Today 10/2/12 Rob Burgis and myself returned to Lukens low from past Brown mountain near Mt Wilson. There was a West 9-12MPH headwind we got drilled. Rob was higher and was able to get to a west facing ridge to get back up I did not. I was getting rotored heading west. I could of headed for the golf course but I did not feel I would make it. I arrived high enough over Dunsuir Debris Basin to decide what my best option was. Ron was giving me suggestions but there was 2 different conversations on the radio from non pilots it was so loud It was hard to hear what Ron and Rob were saying. I tried to land up hill down wind but I just cleared the West edge of the East triangle shaped plateau almost hitting a 5ft round boulder, I flared over it my left wing grazed another 5ft round boulder that spun me a little landing sideways making the right leading edge hit the ground. The glider seems OK except for some road rash. I am OK.
In the past I had seen Dunsuir Debris Basin from the air and thought if sh%$ hits the fan it looked land able. It is but if you screw up the consequences are bad. There are 2 plateaus a rectangular shaped to the West a debris basin in the middle and a triangle shaped to the East. If you overshoot the East plateau plan B is hitting trees and landing on houses or a street not wide enough to land on. Same if you overshoot the West plateau heading South. If you head West on the West plateau you could pull it off but its right at the base of a hill so you could go long because of lift from the hill. If your goal is XC from Kagel I recommend taking a good look at this bail out LZ. An educated decision is better than figuring it out when you have to.
Here is a link for the Dunsuir Debris Basin. http://goo.gl/maps/Ikz8N
Dunsmuir Debris Basin Bail out LZ
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skygeek AKA Seabass
- Posts: 252
- Joined: Thu Dec 21, 2006 9:34 pm
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Thanks for the report Seabass!
I'd like to that I landed a Falcon there in 2009 and pilots should know that the wind swirls around on the surface of this shallow bowl and little thermals and dust devils pop off at random. When I landed here, I did a standard moonwalk and was lifted off the deck and carried another 100 feet where I finished the landing without incident.
Linden landed a Falcon here two weeks ago and again, the conditions were different than landing in a flat field in the plains. This is a raised plateau that is not flat. It is a basin and is lowest in the middle where the drain is located. Thermals and valley wind currents can come up from any of the terraced sides and create eddy currents and all sorts of local turbulence.
I would not attempt to land my T2C here unless I had the VG all the way off and my drogue chute deployed well in advance. My personal feeling is that it may be safer to attempt a fly-on-wall landing on the hillside and hike down.
If the day suddenly shuts off due to cloud cover so that surface heating is curtailed, then I would consider landing on the plateau, but not while there surface is heating and generating small thermals on the deck.
My 2p worth
DQ
I'd like to that I landed a Falcon there in 2009 and pilots should know that the wind swirls around on the surface of this shallow bowl and little thermals and dust devils pop off at random. When I landed here, I did a standard moonwalk and was lifted off the deck and carried another 100 feet where I finished the landing without incident.
Linden landed a Falcon here two weeks ago and again, the conditions were different than landing in a flat field in the plains. This is a raised plateau that is not flat. It is a basin and is lowest in the middle where the drain is located. Thermals and valley wind currents can come up from any of the terraced sides and create eddy currents and all sorts of local turbulence.
I would not attempt to land my T2C here unless I had the VG all the way off and my drogue chute deployed well in advance. My personal feeling is that it may be safer to attempt a fly-on-wall landing on the hillside and hike down.
If the day suddenly shuts off due to cloud cover so that surface heating is curtailed, then I would consider landing on the plateau, but not while there surface is heating and generating small thermals on the deck.
My 2p worth
DQ
