Rumor has it there was a mid air at Ave. S on Saturday Dec 10th with 2 newer pilots. Apparently neither pilot was injured (luckily). An instructor was at the site but no word from him when they returned.
Mid Air at Ave S.
Mid Air at Ave S.
Rumor has it there was a mid air at Ave. S on Saturday Dec 10th with 2 newer pilots. Apparently neither pilot was injured (luckily). An instructor was at the site but no word from him when they returned.
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Ken Andrews
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Mid Air at Ave. S.
Here's the accident report written by Joe Greblo. The names of those involved have been deleted; if the pilots wish to identify themselves, they may do so.
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Accident Report
Accident:12/10/05
Avenue S Flying Site / Palmdale, CA
Approximately 3:45 pm
Injuries: None
Prepared by: Joe Greblo, USHGA #15408
Pilots involved:Novice rated w/ 20 plus mountain flights and Novice rated on second soaring flight at Ave S.
Novice pilots accompanied me to Avenue S for ridge soaring instruction. 2 other Novice pilots w/ various levels of ridge soaring experience were also in attendance. Conditions at the site were clear and warm with winds blowing straight in at approximately 15 mph.
Each student was briefed in the basics of soaring the site, launched, and closely monitored by radio during the first 15 minutes of their flight. No significant problems were encountered by any of the 4 students during the flight.
Eventually, all 4 pilots were in the air at the same time and I was monitoring their flying decisions. All appeared to be doing quite well. My next step was to get up in the air with them to introduce them to vortices and more closely inspect their turn clearance and right of way skills.
Before bringing my glider up to launch, I reminded them to clear their turns carefully and continue to do the same things they had been doing.
As I was hooking into my glider I noticed the winds were getting lighter and the pilots were beginning to get lower. At that time I heard a radio report that there had been a crash. I assumed he had gotten a bit low, slowed down and got turned into the hill. He immediately responded that he was fine.
The cause of the accident was a mid air between the two least experienced pilots. Upon discussion w/ both pilots it was clear that one (Pilot 1) had not sufficiently cleared his turn from east to west and found himself heading straight for the other (Pilot 2). Pilot 2 correctly turned to the right but not quickly enough to avoid the mid air.
Pilot 1's glider suffered a broken left leading edge, just rear of the cross bar junction and Pilot 2's glider remained un-damaged. Pilot 1 descended 40-50 ft. to the hillside and his impact was minimized by large bushes.
Contributing greatly to this accident was the fact that I had removed supervision from the 2 pilots too early in their flights.
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Accident Report
Accident:12/10/05
Avenue S Flying Site / Palmdale, CA
Approximately 3:45 pm
Injuries: None
Prepared by: Joe Greblo, USHGA #15408
Pilots involved:Novice rated w/ 20 plus mountain flights and Novice rated on second soaring flight at Ave S.
Novice pilots accompanied me to Avenue S for ridge soaring instruction. 2 other Novice pilots w/ various levels of ridge soaring experience were also in attendance. Conditions at the site were clear and warm with winds blowing straight in at approximately 15 mph.
Each student was briefed in the basics of soaring the site, launched, and closely monitored by radio during the first 15 minutes of their flight. No significant problems were encountered by any of the 4 students during the flight.
Eventually, all 4 pilots were in the air at the same time and I was monitoring their flying decisions. All appeared to be doing quite well. My next step was to get up in the air with them to introduce them to vortices and more closely inspect their turn clearance and right of way skills.
Before bringing my glider up to launch, I reminded them to clear their turns carefully and continue to do the same things they had been doing.
As I was hooking into my glider I noticed the winds were getting lighter and the pilots were beginning to get lower. At that time I heard a radio report that there had been a crash. I assumed he had gotten a bit low, slowed down and got turned into the hill. He immediately responded that he was fine.
The cause of the accident was a mid air between the two least experienced pilots. Upon discussion w/ both pilots it was clear that one (Pilot 1) had not sufficiently cleared his turn from east to west and found himself heading straight for the other (Pilot 2). Pilot 2 correctly turned to the right but not quickly enough to avoid the mid air.
Pilot 1's glider suffered a broken left leading edge, just rear of the cross bar junction and Pilot 2's glider remained un-damaged. Pilot 1 descended 40-50 ft. to the hillside and his impact was minimized by large bushes.
Contributing greatly to this accident was the fact that I had removed supervision from the 2 pilots too early in their flights.
from pilot 2
I was pilot 2 in the collision. Most of you will never be in a midair, but at some level, you are probably curious what it's like to have a midair. You don't want one. That was the closest I've ever been to crapping my pants. Except for that time in Mexico when I accidently drank the water, but that's a different story. Here's a brief description of what it's like...
It's similar to a car accident, when you get to that point where you realize you've done all you can, like turn, swerve, slam on the brakes, whatever, and there's nothing more you can do. You see the inevitable, and time is going in slow motion. Bam! it happens, you're still in shock, panic increases. At that point I reached for the parachute handle, pulled hard, but instead of a parachute, and inflatable doll came out and inflated! Different type of emergency. I must have pulled the wrong handle. Luckily I didn't need the chute, so I flew back and forth making sure things were ok, then went to the LZ.
It's similar to a car accident, when you get to that point where you realize you've done all you can, like turn, swerve, slam on the brakes, whatever, and there's nothing more you can do. You see the inevitable, and time is going in slow motion. Bam! it happens, you're still in shock, panic increases. At that point I reached for the parachute handle, pulled hard, but instead of a parachute, and inflatable doll came out and inflated! Different type of emergency. I must have pulled the wrong handle. Luckily I didn't need the chute, so I flew back and forth making sure things were ok, then went to the LZ.
A funny thing happened a while back, a group of people from work went to go eat Chinese food, and I was telling the story about the midair. I had just finished the story as they were passing around the fortune cookies. Everyone looked at me as I was opening my fortune cookie, but when I opened it, there was no fortune! They almost made me walk back to work.