Kawa rough landing?

Looking at the photo of the field, I would have accepted it as a difficult but doable option. The rest is the inherent risk of outlanding.

Change of weather is in my opinion no excuse to not reach landable terrain. But that's obviously just me.

"Storms closed Sebastian over"
This note is just to caution folks that IMC and low weather can form too swiftly to escape. I have more than once had clear air turn into cloud or fog around me -- I did not "enter" IMC. This can happen at any altitude between the surface and the tropopause.
I have seen thunderstorms go from tiny cu to flat top in just five minutes -- and dissipate in another 15.
A capping layer of stratus can move over a valley -- or can form out of clear air in a minute or two.
Aviators, in general, don't understand just how dynamic cloud formation can be.
DJ

Well, my experience is not that extensive - about 500 h over flat country and 3200 h in the Alps from Southern France to Austria, including very rapidly developing thunderstorms.
However, I have never experienced a situation where IMC develop too fast to escape. If such a thing happens, situational awareness hasn't been what it is supposed to be.

There is a comment from GP gliders on their facebook page that Mr Kawa hurt his back as a result of the impact (hopefully not seriously) and also that the dynafoam cushion had been removed so that he could fit into the smaller sized cockpit of the two GP glider designs. Irrespective of whether the dynafoam would have made a difference in this particular incident it is a reminder of the importance of impact protection seat cushions and raises a question about flying a glider with a cockpit so small that the cushion needs to be removed for the pilot to fit into it.

http://www.sebastiankawa.pl/13060/o-...bGJ8ugxxXHZS58

Google translate:
"During the last training flight they locked Sebastian in a narrow 30-kilometer valley without landing spots. The possibility of escape was to be provided by an efficient electric drive system. "

There you go. Glad he did not hurt himself more seriously.

Always great to learn from the wisdom of the GOAT:

“Yeah, but it was a landing pad in Bobulandii. Here, unfortunately, on the lower part of the field, there was a damselfish which, at higher speed, knocked me when you make a kangaroo on a flat glider, it flies horizontally and lands twice�

😂😂😂

On Sunday, September 8, 2019 at 11:20:53 AM UTC-6, krasw wrote:
http://www.sebastiankawa.pl/13060/o-...bGJ8ugxxXHZS58

Google translate:
"During the last training flight they locked Sebastian in a narrow 30-kilometer valley without landing spots. The possibility of escape was to be provided by an efficient electric drive system. "

There you go. Glad he did not hurt himself more seriously.

Those pictures show a nice looking field. I'm sure he's landed in fields like that many times. Bumps and rocks are always a risk when landing in a field.

On Sunday, September 8, 2019 at 10:20:53 AM UTC-7, krasw wrote:
http://www.sebastiankawa.pl/13060/o-...bGJ8ugxxXHZS58

Google translate:
"During the last training flight they locked Sebastian in a narrow 30-kilometer valley without landing spots. The possibility of escape was to be provided by an efficient electric drive system. "

There you go. Glad he did not hurt himself more seriously.

In the pics there is a lake. I know it is not everyone's first choice, but in desperate situations like this, with an electric and batteries, should the lake be avoided? Or would it have been a better choice in hindsight?

Dear friends,

while the 3rd FAI 13.5m WGC still has only 2 days to go, I must say I totally sympathize with Sebastian Kawa's unfortunate outlanding. As part of the organizing activities, of course we provided an official TP file which includes a database of airports, airstrips and recommended outlanding fields. Compared to Rieti, where reliable outlanding fields are distributed over the whole contest area albeit here and there there are localized regions where one should avoid getting low, Pavullo and the Norther Appennines offer fewer fields, most of which are require an uphill approach. However, this is where we have hosted some Juniors' camps and national training weeks. In September 2018, a training competition "Pavullo Glide" has been completed satisfactorily.

On the given day, take-offs were delayed till after about 1.30 p.m. due to scheduled fighter-jets training activity over the airport of Pavullo. They then performed 3 low passes on the following day during the official Opening Ceremony.

As far as we know, there were no storms or heavy weather phenomena at the time of the outlanding. The assigned training task was conservative.

4 Italian members of the organization and a second Polish pilot all went to help with the retrieve. We, at the home base, were reassured that Sebastian was in good health although reporting some back pain. He then left the competition site without further contacts.

Sebastian performed a self-launch with no problems. It has been said by some of the people on the ground, and I don't know if the information is accurate, that the limit-switch failed to provide the necessary "full deployment" contact to allow engine starting. I don't know if the GP sailplane provides any bypass procedure.

The competition is going on. Italian Stefano Ghiorzo is leading with the Diana VS FES 13.5m, in second position there's German Uli Schwenk with the MiniLak and no auxiliary power system (pure glider). With two days to go, the results are still very open.

Here are 2 links to the TP database.

cheers,
Aldo Cernezzi
competition director of the 3rd FAI 13.5 WGC


https://www.soaringspot.com/en_gb/ii...2019/downloads

http://soaringweb.org/TP/Pavullo