To stop pitch oscillation (porpoising) during a winch launch, what should the pilot do?

• A. Relax the back pressure on the control stick and shallow the angle of climb.
• B. Push forward on the stick to increase climb rate.
• C. Increase elevator control to maintain a steep climb.
• D. Apply airbrakes to arrest climb.

Answer: (A)

When a glider porpoises, the nose is climbing too aggressively at the start of the climb, causing a repeating nose-up/nose-down cycle. The way to dampen this is to ease the back pressure on the stick, allowing the nose to drop slightly and the climb angle to become more shallow. This reduces the angle of attack, stops the nose-up tendency, and lets airspeed rise to a stable level, ending the oscillation. Pushing forward on the stick would lower the angle of attack too slowly and can lead to other issues, and increasing elevator or deploying airbrakes during the initial winch climb would either worsen the oscillation or are not appropriate for this phase.