How can we change to avoid ground accidents that damage our gliders?

[Bret Hess]

[This is a public discussion on groups.google.com/g/utah-soaring.  You can add to the discussion by replying to the post or to the email if that’s what you’re reading’’.]

Most of the damage to our gliders comes from moving them on the ground. The damage keeps gliders grounded when we really want to fly, and really hurts our finances. What can we do to change that?  

I’d like to hear your ideas. Here are some of mine.

Like most accidents, the damage isn’t just caused by beginners.  I’ll bet many of us have been close to damaging club gliders.  I have.  In the air we use checklists and standard procedures to us remember what helps to keep us safe, and to keep us from just winging it in the moment.  Could we have club-wide checklists and SOPs for moving gliders on the ground, and take the responsibility to use them?  

Here are a couple of proposed SOPs for our club gliders:

• When a glider is being ground towed by a vehicle, two people should participate if at all possible.  They discuss who is responsible for each wing.  They constantly check on their assigned wing.  If they need to move two vehicles, the tow vehicle goes first and the non-towing vehicle follows and they are in constant contact over cell phone.  

• Those involved talk only about the risks and progress of moving the glider until the glider is detached from all tow equipment (sterile tow). 

I know personally these kinds of SOP are needed and need to be thought out ahead of time and discussed.  A few years ago I and another club member almost put 85W out of commission because we were doing the normal things.  We were towing 85W out to where gliders were lining up, about halfway down the taxiway.  I was driving the cart and watching the left wing and keeping its wobbly bicycle wheel on the pavement.  We weren’t in deep conversation, but had talked about whatever came up.  At the moment we started looking ahead at the gliders and vehicles in the lineup and in the parking area, wondering what they were up to, and how long a wait we would have.  An alarm went off in my brain that it was time to check more than just the left wing, and I was horrified to find that the right wing was about two seconds away from being destroyed on a parked trailer in the dirt.  These and other SOPs would have avoided the close call.  We all know that a fraction of close calls will become the real thing.

Other proposals?   I know that Morgan was asked by the board to discuss the last accident and put in place proposals to break similar chains of actions/omissions that resulted in the accident.  Would a Morgan pilot please post what those are to help our discussion? 

These chains of bad handling actions happen at all the airports because we’re human, and more than they should partly because we don’t have clear SOPs that we discuss and follow.  I think all the accidents we have in memory or records need to be reviewed in detail with the idea of writing concrete SOPs for ground handling to avoid them.  

Bret

[STANLEY MCGREW Owner]

I heartedly concur with the thoughts expressed herein!

Stan McGrew

On Wed, 21 Feb, 2024 at 5:41 PM, Bret Hess <bret...@gmail.com> wrote:

 

To: utah soaring

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Utah Soaring" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to utah-soaring...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/utah-soaring/a7f652b6-649c-4405-b53c-46a6f8c01efen%40googlegroups.com.

[Dan Thirkill]

In bold text below are the updates Morgan added to its Airport Orientation guide.  They can be found in the 'Towing and Staging' section of the guide.  

" The USA gliders are tied down on the ramp on the southeast side of runway 3. It is necessary to tow your glider the length of the runway when positioning for takeoff. Before moving onto the ramp, taxiway, and hammerhead area, inspect for any aircraft, vehicle, or other hazard parked within a full wingspan of the proposed taxi track center. During taxi, at each such obstacle, deploy a wing walker to verify clearance. If operating alone, stop the tow vehicle and walk to the wingtip to verify clearance at each obstacle before passing. Use great care while entering the runway and towing the glider to the staging position. If you notice a conflict with an arriving or departing aircraft, depart the runway immediately. If possible, use a handheld radio to announce your intentions and for traffic awareness. A visual watch for traffic will be necessary due to the possibility of no-radio traffic at Morgan County."

Dan Thirkill  

[Lynn Alley]

All those involved in the incident that destroyed 0PX submitted written statements.   I believe Safety Officer Moises is the custodian of those statements.

We do, in fact, have SOPs involving ground handling, and pilots that fly at Morgan receive practical training in them under instructor supervision.  We have tried to improve them, as you have or will see in Dan Thirkill's post.

I personally feel like focus on ground handling procedures (while not a bad idea) is a bit like treating the symptom, rather than the root cause.  I don't know that we will ever run a glider into a forklift again, but I think there may be some deeper roots that could cause us to have a different accident.  I'm thinking of differences in reality vs. expectations on several different levels encompassing pilots, students, instructors, and ground crew.  We will certainly discuss this more in our annual instructor's meeting.

