Landing a Glider or Sailplane

Video Transcript

" Hi! My name is Gene; I'm glider flight instructor on behalf of Expert Village. Now we're circling down over the airport. We normally fly a pattern, which is a down wind parallel to the runway, a base is perpendicular to the runway, and then the final glide is right down the runway for landing. Is there a certain direction for the pattern? Normally, the pattern is a left hand pattern. If the airport has a left hand situation. It can also be a right hand pattern if the designated airport has a right hand pattern. Each airport has it's own designation for patterns. You have to go according to the rules and regulations for that particular airport. Now we're turning base. Base is perpendicular to the runway. There's the runway on our right. Now we're going to turn final. Our goal is to line up with the runway, pick a spot where we want to aim. That's where we're going to land. So if you're too high, what do you do? If we're too high we pull on the spoilers. If we're too low, we close the spoilers to make a variable rate of sync. Now we're coming. I'm going to open the spoilers for a little more sync. When we get down in the grass, we're going to do what's called a flair. You pull back on the stick, hold it off as long as you can while it goes slower, and slower. Eventually it'll settle in. You make a landing with a nice short roll out so that you're at minimum energy when you touch down. Now that stopped really fast. There's a break on the wheel and then there's a skid on the nose that rubs on the grass for additional drag. "