wrote:

Surprisingly no one has posted this before now. There is a high plateau
just north of the airport. A basalt cliff drops several hundred feet to
the valley (and airport) below. Most soaring is done on the plateau.
There is a temptation to try to squirt over the rim if you get low,
even though there are numerous landable fields on the plateau. No
retrieve (avoided) is worth risking your life for, especially not in
this situation (if this, in fact, is what happened).

Tom

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NTSB Identification: SEA05LA114
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Saturday, June 11, 2005 in Wenatchee, WA
Aircraft: Avia Stroitel AC-4, registration: N1198Z
Injuries: 1 Fatal.

This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain
errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final
report has been completed.

On June 11, 2005, at an estimated 1415 Pacific daylight time, an Avia
Stroitel AC-4 glider, N1198Z, was destroyed when it impacted terrain
near Wenatchee, Washington. The student pilot, the sole occupant in the
aircraft, was fatally injured. Cascade Soaring Society, Inc., was
operating the glider under CFR 14 Part 91. Visual meteorological
conditions prevailed for the local, solo, instructional flight. The
flight originated from Wenatchee, Washington, approximately 30 minutes
before the accident; no flight plan was filed.

The pilot's instructor said that the student pilot was scheduled to fly
a one hour flight. When he did not return, a search airplane departed
and found the glider on the back side of a mountain ridge approximately
3 nautical miles from the airport.

The instructor said that the student pilot had soloed the L-13 Blanik
on several occasions, but this was the student's first solo flight in
the AC-4.

It was, twice.

Was this close the site of the fatal accident about ten years ago?

Frank