On Thursday, December 12, 2019 at 9:42:37 PM UTC-5, JS wrote:
On Thursday, December 12, 2019 at 2:58:39 PM UTC-8, wrote:
I have a good friend that has a bullet hole through his glass panel. We fixed everything else on the ship but the panel. That hole is part of the history of the ship.
UH

The glider was in the trailer. The 9 mm jacketed bullet penetrated the fiberglass lid of the Cobra trailer, passed through the upper and lower wing skins of the left wing--including the Kevlar layers--before piercing the canopy and instrument panel cover, then exited the instrument panel on the lower left side(vaporizing the battery selector switch and damaging the fuses) before traveling through the cockpit (unoccupied at the time, obviously!) and rebounding off the rear canopy frame--knocking a fist-size hole in the right rear side of the canopy before or after that--then landed harmlessly (compared to what had already occurred) in the fabric boot at the base of the control stick. All in MUCH less time than it took to read this!!

UH suggested preserving the bullet hole in the panel as part of the history. I understand the current owner might consider passing along the actual bullet to the new owner whenever he ultimately sells the glider.

Chip Bearden
JB

On Thursday, December 12, 2019 at 8:05:18 PM UTC-5, wrote:
If I hadnt been there, I wouldnt have believed it! Amazingly after close inspection and scrutiny by at least 5 people, and a little duct tape it flew that day in a nationals comp! After all it was the Nationals! God bless you Chip, never let it be said you are not competitive. Only regret is they didnt catch the *******s that would do such a thing!

CH

Thanks for that, Chip.
"Who shot JB" details I've been wondering about for a while. Amazing.
Hold my beer and watch this,
Jim

Just to fill in the holes, so to speak, here's the rest of the story.

A second bullet punctured the (closed) front door of the trailer and passed through the bottom and top skins of the right wing, bounced off an aluminum hoop in the underside of the trailer lid, and dropped onto the trailer floor where it was retrieved.

The sheriff dug two others out of the front of the aluminum lower structure of the trailer. A fifth bullet is still rattling around inside the sidewall: it went in at a glancing angle and never came out.

Fortunately (look on the bright side) the bullets through the wings left very small holes. Most important, it was easy to peer inside the wings and see nothing important was damaged: e.g., spars, ribs, bulkheads, control rods, ballast tanks. No instrument damage, either. So a little speed tape (really, Cliff; duct tape? haha) and the glider was good to go. The tape patch on the canopy hole next to my right ear didn't really impair vision. I twisted wires to connect the main battery and flew without backup power that day (the longest task of the contest, naturally, so I was checking voltage fairly often prepared to start shedding load if I had to).

Many thanks to all who helped. Cliff offered a battery selector switch that morning and competitor Danny Sorenson loaned several switches for the remainder of the contest. Various TSA club members assisted as I rushed to do quick repairs and get ballasted and on the grid. There were some raised eyebrows but it was clear the glider was airworthy. Annoyingly, UH and I had just painstakingly stripped, profiled, and refinished the wings in polyurethane the previous winter. But his repairs of the bullet holes are imperceptible now. I wish I could say the pristine new canopy was welcome but I'm ultra careful (this incident notwithstanding) and the old canopy was scratch-free, too.

Kudos to CD Mark Keene. He coordinated with law enforcement that morning and won cooperation from all there so we didn't attract attention on social media that might have disrupted the contest. When he inquired if I wanted to fly, I answered, "Yes, if it's airworthy." He nodded, asked me if I needed help, and told me not to worry about being late to the grid. When I arrived there after everyone else had launched, he briefed me, made certain I was in the right frame of mind to fly, and calmly sent me on my way. His polite, helpful, professional behavior contrasted with a few other contest management performances under stress in the past few years (no names mentioned).

AIG (under the SSA Program) was wonderful to deal with on the claim though they admitted this was a "first".

There were some theories on who might have done it and five shell casings out by the road. But no prints or probable cause to go searching for a pistol that might have matched ballistically.

Research indicated it would have taken approximately 9 layers of Kevlar to stop what were likely relatively low-velocity rounds. The ASW 24 wings do have Kevlar top and bottom but not that much. Still, the bullets did get slowed down quite a bit. The trailer's double-wall aluminum lower structure stopped three rounds. PSA: inside an ASW 24 fuselage inside the trailer might be a good place if you're at the gliderport surrounded by armed attackers and need a safe room.

Chip Bearden
JB