What a wonderful, informative, sane, heart-felt posting! How I wish more
were worth reading like this one.

A couple of questions/comments:

Regarding Russ' administering of BFRs - was that legal? True, glider pilots
do not require a medical certificate, but the FARs require a pilot to ground
himself if he has a condition which is disqualifying for a medical
certificate. I would think a stroke fits that description. Or is it simply
that, while administering a BFR, the CFI, is not the PIC?

My comment about the "Hottie" was not descriptive of anyone. It was
directed to the man who made the original catty comment about facilities and
equipment that did not live up to his expectations. Besides, beauty comes
from within.

No, the NTSB's reports are rarely satisfying. When my partner crashed our
LS-6a (thankfully, he survived a low altitude stall/spin), the NTSB report
is so far off the mark as to be ludicrous. I witnessed the flight from
brake release until impact which occurred within 100 feet of where I sat. I
know what happened, but it's nowhere in the report.

I'm sorry that I did not have the opportunity to fly at Cal City.


"CindyB" wrote in message
...

This won't make much sense, unless you have followed the thread on "Death of
a Gliderport".

To rectify the drift, I began a new thread, Jim. Is this a slip or a crab?

I agree that I have talked a lot about glider safety, over many years.
:-)

I disagree that I avoided addressing Russ Dervaes and Todd Marshall's death
nearly 16 years ago. Some folks thought the opposite to be the case. Glider
folk have shown up for years for my 'lectures' at glider conventions and
regional meetings. Do I think they enjoyed them? They say so, and return for
subsequent presentations, particularly when I title one "What the NTSB Won't
Ever Say ....". I was requested to present that topic, revised for
2012-13's accidents, at the Reno SSA Convention next month.


In July 1992- Russ Dervaes had a bad experience in an aero-retrieve from a
semi-improved field. A glider was broken; thankfully no one was hurt. Cal
City pilots discussed the lessons learned from this for years -- pilots
needing to completely inspect the length of a runway for towing suitability
(several small soft bushes slowed acceleration), recruiting a wing runner
that isn't using a four footed cane, leaving the extra passenger behind for
car retrieval, knowing which way in surrounding space is the best PTT option
(attempting a 180 from 15 feet and 55 knots isn't going to work), perhaps
the into-wind crosswind overgrown runway would have been better? Despite
waiting for ~3 hours for a tug, that was the level of preparation for
aeroretrieve, and it was insufficient. Lessons were learned, and shared,
even via Russ's club's newsletter.

Following a spin fatality at the USAF Academy, Russ performed exhaustive
spin evaluations on AS-K 21s at Edwards AFB, later resulting in Schleicher
updating the recommended recovery protocol in their flight manual.

June 1993 - Peter had an unhappy flight in his 1-26, flew a little in
August, and self reports not flying until 2000. Yet he took airplane
lessons at SMO, and his ASEL CFI was killed in November of 1993
(LAX94FA058). Later, his glider mentor died in a soaring accident. I don't
blame Peter for exiting aviation in this cruel circumstance; he perhaps
never felt secure flying again.

Yes, Russ later suffered a stroke. After extensive rehab, Russ resumed
flying with rated glider pilots. He never flew solo, nor with persons who
could not be PIC without his assistance. He would fly Biennial Flight
Reviews and check flights with current club airmen. He put no one at risk,
and advised them of his limitations. I believe it was his love of soaring
that motivated him to recover from his stroke to mobility and productivity.
No glider pilot is required to have a medical certificate, as Peter should
recall.

In 1998 - Russ Dervaes and Todd Marshall were killed in a 9-month old
Puchacz. On a summer afternoon, they launched for a check out flight for
Todd in the Puchacz. I towed them, they released in lift west of the field
at about 2000 agl. By the time I landed, tied the tug and returned to the
hangar (less than :10 from release) , another glider pilot radioed seeing
something "wrong". When I asked, he said he saw a spin to below the horizon
by another glider. Marty took the 182 and landed within 100 yards on a dirt
road amidst brush to render first aid. I coordinated emergency response, and
drove out.

Both pilots were dead when Marty arrived. No glider pilots are ever happy
with NTSB findings. The hands and feet we witnessed on flight controls were
inconclusive. Bruising is normal when tissue holds hard things that
crash-stop. Contusions are bruises. Both pilots had bruises. To envision a
flight control struggle is conjecture.

Both men were retired Air Force pilots. Both men had extensive flight crew
environment experience. Both men were instructors and had extensive spin
experience. Both were current and professionals.

To conjecture about rudder pedal/foot jamming is wrong(denial). Feet weren't
jammed under those rudder pedals. The bodies were removed before NTSB's
arrival the next day. For me to believe they were trying to recover to
controlled flight is easy. To ascertain what went wrong is difficult.

