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RIP Matt Wright (Balleka on YouTube)



 
 
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  #51  
Old February 11th 18, 01:51 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
AS
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Posts: 653
Default RIP Matt Wright (Balleka on YouTube)

On Saturday, February 10, 2018 at 10:14:30 AM UTC-5, Waveguru wrote:
I know of a winch site that sighs off pilots for solo without doing a single rope break practice, and only a hand full of dual tows. I wonder how Matt was trained?

Boggs


Boggs,
that may hold true for the US but in Europe, winching is the predominant launch method for gliders due to the high cost of AVGAS and operating power planes. It is very likely that Matt was trained on the winch up to first solo, which would have included launch failure training ad nausea - at least that's how it was handled in my club in Germany.
Uli
'AS'
  #52  
Old February 11th 18, 07:53 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Frank Whiteley
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Posts: 2,099
Default RIP Matt Wright (Balleka on YouTube)

On Saturday, February 10, 2018 at 11:15:07 AM UTC-7, Paul Rice wrote:
Frank,
I'm curious, was the E Anglian incident @ Whatfield & what/who was
glider/pilot. ?



At 19:41 09 February 2018, Frank Whiteley wrote:
Hill top sites are not uncommon in the UK. Winds can create what I call
'c=
url' over such sites. My first glider was lost when a partner got caught
i=
n the downside of such curl on his downwind and despite abbreviating the
ci=
rcuit failed to make the airfield and crashed in the valley. This was in
E=
ast Anglia. I once took a winch launch and upon turning final chased the
A=
SI to the ground and a very abrupt stop 50 yards short of the runway in
sta=
nding barley. This was at Enstone, another hill top site. There is
nearly=
a 400ft difference in elevation between the river bottom west of Exeter
an=
d the Dartmoor site, which would result in pretty squirrelly conditions.
H=
aving learned soaring in the UK, I'm a bit surprised about some aspects

of
=
the event.

Matt's videos are wonderful and I'd just watched Chasing Diamonds a few
day=
s prior to hearing of his accident. As I'd flown from Lleweni Parc a few
t=
imes, including out over the Irish Sea, I really enjoyed this video.

Frank Whiteley


Yes, Whatfield. Other info by PM.

Frank
  #53  
Old February 11th 18, 03:20 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Kiwi User
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Posts: 64
Default RIP Matt Wright (Balleka on YouTube)

On Sat, 10 Feb 2018 16:51:26 -0800, AS wrote:

On Saturday, February 10, 2018 at 10:14:30 AM UTC-5, Waveguru wrote:
I know of a winch site that sighs off pilots for solo without doing a
single rope break practice, and only a hand full of dual tows. I wonder
how Matt was trained?

Boggs


Boggs,
that may hold true for the US but in Europe, winching is the predominant
launch method for gliders due to the high cost of AVGAS and operating
power planes. It is very likely that Matt was trained on the winch up to
first solo, which would have included launch failure training ad nausea
- at least that's how it was handled in my club in Germany.
Uli 'AS'


..... and in my UK club we do an annual refresher that includes a high
aero tow for stalls and spins and two winch launch failures. No solo
flying allowed in the new season without getting sign-offs for these.


--
  #54  
Old February 12th 18, 03:59 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Michael Opitz
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Posts: 318
Default RIP Matt Wright (Balleka on YouTube)

At 12:36 10 February 2018, Dave Walsh wrote:
You'd have to live in a very flat area to consider Enstone a
"hill top site": it's enormous and flat.


I wonder if anyone has addressed the "convenience" factor, and
if it might have been a player. I looked at the report and
screen grab pictures, so given the headwind and enormous size
of the airfield, it should have appeared to have been a "no
brainer" to just pull the dive brakes and land straight ahead.
That is, unless one overthinks it and decides that doing so would
mean a long ground retrieve back to the start point for another
launch. Could he have been thinking that he could just squeak out
a tight pattern so as to land back at the start point in order to
quickly get into the air again? I guess we will never know for sure.

I remember one instance back in the 1960's when George Moffat
was flying his SH-1 out of Wurtsboro on an "iffy" day. He got low
down by the sister glider field at Middletown and decided to land
there to get a re-light back to Wurtsboro. Being by himself with
no ground crew, etc, he decided to land just short of the take-off
staging area so that he would be able to launch from where he
rolled out and stopped. Except, George misjudged his approach
and wound up in the bushes just short of the runway. He had
also punched a good sized hole in the underside of one wing, so
he wound up having to get it trailered back to Wurtsboro to get
repaired. An example of very good pilot making a convenience
related decision that went wrong....

Thermalling low in order to avoid a retrieve or possible off-field
landing damage? -- a convenience factor from another thread.

