On Feb 15, 12:00 pm, "chris" wrote:
I suppose the damage to the horizontal could easily have happened with
nose parts going back. The wing root damage looks like more extensive
damage than I understood from the glider impact.

any guesses?

This picture taken on the runway at Carson City clearly shows the
damage to the right side wing root, so it was definitely not recovery-
induced:

http://www.hpaircraft.com/misc/14nx6a.jpg

However, I don't know whether that damage occurred in the collision or
in the gear-up landing that followed. But I would say that it is
consistent with collision with the sailplane.

Based on the features of the wing spar portion still protruding from
the nose below the port windshield, I'd say that that's the portion of
the spar just inboard of the planform break where the outboard wing
panel attaches:

http://www.hpaircraft.com/misc/11dy6a.jpg

The fifth panel from the top in this image from the Alexander-
Schleicher web site shows the longitudinal pin in that spanwise area:

http://www.alexander-schleicher.de/p...g29_leiste.jpg

This frontal photo of the Hawker suggest a line of damage from lower
(viewer's) left to upper right, which I think is consistent with a
sailplane turning left and struck head-on, or turning right and struck
from behind:

http://www.hpaircraft.com/misc/dscf0034vm0a.jpg

This conjecture is supported by damage to the hawker's starboard wing
and port horizontal stabilizer.

Based on that, my guess is that the fuselage of the glider (most of
it, at least) passed below the Hawker's starboard wing. Further, I
would speculate that the damage just forward of the port windshield is
heavier than that done further starboard due to the greater mass
concentration of the glider's outboard wing panel attachment structure
and mechanism.

Here's the NTSB synopsis of the accident:

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?e...06X01297&key=1

It pretty much supports my speculation.

Thanks, Bob K.