Glider Crash in CA

On Sunday, September 4, 2016 at 3:20:31 PM UTC-7, wrote:
Interesting to come across this. I just saw that TV show and decided to search web for info on this. In addition to news stories, NTSB report, and other stuff, I found this video from L.A. County Sherriff of the pax extraction from the site.

https://youtu.be/g0Jws14t0rk

Interesting to note the large GoPro camera rig that was on the left wing at time of crash is gone.

Yes, the account of attempted off-field landing in the report does not jive with the video footage we see in the show. Also, the report would have mentioned video if they had known about it, and thus certainly viewed it. Since there were no major injuries or property damage, an investigator likely did not go to the scene and the report was based on a statement from the pilot.

It appears that what really happened was that the Dr. or show producers probably figured a glider flight would make good footage for the show. So the Dr arranged for his cousin to take them up. Cousin may have wanted to impress with scenery over nearby Angeles Forest mountains. A 9000' tow is pretty high, but in mid March, with still cool-ish weather, there probably was no thermal lift or mountain wave, especially at around 11:00 am. Pilot was past ridge line and sunk right into valley with no hope of making it to a good landing area. So his story is pretty close, except he messed up and spun in. Very fortunate circumstances of terrain and angle plumped him relatively gently onto brush with almost zero forward speed.

My guess is that before rescue came, pilot persuaded Dr to hide the cameras/take with them.

And, as someone already mentioned, once the NTSB report was closed it was safe to put the footage into the show.

The only outstanding issue was if the pilot was asked if there was any photo or video evidence when he gave report, and he said no, that could be trouble for him.

Anyway, everyone was OK after, the show got some great story, and the glider appears to have been sold for salvage (Google it's reg number and you'll see). So it's a somewhat happy ending.

But one more thing: That glider school. The footage we see in the show makes it appear that the flight was expected to be about 30 minutes, yet when they hadn't returned an hour and a half later, the school appears to still not want to call for search and rescue, and that it was only after one of the Dr's friends called the Sherriff - over two hours after departure - did any rescue effort begin. That looks bad.

A comparison of this video to the geography from Goggle Earth shows that he was south of Baldy instead of north towards the glider port. This area is a highly populated in the neighborhood of Ontario, CA. Given that, he was, at most, 13 nm and probably just 10 nm from the Brackett Field airport, which he was about 5000 ft above. This is a very easy glide from his crash location. Why didn't he glide into this airport? Who knows, but he may not have known of its location and elected to crash land rather than glide into a densely populated area. If so, the moral of the story is know ALL your options before leaving the ground.

Tom