Some good news

The Mt Washington wave camp last week was a great success with plenty of wave flights, one of which (Evan Ludeman) reached 31K.

On another day a couple gliders were in wave when a slug of moisture closed the windows trapping them on top. One turned down wind and rode the undulations to drier air in Maine and landed.

The other attempted to spoiler (drag flap) down through the clouds, which were too thick and low at this point, and chose to bail out. The nylon letdown was successful and the pilot unscathed.

As happy an ending as this was, there is more to be thankful about. When the pilot bailed out his parachute leg straps were not buckled, yet he was able to take the opening shock and descent with his arm pits!

Is this good news or what!! Say hallelujah, say Amen brother!!

KS

Hallelujah indeed! I hope he bought a lottery ticket when he landed!

On Monday, October 19, 2015 at 10:57:40 PM UTC-4, wrote:
Hallelujah indeed! I hope he bought a lottery ticket when he landed!

What about his glider, did they find it?? There has to be a story there??
Glen

On Tuesday, October 20, 2015 at 5:48:24 AM UTC-5, wrote:

What about his glider, did they find it?? There has to be a story there??
Glen

My understanding is the glider has been located and inspected, and they are working on how to get it out. From what I gather, it will likely be a helicopter retrieve.

Steve Leonard

We would all love to hear the account of the attempt to let down thru the clouds. How long did it take to decide to bail? Did he end up over red line? Did the glider break up before he bailed? How was his landing? It will be a riveting story.

Boggs

On Monday, October 19, 2015 at 9:34:10 PM UTC-4, Karl Striedieck wrote:
The Mt Washington wave camp last week was a great success with plenty of wave flights, one of which (Evan Ludeman) reached 31K.

On another day a couple gliders were in wave when a slug of moisture closed the windows trapping them on top. One turned down wind and rode the undulations to drier air in Maine and landed.

The other attempted to spoiler (drag flap) down through the clouds, which were too thick and low at this point, and chose to bail out. The nylon letdown was successful and the pilot unscathed.

As happy an ending as this was, there is more to be thankful about. When the pilot bailed out his parachute leg straps were not buckled, yet he was able to take the opening shock and descent with his arm pits!

Is this good news or what!! Say hallelujah, say Amen brother!!

KS

From what I've been told, the ship was finally located in trees in a national forest. It had a sort of camo paint job but the "invasion stripes" were what finally caught the eyes of the aerial searchers. Due to the remote location and logistics it is surmised that the insurance company will need a chopper to retrieve it (HP-14).

KS

Yikes. Anyone know was it failure to properly don the parachute at the beginning of the flight or an egress pop the buckles out of habit crossover?

On Monday, 19 October 2015 21:34:10 UTC-4, Karl Striedieck wrote:
The Mt Washington wave camp last week was a great success with plenty of wave flights, one of which (Evan Ludeman) reached 31K.

On another day a couple gliders were in wave when a slug of moisture closed the windows trapping them on top. One turned down wind and rode the undulations to drier air in Maine and landed.

The other attempted to spoiler (drag flap) down through the clouds, which were too thick and low at this point, and chose to bail out. The nylon letdown was successful and the pilot unscathed.



As happy an ending as this was, there is more to be thankful about. When the pilot bailed out his parachute leg straps were not buckled, yet he was able to take the opening shock and descent with his arm pits!

Is this good news or what!! Say hallelujah, say Amen brother!!

KS

this is bad news for soaring with a good ending

On Monday, October 19, 2015 at 9:34:10 PM UTC-4, Karl Striedieck wrote:

When the pilot bailed out his parachute leg straps were not buckled...

It was reported elsewhere that the pilot landed within 1 km of Route 16, and so I bet he landed in a tree.



I wonder if the unbuckled leg straps facilitated exit from the harness? Following a stream might have got him downhill to Route 16, but bushwhacking in NH is difficult due to dense undergrowth.

Kudos to pilot for keeping his head and self-rescuing!

Kudos for the pilot for self rescuing, but even more kudos for the other pilot for thinking outside the box and turning downwind and fly cross country, significantly increasing his chances to find drier air or a gap further downwind.

Ramy