Another crash - Be careful out there

Well if you don't do ridge flying in the Alps, I wouldn't see how to fly
there at all.

--
Bert Willing

ASW20 "TW"


"Martin Hellman" a écrit dans le message de
om...
Stewart Kissel wrote in
message ...

'A terrible day at Val Air today... not for me, but
Joe Dulin... a recently transplanted Turf pilot. Joe
has been flying tourists for ValAir and today stalled?spun?
in in the L-13 with a passenger on the end of the runway
after a low pass and steep pull-up.

Low passes with steep pull-ups are a blast, but as this accident
shows, entail risk. Since he was doing rides, the pilot involved was
probably highly experienced and done these many times before with no
problems.

When I was doing my motor glider transition at Livermore, the guy who
then owned the operation told me that there are certain maneuvers he
loves doing (high speed low passes among them), but doesn't do
frequently because of their danger.

One of the biggest problems with actions like low passes and tree-top
ridge flying is that you might be able to do them safely 9,999 times
out of 10,000 (or something on that order), creating a feeling of
complacency. But if you do them 1,000 times during your flying career,
you'll have roughly a 10% of an accident -- possibly fatal.

Peter Masak's recent accident that Tom Knauff wrote about in his email
newsletter sounds like it occurred during close in ridge flying. And,
when I did a Google search to try and learn more about that accident
(no luck there), what I did come up with was a 1994 post in which
Peter commented on Klaus Holighaus' fatal crash -- which also sounded
like a ridge accident.

All this is making my Livermore friend's decision sound very
reasonable. It's OK to take a chance -- but not too often.

Martin

Bert Willing wrote:

Well if you don't do ridge flying in the Alps, I wouldn't see how to fly
there at all.

I interpreted Martin's comments as a matter of degrees. Ridge soaring
one wingspan from the ridge is a different level of risk (and skill)
than lolling around 30 kts (50 kts?) slower and a couple hundred feet
higher.

Shawn

Well, to get this couple of hundred feet higher, you might have to slow down
and get closer to the ridge...

--
Bert Willing

ASW20 "TW"


"Shawn Curry" a écrit dans le message de
...
Bert Willing wrote:

Well if you don't do ridge flying in the Alps, I wouldn't see how to fly
there at all.

I interpreted Martin's comments as a matter of degrees. Ridge soaring
one wingspan from the ridge is a different level of risk (and skill)
than lolling around 30 kts (50 kts?) slower and a couple hundred feet
higher.

Shawn

Bert Willing wrote:
Well, to get this couple of hundred feet higher, you might have to slow down
and get closer to the ridge...

....or choose to land.

Right. However, ridge soaring below the ridge level is not dangerous
provided that you have had a good training and that you keep speed and
distance according to your flight experience, the meteorological conditions
AND your current training level. Which indeed may lead to a landing some
days.

--
Bert Willing

ASW20 "TW"


"Shawn Curry" a écrit dans le message de
...
Bert Willing wrote:
Well, to get this couple of hundred feet higher, you might have to slow
down
and get closer to the ridge...

...or choose to land.