Mid-Air Collisions

"Tom Seim" wrote in message
om...
Your description of the accident was very articulate and sobering.

I would like to hear more about the bailout. In particular:

1. What was your approx. altitude (AGL) at collision.

Roughly 1000-1300' It's hard to say because I'm not sure if we collided
over this little shoulder that juts out from the ridge or out over the steet
terrain below, that drops 3000 feet very quickly.


2. How difficult was it for you to exit the glider and how much
altitude did you lose in the process.

Unknown, I blacked out momentarily, probably due to my head striking the
canopy, so I have no idea how much time elapsed between the collision and
when I began to egress the glider. It could have only been a second or two
because, my glider hit the ridge about 200 or 300 yards from Will's crash
site. See #4 for more detail. I would point out, due to my close proxmity
to the ground, if my canopy had not shattered due to my head and the force
of the collision, I may not have had time to unlatch it AND perform the rest
of the egress.


3. What was your attitude when you pulled the rip cord.

Approximately 500ft, I was under canopy 2 seconds or so before I landed in
the tree. I remember pulling the ripcord and seeing it come out of the
chute in my hand... As I wondered whether something was broken or not I
remember seeing cord and fabric flying out of the corner of my left eye. I
felt the tug of it open, I looked up to see it opening, I looked down and
saw trees everywhere, and then I was in one.


4. Did you have any problems separating from the glider.

It was probably in a spin of some sort due to the wing damage and I remember
really struggling to push myself out. At the time I thought it was the
horrendous wind blowing me back inside, but now I think it probably had more
to do with centripidal force from the glider's flight path. What I ended
up doing is reaching my left arm and elbow out over the back of the left
wing (This was a Libelle 201B) and I leveraged my body out of the cockpit
with that arm and my feet. I don't remember exactly how it happened that
my body rolled over the wing but, I imagine the nose down attitude combined
with the increasing airspeed helped flip me over the wing once my feet and
legs were free of the cockpit. I imagine I was just lucky that I didn't hit
the tail.


5. What brand of chute did you have.

The tag from the chute says Silver Parachute Sales & Service. I bought it
with the glider and took it to a local repacker who checked it out, said it
was in good shape, and repacked it for me. The Canopy was a Steerable
National Phanton 28' which I guess has the longer shrouds for a lower
descent rate and may have saved me a much harder landing. It may not have
mattered though, because I landed in a Hemlock which have very soft tops and
give quite easily. One of the amusing things I look back on now is this
strange, surreal sense of disappointment I had after landing in the tree
that I didn't have time to try steering the chute. The Harness was the
Original Softie Back 0247-S and was maufactured by Para-Phernalia.

I did talk to Allen Silver who runs or owns that above company and he
pointed me to a website and was helpful in providing some information that I
didn't know prior to using this rig. I should mention that I had NOT had
any training in egress or bail out procedures. What I did do is sit in the
glider and pretend I was going down and go through the motions a few times,
I just "thought" about getting out, so when the time came I didn't have to.
It paid off, my hands went right to the appropriate places and preformed
just the right functions. It was especially fortunate I did all this as it
was only my third flight in the Libelle 201B with that rig and belts.


6. Did you have any injuries landing in the trees.

Not that I could tell, I did discover my face injury from the canopy once I
was in the tree. I also discovered my legs were very bruised and sore,
probably from kicking the bottom of the instrument panel while I tried to
bail out.


7. What problems did you have getting down to the ground after landing
in the trees.

I was lucky as the trees were newer growth and smaller diameter, I was able
to use the harness as a swing and get over to another, smaller diameter tree
that I slide down like a pole. There were small twiggy branches that
helped slow my fall, but it wasn't bad. If I had been in much larger trees
with no lower branches and large trunks, I would have probably been stuck.


8. Did either glider have an ELT.

No, and though I may not shell out the bucks for a full size ELT in the
future, I most certainly will purchase the pocket models that can be carried
on one's person. It's easy for me to imagine a scenario where the glider
travels quite a distance from the bail out point and I'd rather have the ELT
on my person than in the glider. Also, I had a portable radio, but it was
hooked to a BNC cable for the ships antennae. If one doesn't have a
protable ELT, I couldn't recommend more just keeping the portable on your
person and buying a fixed ship radio.

thx,

Tom Seim
Richland, WA

Thanks for the in-depth response. This could very well be helpful to
the rest of us who hope to never be in a similar situation.

BTW: it is customary to buy that repacker a bottle/case of his
favorite drink.

Tom

Already in the works... He likes single malt Scotch which runs about $60 a
bottle here, small price to pay, though.

Paul


"Tom Seim" wrote in message
om...
Thanks for the in-depth response. This could very well be helpful to
the rest of us who hope to never be in a similar situation.

BTW: it is customary to buy that repacker a bottle/case of his
favorite drink.

Tom