On Sunday, August 26, 2012 12:11:45 AM UTC-4, Jp Stewart wrote:
From TA's Dansville contest write-up: "Unfortunately, we were also saddened to hear of yet another apparent stall-spin fatality; Jim Rizzo, Finger Lakes club president and FAA Designated Examiner for the area was killed when his glider crashed into a farmer’s field not far from the Dansville airport. Jim was not part of the contest and was just flying locally when the accident occurred. All we know is what the farmer said (and this is 3rd hand to me) that apparently Jim was trying to thermal away from a low altitude and spun in (sound familiar? – it should – this is the 3rd almost identical fatality this season here on the east coast)." http://soaringcafe.com/2012/08/day-6...ille-region-3/ JP

I'll chime in with Tim. Jim was a great guy and could not do enough to help make his home club go. He always had a smile on his face and a big laugh.
Possibly his apparently having taken nothing to drink after instructing for a while and then going to fly for 3-1/2 hrs or so may have contributed to his error in judgement. Sadly, it appears that he could have straightened out and landed on the airport, albeit with a very low approach.
We HAVE GOT TO STOP THERMALLING LOW. There is no new lesson here. I've lost 3 friends this year to the same mistake.
Sadly
UH