On Aug 7, 5:27*pm, danlj wrote:
On Aug 5, 10:48*am, 150flivver wrote:

Just saw on the AOPA site that there was a glider fatality at the
contest in Uvalde TX yesterday, the 4th..

This is the second contest mid-air that I'm aware of this summer.

As I understand things, contestants are required to have parachutes,
spending $1-2000 for a parachute, mostly in case of a midair;
radios are only slight less expensive;
Everyone has at least one flight computer, usually at greater cost;
and of course everyone is required to have a GPS logger.
a FLARM unit is under $1000.

There is no defensible rationale for failing to require everyone
flying contests to be equipped with an operating FLARM device. It
contributes more to safety than all the other pieces combined.

From the blog www.soaring.eu is this perfect example of how we are to
respond to these events:

“keep gliding, keep smiling” was the message on the last briefing!
And ..they are right. Of course we all do ……..maybe not Alexanders
wife and family.
Mixed feelings…….Sad and good ones. First of all there was the
accident with Alexander, who leaves a wife and children. Though I
know the organization was strong and good, they must be feeling a bit
disappointed as well, it is NOT their fault that a pilots dies and it
is not the first time either during a competition, it is not their
fault that pilots sometimes fly aggressive to win and cause mid airs
and nearly mid-airs, it is not their fault that a pilot ”jumps” over a
fence and injures his back, but in the future history this 31 WGC will
be remembered as well by what has happened. And now I think of it we
had in both those comps a fatal accident as well. An AKA-flieg pilot
from Germany during the practise in Bayreuth, I was there and Anssi
Passila the nice young fellow from Finland, in Uvalde, I was there as
well.
BUT…with a great day as today is it nice to finish a competition ”on a
high”, with a big party.


Also on that blog is the rumors that the truck driver is in his early
30's with a young family and was permanently blinded. "BUT…with a
great day as today is it nice to finish a competition ”on a high”,
with a big party. "