Towplane accident at The Dalles, Oregon

If it wasn't for bad luck, Gary you wouldn't have any
luck at all. Hang in there, buddy. We need your operation
up there.
JJ



Yes, it was my Wilga. We were taking off in a cross
wind and a strong gust
got under the tow plane's wing shortly after take off.
The pilot touched
down just off the runway and touched the prop in the
dirt, damaging the prop
and ending any chance of climbing out of the situation.
He flew another 100
yards, caught the gear on some rocks and flipped it
end over end. There
were amazingly only cuts and bruises. I released as
soon as I saw him touch
the ground after take off and landed my 2-33 straight
ahead on the runway.

Gary Boggs
Hood River, Oregon.


'Thomas F. Dixon' wrote in message
om...
Is this Garry Boggs Wilga?

Tom
Boise, ID

Stewart Kissel wrote in
message news:...
http://www.ntsb.gov/NTSB/brief.asp?e...14X01425&key=1

I can't tell you how much this kind of support means to us. I feel really
crappy and pretty alone here sometimes in my attempt to make this into a
viable soaring site for us all in the soaring community to benefit from. It
never fails, as soon as a tow is unavailable, we get the best looking wave
I've seen in years!

There is so much to be thankful for..... No one was killed and so much
more. I hope we are tough enough, here, to survive this.

If it wasn't for our winch, we wouldn't have any way to launch at all.
Anyone have an extra tow plane?

Gary Boggs, CFIG
3650 Airport Drive
Hood River, OR
97031-9613
541.490.5557
503.708.8869


http://www.nwskysports.com/




"John Sinclair" wrote in message
...
If it wasn't for bad luck, Gary you wouldn't have any
luck at all. Hang in there, buddy. We need your operation
up there.
JJ



Yes, it was my Wilga. We were taking off in a cross
wind and a strong gust
got under the tow plane's wing shortly after take off.
The pilot touched
down just off the runway and touched the prop in the
dirt, damaging the prop
and ending any chance of climbing out of the situation.
He flew another 100
yards, caught the gear on some rocks and flipped it
end over end. There
were amazingly only cuts and bruises. I released as
soon as I saw him touch
the ground after take off and landed my 2-33 straight
ahead on the runway.

Gary Boggs
Hood River, Oregon.


'Thomas F. Dixon' wrote in message
om...
Is this Garry Boggs Wilga?

Tom
Boise, ID

Stewart Kissel wrote in
message news:...
http://www.ntsb.gov/NTSB/brief.asp?e...14X01425&key=1

Two sitting idle at Minden, now that HCS is gone.
Rich

Lord Struthers wrote:
Two sitting idle at Minden, now that HCS is gone.
Rich

High Country Soaring is out of business? What happened?

--
Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly

Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA

Hi Gary

Sorry to hear about the Wilga, from the sound of it even a Wilga will not be
rebuildable.

For what it is worth, I would stick with the winch. Cheaper, safer and often
faster than aerotow. (I know you might have difficulty convincing some folk to
try it) We only ever wish we had a towplane when the crosswind shuts our
operation down - and it is comming straight down the cross runway we cant use
because the cable would cross a tar runway. (that would not be in use because of
the same wind - but the CAA makes the rules)

With a decrepit single drum winch we manage 30-36 launches a day.

Bruce

Gary Boggs wrote:
I can't tell you how much this kind of support means to us. I feel really
crappy and pretty alone here sometimes in my attempt to make this into a
viable soaring site for us all in the soaring community to benefit from. It
never fails, as soon as a tow is unavailable, we get the best looking wave
I've seen in years!

There is so much to be thankful for..... No one was killed and so much
more. I hope we are tough enough, here, to survive this.

If it wasn't for our winch, we wouldn't have any way to launch at all.
Anyone have an extra tow plane?

Gary Boggs, CFIG
3650 Airport Drive
Hood River, OR
97031-9613
541.490.5557
503.708.8869


http://www.nwskysports.com/




"John Sinclair" wrote in message
...

If it wasn't for bad luck, Gary you wouldn't have any
luck at all. Hang in there, buddy. We need your operation
up there.
JJ




Yes, it was my Wilga. We were taking off in a cross
wind and a strong gust
got under the tow plane's wing shortly after take off.
The pilot touched
down just off the runway and touched the prop in the
dirt, damaging the prop
and ending any chance of climbing out of the situation.
He flew another 100
yards, caught the gear on some rocks and flipped it
end over end. There
were amazingly only cuts and bruises. I released as
soon as I saw him touch
the ground after take off and landed my 2-33 straight
ahead on the runway.

Gary Boggs
Hood River, Oregon.


'Thomas F. Dixon' wrote in message
.com...

Is this Garry Boggs Wilga?

Tom
Boise, ID

Stewart Kissel wrote in

message news:...

http://www.ntsb.gov/NTSB/brief.asp?e...14X01425&key=1

It's too bad our ridge is 3 miles away. It's just a little too far to get
to from a winch launch. I did catch the wave from a winch launch right over
the airport, climbed to 9K, and then flew to our main wave behind 11,240
foot Mt. Hood. Normally it's hard to get away from our airport from a winch
launch though.

