HI all, As Anthony said, the occurrence of accidents in gliding has been studied for many years, going back thru the old issues of AG there seem to be regular bursts of fatal accidents.
The stall/spin accident features regularly in such bursts and was addressed as a separate problem in several articles by Mike Valentine describing the problem and drawing some conclusions. Perhaps its time to go back to these and see if there is any relevant info which will help address this issue. It is notable that the recent run of accidents seems to commence a year or two after the loss of Mike, who's writing and actions on safety as part of the GFA system were first class, he was a great loss to us all. Past analysis concluded that changes of personnel in the hierarchy of the GFA have often preceded these bursts, not that this was a causal factor, more that the loss of experience gained the hard way, taking time to be replaced, sadly the hard way again. Which brings me to reporting of accidents/incidents, This was regular and valuable part of the safety system in the past, but has become a joke at the hands of the more recent GFA board's. The current GFA mushroom tactics of "don't tell us what happened" is particularly annoying as it deprives us all of valuable data which may help prevent future occurrences, AS HAS HAPPENED IN THE PAST. The usual party line is privacy factors prevent such reports, however the HGFA doesn't seem to be restricted in this way-they report accident and incidents regularly. Why on earth cant we? There is no reason that reports that do not identify the party/parties involved could not be published. There is no need for these to apportion blame, just state the basic facts. I will look up some of the articles concerned and post some quotes as soon as possible. Maybe we need a website where such reports can be submitted anonymously. This is not a new situation, it has been addressed before and can be addressed again, but not by keep-us-in-the-dark-and-feed-us-b******* but open and frank reporting and discussion. The last mention of accidents in a recent Soaring Aust told us virtually nothing about the cause of the accidents. A once a year touring safety seminar is no substitute, the resulting outcome of that strategy is right in front of us in the start of this thread. Accident reports are valuable to us all. I view them as potential life savers, despite the views of *some* in the system who seem determined to keep us in the dark at all costs, including trying to discredit the accuracy of reports. We cannot expect the media to report accurately if we leave an information vacuum speculation is invited, and the media will speculate, probably poorly. That is our fault not the media's. Regards all Dave L _______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list Aus-soaring@lists.internode.on.net To check or change subscription details, visit: http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring
