Kawa rough landing?

Change of weather is in my opinion no excuse to not reach landable terrain. But that's obviously just me.

"Storms closed Sebastian over"
This note is just to caution folks that IMC and low weather can form too swiftly to escape. I have more than once had clear air turn into cloud or fog around me -- I did not "enter" IMC. This can happen at any altitude between the surface and the tropopause.
I have seen thunderstorms go from tiny cu to flat top in just five minutes -- and dissipate in another 15.
A capping layer of stratus can move over a valley -- or can form out of clear air in a minute or two.
Aviators, in general, don't understand just how dynamic cloud formation can be.
DJ

On Monday, September 2, 2019 at 3:30:16 AM UTC-4, Tim Taylor wrote:
From tvn24, translated with Google:


Glider pilot and multiple world champion Sebastian Kawa was hospitalized after an accident during a competition in Italy. - Sebastian is feeling well and left the hospital at his own request - his father Tomasz Kawa informed on TVN24. The pilot's father explained that the bad weather on the Apennine Peninsula had contributed to the accident. It is about the storms occurring there, which impede visibility during glider flight. - Storms closed Sebastian over an area where there are no landing places - he said. "It threw him into the air high over a dozen meters" - The glider has calculated emergency or accidental landings, but it was a very unfavorable system. Sebastian happily spotted a piece of grass-covered slope, but when he came in contact with the ground, and you need to land at an increased speed, about 130 kilometers per hour, he hit a kind of threshold on an aircraft carrier, threw him into the air a dozen meters high (... ) was in a vertical configuration, at an angle of about fifty degrees and hung without speed - he explained. - Luckily, this glider dropped symmetrically, but with such energy that the landing gear broke down, the hull was also damaged, the pilot was affected by the appropriate forces, but the athletic, young body somehow endured it and it's ok - he added. As Tomasz Kawa said, medical aid "had no chance" to get to the scene of the accident. The glider and pilot were downloaded by themselves, and then Kawa went to the hospital. Multiple world champion in gliding 46-year-old Sebastian Kawa is the most successful pilot in history. He has a dozen or so world championship titles, as well as, among others, two gold of the World Aviation Games and seven European championship titles. Author: mjz // kg / Source: tvn24 (http://www.tvn24.pl)

I had to land on an altiport in France with my Ventus 2B. My landing was hard and bent the axel and the immediate supporting struts. Fortunately, no other damage to the aircraft.
Landing uphill is more difficult than one thinks due to the visual illusion of being too high and overflying the field. I pulled full landing flaps and reduced speed as to not overfly the field. Result: never made the field proper, landed in the rough before the field. With the angle of descent being so steep and the field rising upwards, the impact was more of a collision than a forward roll. Blew the tire on impact. Fortunatedly, there was a very experienced metal worker at the field and he had me up and running in two days !

Possibly, training to land on altiports with a flight simulater is what one should do if flying such terrain with minimal outlanding possiblities.

Well, my experience is not that extensive - about 500 h over flat country and 3200 h in the Alps from Southern France to Austria, including very rapidly developing thunderstorms.
However, I have never experienced a situation where IMC develop too fast to escape. If such a thing happens, situational awareness hasn't been what it is supposed to be.

There is a comment from GP gliders on their facebook page that Mr Kawa hurt his back as a result of the impact (hopefully not seriously) and also that the dynafoam cushion had been removed so that he could fit into the smaller sized cockpit of the two GP glider designs. Irrespective of whether the dynafoam would have made a difference in this particular incident it is a reminder of the importance of impact protection seat cushions and raises a question about flying a glider with a cockpit so small that the cushion needs to be removed for the pilot to fit into it.

http://www.sebastiankawa.pl/13060/o-...bGJ8ugxxXHZS58

Google translate:
"During the last training flight they locked Sebastian in a narrow 30-kilometer valley without landing spots. The possibility of escape was to be provided by an efficient electric drive system. "

There you go. Glad he did not hurt himself more seriously.

Always great to learn from the wisdom of the GOAT:

“Yeah, but it was a landing pad in Bobulandii. Here, unfortunately, on the lower part of the field, there was a damselfish which, at higher speed, knocked me when you make a kangaroo on a flat glider, it flies horizontally and lands twice�

😂😂😂

On Sunday, September 8, 2019 at 11:20:53 AM UTC-6, krasw wrote:
http://www.sebastiankawa.pl/13060/o-...bGJ8ugxxXHZS58

Google translate:
"During the last training flight they locked Sebastian in a narrow 30-kilometer valley without landing spots. The possibility of escape was to be provided by an efficient electric drive system. "

There you go. Glad he did not hurt himself more seriously.

Those pictures show a nice looking field. I'm sure he's landed in fields like that many times. Bumps and rocks are always a risk when landing in a field.

On Sunday, September 8, 2019 at 6:52:44 PM UTC-7, Richard DalCanto wrote:
On Sunday, September 8, 2019 at 11:20:53 AM UTC-6, krasw wrote:
http://www.sebastiankawa.pl/13060/o-...bGJ8ugxxXHZS58

Google translate:
"During the last training flight they locked Sebastian in a narrow 30-kilometer valley without landing spots. The possibility of escape was to be provided by an efficient electric drive system. "

There you go. Glad he did not hurt himself more seriously.

Those pictures show a nice looking field. I'm sure he's landed in fields like that many times. Bumps and rocks are always a risk when landing in a field.

A bump or rock can break your spine - there is no such thing as a "nice looking field," just some that are less desirable than others.

2G wrote on 9/8/2019 10:17 PM:
On Sunday, September 8, 2019 at 6:52:44 PM UTC-7, Richard DalCanto wrote:
On Sunday, September 8, 2019 at 11:20:53 AM UTC-6, krasw wrote:

Those pictures show a nice looking field. I'm sure he's landed in fields like that many times. Bumps and rocks are always a risk when landing in a field.

A bump or rock can break your spine - there is no such thing as a "nice looking field," just some that are less desirable than others.

I'll point out the risk from a bump or rock varies with the glider you use. My
(26E) glider and your glider (31Mi) have tall, massive gears designed to provide
significant protection from bumps, rocks, and even badly botched landings on
pavement. And, not just from the height of the gear, but it's shock absorption and
progressive collapse during the collision with the bump or rock. So, I have no
fear of bumps or rocks in an off-airport landing.

I do fear ditches and boulders (basically, anything bigger than the tire), but
even then, the gear will reduce the damage I would suffer compared to my earlier
gliders that were designed before crash protection became a much higher priority.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to email me)