Flight #69

6 May 2023 • Andy Jackson Airpark • Hang 0 - Student

Today was the first and last day I ever crashed a glider. I broke the left downtube. First I did 2 flights down the little 15' bunnyhill. I messed up and failed to flair on both flights. Instead of remaining on the bullyhill until I was doing flairs properly, we immediately moved halfway up the training hill to 40'. I reiterated multiple times, I was not feeling confident and am not ready to go higher up the hill. All of my attempted flairs have been terrible. Most of my launches are bad. I'm not holding trim properly. I'm basically doing everything wrong. I'm not remotely comfortable leaving the bunnyhill after 5 bad flights. I want to learn how to switch my hand position and get my timing down for the flair. I did 2 flights from the 40' hill. On the first one, I drifted right and hit the bushes. On the second, I got flying good, then drifted way right into the weeds. I came down hard because the weeds were over 6' tall and I literally couldn't see the ground. I thought I was closer to the ground and started to flair out and basically slammed the last 3' into the shrubs. Thankfully, I didn't injure myself too badly. A bruised left collarbone and a sore right shoulder muscle was the extent of my injuries. I was incredibly upset with myself and disappointed for crashing the glider. I could have been severely injured in that crash. Thankfully, my ego was bruised more than my body. But on the bright side, the crash proved I was right. I was not ready to fly the 40' hill after 4 bad bunnyhill flights. It wasn't a failure. It was a vindication and proof I am a good judge of my skill. I'm also thinking my tendency to push out after launch comes from my years of aerotowing.