which he did. The other said he had a damaged wing but thought he could land it, which he did after having the damage inspected by another pilot. Once both pilots were on the ground and deemed safe, the start gate was opened and the competition resumed.

Hours later I finished the task and headed off to the scoring trailed coincidently at the same time the pilot that had jumped was entering. He even had the balled up chute under his arm (!!).

The consensus among all who viewed the 2 aircraft was that the guy who jumped could have easily stayed with the aircraft and landed but the guy who flew it in probably should have jumped.

Turned out that the guy who jumped had dozens of sport jumps under his belt and was perfectly comfortable ‘hitting the silk’. (Taking care of the chute and not losing the D-ring is sort of jumper culture which may explain why he still had it under his arm when I met up with him.) The guy who stayed with his ship had never jumped before and like me, would have had to be kicked out of ship before attempting to use the ‘chute.

Even though the start gaggles had over 50 sailplanes in roughly a 5 mile radius of the airport, and the collision took place at about 5,000’ while I was circling at about 4,000’, I never saw a thing. Not the middair, not the canopy, and not the abandoned sailplane that reportedly slowly fluttered down and landed yards from the pilot, which apparently is not uncommon in such situations.

My old, never used ‘chute is moldering proudly in the hangar.


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I assisted at an IAC contest that had one glider entry. I was the only one there with any glider experience other than the towpilot and glider pilot, so I handled the ground crew duties.

I'd seen gliders do aerobatics before, but never in a contest. It's a huge lesson in energy management, and a really graceful thing to watch.
 
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Matthew said:
I assisted at an IAC contest that had one glider entry. I was the only one there with any glider experience other than the towpilot and glider pilot, so I handled the ground crew duties.

I've seen gliders do aerobatics before, but never in a contest. It's a huge lesson in energy management, and a really graceful thing to watch.
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We have a winner, start the competition!

My first sighting was a routine done at the old Reading Airshow and it was just as you said. But it was followed by Bob Hoover flying his Mustang then the Shrike. It’s hard to out do a glider in grace and energy management but Mr. Hoover’s Shrike routine did it. Most outstanding piece of flying I could ever imagine.

I did a week of glider aerobatic training at Estrella some years ago. Very cool but not my thing.


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Parachutes are only required for aerobatics if passenger(s) are aboard. I highly recommend wearing one if solo doing aero but legally, not required.
 
I came across the following video, "Lessons every pilot must learn". It's for airplane pilots. Could someone come up with a similar one (video or just words) for glider pilots?

 
weilke said:
Not really. Many of the parachutes worn in gliders are automatic with a lanyard attached to the plane that deploys the chute within a couple of 100ft. You jump out, the parachute opens and you are basically cargo until you hit the trees/mountains/alfalfa fields below. You may get hurt, but it beats the alternative.
They exist to give the pilot an option for the uncommon event of a midair collision or for a control system malfunction that doesn't allow a safe landing.
* or cut it with a little guillotine device in the case of a internal drum style tow system
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The one time I was up in a glider (logged .4 hours of dual) was in the UK. Wore a chute for the first and only time (so far) in my life. No static line on that one.

mumblecanfly said:
What will happen if there are no thermals or you don't find them after you have taken off? Say you go fly the glider at midnight... :rolleyes:
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mumblecanfly said:
How (un)common is it to carry a parachute on a glider?
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Or there is an inversion, so no lift. We got hauled up to 4000 MSL and cut loose. The rest of the flight was a long slow glide down with an attempt at a loop and a side trip over York. BTW, York Minster is very imposing from the ground. Not so much from about 3000 MSL. See the photo.

The spoilers on that glider allowed for very precise control on the landing spot. Andy (instructor, professor at the University of York, etc) handled the take-off, but I did the landing. Really easy on the grass strip next to the paved runway we took off from. The second photo is us after landing. That's me in the front.

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ebykowsky said:
No go around, no throttle, and only mother nature for lift... your hobby is what I would consider an emergency... so how safe is it really? How often can you not make it to the runway, and of those times how often does the plane end up damaged or the pilot end up hurt/dead?
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A recent FAA safety talk showed stats that gliders actually have about a 5-fold increase risk for accidents compared to other fixed wing aircraft, about 35 accidents/100,000 flight hours; fatalities, about 7/100,000 hrs.
 
It's fun, easy and safe. No gasoline, and the "engine out" part is never a surprise. Soaring is rarely done over congested areas. There is usually abundant farm land under you, or with gliding distance, which is 2 or 3 times what you SEL has. Spoilers allow you to descend rapidly if you want or need to. Weight and total energy is usually much lower than SEL.
 
wsurf3 said:
A recent FAA safety talk showed stats that gliders actually have about a 5-fold increase risk for accidents compared to other fixed wing aircraft, about 35 accidents/100,000 flight hours; fatalities, about 7/100,000 hrs.
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Two things. One, what is the source of hours flown? Two, what is in the definition of fixed wing? I tend to think those statistics would not stand up to scrutiny
 
Gliders are very unsafe....while they are hooked up to a powered aircraft.
 
Hang 4 said:
Two things. One, what is the source of hours flown? Two, what is in the definition of fixed wing? I tend to think those statistics would not stand up to scrutiny
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Sounds to me like an apples-to-apples comparison of apples and oranges.
 
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