Bill Gawthrop "F8" Accident - Sun 07/13/2014 - His Status

On Saturday, July 19, 2014 4:01:06 PM UTC-7, Frank Whiteley wrote:
On Saturday, July 19, 2014 10:37:43 AM UTC-6, wrote:

On Saturday, July 19, 2014 5:56:29 AM UTC-7, JJ Sinclair wrote:



Bill was not the first to hit the cliff at Truckee and







sadly, he won't be the last. I can remember 3 others. When a south wind comes to the cliff, it follows the terrain down, we call this "sink at the approach end of 19". When the reported wind is over 10 knots I don't fly past the cliff, simply fly my base leg parallel to and not past the cliff, turning final at 150 feet.







Speedy recovery, Bill







JJ







Wow, that's shocking. It must be time to do something about that.







One thing that would obviously help would be to remove the motivation to land short over the cliff. When I was there last there were two turnoffs that gliders used. One is actually before the airplane aim point marking and the other is just a little past it. How about creating a new turnoff area that is significantly further down field and then stop using those two close in turnoffs. I suppose it would either take some very stern policy or maybe mechanical barriers to eliminate the temptation of the more convenient access to the tie down area via the existing short turnoffs.







Sorry to be kibitzing from the peanut gallery.







Truly my best wishes are for Bill. His speedy recovery is the most important matter for now.



What happened to the third turnoff? The reason I ask is that on my first landing there in my DG-100 I announced I'd take the first, then second, and finally made the third. My first high altitude airport;^) The wheel brake wasn't very effective alas.



Frank Whiteley

By what you mean by "third turnout" it is still there, about 1,500 feet from the displaced threshold. It is really part of the second turnout to the left and you can roll into the third/straighter ahead one at higher speed if you cant make the sharp turn. And if somebody messes up there is another turnout before the runway intersection to the right 2,300' from the threshold to get off runway 20. The Soar Truckee ops folks are amongst the best around, so expect quick help if a glider ends up on the runway missing a turnout. I was always impressed with the pilot briefings and checkouts by Soar Truckee staff and proficiency of pilots flying out of there. Their yahoo newsgroup is the best place to discuss operations. Best wishes for Bill's recovery.