Duo NV lands on Heavenly Ski Resort. Not kidding...

On Feb 6, 1:41*pm, Brad wrote:
On Feb 6, 10:25*am, Sean Fidler wrote:

http://southtahoenow.com/story/02/05...-crash-heavenl...

I was just in this glider (absolutely gorgeous) last Wednesday. *Holy crap. *Epic Fail.

Not to be contentious, but more fodder for the safety
monkeys...................looks like this guy did a fantastic job
getting the sailplane down safe and with all in 1 piece.

I am interested in learning how the "loss of air" caused this to
happen.

I will not be criticizing the pilot, as we are all prone to being in
the news someday, despite the never ending articles in Soaring about
safety.

Brad

Oh bullcrap. With 1/3 the skill and the judgement we expect of a solo
ready student this was a routine local flight.

-Evan Ludeman / T8

On Feb 6, 2:11*pm, Evan Ludeman wrote:

Oh bullcrap. *With 1/3 the skill and the judgement we expect of a solo
ready student this was a routine local flight.

-Evan Ludeman / T8

But it's obvious - he had to land when the tail fell off!!

Kirk
66

Of course, witness accounts are typically fairly useless especially
when it comes to estimating height but still, I found the following
comment interesting"

"Yeah, I was actually there on the mountain today, and had an
opportunity to see the aftermath. over the past few days that glider
has been getting uncomfortably close to many chair lifts on the
mountain. Dangerously close in my opinion. While riding Dipper Express
the other day, I was scared it was going to hit the lift while I was
on it."

Matt Michael
SSF monkey.

Can you site this source please? Link? Article?

Probably not uncommon to hear from certain segments of the human species when a glider flies down the ridge even 200 feet above...

So fairly useless is probably spot in here.

On Feb 6, 8:13*pm, Sean Fidler wrote:
Can you site this source please? *Link? *Article?

Probably not uncommon to hear from certain segments of the human species when a glider flies down the ridge even 200 feet above...

So fairly useless is probably spot in here.

it's in the comments on this page:
http://carsonnow.org/story/02/05/201...-reportedly-ok

What do the regs say about flying over people and structures?

Another interesting question is to look at the elevation of the
landing site relative to elevation/distance to South Tahoe airport.

I think that if there had been injuries/fatalities it wouldn't be left
to a monkey to be asking these questions.

MM

On Feb 6, 6:31*pm, matt michael wrote:
Another interesting question is to look at the elevation of the
landing site relative to elevation/distance to South Tahoe airport.

Having done much flying in and around the mountains on that side of
Lake Tahoe, I can tell you that just because a particular airport may
be within straight line gliding distance doesn't mean you can get
there. If you're low (for whatever stupid reason) and in the
mountains, you're left with trying to sneak through low points in the
ridge to get to the lower ground. You may get through one pass, only
to discover that there is yet another ridge on the other side which
you can't quite clear. If you're well and truly screwed, you turn
around only to find that you no longer have enough altitude to clear
the pass you just came through. I haven't messed up quite that badly,
but I did have to make it out of that sort of trap once by dodging
trees. One tends to get religion after an incident like that, and
allow (a lot) more margin...

Marc

On Feb 7, 12:25*am, Marc wrote:
On Feb 6, 6:31*pm, matt michael wrote:

Another interesting question is to look at the elevation of the
landing site relative to elevation/distance to South Tahoe airport.

Having done much flying in and around the mountains on that side of
Lake Tahoe, I can tell you that just because a particular airport may
be within straight line gliding distance doesn't mean you can get
there. *If you're low (for whatever stupid reason) and in the
mountains, you're left with trying to sneak through low points in the
ridge to get to the lower ground. *You may get through one pass, only
to discover that there is yet another ridge on the other side which
you can't quite clear. *If you're well and truly screwed, you turn
around only to find that you no longer have enough altitude to clear
the pass you just came through. *I haven't messed up quite that badly,
but I did have to make it out of that sort of trap once by dodging
trees. *One tends to get religion after an incident like that, and
allow (a lot) more margin...

Marc
I've been flying gliders 3 years, I'd like to learn something from
this. *But we really don't know the details. *Did the winds switch
from the forecast heading and increase in velocity? * Was the pilot
assuming ridge lift on that side, but instead he immediately ran into
1000fpm sink? 2000fpm sink? instantly closing himself off from a 180
back over the ridge to Minden? *Was he then monitoring the required
altitude to make South Tahoe Airport, headed there and realized the
extreme sink wouldn't allow that option? *I'm sure there is the rare,
"surprise" weather situation that goes way beyond even the most safety
conscious pilot's personal minimums, especially in the mountains.
*Until I know the details, he gets the benefit of the doubt from me.

One problem we have with soaring is that if we set our personal safety
minimums too high, we never get anywhere. *Cross country attempts
become nearly impossible. *So we back them off based on our skill and
comfort level. *That exposes us to that "whatever percent" chance that
we get shot down. *Maybe this guy just ran into his "whatever percent"

On a side note, I just visited and rented from SoaringNV a month ago.
*I was checked out in this very glider, but by a different instructor.
*My takeaway is that SoaringNV seemed to have their act together.
*Very much safety oriented. *After I was soloing, my instructor never
stopped monitoring my actions, making comments and suggestions,
pointing out dangers. *All their gliders have glide computers,
transponders, radios, audio varios, oxygen, *plus they have PowerFlarm
on order for all their gliders and tow planes. *No affiliation, just
wanted to make the point. *I was impresses. * ... Aaron

Of course, witness accounts are typically fairly useless especially
when it comes to estimating height but still, I found the following
comment interesting"

"Yeah, I was actually there on the mountain today, and had an
opportunity to see the aftermath. over the past few days that glider
has been getting uncomfortably close to many chair lifts on the
mountain. Dangerously close in my opinion. While riding Dipper Express
the other day, I was scared it was going to hit the lift while I was
on it."

Matt Michael
Safety Monkey

I wonder if the flight computer still has data on it from the previous
days to support the comment below. If it does and this person was
soaring over the ski area I'll have a lot less sympathy for this
landout. Sounds like a substantial lack of good judgement if the
claim made below is true, and I'm inclined to suspect it's likely
true.


"Yeah, I was actually there on the mountain today, and had an
opportunity to see the aftermath. over the past few days that glider
has been getting uncomfortably close to many chair lifts on the
mountain. Dangerously close in my opinion. While riding Dipper Express
the other day, I was scared it was going to hit the lift while I was
on it."

But it's obvious - he had to land when the tail fell off!!

Kirk
66
Yes, not only that but he is still dragging the tow rope.