This video is my 75th launch in a glider, and purpose of this flight is to practise the recovery and safe landing in the event of a cable break during a winch launch.
This launch was from Gransden Lodge Runway 22. The glider was a “Puchacz”, which is famous for its very mighty air brakes. This is most of the reason why I could have landed ahead even when the cable broke at 500ft. This exercise also benefited from the one kilometer long runway of GRL, which used to be a RAF airfield, from where bombers were flown.
The glider is not very easy to flare given the amount of air brake extended, so the landing was not very comfortable, though nowhere near heavy. The ground run was not well controlled, as I looked down to locate the wheel brake knob. The instructor took over during the ground run to avoid the glider running into the winch cable.