Ever had the sensation that you are flying way too fast for your landing? It
happens when you see objects coming by the cockpit, going way too fast for a
normal landing. When does this happen? Well, when you're landing down-wind or
when you forgot to put the flaps down. I have done both and got a powerful, but
DEAD WRONG sensation of *I'm flying way too fast*

Why do I bring this up? Because I believe we have just experienced 2 accidents
that were caused by this phenomenon. In the accident at Air Sailing, after a
rope break, the pilot made a 180 and was approaching the departure runway at
very low altitude, when he suddenly stalled and crashed. Why? He had a 15 knot
head-wind on take-off which would give him a 15 knot tail-wind for his
down-wind landing???

In a recent Salto accident in Oregon, the ship was seen heading for an
off-field landing, with a significant tail-wind. At about 60 feet, the ship
suddenly banked 90 degrees left and crashed. Stall??? Did the pilot get the,
*I'm flying way too fast*, sensation???
Food for thought,
JJ Sinclair