On Nov 1, 3:35 pm, Dan G wrote:
Off the top of my head:
Two lost wings (structural failure and at high loads, probably outside
placard, though the wings were understrength)
Two collided with other gliders (three if you count a tug pilot who
hit a Cirrus)
One flew into a parachute DZ and was hit by a skydiver (who also died)
Two? had heart failure (a tug pilot died this way too)
Two died in winch launches, one however was inexplicable (maybe
medical, see above)

Should add that the guy who flew into the DZ didn't have a parachute
(he didn't get one when using the glider after someone too big to fit
with a chute) and might have had a chance of using it (collision was
at 2,500'), and one of the pilots killed in a mid-air possibly
couldn't jettison his canopy as he'd zip-tied his PDA cables to it -
the other pilot bailed out successfully.


Dan