Making an abbreviated pattern to avoid a long tow on the ground?
-- another possible "convenience related" decision?

We will never know for sure, but it is probably worth mentioning
during training for these types of events.

RO

  #55  
Old February 12th 18, 06:06 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
BobW
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Posts: 504
Default RIP Matt Wright (Balleka on YouTube)

I wonder if anyone has addressed the "convenience" factor, and
if it might have been a player. I looked at the report and
screen grab pictures, so given the headwind and enormous size
of the airfield, it should have appeared to have been a "no
brainer" to just pull the dive brakes and land straight ahead.
That is, unless one overthinks it and decides that doing so would
mean a long ground retrieve back to the start point for another
launch. Could he have been thinking that he could just squeak out
a tight pattern so as to land back at the start point in order to
quickly get into the air again? I guess we will never know for sure.

I remember one instance back in the 1960's when George Moffat
was flying his SH-1 out of Wurtsboro on an "iffy" day. He got low
down by the sister glider field at Middletown and decided to land
there to get a re-light back to Wurtsboro. Being by himself with
no ground crew, etc, he decided to land just short of the take-off
staging area so that he would be able to launch from where he
rolled out and stopped. Except, George misjudged his approach
and wound up in the bushes just short of the runway. He had
also punched a good sized hole in the underside of one wing, so
he wound up having to get it trailered back to Wurtsboro to get
repaired. An example of very good pilot making a convenience
related decision that went wrong....

Thermalling low in order to avoid a retrieve or possible off-field
landing damage? -- a convenience factor from another thread.

Making an abbreviated pattern to avoid a long tow on the ground?
-- another possible "convenience related" decision?

We will never know for sure, but it is probably worth mentioning
during training for these types of events.


I did not know Matt W. and am not a knee-jerk fan of video watching, but I
*had* thoroughly enjoyed 2 or 3 of his videos prior to his saddening death,
and his joy of participation in soaring - and skill - was evident. Sincere
condolences to his family and friends.

+1 to the above post.

Like every other self-interested reader/poster in this thread, I can only
surmise what was in Matt's mind when he made the "turn now!" decision, but
"the dreaded convenience decision?" possibility appeared early-on in my mind.

Maybe I was lucky, but I was first exposed to "the dreaded convenience
decision" in my pre-solo days, after making ad admiring comment to my
instructor about how skillfully someone had taxied the club's 1-26 off the
active runway, stopping right outside the hangar door. My instructor
laughingly replied to the effect of: Yeah! Really nifty...when it works! We
then discussed it, natch, until he was satisfied I understood his point. Since
then, I've seen many a convenience decision that has NOT worked as hoped (as
distinct from planned, because many of them are - to be kind - ill considered).

Worse, I bent a landing gear attach bulkhead one time by indulging in my own
ill-considered "dreaded convenience decision"...sort of the reverse of the
decision facing Matt. I'd fallen out on a wave day, flown the gnarly-condition
pattern to land near from where I'd launched, then acted upon a
"short-final-inspiration (not!)." Rather than planning on landing at the far
end of the field - where I'd rigged and left the trailer, because that was
convenient to non-west-wind days which were the site's statistical norm - I
came in "inconveniently short" even though not planning a 2nd tow, then acted
on the late-appearing impulse to land longer. No big deal, save for the fact
the flaps in that ship were hydraulic, and thus not amenable to flap
reductions short of being more or less instantaneously being blown back to the
in-trail position. (Doh!) I was lucky I didn't suffer worse consequences from
losing full flaps at about 70' agl...

*Much* worse (in the sense of repeating a dumb "convenience driven" choice),
many years later I repeated George Moffat's convenience-driven mistake...in
benign conditions at a benign site...subsequently learning how to re-glass a
G-103's tail wheel boat. (Doh!) My lack of being "tuned in" that morning
amazes and dismays me to this day, some 20 years later...

Bob W.

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  #56  
Old February 12th 18, 06:41 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
krasw
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Posts: 668
Default RIP Matt Wright (Balleka on YouTube)

maanantai 12. helmikuuta 2018 17.00.06 UTC+2 Michael Opitz kirjoitti:
At 12:36 10 February 2018, Dave Walsh wrote:
You'd have to live in a very flat area to consider Enstone a
"hill top site": it's enormous and flat.


I wonder if anyone has addressed the "convenience" factor, and
if it might have been a player. I looked at the report and
screen grab pictures, so given the headwind and enormous size
of the airfield, it should have appeared to have been a "no
brainer" to just pull the dive brakes and land straight ahead.


