Stall, spin fatality today in Arizona.

Lost one of my best friends....

Boggs

Condolences to you and his family. Tough to hear of another loss.

Paul A.

On Saturday, June 23, 2018 at 4:52:48 PM UTC-6, Waveguru wrote:
Lost one of my best friends....

Boggs

Gary - This is absolutely sad and very terrible news that is coming on the heels of the recent tragic news from the Grand Teton NP crash. Can you tell us were in Arizona this accident occurred?

Condolences go out to all....

Renny

On Saturday, June 23, 2018 at 4:52:48 PM UTC-6, Waveguru wrote:
Lost one of my best friends....

Boggs

Gary - This is absolutely sad and very terrible news that is coming on the heels of the recent tragic news from the Grand Teton NP crash. Can you tell us where in Arizona this accident occurred?

Condolences go out to all....

Renny

28AZ. West central Arizona.

My buddy was on a great base leg and tried to catch a thermal at around 400’ and spun in.

Boggs

It may appear to some that he tried to catch a thermal.

There may be a different story in the IGC files.

The atmosphere has a bag full of nasty tricks.

He was on base, made several circles and climbed a little, and then broke into a spin. The standard cirus did about 2 revolutions before it hit the ground. This was no freak atmospheric event, except that the air is more turbulent near the ground. Don’t f*#~k around down low...

Boggs

On Sunday, June 24, 2018 at 8:28:17 AM UTC-4, Waveguru wrote:
He was on base, made several circles and climbed a little, and then broke into a spin. The standard cirus did about 2 revolutions before it hit the ground. This was no freak atmospheric event, except that the air is more turbulent near the ground. Don’t f*#~k around down low...

Boggs

A few years ago a friend of mine, flying at a contest, spun at low altitude and died as a result of the crash. I wasn't there.
I resolved that, If I saw such low thermaling I would call the pilot and say "you are scaring me, please land and I'll buy you another tow". To date , I've bought 2 tows. Money well spent.
Maybe someone else could save a friend if they have the chance and make that call.
Sadly
UH

On Sunday, June 24, 2018 at 7:28:17 AM UTC-5, Waveguru wrote:
He was on base, made several circles and climbed a little, and then broke into a spin. The standard cirus did about 2 revolutions before it hit the ground. This was no freak atmospheric event, except that the air is more turbulent near the ground. Don’t f*#~k around down low...

Boggs

Thanks for this note. I've been thinking about this accident all week.
Obviously, whenever the airplane does something unplanned, there are 3 categories of adverse influences:
- something wrong with the aircraft
- something wrong with the pilot
- something wrong with the air.
A big problem is that air is invisible. Yet it sometimes takes on small transient wrinkles that cause aircraft to move awkwardly.
I noticed in the video the bushes tossing and the pilots' clothing fluttering, and that it was sunny. This means that there were big and little wrinkles in the air.

Back when I thought I had to keep the yaw-string straight in a turn, thermal turbulence induced incipient spins more often than I could count.

On windy days, the vertical or horizontal torque in the air can be pretty strong. When thermaling low, all it takes is a momentary backwards-moving gust to stall a wing and induce a spin.

Can't see it, can't prove it, but I've felt it often.

My condolences. This is a risky sport.

Danl J