ACCIDENT / INCIDENT IN SO. CALIF.?

Just returned from a trip abroad, and a neighbor told me that there had
been a sailplane incident / accident (he does not remember the details)
in the area of Palmdale within the last 3 weeks. Does anyone have
details ?

Thanks, Charles

here you go:

http://www.avweb.com/newswire/11_49b.../191148-1.html

-Nik

The incident got an amazing amount of publicity considering there were
no injuries and the glider escaped serious damage. I had several
non-pilot co-workers mention it to me.


wrote:
here you go:

http://www.avweb.com/newswire/11_49b.../191148-1.html

-Nik

There was also another one a bit farther north in November:

Further info on the inflight breakup


This from several sources, career pilot Robert Stone, local TV news
sources,
and most definitive from Carl Herold who spent all afternoon/evening of

2NOV05 along with Kempton Izuno in the hospital here in Reno with the
pilot,
Eric J. Larsen.
1st things 1st:
Eric is pretty beat up but OK. After the ship broke up he bailed out.
Somewhere around 20K he thinks is where he forced himself out of the
wingless cockpit. When he hit the ground he was moving pretty fast
(ground
winds here in the Washoe Valley were extreme, even for Reno. The remote

recorder timed 106 mph on Virginia Peak) , and sustained concussions
and
compressed vertebrae and bruises.
The ship wreckage is estimated to be spread over approx 16 miles, maybe

more.
The flight:
Early on Tuesday morning, 2 NOV 05, Eric self launched at dawn from
Inyokern, CA into wave and headed north towards Reno. A side note,
Kempton
Izuno launched approx the same time from Minden and headed south in
wave.
Somewhere around the Coledale (CA) Intersection his progress slowed to
a
point where he decided to RTN Minden and land. Ground winds were up to
60-65
mph at Minden by then, approach and landing were hazardous but
successful.
Eric traveled the (very rough approximation) 300 miles in 2 hours, true
air
speed exceeding 250 knots at times and much at or above 25K. When he
got to
the Reno area of the Sierra and down to around 18K the wind had
significantly shifted from SSW to W varying WNW (the JET was dipping
right
over the valley). In the Mt Rose wave he found himself climbing very
rapidly
again, over 1,000fpm and between lenticulars. What he did not notice
due to
canopy icing at the back edges of his canopy was that he was being
blown
back into cloud due to the change in wind direction. He did turn on his

artificial horizon when he realized his predicament but, due to
instrument
spin up time, it was not enough. He went full IFR in an instant without
a
working horizon at altitude and probably at or above true airspeed
redline.
Vertigo ensued and in an instant he felt the wings snap off, no strong
stick
forces, just a snap. At this point he was still OK but in an unguided
dart
and elected to eject. As of late Tuesday evening, the wings and tail
had not
been found.
Stew Crane
SSA Gov, NV
Reno, NV

jb92563 wrote:


Eric traveled the (very rough approximation) 300 miles in 2 hours, true
air
speed exceeding 250 knots at times and much at or above 25K.

Because the true airspeed (TAS) Vne for Erik's ASH 26 E is only 162
knots, perhaps this should be "150 knots TAS", or "250 knots ground
speed", otherwise he would have lost the wings well before the accident!

When I spoke with Erik a couple of weeks ago, he expected to be back at
his job (Fedex pilot) in January.

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

Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA