For those that receive same the latest issue there article page 48 written by Peter Dasey but incident/accident took place guess 30+years ago by the glider types involved. It involves an almost mid air collision between Pawnee and AstirCS but did involve Astir being entangled by the tow rope. Gather the accident was never reported until now!!!. The glider pilot interestingly reports he now makes a point of "wobbling around a bit in circuit so I am a little more noticeable, even thought it may look untidy" I myself have never thought of that. I must admit when learning glider towing Gus Mauch suggested not to descend over the nose but continually do usually (not always) a slow left hand turn into airspace you can see. That is flying predictably.
In gliding today we seem reluctant to give out much information on recent gliding accidents incase of litigation. Makes me now think perhaps we could get a "Macarther Job" type writer to go through our old (say 25 years ago) gliding accident reports which I am sure GFA still have on file and write up stories for say our "new gliding magazine". To me I see the same style of accidents continuing to happen but very few in glider pilots ever really hear about previous accidents. Actually glider repairers could give us a wonderful summary of accidents they see in for repairs. Perhaps we need photocopies of the accident report pages of Sailplane and Gliding over any 5 year period and these become required reading before say a pilot does his B or C test requirements. It would read similar to Australian accident reports and can remember years ago Dave Pietsch recommending the S&G accident reports as reading. Accidents trends I see are (i) Pilots often experienced forgetting to lower wheel and trying to lower wheel when say 1-2 metres above ground and results in $50000 +/-$30000 repairs. These type usually occur about 2 years and usually follow a distraction. A repairer has seen it so much that when giving a briefing on new glider reminds them to again check wheel is down as they turn final and if they forget it after this turn then LAND WITH WHEEL UP. (ii) Pilots not releasing early when they loose control of a glider at early stages of aerotow maybe problem caused by longish grass or cross wind. These are often minor damage but every now and then a pilot stays on far too long and with extra energy damage is high. The serious almost write off occurs about each 15 years. Simple solution is hand very near or just touching release handle and pull is early if in doubt. Just takes 5 minutes to tow back but takes 6 months to repair!! (iii) The old one of usually leaving the base leg turn far too late and then landing short of airfield seems to happen several times each year. When I learnt as a student my old instructor Wally Stott would say "on a windy day if you do not go beyond the end fence then you will always make it back to airfield" Airfield end fences can be a problem and 30 years ago after a Bergfalke hit (or just clipped) the south end fence at Keepit. I got the bull bar on old ute and drove it into each fence post until I could hear it braking and it was ready to fail! I now wish I had done the whole fence and may have prevented many years later fatal accident!!!. Consider a chain saw or angle grinder to weaken the post to 20% of its strength or install electric fence maybe. As Norm Sanders (old Senator in Canberra, TV reporter, uni lecturer) says "do not ask for permission but ask for forgiveness after the event". (iv) Gliders hitting gable markers. Most clubs have got rid of them in the gliding areas. After our third hitting of a marker locally Norm Sanders spent the next 4 days replacing all the gable markers down one side of field with flat markers - he did it without a word to council and nothing has been said. One of our hitting a marker cost $26000 in repairs as marker did not fail but acted as a pole vaulting stick. As Norm found the CASA default marker is a flat marker - Gable markers come from UK, flat markers are from USA. (v) Usually not an accident but incident is a hornet's mud partly blocking the pitot which often gets missed in DI. I remind all as you climb up ASI with go near say 80kts (even 100) but on decent will go between 0 and 20 kts. Simple solution is fly attitude and recently I flew the whole day with this minor problem. I could list more (ground towing gliders, low level straight head emergencies, back injuries - which mostly can be solved by Confor foam which is mandatory in NZ gliders and helps Tamworth BAE Systems meet the new FAR23 of 19G in CT4s) but you may stop reading. I just hope some of these accidents above may occur less in future. Perhaps others have seen other accident trends which others may be unaware of. Think almost no accidents are airworthiness related which is positive. Ian McPhee 0428847642
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