On Saturday, July 19, 2014 10:37:43 AM UTC-6, wrote:
On Saturday, July 19, 2014 5:56:29 AM UTC-7, JJ Sinclair wrote:

Bill was not the first to hit the cliff at Truckee and



sadly, he won't be the last. I can remember 3 others. When a south wind comes to the cliff, it follows the terrain down, we call this "sink at the approach end of 19". When the reported wind is over 10 knots I don't fly past the cliff, simply fly my base leg parallel to and not past the cliff, turning final at 150 feet.



Speedy recovery, Bill



JJ



Wow, that's shocking. It must be time to do something about that.



One thing that would obviously help would be to remove the motivation to land short over the cliff. When I was there last there were two turnoffs that gliders used. One is actually before the airplane aim point marking and the other is just a little past it. How about creating a new turnoff area that is significantly further down field and then stop using those two close in turnoffs. I suppose it would either take some very stern policy or maybe mechanical barriers to eliminate the temptation of the more convenient access to the tie down area via the existing short turnoffs.



Sorry to be kibitzing from the peanut gallery.



Truly my best wishes are for Bill. His speedy recovery is the most important matter for now.

What happened to the third turnoff? The reason I ask is that on my first landing there in my DG-100 I announced I'd take the first, then second, and finally made the third. My first high altitude airport;^) The wheel brake wasn't very effective alas.

Frank Whiteley