If Russ had intended to do spin training in the Puch, I believe he would
have chosen to wear parachutes. I did much subsequent research on the Puch
(which was within CG), and found that 10% of the Puchs built had spun to
impact by 1998, most with CFIs on board. (Like shark bites happening where
people swim, spin training happens with CFIs on board; gliders are spun less
often by solo PICs.)

Several renowned CFIGs would recall that I contacted them in collecting Puch
accident data and disseminating my results internationally. I believe there
is undocumented spin behavior by the Puchacz. SZD limits the CG envelope for
"energetic" maneuvers (snap rolls). This information was omitted by the FAA
in the 'approved' shortened English USA Pilot Operating Handbook, as
irrelevant - due to non-aerobatic US certification. The British Gliding
Association disagreed with me, yet had tried their own spin tests following
unexpected Puch-CFI deaths there in 1994. They didn't recreate unrecoverable
spins in those tests.

Looking back on Google, I had compiled 24 Puch fatal spinning accidents by
1998. Many of those were deliberate spin training flights with competent
CFIs on board, with no observable recovery efforts made through many turns.
USA, Italy, Austria, Germany, Britain. Discussion since has turned up a tale
or two of pilots who experienced severely delayed recovery response ( many
turns) even using the published recovery technique.

Several US clubs would be able to confirm that I contacted them in 1999 to
warn against spin training in a Puchacz, without a hard deck (bail out)
policy of 3000 ft agl and firm enforcement of parachute use for any turning
stall work. How much altitude is lost while trying to exit a glider? IF
more than 10% of the 172s spun to impact, would they still be certificated
in the US? Anyone know of another two-seater that will snap-roll 'over the
top', to the outside, that is not US aerobatic certified? What happens if
you snap-roll at 'less than' 2000 feet agl? Yet another CFI and young
student died in 2004 in Britain in the Puchacz, and this yielded a sad yet
thorough report - http://www.aaib.gov.uk/cms_resources.cfm?file=/HCD.pdf
..
Finally, the Brits admit that low altitude deliberate spinning has some
dangers.

I wouldn't view my actions as someone who was unconcerned by the death of
two pilots, or trying to hide anything about my local safety record. If I
were, I would have let this go. I can only honor those men by trying to have
something be learned from their passing. As with any soaring fatality, the
local group was depressed and a few members left soaring. 16 years later,
revisiting the topic of spinning unnecessarily low may reach another
audience.

Am I guilty of 'lecturing'? Yes. Having seen horrible things happen in
aviation, I don't want those things repeated. I am proud of my record of
only one canopy coming open on launch, and one failure to brake after
landing (and taxiing into a fence) being the sum total of my renters'
misadventures over +20 years as an FBO. Did private owners make mistakes
creating accidents at Cal City in that period? Sure. Would more flights have
taken place with a laissez-faire management style? Sure -- until I had no
gliders to rent, or became uninsurable or was heartsick.

Did I 'talk about' pilot's mistakes? Sure, I did, and still do. I talk
about my boo-boos -- landing out with not enough wind awareness resulting in
a ground loop. Failure to intercede early enough in XC training to return to
an airport, resulting in an out landing (shortest XC from Cal City - 4
miles - to a known landable-derigging spot). Being scared witless by
near-midair power traffic a couple of times. Failure to tie down a glider
well enough to protect it from summer overnight wave. My list is longer. I
am fallible.

I hope by talking about my and other pilot's human moments, respectfully,
that I can reduce the number of future soaring accidents. But that is an
unquantifiable effort.

Twice in 22 years, I have had a pilot come to me and tell me my training
saved their life. First was a private owner who was able to benign spiral
out of a wave flight blunder into cloud flight (IMC), who phoned me a week
later in chagrin. Second was a low-time Eastern club pilot who heard me
talk about parasitic drag in Memphis. At a later Eastern convention, he
came to tell me I had kept him from an accident, from an absurdly high
approach situation. (We had never flown together.) So, yes, talking about
problems helps avoid accidents.

Placing those discussions in a poignant setting, naming people and places we
know, makes those lessons visceral and more durable. I regret if someone is
offended when I make the discussion 'personal'.

I would hope my students, customers, potential customers know that my
emphatic moments are driven by a love for soaring, and the people in
soaring. I routinely pulled down pants cuffs, straightened seat belts and
oxygen lines, but seldom kissed foreheads on pre-launch, and don't view
myself as a hottie, unless you count hot-under-the-collar when someone
badmouths the hard-working people who try to keep soaring going.

Soaring has given me many years of joy.
I will be very sad this weekend, as gliders and pilots exit California City.


Cindy B