On Jul 24, 7:05*pm, Renny wrote:
On Jul 24, 6:33*pm, JJ Sinclair wrote:





Well, it's been quite a month so far, hasn't it? A 200 foot "practice"
rope break resulting in crash. A recently purchased old wooden glider
where the spoilers came open and weren't noticed except by the tow
pilot who gave the 'check your aircraft' signal and this was
misintereperted to mean 'release now'. A couple of broken birds at
Logan and a crashed ASW-20 near Lone Pine, Ca.

Let's just suppose the SSA was a military organization (Army Division,
Navy Carrier or Air Force Wing) what do you think they would do with 3
fatalities, 2 seriously injured and 5 broken birds in just over 3
weeks?

I believe any of these organizations would call for a STAND DOWN to
review everything they were doing that related in any way to the safe
operation of their aircraft. The SSA doesn't have the authority to
stop anything, but they do have the authority and responsibility to
call for a review of everything we're doing that relates in any way to
the safe operation of the US glider fleet:

+ Minimum safe altitude to practice rope brakes (SSA recommendation to
all members)

+ Tow signal review, one two, all? (SSA recommendation to all members)

+ Radios in all tow ships and sailplanes (SSA recommendation to all
members)

+ Communication check before any tow (SSA recommendation to all
members)

+ Training changes (SSA recommendation to all members)

+ Other safety items/areas?

Any SSA directors rading this, what do you think?

JJ Sinclair

Sadly, the list of accidents is even worse as there was also a crash
and fatality in a Taurus motorglider on July 8th north of Durango, CO.
Safety down days are very common in the military and may be a very
good way to reinforce safety & proper operating procedures...
Thx - Renny- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Like in so many crashes, there were a number of factors involved in
the Tarus crash. I flew with the pilot numerous times over the last
decade and also several weeks before the crash, talked with about 1/2
dozen witnesses, and helped put the wreckage back into the trailer.

There is a very worthwhile book designed for the business community
that has much that applies to the soaring community, titled WILL YOUR
NEXT MISTAKE BE FATAL – AVOIDING THE CHAIN OF MISTAKES THAT CAN
DESTROY YOUR ORGANIZATION By Robert E. Mittelstaedt, Jr. 2005.
There are several comments in it that which are very fitting:
p. 107 “It is impossible to legislate or regulate judgement”

p. 106 “Poor decision-making conditioned by previous experience can
kill.” I relate this to how some sailplane pilots may stick their
necks out because they have gotten away with dangerous behavior
before.

P. 182 "The aviation accident classification known as “controlled
flight into terrain” (CFIT) is among the most persistent. NTSB
statistics show that you are 20 times more likely to have a CFIT
accident than a collision with another aircraft in flight."

The gas powered Tarus is terribly underpowered for mountain flight.
So underpowered that the pilot and I agreed he should not take
passengers with him in it again. He had an electric Tarus on order,
but its delivery was months behind schedule. The pilot was far more
of a motor pilot than a glider pilot and often restarted in the air,
often over unlandable territory (a cardinal sin amongst most self
launching glider folks). He was also used to flying a Ximango, which
had far more power. And, there were so many other contributing
factors involved. In a nutshell - pilot error and it was just his
time to go. Anyone interested in all the other factors, send me a
personal email.

Bob
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