Eric Greenwell wrote:
Scott wrote:
Ramy wrote:
I'm with Kirk and also hope that if something will ever happen to me
people will discuss it right away and try to learn from it.

Ramy

Just to play devil's advocate...what can be learned from "what ifs"?

If I weren't there to physically witness the accident, I might as well
say the engine quit and someone made a 180 degree turn to return to
the field and spun in. What is learned by that? Especially if the
real cause was something such as a forgotten bolt or pin, causing the
wing to fold.

I myself prefer to wait for an investigation where there are at least
some preliminary FACTS. That's just the way I work, I guess.....

We have some preliminary facts: Pawnee, crash, fatality, glider OK,
Creswell, Oregon, etc. How long do you want to wait for more facts? How
many facts do you need? My experience is we often don't have "enough"
facts to conclusively understand an accident, even the year or so later
when NTSB report is issued.

RAS isn't a court of law trying to issue a fair judgment. We don't need
"all the facts" to have discussions that leaven the pain of losing a
fellow pilot, or goad us into rethinking about what we do when get into
our towplane or glider, and what we should be doing.

That is just the way most of us work.

Yes, you have said facts. Did the Pawnee lose a wing? Stall? Carb
Ice? What is the lesson in a Pawnee that crashed in Oregon with a
fatality, other vehicle OK, etc.? What lesson do you take away from
this? Keep the wings on? Use carb heat? Fly the airplane? All good
advice, but something we ordinarily do on every (normal) flight....