Dennis' state of health

[jcflies]

Dennis has a broken collarbone, possibly a couple of broken ribs, and possibly some fractures in his skull. They are all "just wait it out" kinds of injuries. He has to go back for a check up in 3 weeks. He's home, temporarily under the care of his father, and those of us who went running over to him are glad that he's alive and relatively well.

He's a hang 4 and probably would have listened to other atos pilots. i did, in fact, see the cart with the alleged loose rope--and i will swear before god and country, that the rope was, in fact, loose. whether or not that caused his wingtip to dip on the penultimate tow is another matter, but he wasn't inventing...

Fortunately the damage to glider and body are all reparable! And every pilot out there--at EVERY hang level--has done SOMETHING STUPID at some point--it's the nature of the sport and "go for it" personalities.

so, he's made his sacrifice to the gods of UP and would most likely appreciate a lot of support.

[stebbins]

Dennis has a broken collarbone, possibly a couple of broken ribs, and possibly some fractures in his skull. They are all "just wait it out" kinds of injuries. He has to go back for a check up in 3 weeks. He's home, temporarily under the care of his father, and those of us who went running over to him are glad that he's alive and relatively well.

He's a hang 4 and probably would have listened to other atos pilots. i did, in fact, see the cart with the alleged loose rope--and i will swear before god and country, that the rope was, in fact, loose. whether or not that caused his wingtip to dip on the penultimate tow is another matter, but he wasn't inventing...

Fortunately the damage to glider and body are all reparable! And every pilot out there--at EVERY hang level--has done SOMETHING STUPID at some point--it's the nature of the sport and "go for it" personalities.

so, he's made his sacrifice to the gods of UP and would most likely appreciate a lot of support.

I also am glad that he's alive and relatively well.

I don't know if he'd have listened to other Atos pilots. We can never know. But, he didn't listen to the instructor or other knowledgable assistants.

As for the rope, I also saw it. It wasn't all that loose. And the fact of the matter is, the tow that caused the accident DIDN'T have a long rope. And the control surfaces of an Atos DON'T work until there is sufficient airspeed. Towing one without a wingman (in light winds anyway) is playing Russian Roulette.

There is stupid (I've done it!) and then there is refusal to listen to people who clearly know more than you about a subject.

This isn't a function of "go for it" personalities. You can listen to those who have been there and still "go for it."

But, I am very very glad that Dennis will recover. It could easily have been much worse. I'd hate that.

[skygeek AKA Seabass]

Type A personalities is what we are & its only when accidents like this happen that makes bells goes off in our head both when we impact & later apon reflection. I am glad to see Dennis a fellow Atos pilot will come out of this.
This being said from the reports I read it seems that the dollys keel support was not raised, when towing the Atos it should have a 15 degree nose up angle to the horizon with 15 degree flaps. I was there Saturday saw one of his tows & he had the flaps lowered but the keel support was not changed. I did mention to raise the dollys keel support, but it was not. I think he felt he was doing fine the way it was, the wind was 15-20mph that day. From the reports it sounds like the winds were cross & light the day of the accident, this is when raising the keel matters the most, you need to get in flying attitude to have the control surfaces work effectively.
Good luck Dennis.

[stebbins]

Type A personalities is what we are & its only when accidents like this happen that makes bells goes off in our head both when we impact & later apon reflection. I am glad to see Dennis a fellow Atos pilot will come out of this.
This being said from the reports I read it seems that the dollys keel support was not raised, when towing the Atos it should have a 15 degree nose up angle to the horizon with 15 degree flaps. I was there Saturday saw one of his tows & he had the flaps lowered but the keel support was not changed. I did mention to raise the dollys keel support, but it was not. I think he felt he was doing fine the way it was, the wind was 15-20mph that day. From the reports it sounds like the winds were cross & light the day of the accident, this is when raising the keel matters the most, you need to get in flying attitude to have the control surfaces work effectively.
Good luck Dennis.

Thanks, Sebastian! I didn't realize that, but it makes perfect sense once it is pointed out.

On the day of the accident, one of the carts had the keel support lower than normal due to a broken or missing pin. It was used at least once that way, but I don't think it was used for the Atos. It was then fixed, so that problem didn't contribute to the accident. I do not know if Dennis was raising (or having someone else raise) the keel support for his flights. I never saw anyone do it, so I suspect not, but I could be mistaken. I'd like to think that Dennis would have at least listened to Sebastian, another Atos pilot....

And on a related note: If Sebastian is right (as he almost certainly is) and if there was no raised keel support, then until the glider's keel raised up due to increased airspeed, Dennis had very little, if any, roll control. Another argument for a wing-man.... (As well as a raised keel support!)