On Thursday, June 28, 2012 7:54:19 AM UTC-7, Sean F (F2) wrote:
When I heard about this a couple days ago it came as a great shock to me personally. To have another accident so close to Tim's is extremely hard to take. Derek was a great friend to my wife and I and many from the Ionia/MI area. Derek was arguably the friendliest, funnest and most enthusiastic contest pilot I have met. He impacted many of the Ionia pilots personally, myself included. Derek was soon to be off to Uvalde to represent Canada for Worlds in 15m. Our thoughts are with Derek's many friends and family. Derek is dearly missed.

Sean
F2

No doubt another tragic year for soaring. Sounds strikingly similar to the Ionia accident. In both accidents the log file should hopefully tell how close to the ground they were thermaling and at what speed. This can be an extremely valuable lesson for the rest of us. I have to admit I find myself recently pulling low saves from 500 AGL, perhaps it is time to revisit this strategy. I hope we wouldn't need to wait 2 years for the final NTSB report to find out.

Ramy