Another fan of constructive speculation for personal-use accident-
analysis

Hey Cindy,

If you're a fan of constructive speculation, here's a good one for you
to chew on; I'd welcome your observations.

On Sunday 5/11, a routine pattern at Turf turned into a nightmare on
final approach when I ran into 20+ knot sink. This was one or two
heartbeats after I had deployed spoilers upon judging my altitude to
still be a bit too high. I pulled the brakes back in as soon as I felt
the glider going into freefall, but the sink persisted and I soon
found myself wondering if I could clear the power lines.

Of course, faced with a very serious question of whether I could clear
power lines, I assumed I could not. I turned hard left choosing to
deal with mesquite bushes instead, and hit the ground hard before I
could complete the turn. (That told me that the score would have been
power lines One, tuno Zero.)

As I look back at the incident, which mangled a brand new ASG 29, I
ask myself, as anyone would, what I could have or should have done
different. (Begin Monday morning quarterbacking.) I really can't
identify much. The pattern was textbook, the altitude and IAS good. I
would normally have chosen a little more IAS in the pattern but I was
conscious of a pair of 2-33's landing in front of me so I stuck with
60 knots indicated. Winds were about 10 knots steady right down the
runway.

Very thankful, all the same, to be walking, talking and departing for
Moriarty in high spirits tomorrow morning.

~ted/n2O