On Feb 6, 7:33*am, "BT" wrote:
JJ
I'll agree... to a point..
Radio's are good..
Radio's fail..
Mandating Radios may lead to a false sense of security.. Train otherwise
Radio gets blocked by another transmission..
Low battery.. you can hear but not transmit (glider).. and you don't know it
I would change "could have been prevented.." to "may have been prevented..."
There is no certainty.

My heart goes out to those involved.. we dodged the bullet on a mid air,
everyone survived.
It was not in the traffic pattern and a radio made no difference because not
being in the pattern, no broadcast were made.
BT



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The FAA and NTSB both acknowledge that "see and be seen" doesn't
always work, especially at higher speeds. In this case both pilots
attention was riveted on making a difficult landing in high winds with
a cross-wind component. Once they turned final each was in the others
blind spot as both aircraft were belly to belly. I believe this
accident would not have happened if either pilot knew the other was
attempting to land at the same time on the same
runway..........................................Al low me to restate my
position on mandatory radios: Four fatalities in region 11 could have
been prevented if the tow pilot and glider pilot had been in radio
contact.
JJ- Hide quoted text -

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We are pretty much in agreement here BT, but I have just seen too many
accidents that should never have happened:

The G-103 at Minden that had a functioning radio but the battery
probably went dead after a morning of pattern tows. Spoilers came open
on takeoff and the tow pilot called "Spoilers Open"! When he got no
response he gave the signal (rudder wag) which was misunderstood by an
instructor (probably because it was now obvious that a bad situation
was developing). At any rate the sailplane released just after
clearing the wires at the end of 30, made a 180 with spoilers still
full open and flew into the afore mentioned wires! The student was
severly injured and the instructor died in the hospital from
complications of his injuries (pneumonia).

What would have prevented this accident? A com-check before every
takeoff.

Then there was the Genesis flying the first practice day of the
Standard Class Nationals at Minden. The rules called for all takeoffs
to be on 123.3, but the manager hadn't implemented that on the
practice day, so the line crew and tow pilots were on 122.8. The
Genesis driver didn't know this because he didn't go to the briefing.
The Genesis rolled about 100 feet when the elevator fell off because
the pilot hadn't secured the locking mechanism. Both line crew called
"release" on 122.8 but that message wasn't heard on a radio tuned to
123.3. After lifting off the Genesis went into low tow and was stable
enough to hang on and try to get baliout altitude. It is not known if
the pilot ever got the message that he was aviating sans an elevator,
at any rate the glider released at about 1000 feet and almost
completed an outside loop, but not quite!

What would have prevented this accident? A com-check before every
takeoff.

No, BT I think I'll stay with, "Would have prevented".

JJ Sinclair