Ventus 3F - Fatal

At 01:37 13 July 2018, Nick Kennedy wrote:
Rest in Peace Renny

I've go to say these accidents scare the crap out of me.
How can this happen? Renny flew so much he was almost a
professional glider
pilot. And yet he goes in landing at his home airport.
How can this happen?
Is glider flying really THAT dangerous and unpredictable?
I don't feel that way but accidents like this make me pause and
wonder WTF
are we doing? and why?
It's suppose to be fun this soaring and this is not fun.
Renny and so many others will be greatly missed....
So Tragic, this accident.


We are all getting older. There have been a number of physiological
incapacitation accidents in recent years in our community. Let's
wait for the NTSB to make their findings.

In the mean time, condolences to his family and friends.

RO

Nick’s thoughts are my thoughts exactly. How do we have so much unexplained accidents? Tragic!
Sure, we can wait 2 years for the NTSB report, which will be completely useless unless the local glider pilots will work together with the NTSB and hope for a good investigator, as was the case recently in California. Meanwhile I hope we can learn something.
It is easy and comforting to blame unexplained accidents on health related incapacitation, but I believe this may be true only in small fraction of accidents.
This had been a sad year so far, and we got very lucky in few accidents which did not end up fatal but could have been easily.

Ramy

On Thursday, July 12, 2018 at 8:20:58 PM UTC-7, Ramy wrote:
Nick’s thoughts are my thoughts exactly. How do we have so much unexplained accidents? Tragic!
Sure, we can wait 2 years for the NTSB report, which will be completely useless unless the local glider pilots will work together with the NTSB and hope for a good investigator, as was the case recently in California. Meanwhile I hope we can learn something.
It is easy and comforting to blame unexplained accidents on health related incapacitation, but I believe this may be true only in small fraction of accidents.

As someone now old enough to see a small but alarming number of younger friends and relatives dropping dead I don't find this comforting at all!

Events that might be quite survivable if they happen in a shopping centre or even on a highway (where you can pull over and stop in less than ten seconds) would be an entirely different matter when flying solo thousands of feet up.

Had a great visit with him at the the SSA Convention in front of his new V3. So sad...

On Thursday, July 12, 2018 at 9:20:58 PM UTC-6, Ramy wrote:
Nick’s thoughts are my thoughts exactly. How do we have so much unexplained accidents? Tragic!
Sure, we can wait 2 years for the NTSB report, which will be completely useless unless the local glider pilots will work together with the NTSB and hope for a good investigator, as was the case recently in California. Meanwhile I hope we can learn something.
It is easy and comforting to blame unexplained accidents on health related incapacitation, but I believe this may be true only in small fraction of accidents.
This had been a sad year so far, and we got very lucky in few accidents which did not end up fatal but could have been easily.

Ramy

For the record, the local FSDO is glider friendly and their rep was very thorough in the questions he asked. The NTSB rep was the Denver office manager who normally does not make house calls. He is a former AF pilot, as well as a balloon pilot and had flown gliders while at test pilot school. He was very respectful of the circumstances and was also very thorough regarding the questions he asked. I'm sure his initial report will reflect his efforts to arrive at a conclusion based on the facts at hand.

Billy Hill (Zulu)

What do they normally do? They being the NTSB? Or the FAA for that matter.
Y’all quit smoking that weed out there....good Lord Jesus.
R

During the interview that I recently had with the NTSB over the fatality here in Arizona, the NTSB employees lied to my face about information they had and it was totally unnecessary. I was ****ed when I found out the truth. They are not our friends, even tho they try hard to make it seem that they are. They expect you to be honest, but they are apparently not.

Boggs

So they were malicious, unethical, unprofessional, lying government employees by your experience supported by undisputed facts.
OK Bogg, send me their names and contacts, location along with your evidence and I will personally see to it that they answer your allegations.
Arizona, recent fatality, glider maybe. Got it. Will plan on contacting people right away. Send along info I requested. Good chance someone will contact you.
You can find my contact info on the SSA site. I have yours.
Thank you.
R

Well Retting, you are putting a lot of words in there that I never used. They looked me right in the eye and lied over and over, but what good could possibly come from exposing them? Will I will be exposing myself to retribution from the FAA? You think it will change anything? I’m pretty sure it is illegal to lie to them, which I would not do, but I’m pretty sure it is not against any of their rules to lie to us. This is a no win situation, and like I said, it wasn’t about anything that was really significant in the long run, it it was also totally unnecessary for them to lie to me. It just points out that they cannot be trusted and that they are not our friends.

Boggs

Listening to ourselves and knowing our limitations ought to be a topic covered more often in Soaring magazine. Age will no doubt be a factor in a growing percentage of accidents as the glider pilot population continues to age.. Likewise, hydration and heat stroke should be topics of concern for everyone flying mid-summer.

R6N flew 4 days straight in 90+ degree weather. We took the 5th day off partly for SAFETY. In hindsight, I have no regrets despite taking off what clearly turned out to be the best soaring day of the contest (the sky looked like Uvalde), which says a lot when you're flying out of Adrian, Michigan.

Fwiw, Sandhill Soaring Club lost a club member just 2 weeks prior to the start of R6N. The deceased member's wife is certain her husband succumbed to heat and died of heart complications. Luckily, he wasn't operating an aircraft when it happened.

In any case, ALL pilots (not just aging pilots), need to consider their health history, known physiological limitations, their present physical and mental health, stress levels, medications, and lastly the current weather conditions at the airport.

The following article speaks volumes on the issue and identifies factors that increase risk of heat stroke and/or heart failure. See: https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/...n-201107223180

Safe soaring!

Chris Schrader (CN)



On Thursday, July 12, 2018 at 10:15:06 PM UTC-4, Michael Opitz wrote:

We are all getting older. There have been a number of physiological
incapacitation accidents in recent years in our community. Let's
wait for the NTSB to make their findings.

In the mean time, condolences to his family and friends.

RO