Glider Crash Argentina

Unfortunately, all that can be learned is what we already know: you must fly coordinated and maintain airspeed in the pattern. This is a depressingly common type of accident.
Tom

On Thursday, February 27, 2014 3:23:19 PM UTC-8, Dan Marotta wrote:
While these things are distressing, we need to know as much as we can about

them to add to our bag of experience. Maybe we can learn from her

misfortune and, in the future, prevent someone else making the same

mistake(s).





"Andrew Brayer" wrote in message

...

On Saturday, February 22, 2014 12:09:56 PM UTC-5, Sean F (F2) wrote:

Not sure if this has been mentioned here. Looks like a landing or

out-landing phase.







http://www.eldiariodelapampa.com.ar/...2#.UwjZYEJdVo1







http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=163779



a young girl is dead for christ's sake. keep those articles for yourself.

i know i don't have to read the post, but who WOULD want to click it and

look at pictures of a crashed glider with a blanket draped over the

tragedy in the cockpit.

On Thursday, February 27, 2014 10:16:43 PM UTC-8, 2G wrote:
Unfortunately, all that can be learned is what we already know: you must fly coordinated and maintain airspeed in the pattern. This is a depressingly common type of accident.

Tom

Probably true, although you don't really know if there is something new to learn until you investigate the accident trail. It is precisely because stall/spin is the number one cause of fatalities by a wide margin, that we all know that and yet it continues to happen, that trying to understand the sequence of events that led this awful outcome is an important endeavor. Perhaps we learn nothing new, but even the reminder has value.

9B

On Friday, February 28, 2014 12:16:43 AM UTC-6, 2G wrote:
Unfortunately, all that can be learned is what we already know: you must fly coordinated and maintain airspeed in the pattern. This is a depressingly common type of accident.

Tom

Actually, in accidents like this, the final airspeed/coordination in the "pattern" is usually the least interesting part of it. From what has been reported here, this was a low final glide, 3 km short of the airfield, and a quick decision to land in a field rather than push the last 3 km. One report cited wind direction concerns as well.

Accidents usually involve a chain of events, and if you want to put it in a common category, it might be more productive to put this in the "final glide coffin corner" chain of events that precipitated the stall spin. If 3 km out, there is obviously not enough altitude to do anything like a "pattern.."

Yes, Chuck Yeager does not stall / spin even if he starts a pattern at 200 feet and 40 knots. But for the rest of us mortals, avoiding getting to such a position is the harder challenge.

This -- low energy final glide gone wrong in the last few moments, crash very near the airport -- is a indeed a depressingly common type of accident, but better airspeed and coordination, though vital, is not the only lesson.

John Cochrane