A tragedy - a Minden death today!

Hi Gang
As we all know Mother Nature can be unforgiving to errors in the
air. Alan Pratt who was an experienced pilot bought a Carat motor
glider about 4 months ago. This single place motor glider is one of the
most benign machines available. I flew the first in the US and gave it
a rave review.
Today set up as a typical wave day with a blue slot east of the Sierras
and the lennies setting up with rotor clouds about 5 miles east of the
Sierras. Alan spoke to friends and said he was going for a short flight
but without a parachute which he felt was unnecessary for this aircraft,
and without oxygen because his system had a leak. Alan had little or no
experience with the wave and the rotor associated with the wave.
Pieces of the glider fell over a wide area and Alan did not survive.
Apparently a wing came off and the glider disintegrated. What happened?
We can only surmise. The fact that the glider disintegrated suggests
that VNE (Never to Exceed speed) had been exceeded and that speeds
approaching 200 knots or more had been reached. How could this have
happened? Maybe he got trapped in the several layers of lennies and
just lost it. Hopefully he had his flight recorder on and that will give us
more information. I have had 2 bad experiences in the wave and have
survived it - through luck. Alan was not so lucky.
Please before flying in the wave, especially the Minden wave, get a
briefing and don't shortcut the parachute and oxygen. This really
disturbs me.
Dave

Allan was a regular contributor to this group. His user name was ADP. He
will be missed...
-Bob Korves

"David Bingham" wrote in message
om...
Hi Gang
As we all know Mother Nature can be unforgiving to errors in the
air. Alan Pratt who was an experienced pilot bought a Carat motor
glider about 4 months ago. This single place motor glider is one of the
most benign machines available. I flew the first in the US and gave it
a rave review.
Today set up as a typical wave day with a blue slot east of the Sierras
and the lennies setting up with rotor clouds about 5 miles east of the
Sierras. Alan spoke to friends and said he was going for a short flight
but without a parachute which he felt was unnecessary for this aircraft,
and without oxygen because his system had a leak. Alan had little or no
experience with the wave and the rotor associated with the wave.
Pieces of the glider fell over a wide area and Alan did not survive.
Apparently a wing came off and the glider disintegrated. What happened?
We can only surmise. The fact that the glider disintegrated suggests
that VNE (Never to Exceed speed) had been exceeded and that speeds
approaching 200 knots or more had been reached. How could this have
happened? Maybe he got trapped in the several layers of lennies and
just lost it. Hopefully he had his flight recorder on and that will give
us
more information. I have had 2 bad experiences in the wave and have
survived it - through luck. Alan was not so lucky.
Please before flying in the wave, especially the Minden wave, get a
briefing and don't shortcut the parachute and oxygen. This really
disturbs me.
Dave

FWIW, I was on a Southwest Airlines flight from RNO to San Jose, CA on
the morning of this accident. We departed around 9:30AM about three
hours before the crash. At that time the surface winds were
relatively calm. Conditions were broken overcast with some small
lennies ahead of a cold front coming in from the west. The flight
took off to the south and we flew directly over Carson City. When we
were over Carson, we experienced a very brief but significant amount
of turbulence which apparently was from rotor. The right wing dropped
and it felt as though we weather-vaned into the wind. A few seconds
later the plane straightened out and we continued flying towards
Minden through some minor chop until we were above the lenies. The
captain kept the flight attendents seated until we were in the Central
Valley.


(David Bingham) wrote in message . com...
Hi Gang
As we all know Mother Nature can be unforgiving to errors in the
air. Alan Pratt who was an experienced pilot bought a Carat motor
glider about 4 months ago. This single place motor glider is one of the
most benign machines available. I flew the first in the US and gave it
a rave review.
Today set up as a typical wave day with a blue slot east of the Sierras
and the lennies setting up with rotor clouds about 5 miles east of the
Sierras. Alan spoke to friends and said he was going for a short flight
but without a parachute which he felt was unnecessary for this aircraft,
and without oxygen because his system had a leak. Alan had little or no
experience with the wave and the rotor associated with the wave.
Pieces of the glider fell over a wide area and Alan did not survive.
Apparently a wing came off and the glider disintegrated. What happened?
We can only surmise. The fact that the glider disintegrated suggests
that VNE (Never to Exceed speed) had been exceeded and that speeds
approaching 200 knots or more had been reached. How could this have
happened? Maybe he got trapped in the several layers of lennies and
just lost it. Hopefully he had his flight recorder on and that will give us
more information. I have had 2 bad experiences in the wave and have
survived it - through luck. Alan was not so lucky.
Please before flying in the wave, especially the Minden wave, get a
briefing and don't shortcut the parachute and oxygen. This really
disturbs me.
Dave

FWIW, I was on a Southwest Airlines flight from RNO to San Jose, CA on
the morning of this accident. We departed around 9:30AM about three
hours before the crash. At that time the surface winds were
relatively calm. Conditions were broken overcast with some small
lennies ahead of a cold front coming in from the west. The flight
took off to the south and we flew directly over Carson City. When we
were over Carson, we experienced a very brief but significant amount
of turbulence which apparently was from rotor. The right wing dropped
and it felt as though we weather-vaned into the wind. A few seconds
later the plane straightened out and we continued flying towards
Minden through some minor chop until we were above the lenies. The
captain kept the flight attendents seated until we were in the Central
Valley.


(David Bingham) wrote in message . com...
Hi Gang
As we all know Mother Nature can be unforgiving to errors in the
air. Alan Pratt who was an experienced pilot bought a Carat motor
glider about 4 months ago. This single place motor glider is one of the
most benign machines available. I flew the first in the US and gave it
a rave review.
Today set up as a typical wave day with a blue slot east of the Sierras
and the lennies setting up with rotor clouds about 5 miles east of the
Sierras. Alan spoke to friends and said he was going for a short flight
but without a parachute which he felt was unnecessary for this aircraft,
and without oxygen because his system had a leak. Alan had little or no
experience with the wave and the rotor associated with the wave.
Pieces of the glider fell over a wide area and Alan did not survive.
Apparently a wing came off and the glider disintegrated. What happened?
We can only surmise. The fact that the glider disintegrated suggests
that VNE (Never to Exceed speed) had been exceeded and that speeds
approaching 200 knots or more had been reached. How could this have
happened? Maybe he got trapped in the several layers of lennies and
just lost it. Hopefully he had his flight recorder on and that will give us
more information. I have had 2 bad experiences in the wave and have
survived it - through luck. Alan was not so lucky.
Please before flying in the wave, especially the Minden wave, get a
briefing and don't shortcut the parachute and oxygen. This really
disturbs me.
Dave

In article , David
Bingham writes
Hi Gang
As we all know Mother Nature can be unforgiving to errors in the
air. Alan Pratt who was an experienced pilot bought a Carat motor
glider about 4 months ago. This single place motor glider is one of the
most benign machines available.

As a motor glider operator myself, some more details on this machine
would be useful. Forgive my ignorance but I have not heard of a Carat
motor glider. Who makes it, what are its dimensions and other
characteristics, etc.?

Regarding this tragic accident, in my syndicate we always fly with
parachutes and when at a wave site we always have oxygen.

--
Ian Strachan
Lasham Gliding Centre, UK

Ian Strachan wrote:
In article , David
Bingham writes

Hi Gang
As we all know Mother Nature can be unforgiving to errors in the
air. Alan Pratt who was an experienced pilot bought a Carat motor
glider about 4 months ago. This single place motor glider is one of the
most benign machines available.


As a motor glider operator myself, some more details on this machine
would be useful. Forgive my ignorance but I have not heard of a Carat
motor glider. Who makes it, what are its dimensions and other
characteristics, etc.?

Regarding this tragic accident, in my syndicate we always fly with
parachutes and when at a wave site we always have oxygen.

http://www.soarfl.com/technoflug.htm

Uses Discus wings. Pretty slick concept. I don't understand the lack
of O2 and 'chute-if accurate news.

