Peter Heywood crash Weyland G.C.

Of course I meant "Peter's family and friends)"
(Brain cramp)

wrote:
These terrible things will likely sometimes just be hapenstance, but
maybe less if we just avoid being in or too near any cloud.

Sincere condolences to all Peter's family and friends.

michael
-------------------------
Kettering UK Telegraph
By Tim Hawkins

A GLIDER pilot survived a head-on mid-air collision with another
aircraft by kicking his way out his cockpit and parachuting to safety.
Steve Algeo, 50, escaped the crash but his fellow Welland Gliding Club
member, Peter Heywood, 48, of Finedon, was unable to get out of his
aircraft and died when it plummeted to the ground.

An Air Accident Investigations report into the collision in North
Yorkshire in October 2006 has ruled it was "a consequence of
misfortune".

The report, published yesterday, describes how Mr Algeo, of Beatty
Gardens, Corby, made his dramatic escape.

Gliding club members were flying in scuddy cloud when Mr Algeo
suddenly saw the orange wing tip and nose of another glider and
realised a collision was inevitable.

The report says: "Instinctively he entered a descending left turn,
with the objective of preventing a cockpit-to-cockpit collision, which
he
thought highly probable and likely to be fatal.

"He recalled that the other aircraft may have been descending out of
scuddy cloud, and that it may have been flying fast and straight
towards him. He ducked his head as the other aircraft's wingtip was
about to impact his canopy, and immediately heard a loud bang.

"The two aircraft collided almost head on, each aircraft's canopy
being severely damaged by the other's wing. He then felt a cold rush
of air, and his aircraft rolled to the right to an inverted position.

"He did recall operating the canopy jettison lever, but the canopy did
not part from the glider.

"A substantial part of the canopy had been destroyed in the impact and
the pilot later remembered kicking himself free of the cockpit and
being momentarily delayed in locating his parachute release, before
operating it."

Mr Algeo suffered a broken bone in one hand, cuts and bruises.

Mr Heywood's body was fou
nd close to the wreckage of his glider. His harness was found
unfastened and the canopy release mechanism had been operated. He was
wearing a parachute but it had not been operated.

The lengthy report adds that each pilot had accepted the risk of
encountering another aircraft with little or no time to see and avoid
it.

A gliding instructor was at the launch point when he heard a "crunch",
which he realised was a mid-air collision. He told investigators how
he saw "two gliders, seemingly locked together".

He said: "The wreckage separated leaving one glider spinning around
and the other with debris also falling from the sky."

Several safety recommendations have been made since the accident,
including the British Gliding Association providing reference material
for clubs, instructors and pilots that identify the risks of flying
close to cloud or in poor visual flying conditions.
Last Updated: 11 January 2008 8:27 AM
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