> Hi all,> > A colour photograph of a glider missing its starboard wing and about to > contact terra firma was published in the UK "The Daily Telegraph" on May > 24 2006. The caption read as follows: "A crippled glider plunges out of > control after its wing broke during an approach for a landing during the > Swiss glider championships in Bern-Belp. The pilot, helpless and unable > to get out of his craft, died in the crash seconds later". The
> registration number, HD-2229, is very clear in the photo. > Does anyone have any other details of this unfortunate event?> > Regards,> > Geoff Vincent > VH-GAX > Grampians Soaring Club Hi Geoff and all, found the following info re above Glider was Ventus Ct Following information has been posted elsewhere on the web; I cannot vouch for accuracy, but sounds feasible. >My friend Emil Blumer, President of the Swiss Gliding >Federation, gave me the following information in an >email on 22 May: >'According to an unofficial report, the pilot passed the finish line >[presumably of a competition] with his Ventus CT with high speed. The flaps >seemed to be in a positive position. Then, the flaps slipped immediately in >a negative position. This created a big up and down movement of the wings >and the right wing broke away. The picture shows the glider 2 seconds >before the impact on ground, 50 m away from the spectators. No failure of >the glider's structure was detected up to now. [I have deleted here an >opinion as to cause. CN] The pilot (69) had over 2000 hours on gliders and >he participated several times in regional or national contests. This is a quote from a European flying forum at http://uras.gliderpilot.net/?db=uras&op=s2&id=25780&kw= This http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=227491 Also includes link to TV report if you understand Swiss. See Link below: warning: photo may distress some people. http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.20min.ch%2Fnews%2Fb ern%2Fstory%2F22626195&langpair=de%7Cen&hl=en&safe=off&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&pre v=%2Flanguage_tools Food for thought for us all, especially in the light of our new High energy finish rating("beat up rating" as it has been called), which given proper training should hopefully help prevent a similar accident here. Regards All Dave L _______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list [email protected] To check or change subscription details, visit: http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring
