kinsell wrote on 8/22/2020 8:21 PM:
On 8/22/20 8:52 PM, Eric Greenwell wrote:
kinsell wrote on 8/22/2020 7:41 PM:
On 8/22/20 7:06 PM, 2G wrote:
On Saturday, August 22, 2020 at 12:58:04 PM UTC-7, kinsell wrote:
On 8/12/20 11:16 AM, John Foster wrote:
On Wednesday, August 12, 2020 at 2:55:07 AM UTC-6, wrote:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/11/u...ion=Obituaries


So sad to loose Matt. Any word yet on what exactly happened? From what I've
been able to piece together, it appears the crash happened on take-off or
shortly after that, as it seems it was quite close to the airport.

NTSB prelim is now out, adds a few details:

https://app.ntsb.gov/pdfgenerator/Re...relim&IType=LA


That is interesting: the report lists the model as a LAK17A in one spot and a
LAK17B in another. The difference, of course, is that the LAK17A is
self-launching while the LAK17B is not. I had cautioned about believing the
media on the glider model; it turns out that you can't believe the local
authorities as well. I was skeptical because there were no tow planes at
Lakeport. I wonder if Matt completed the motorglider endorsement process.

Tom


The FAA registry has it as a LAK-17B FES MINI, which is hard to find
information on.

I did find a German language article on it:

https://www.aerokurier.de/segelflug/...-17b-fes-mini/


I think the miniLak (aka LAK-13.5 mini FES) self-launcher is being confused with
the Lak 17b-FES sustainer. LAK does not list a self-launching 17B on their website.


And yet here is the flight manual for a LAK-17B FES Mini, which is capable of
self-launch.** The 17B FES is a quite different aircraft, and not relevant.

http://lak.lt/wp-content/uploads/202...1-20200127.pdf

The factory is apparently the source of the confusion, that it has a 13.5M glider
named the LAK-17B FES mini, but is a different glider entirely than the other 17B
variants which use which have a fuselage that can use different wingspans: 15M,
18M, 21M. The US dealer does not offer the LAK-17B FES mini; instead, he lists the
miniLAK.

In any case, it appears the initial report got it right, so the media gets the
credit on this one.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to email me)
- "A Guide to Self-Launching Sailplane Operation"
https://sites.google.com/site/motorg...ad-the-guide-1