Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good
Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2018 12:31 pm
I had always thought of myself as a better than average pilot, that's probable why complacency played a large roll in what could end up being a career ender for me.
A couple of weekends ago the day was looking less than average so a small group of pilots decided to fly Mt. Lukens to change things up.
After driving up the washed out access road we all sat up our gliders, I was the third off, the first two pilots made it off with what looked like more effort than was discussed before launch. I stepped up to launch and was in a hurry to catch up with my buddys that just left. The conditions seemed to be getting lighter so I decided to take two steps to my left and several steps back, (this was in my mind to build up speed in-order to compensate for light or no winds).
This choice complicated my launch in three ways.
1) It changed my launch line down the hill.
2) It made me completely lose site of launch and my path across the ground cover.
3) Transitioning from flat ground to a reasonably steep slop requires a larger angle of attack change (that I didn't pull off)
I yelled clear and ran to the edge of launch and started down trying to pick my way through the brush not to trip, as I began to fly away my right wing tip brushed the top of a bush putting me into a spin, I hit the ground about 100' down from launch. I walked away without a scratch, the glider received two tears on the leading edge and one bent down tube.
A couple of weekends ago the day was looking less than average so a small group of pilots decided to fly Mt. Lukens to change things up.
After driving up the washed out access road we all sat up our gliders, I was the third off, the first two pilots made it off with what looked like more effort than was discussed before launch. I stepped up to launch and was in a hurry to catch up with my buddys that just left. The conditions seemed to be getting lighter so I decided to take two steps to my left and several steps back, (this was in my mind to build up speed in-order to compensate for light or no winds).
This choice complicated my launch in three ways.
1) It changed my launch line down the hill.
2) It made me completely lose site of launch and my path across the ground cover.
3) Transitioning from flat ground to a reasonably steep slop requires a larger angle of attack change (that I didn't pull off)
I yelled clear and ran to the edge of launch and started down trying to pick my way through the brush not to trip, as I began to fly away my right wing tip brushed the top of a bush putting me into a spin, I hit the ground about 100' down from launch. I walked away without a scratch, the glider received two tears on the leading edge and one bent down tube.