ASW 24 has weakest airbrakes of pretty much any standard class made after 70's. You might easily get used to doing shallow angle finals, and suddenly seeing runway end at steep angle could cause reaction to do a 360 turn. Just speculating, of course.
  #57  
Old February 12th 18, 07:28 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Charlie M. (UH & 002 owner/pilot)
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Posts: 1,383
Default RIP Matt Wright (Balleka on YouTube)

I, s well, didn't know the main person in this thread.
Yes, I like the potential gains to the sport of Soaring that others may have seen.

Going to a post I made in another thread here, planning every landing at the home field as an off field landing (pick where you want to be, then do it!) is paramount.
As mentioned in the other thread, look to the rules for the Elmira/HHSC Snowbird contest. The main goal is "energy management", both in time as well as where to land at what speed.

It can be eye opening to peeps that, "land wherever, they will get me, or, I can roll to wherever.....".
This is NOT off field landing practice. Plan on where you want to touch down, then do it.
Yes, it's nice to rollout out of the way, maybe close to a tie down or a hanger.
Yes, when I was sharp and doing rides, the ground crew knew to just stand there with their left hand out facing the incoming glider. Our (commercial ride pilots) knew to land, shed speed, S-turn to the side, drop the left wingtip into the hand of the ground crew, mentioning to the ride that this is what we were going to do.

Yes, I have seen "contest pilots" land on a contest field and even with great brakes manage to over run the pavement and coast down a hill (visiting pilot at HHSC) or "taxi to tiedown" and hit both a towplane and tied up glider!

Sheesh.

None of us know what Matt was thinking that day, I am only trying to point out some of the mindset you SHOULD be doing every landing.

Train as you do, do as you train.
  #58  
Old February 12th 18, 07:32 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Charlie M. (UH & 002 owner/pilot)
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Default RIP Matt Wright (Balleka on YouTube)

Really?
I will admit I have limited experience in "newer" other brand standard ships, but I can't say I EVER had an issue with the divebrakes in a -24 (couple hundred hours flying it, numerous off airport landings, nothing broken....).

Granted, I prefer 15M or longer with landing flaps AND dive brakes to a short field.......
Go back to my previous comment on, "how do you normally land at a known field?".
  #59  
Old February 12th 18, 08:33 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Papa3[_2_]
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Posts: 753
Default RIP Matt Wright (Balleka on YouTube)

Fairly early in my racing career (year 3) I made a decision of convenience that came back to haunt me. After a long, low, stressful final glide into Lancaster SC for the regional, I finished and entered the pattern. My brother was crewing, and we had the trailer all hooked up to the car. It would be really convenient to just land short on the taxiway and roll up to the trailer rather than landing on the huge/long runway and rolling up to the first big intersection. Mind you, I was already really tired from 30 minutes of stressful low-level flying and navigating (the days before GPS). Since my decision (if it was really even a decision) came kind of late in the game, I ended up in a high/tight/steep approach. At some point on short final I realized things weren't all that well stabilized. All I remember next was the crunching sound as the gear ripped out and the horizontal stab released from the spring-loaded retainer. Known for ever more by the Charlie Spratt label as the "in flight derigging incident." Since then, I always chose the landing direction and location that makes sense given the conditions and not to save a few minutes of ground handling.

Erik Mann (P3)

  #60  
Old February 12th 18, 08:43 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Michael Opitz
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Posts: 318
Default RIP Matt Wright (Balleka on YouTube)

At 17:41 12 February 2018, krasw wrote:
maanantai 12. helmikuuta 2018 17.00.06 UTC+2 Michael Opitz

kirjoitti:
At 12:36 10 February 2018, Dave Walsh wrote:
You'd have to live in a very flat area to consider Enstone a
"hill top site": it's enormous and flat.


I wonder if anyone has addressed the "convenience" factor, and
if it might have been a player. I looked at the report and
screen grab pictures, so given the headwind and enormous size
of the airfield, it should have appeared to have been a "no
brainer" to just pull the dive brakes and land straight ahead.


ASW 24 has weakest airbrakes of pretty much any standard class

made after
70's. You might easily get used to doing shallow angle finals, and

suddenly
seeing runway end at steep angle could cause reaction to do a 360

turn.
Just speculating, of course.



I had 2 ASW-24's and flew numerous nationals and one WGC
(Austria) in them. I didn't have any complaints about the airbrakes
in that glider. When I fly my own ship, I make virtually every
landing approach with full dive brakes simulating coming in over
tall trees at an off airport landing site. The ASW-24 gave me no
issues when I did this. From that screen grab, (and the headwind)
it appeared to me that it would have been very easy to put it down
straight ahead with room to spare... Apparently, the accident board
came to the same conclusion too... We will never know why he
chose not to do so.

RO

 




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