Seniors Contest

Yes, it appears that the contest reports are under the news section for
which you must log in with SSA member number and password.

I have written Dennis Wright a note suggesting that both the reports
and scores should be posted under the Contest Button so that anyone can
access the scores and reports.

I know that I enjoy reading contest reports and scores from other
contries and feel that we should make this information universally
available.

If you feel as I do, please write Dennis a note.

David Martin
ASW27 BV

It doesn't say anything anyway, just that there was a crash on practice
day.

wrote:
It doesn't say anything anyway, just that there was a crash on
practice
day.

Here is a copy of Charlie's report, hope he doesn't mind:

Hi race fans 3/5/2005

Today was the practice day for the 2005 Seniors. We had a good March
soaring day and the lift took the guys to over 5,000 AGL. 57 Gliders
left the ground including guests for a 130-mile practice TAT task. No
clouds but good consistent lift made for an interesting day.

During the finishes Don Taylor in his DG-800S came in over the gate
with low energy. We thought he would proceed to land straight ahead but
instead he pulls up and heads for the pattern. Low and slow, he decides
to abandon the pattern and turns north to attempt a landing to the
south. During the downwind (now upwind) leg we see him stall twice and
then when he tries to make the turn to base the plane slips and goes
below the tree line nose first.

All of us are in terror as people began to run toward the last
sighting. Suddenly on 123.3 Don's voice comes over loud and clear "
I am down and OK not even a scratch!" We all finally take a breath of
relief and began to try and find him.

Don has crashed into the swamp behind some of the airport houses at the
north end of the runway. The wings are shredded but the fuselage is
undamaged, coming to rest in a cypress with an unbroken canopy some 5
feet above the swamp. Don was able to get out of the glider after once
again radioing the gate telling everyone he was OK. By this time
someone has called 911 and we can hear the sirens coming toward us.

Several pilots and crews slog through the swamp to get to Don, but he
had already walked out.

Everyone who has seen the wreak say it is a write-off. It will be a
very difficult retrieve but some guys are getting together tomorrow to
see what they can do. Don says the water right under the glider is
about 8" deep.

Back to the race: Wifred Krueger was the hot dog today, flying his
DG-808B 140 miles at 53 MPH raw to win the 2 =BD minimum time task. Gene
Rinke took second and Doug Jacobs flew to third. Dave Stevenson flying
his first Seniors took 4th, and Dick Butler got 5th.

The Senior contest is sold out this year and with the guests it is a
full airport. The weather looks like it will be good at least for the
next two days so we think we will get off to a good start.

Check right here at the SSA after each contest day for a complete
report.

See you at the airport,

Charlie

I know it's a dead horse, but I can't help but point out that this is
exactly the sort of accident that would be a lot less frequent with a
500 foot one mile circle finish. 70-80 kts right over the center of the
airport at 51 feet is about the worst place you can be -- too much to
land straight, too little to do a pattern. 70 knots, 501 feet, one mile
out gives you a lot of time to think about what you're going to do
next. 70 knots, 300 feet, one mile out means you're not going to make
the flying finish at 500 feet, so you must roll. That decision is over,
now use the whole mile to figure out how to land.

Yes, pilots should think ahead to the pattern while also managing the
stress of a tight glide. Yes, they should decide to do a rolling
finish rather than focus entirely on the finishline and then wake up to
the fact they have to land the darn thing. But everyone knows this
advice, it's repeated over and over at the safety meetings, and we
still get a crash like this once every few years -- usually with much
worse results. A lower workload reduces the chances any of us will
screw up.


John Cochrane
BB

BB wrote:
I know it's a dead horse, but I can't help but point out that this is
exactly the sort of accident that would be a lot less frequent with a
500 foot one mile circle finish. 70-80 kts right over the center of the
airport at 51 feet is about the worst place you can be -- too much to
land straight, too little to do a pattern. 70 knots, 501 feet, one mile
out gives you a lot of time to think about what you're going to do
next. 70 knots, 300 feet, one mile out means you're not going to make
the flying finish at 500 feet, so you must roll. That decision is over,
now use the whole mile to figure out how to land.

We've used a 1000 foot two mile circle finish at the last two Minden
regionals, which makes finishing a breeze. No problems, no complaints,
no near misses, no one trying 180s at 100 feet, plenty of time to get
everything put away, check that the water has finished dumping, make a
nice leisurely traffic scan, then sequence for landing.

On the other hand, at another recent regional contest I participated in,
a vocal subgroup insisted upon using a finish gate with a 50 foot floor.
There's nothing more exciting that dodging gliders coming from random
directions at 100+ knots, while trying to make something approximating a
normal pattern from my personal finish floor of 500 feet. That kind of
excitement I can live without...

Marc

You must be aware that a pilot stalled and spun with water at 600'
attempting to get over the circle edge last season. So how is that safer???

Casey Lenox
Phoenix
KC

Kilo Charlie wrote:
You must be aware that a pilot stalled and spun with water at 600'
attempting to get over the circle edge last season. So how is that safer???

Maybe some of us are crazy, but we would rather stall and spin at 600
feet, than 200 feet, with or without water. Of course, my competitive
urges being what they are, if I had any doubts about being able to make
it to a 500 foot 1 mile finish, I'd be either still someplace farther
back, trying to climb higher, or sitting in a convenient field. I don't
want to win badly enough to do stupid things...

Marc

Final line is this Marc...you cannot legislate good judgement....period. If
you don't believe it then just go drive around in your car for awhile where
there have already been put into place many laws in an attempt to do so.

It is not the pilots that are conscientious and cautious that are the
problem....no matter what the rules are they will do the right thing. There
will always be those that are poor decision makers in a pinch. I wish that
an instructor somewhere would have pointed this out to them but now that
they have their license they can demonstrate to the world their
inadequacies.

Casey

I'm not aware of someone "stalling and spinning with water at 600'
attempting to get over the circle edge last season'. Where and when did
this happen? What finish configuration was in use?

I also can't imagine why. Under current US rules, even when there is a
finish circle, and even when the CD announces a substantial minimum
height for the circle, you are allowed to proceed directly to the field
and get a rolling finish for speed points. You might lose the 1 minute
of time between crossing the 1 mile circle and your landing, but that's
better than any thermaling will do for you. So there is not even any
competitive reason to be circling at 600' one mile out with water.

John Cochrane
BB

A rolling finish was a severe penalty. Straight in or just safely
entering on base was out of the question. Buffeting, stalling then
spinning a partially loaded aft CG glider got me a GPS fix in the safer
circle finish. You could say that I didn't climb high enough, but I
climbed as high as I could and left the last thermal at best L/D.