Anyone interested in our operation should feel free to call with any
questions, lord knows that I love to talk .503.708.8869


http://www.nwskysports.com/


Gary Boggs, CFIG
3650 Airport Drive
Hood River, OR
97031-9613
541.490.5557




"Bruce Greeff" wrote in message
...
Hi Gary

Sorry to hear about the Wilga, from the sound of it even a Wilga will not
be
rebuildable.

For what it is worth, I would stick with the winch. Cheaper, safer and
often
faster than aerotow. (I know you might have difficulty convincing some
folk to
try it) We only ever wish we had a towplane when the crosswind shuts our
operation down - and it is comming straight down the cross runway we cant
use
because the cable would cross a tar runway. (that would not be in use
because of
the same wind - but the CAA makes the rules)

With a decrepit single drum winch we manage 30-36 launches a day.

Bruce

Gary Boggs wrote:
I can't tell you how much this kind of support means to us. I feel
really
crappy and pretty alone here sometimes in my attempt to make this into a
viable soaring site for us all in the soaring community to benefit from.
It
never fails, as soon as a tow is unavailable, we get the best looking
wave
I've seen in years!

There is so much to be thankful for..... No one was killed and so much
more. I hope we are tough enough, here, to survive this.

If it wasn't for our winch, we wouldn't have any way to launch at all.
Anyone have an extra tow plane?

Gary Boggs, CFIG
3650 Airport Drive
Hood River, OR
97031-9613
541.490.5557
503.708.8869


http://www.nwskysports.com/




"John Sinclair" wrote in message
...

If it wasn't for bad luck, Gary you wouldn't have any
luck at all. Hang in there, buddy. We need your operation
up there.
JJ




Yes, it was my Wilga. We were taking off in a cross
wind and a strong gust
got under the tow plane's wing shortly after take off.
The pilot touched
down just off the runway and touched the prop in the
dirt, damaging the prop
and ending any chance of climbing out of the situation.
He flew another 100
yards, caught the gear on some rocks and flipped it
end over end. There
were amazingly only cuts and bruises. I released as
soon as I saw him touch
the ground after take off and landed my 2-33 straight
ahead on the runway.

Gary Boggs
Hood River, Oregon.


'Thomas F. Dixon' wrote in message
.com...

Is this Garry Boggs Wilga?

Tom
Boise, ID

Stewart Kissel wrote in

message news:...

http://www.ntsb.gov/NTSB/brief.asp?e...14X01425&key=1

"Gary Boggs" wrote in message
...
It's too bad our ridge is 3 miles away. It's just a little too far to get
to from a winch launch. I did catch the wave from a winch launch right
over
the airport, climbed to 9K, and then flew to our main wave behind 11,240
foot Mt. Hood. Normally it's hard to get away from our airport from a
winch
launch though.


What if you could increase the winch release height to more than 2000 feet?
Three miles at 35:1 in a modern trainer would lose maybe 300 feet and you
could still get back if the ridge isn't working.

Modern high performance winches will deliver more than 2000' pretty
consistently. How much room do you have for a winch operation?

Bill Daniels

About 3000 feet.


"Bill Daniels" wrote in message
news:KTC2d.316855$8_6.86703@attbi_s04...

"Gary Boggs" wrote in message
...
It's too bad our ridge is 3 miles away. It's just a little too far to
get
to from a winch launch. I did catch the wave from a winch launch right
over
the airport, climbed to 9K, and then flew to our main wave behind 11,240
foot Mt. Hood. Normally it's hard to get away from our airport from a
winch
launch though.


What if you could increase the winch release height to more than 2000
feet?
Three miles at 35:1 in a modern trainer would lose maybe 300 feet and you
could still get back if the ridge isn't working.

Modern high performance winches will deliver more than 2000' pretty
consistently. How much room do you have for a winch operation?

Bill Daniels

Our strip is 3000ft and most of the single seaters get between 1400-1700 ft
with using polyprop rope instead of wire on the winch ,do a search in the
newsgroup archives and you will get a lot of info.
All boiled down it comes to ,its cheap ,available everywhere,lighter so the
glider carries less weight, stores energy by stretching slightly so initial
acceleration is
very rapid , initial climb turns to full climb very quickly = more height at
launch end.
gary


"Gary Boggs" wrote in message
...
About 3000 feet.


"Bill Daniels" wrote in message
news:KTC2d.316855$8_6.86703@attbi_s04...

"Gary Boggs" wrote in message
...
It's too bad our ridge is 3 miles away. It's just a little too far to
get
to from a winch launch. I did catch the wave from a winch launch right
over
the airport, climbed to 9K, and then flew to our main wave behind
11,240
foot Mt. Hood. Normally it's hard to get away from our airport from a
winch
launch though.


What if you could increase the winch release height to more than 2000
feet?
Three miles at 35:1 in a modern trainer would lose maybe 300 feet and you
could still get back if the ridge isn't working.

Modern high performance winches will deliver more than 2000' pretty
consistently. How much room do you have for a winch operation?

Bill Daniels

"Bill Daniels" wrote in message
news:KTC2d.316855$8_6.86703@attbi_s04...

What if you could increase the winch release height to more than 2000
feet?
Three miles at 35:1 in a modern trainer would lose maybe 300 feet and you
could still get back if the ridge isn't working.

To only loose 300 in three miles you need 53:1