L.

[Bret Hess]

Lynn, I don't mention a forklift in my example of a proposal.   But a glider always has two wings. 

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/utah-soaring/83a20773-ee1f-4edc-a807-5ed91125e242%40xmission.com.

[heyjoe202019]

Here is what I would do if I owned the gliders as a business in order to avoid accidents and incidents.  There would be more controls over operations, which would be less fun but may save assets.  A system whereby each person qualifies on a particular task such as towing to the launch area, running the wing, flying cross country, reviewing the check lists, inspecting the glider before flight, etc. all with an SOP's, and physically performing the task under the direction of a proctor.  At that point their name would go on a roster as qualified to perform the task.  The practical review should include every person in the club yearly who would perform these duties whether an instructor or a member, whether an airline pilot with 10000 hrs or a beginner with 30 hrs.  There are enough accident reports out to know that highly trained people as well as  beginners are subject to human error and the more ways to reduce it the better.  We only fly maybe 10-20 times a few months out of the year.  The spring check outs are not rigorous enough.

I would like to see some specific training such as spin training.  There is a value in knowing what not to do, as what to do if it happens and not be terrified of the event.  Garret Willet at Sky Sailing makes students do spin training before they solo.  Wayne Larsen at Airmotive in Brigham does the same.  I've taken spin training from him just a few weeks ago as student pilot.  Of course we need to check and see if the Grobs are save for that.

I think there is a place for simulator training especially to eclipse the learning cycle for new student as well as benefit for experienced pilots.  Cross wind landings can be cranked in for practice for instance.  

We definitely need cross country training.  This should be academic as well as dual flying training.   The end point in learning is to be able to race of fly cross country safely. There are many things to learn that are not in the books such as how not to get sucked up into a cloud and what to do if it happens, planning for landouts and locations of airports ahead of time while on the ground, and a lot of things I still have to learn.  We have a board member who has a simple formulae so that an airport can always be reached in case of a landout with a Grob.  Members who use the Grobs for XC need to learn the math and pledge to use it.  The benefits are obvious especially when it takes 3 or 4 people to retrieve a Grob.   As I remember the Bay Area Soaring Club also has some good xc articles on their web page.

It may be that we need to rotate club members to serve as ground control people.  At the Melbourne soaring club several members serve a weekend on a rotation basis to make sure that safety is followed and other administrative duties.

A person needs to verify that the tow plane operators have enough hours and the proper endorsements to tow.  We need to make sure that the young kids looking to build hours are totally qualified to tow and especially with tail draggers, since they are not the plane of choice anymore.  

I have communicated with Stephen Brown in my search for information who is a glider pilot with a years of experience and also a FAASTEAM member and will try to give links to his presentations and other references, if I can figure out how to do it.  He mentioned that we are not alone with problems.    

[Lynn Alley]

Oh, don't get me wrong.  I liked your proposal.  It would be great to put something like that in our operating rules.

When I said "different accident" below, I didn't mean a ground handling accident.  That's what I was trying to say when I referenced the forklift.  It is that aspect that I have been thinking about most.

L.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/utah-soaring/CAAoufPOKc5CJfPxymsYhtRXJNzKsrO8hxXu8O1rBCJO8d57b8A%40mail.gmail.com.

[heyjoe202019]

This is an email from Stephen K Brown, FAASTEAM member...

.Hi Bill –

 

Here are a couple videos that I put together for our club. The Ground Operations video is what we ask members to review every year, prior to the beginning of the season (aka Silly Season), send to visiting clubs and also for new students.

The second video is just a broad “overview” for safety discussions – I have used it multiple times as a trigger for discussion items at Safety Events.

 

One thing I did not mention that we have also started to do at our club – as we have a Saturday in June each year that our runway is closed, but we can “set-up” and use a portion of the runway. About 3 years ago instead of doing nothing, we use that day as a “Hands-on” safety & operations training day. Practicing signally, staging, towing, Emergency Medical etc on that day.

 

Thanx

SKB

 

Introduction to Safety = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZWL3wk1zNE

Ground Operations 2020 = https://youtu.be/ZlSuii7POUk?si=pKRoMao7OcVFCb9c

 

Boston FAASTeam YouTube Channel – Has a few Glider Webinars I have done.

https://www.youtube.com/@Fun2FlyPro/videos

 

I hope this helps.

Thanx
SKB