On Oct 28, 3:49*am, Paul Tribe wrote:
My condolences go out to the family and friends of the pilot.

I have no opinion on the accident as I don't have all the facts and
I'm no expert flight dynamicist.

However, given what I've read on here over the last few days,
some of you, particularly the pilots with no winch launch
experience, will find the BGA winch launch safety initiative
informative:

http://www.gliding.co.uk/bgainfo/saf...hlaunching.htm

Looking at the Google Earth image of the airport, there are fields at
both east and west ends, although the west one is a bit small. At 200
feet altitude with only 600 feet of runway in front of you and,
presumably, an SUV sitting in the middle of it, landing ahead seems to
be ruled out. This leaves landing in the small field ahead or a 180
to land back on the asphalt. Neither option looks really wonderful,
but it's increasingly looking as if the pilot opted for the turn.

Mike