On Saturday, August 25, 2012 10:11:45 PM UTC-6, Jp Stewart wrote:
From TA's Dansville contest write-up:

"Unfortunately, we were also saddened to hear of yet another apparent stall-spin fatality; Jim Rizzo, Finger Lakes club president and FAA Designated Examiner for the area was killed when his glider crashed into a farmer’s field not far from the Dansville airport. Jim was not part of the contest and was just flying locally when the accident occurred. All we know is what the farmer said (and this is 3rd hand to me) that apparently Jim was trying to thermal away from a low altitude and spun in (sound familiar? – it should – this is the 3rd almost identical fatality this season here on the east coast)."

http://soaringcafe.com/2012/08/day-6...ille-region-3/



JP

"She's not answering the helm, Capt'n" - departure from controlled flight. I think there was an article in some aviation publication with the above title. It holds the key to maintaining control.

If you look carefully at Bruno's video of the inadvertent, incipient spin, you will see a moment where the stick is moving progressively left even as the glider accelerates its roll to the right. That's the instant he departed from controlled flight - the glider was not 'answering' his aileron input.. It should set off all the alarms in your head as it did in his. For me, it's like an electric shock.

Bruno's recovery was not textbook but it worked extremely well. He unloaded the wing by moving the stick forward unstalling the wing and reentering the realm of controlled flight where his ailerons worked normally. Even his narration indicated he didn't apply opposite rudder in a timely manner as the text books call for. Actually, I think he did the right thing - first unload the wing then, after it unstalls, fly the glider normally.

So far, I like every single post in this thread. It's about avoiding accidents by flying well enough to avoid them. That's the secret to safety.