TA

As others have mentioned, TA had given us an excellent account of his accident and rescue. In particular, his actions after the crash should be studied by all of us who fly in similar terrain and could be subject to the same situation. I, for example, need to rethink my SPOT installation and my survival gear, neither of which would have provided nearly the same level of help that TA's did.

But what I immediately noticed in TA's account of the flight up to the crash was his apparent "comfort" at altitudes above the terrain that those of us who fly out west would consider really scary. I flew the same task on the same day as TA and it was a weak day - I didn't even try to go down to the last turn area (having started late) and barely avoided a landout on the way back to Moriarty - digging out from 1300 agl over Estancia - a nice little airstrip which already had a glider on it). Looking at my trace, I worked really hard to stay at least 3000' agl, and below that went into survival mode - because in my experience in Arizona, if you are that low you are just about to land somewhere unless you get really serious about digging out, and better have a good place to land within easy reach.

Having also flown a bit in eastern and midwest conditions, I understand how one can get used to working a lower lift band - often you have to work down to 2000 agl or lower to get anywhere, and with fields available and thermals weaker but more frequent, can afford to push lower with the expectation of finding something. That just isn't going to work out west!

Thank-you to TA for sharing his experiences with us, and I hope he gets back into the game again soon - after all, isn't walking away from a broken glider the first step to getting a better one?

Kirk
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