Tree landing at Big T 4/25/10
Tree landing at Big T 4/25/10
Here's a summary of the flight leading up to (which I believe to be a factor) and my tree landing on Sunday. Conditions on launch were decent with smooth straight in winds punctuated with the occassional thermal cycling in slightly cross. Conditions in the air appeared easily soarable although not strong or high. I launched and headed straight to trash and found a thermal and eventually worked it to just under 5000'. The lift was light and not ratty. I then headed east towards Big T. I lost a good amount of altitude crossing and arrived at Little T at about 3300'. I found something there but could only get a few hundred feet out of it and then continued east again sinking out, arriving at Big T below the streamer on the spine out front. At this point I should have started assessing landing conditions, but continued searching, even flying back west towards some birds that I saw thermaling. I didn't find the lift and was now coming back to the wash with very little altitude to spare. This in and of itself may not have been too bad if I was more familiar with the wash LZ , but I have not landed there or walked it in at least 3 years. I was choosing my intended landing spot based on the accounts and photos from others who have landed there. I flew perpendicular to and across the stream and LZ and turned left onto to downwind parallel to and west of Big T road. In the very short time that I had to check the landing conditions the wind seemed to be blowing up the wash slightly cross from the west and it was quite thermic over the LZ. I rotated upright and pulled on some speed and did a 180 onto to final. I immediately got popped up and felt that I was too high to make the LZ. I initiated some S turns while trying to thread my way between a large bush on my left and an even larger tree on my right. I turned left first and then over corrected to the right and was headed straight for the tree. All the tree landing articles I've read flashed through my head and I didn't attempt to correct again and flew straight into the center of the tree. The glider came to rest firmly lodged in the branches with me dangling 30-35' above the ground. Getting me down and extracting the glider is a whole other chapter. The S turns were definitely a bad judgement call and I should have stayed straight on final and dove it in to not overshoot. I'm very fortunate to have walked away without a scratch and I have to extend my gratitude to those who helped me: Richard Shaw and his wife, Freddy Wagner, Greg Kendall and Greg Angsten.
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gregangsten
- Posts: 502
- Joined: Thu Jun 02, 2005 11:22 am
- Location: Westchester
photos
Somebody's got to post some pictures so I guess it will be me:
http://picasaweb.google.com/gregangsten/JonesySLZ#
I think you made the right call centering that tree once you saw the odds were slim that you could miss it completely. Your glider was hanging there like a coathanger on that branch that poked through the sail. If you had grazed it and spun in it would have been very ugly.
http://picasaweb.google.com/gregangsten/JonesySLZ#
I think you made the right call centering that tree once you saw the odds were slim that you could miss it completely. Your glider was hanging there like a coathanger on that branch that poked through the sail. If you had grazed it and spun in it would have been very ugly.
Great tree landing Greg.
That's coming from a guy that's made over 10 tree landings myself! As you know, it's critical that you try to center punch the thing, flare hard at the last minute, turn your head, cover your vital parts, and hang on tight to the branches for all your worth. Hopefully there are enough branches for all your flying wires to get stuck on.
Of course this doesn't work well with sharp, scraggly trees.
joe
That's coming from a guy that's made over 10 tree landings myself! As you know, it's critical that you try to center punch the thing, flare hard at the last minute, turn your head, cover your vital parts, and hang on tight to the branches for all your worth. Hopefully there are enough branches for all your flying wires to get stuck on.
Of course this doesn't work well with sharp, scraggly trees.
joe
Safety is a book, not a word
Michael Robertson
Michael Robertson