My condolences to friends and family.

Shawn

I was at the Minden that day. I was just pushing out my glider getting
ready to take-off when I heard about the accident. Another guy, Steve,
had just landed after flying the wave for a while and he said that it
was very smooth for a Minden wave, just a few little bumps during his
flight. Of course, he might have just gotten lucky, or was more
experienced with a wave. There was almost no wind at all on the
ground, but high above the wave was going strong.

I think the crash site was just a mile or so downwind from the edge of
the wave cloud.

Here is a report from The Record Courier:
http://www.recordcourier.com/article...AKING/41023001

They say the eyewitness heard high revving engine sound. Could it be
that pilot got into strong sink, pulled out the engine and tried to
get away from the sink as fast as he could, then hit strong turbulence
?

Limus
128LA

(James) wrote in message . com...
FWIW, I was on a Southwest Airlines flight from RNO to San Jose, CA on
the morning of this accident. We departed around 9:30AM about three
hours before the crash. At that time the surface winds were
relatively calm. Conditions were broken overcast with some small
lennies ahead of a cold front coming in from the west. The flight
took off to the south and we flew directly over Carson City. When we
were over Carson, we experienced a very brief but significant amount
of turbulence which apparently was from rotor. The right wing dropped
and it felt as though we weather-vaned into the wind. A few seconds
later the plane straightened out and we continued flying towards
Minden through some minor chop until we were above the lenies. The
captain kept the flight attendents seated until we were in the Central
Valley.

Ian Strachan wrote in message ...

As a motor glider operator myself, some more details on this machine
would be useful. Forgive my ignorance but I have not heard of a Carat
motor glider. Who makes it, what are its dimensions and other
characteristics, etc.?

Regarding this tragic accident, in my syndicate we always fly with
parachutes and when at a wave site we always have oxygen.

Details on Carat at: http://www.ams-flight.si/ SOARING magazine had a
recent complimentary review. Tragic accident.

Dan
Colorado Springs

Oh my God! I am very upset to learn of this. I really enjoyed his
contributions. This is very sad...

In article ,
Bob Korves bkorves@winfirstDECIMALcom wrote:
Allan was a regular contributor to this group. His user name was ADP. He
will be missed...
-Bob Korves

"David Bingham" wrote in message
. com...
Hi Gang
As we all know Mother Nature can be unforgiving to errors in the
air. Alan Pratt who was an experienced pilot bought a Carat motor
glider about 4 months ago. This single place motor glider is one of the
most benign machines available. I flew the first in the US and gave it
a rave review.
Today set up as a typical wave day with a blue slot east of the Sierras
and the lennies setting up with rotor clouds about 5 miles east of the
Sierras. Alan spoke to friends and said he was going for a short flight
but without a parachute which he felt was unnecessary for this aircraft,
and without oxygen because his system had a leak. Alan had little or no
experience with the wave and the rotor associated with the wave.
Pieces of the glider fell over a wide area and Alan did not survive.
Apparently a wing came off and the glider disintegrated. What happened?
We can only surmise. The fact that the glider disintegrated suggests
that VNE (Never to Exceed speed) had been exceeded and that speeds
approaching 200 knots or more had been reached. How could this have
happened? Maybe he got trapped in the several layers of lennies and
just lost it. Hopefully he had his flight recorder on and that will give
us
more information. I have had 2 bad experiences in the wave and have
survived it - through luck. Alan was not so lucky.
Please before flying in the wave, especially the Minden wave, get a
briefing and don't shortcut the parachute and oxygen. This really
disturbs me.
Dave




--

------------+
Mark J. Boyd

I see the Carat comes with cabin heat. These systems
typically send engine exhaust through a heat exchanger
that heats the cabin air. A crack or leak in this system
can result in exhaust fumes in the cockpit. I would
expect the cabin heat to be in use on this wave flight.
This scenario would square with the apparent total
loss of control while still under full power. Food
for thought.

This is a beautiful sport, but not without its dangers.
My condolences to Alan Pratt's family and friends.
JJ Sinclair