Towpilot fatality in Oregon

More bad news in a tough year. Heartfelt condolences to all involved.
http://kezi.com/news/local/138726

Craig

Craig wrote:
More bad news in a tough year. Heartfelt condolences to all involved.
http://kezi.com/news/local/138726

I am a member of the same glider club as the tow pilot who died. I have
not yet found out who was piloting the tow on that flight, but it will
be someone I know. The story on this link provides a few extra details:

http://www.registerguard.com/csp/cms...5-41/story.csp

Craig wrote:
More bad news in a tough year. Heartfelt condolences to all involved.
http://kezi.com/news/local/138726

The tow pilot was Scott Henderson. An article on him:

http://www.kval.com/news/local/54590042.html#IDCThread

He did a lot to advance the club - basically finding it a new home,
expanding the days that towing would be available, and kept everyone in the
loop on club activities.

Here's a story on his efforts last year:

http://www.thecreswellchronicle.com/...?story_no=6008

I´m very sorry to hear the bad news.
Does anyone know what happened?

Regards,

Juan Carlos

JC wrote:
I'm very sorry to hear the bad news.
Does anyone know what happened?

No word - may not get anymore public information for months.

"Jim Logajan" wrote in message
:

Craig wrote:
More bad news in a tough year. Heartfelt condolences to all involved.
http://kezi.com/news/local/138726

The tow pilot was Scott Henderson. An article on him:

http://www.kval.com/news/local/54590042.html#IDCThread

He did a lot to advance the club - basically finding it a new home,
expanding the days that towing would be available, and kept everyone in the
loop on club activities.

Here's a story on his efforts last year:

http://www.thecreswellchronicle.com/...?story_no=6008


My condolences to all!

In looking at a video shot earlier in the day of a glider launch, it
appeared to me that the pawnee was not climbing very well... Creswell
elevation is only 540 feet. And the temperature only got up to the low
70's that day. http://www.kval.com/news/local/54613062.html

Let's be careful out there! And again, my sincere condolences to all
involved.


Larry

"Larry Goddard" wrote:
"Jim Logajan" wrote:
Craig wrote:
More bad news in a tough year. Heartfelt condolences to all
involved. http://kezi.com/news/local/138726

The tow pilot was Scott Henderson. An article on him:

http://www.kval.com/news/local/54590042.html#IDCThread

He did a lot to advance the club - basically finding it a new home,
expanding the days that towing would be available, and kept everyone
in the loop on club activities.

Here's a story on his efforts last year:

http://www.thecreswellchronicle.com/...?story_no=6008


My condolences to all!

In looking at a video shot earlier in the day of a glider launch, it
appeared to me that the pawnee was not climbing very well... Creswell
elevation is only 540 feet. And the temperature only got up to the
low 70's that day. http://www.kval.com/news/local/54613062.html

Yes - the climb angle does appear low - at least compared to last year when
we launched off an 1890 foot grass airstrip (OG48) with the same tow plane
and glider (but different tow pilot.) The asphalt airfield (77S) you see in
that video is 3100 feet.

"Jim Logajan" wrote in message
...
"Larry Goddard" wrote:
"Jim Logajan" wrote:
Craig wrote:
More bad news in a tough year. Heartfelt condolences to all
involved. http://kezi.com/news/local/138726

The tow pilot was Scott Henderson. An article on him:

http://www.kval.com/news/local/54590042.html#IDCThread

He did a lot to advance the club - basically finding it a new home,
expanding the days that towing would be available, and kept everyone
in the loop on club activities.

Here's a story on his efforts last year:

http://www.thecreswellchronicle.com/...?story_no=6008


My condolences to all!

In looking at a video shot earlier in the day of a glider launch, it
appeared to me that the pawnee was not climbing very well... Creswell
elevation is only 540 feet. And the temperature only got up to the
low 70's that day. http://www.kval.com/news/local/54613062.html

Yes - the climb angle does appear low - at least compared to last year
when
we launched off an 1890 foot grass airstrip (OG48) with the same tow plane
and glider (but different tow pilot.) The asphalt airfield (77S) you see
in
that video is 3100 feet.

I think it is very difficult to come to any conclusions about the climb rate
from looking at the video. I have towed behind many towpilots that fly low
(perhaps in ground effect) while gaining a bit of excess airspeed and then
eventually starting their climb. From the video it is tough to tell whether
that is what is happening or not. They may have started climbing nicely a
few seconds later... but we don't know.

Paul Remde

"Paul Remde" wrote:
I think it is very difficult to come to any conclusions about the
climb rate from looking at the video. I have towed behind many
towpilots that fly low (perhaps in ground effect) while gaining a bit
of excess airspeed and then eventually starting their climb. From the
video it is tough to tell whether that is what is happening or not.
They may have started climbing nicely a few seconds later... but we
don't know.

Agreed. My recollection is that we used much steeper climbouts from the
grass airstrip - probably because the shorter strip sort of demanded it.
But since I had not gotten around to resuming glider lessons this year at
the new field I can't offer any first-hand comparisons. :-(

When I looked at the video, I did not get the impression of a low climb out.
It appeared normal to me.

"Jim Logajan" wrote in message
...
"Larry Goddard" wrote:
"Jim Logajan" wrote:
Craig wrote:
More bad news in a tough year. Heartfelt condolences to all
involved. http://kezi.com/news/local/138726

The tow pilot was Scott Henderson. An article on him:

http://www.kval.com/news/local/54590042.html#IDCThread

He did a lot to advance the club - basically finding it a new home,
expanding the days that towing would be available, and kept everyone
in the loop on club activities.

Here's a story on his efforts last year:

http://www.thecreswellchronicle.com/...?story_no=6008


My condolences to all!

In looking at a video shot earlier in the day of a glider launch, it
appeared to me that the pawnee was not climbing very well... Creswell
elevation is only 540 feet. And the temperature only got up to the
low 70's that day. http://www.kval.com/news/local/54613062.html

Yes - the climb angle does appear low - at least compared to last year
when
we launched off an 1890 foot grass airstrip (OG48) with the same tow plane
and glider (but different tow pilot.) The asphalt airfield (77S) you see
in
that video is 3100 feet.