The Quest Air Open Part 2
Sat, May 21 2016, 10:26:08 pm EST
Accident on the launching pad
Today we experienced a fatal aerotowing accident when a fellow pilot locked out very soon after coming off the cart. He plowed head first straight into the ground from too high right in front of us.
Fausto Arcos who was in the front of the launch line just in front of me watched the whole thing and said it was a "classic" progressive lockout. The pilot needed to release much earlier before it became non-recoverable.
The pilot's weak link broke at apparently the same time as tug pilot gave him the rope. The tug pilot gave the hang glider pilot the rope because the hang glider pilot's glider was pulling the tow plane's tail to the east forcing the tug toward trees that the tug with this drag would not be able to get above. All of the hang glider's undersurface was visible in the tug pilot's mirror.
We have a risk management plan in effect for this competition as a requirement from the USHPA for their insurance as well as for their future insurance situation. Part of that plan requires us to quickly retrieve pilots that have weak link breaks or land in the designated areas. We put these pilots back in line quickly so that they do not suffer from not being able to be towed to 2,000' on their tow. We do this so that pilots will quickly go for the release if there is a problem and not hesitate trying to stay on the tow just because they are in a competition.
The day was cancelled. This was the last day of the competition.
Photo by Mike Degtoff
Discuss "The Quest Air Open Part 2" at the Oz Report forum