Ventus 3F - Fatal

On Saturday, July 21, 2018 at 3:34:58 PM UTC+1, jfitch wrote:
On Saturday, July 21, 2018 at 2:15:40 AM UTC-7, wrote:
I would have interpreted the mention of 48 knots as being a descent rate shown on the data recorder file (= around 880ft/11seconds).

The report clearly says airspeed not descent rate. Default Flarm setting is 4 second fixes so 11 seconds represents at most 3 fixes. 11 seconds from normal flight to impact indicates a very low altitude no matter how you interpret it.

The previous two igc files of Renny's I looked at have the default 4 second recording interval. In these, it appears that he arrived back at Moriarty high and perhaps spoilered down, entering the pattern at around 1,000 to 1,500 feet AGL. In both of these landings, he maintained plenty of height and speed through his base and final turns, slowing down only on final just before touchdown. Of course, we have no idea what happened on his last flight, but his previous flights in the V3 show no signs of sloppiness that might result in loss of control.

Mike