Neil Lawson of whiteplanes, died yesterday

Dear All,

I hear from my Italian friends at the Junior's WGCs that the famous
soaring photographer Neil Lawson has died yesterday.
He was standing on the roof of his car, to get better pictures of the
finishing gliders. One of those gliders caught him.
The pilot involved is a British team mate, Ian Craigie. He has been
arrested.

Very sad news for the whole gliding world, for his friends and
relatives.

He will be missed

Aldo Cernezzi

Incident at Husbands Bosworth - 9 August 2005
OFFICIAL STATEMENT FROM THE BGA REFERENCE THE INCIDENT YESTERDAY.

On the afternoon of 9 August, there was a collision between a glider
and a man, adjacent to Husbands Bosworth airfield, where the 4th FAI Junior
World Gliding Championships are being held.

The pilot was not physically injured but the other person, a member of
the gliding community, was injured and taken by air ambulance to Queen's
Medical Centre, Nottingham. According to Leicestershire Constabulary, he was
pronounced dead on arrival.

The incident is under investigation by the police and by the
government's Air Accident Investigation Branch. The event organisers and the
British Gliding Association are assisting these teams in their
investigations.

We understand that formal identification of the body has not yet taken
place.

The incident site has been cordoned off by the authorities and, as a
result, flying at the airfield is currently suspended.

Pete Stratten, the BGA Chief Executive said: "Our thoughts are with
everybody affected at this sad time."

At 10:06 10 August 2005, 2cernauta2 wrote:
Dear All,

I hear from my Italian friends at the Junior's WGCs
that the famous
soaring photographer Neil Lawson has died yesterday.
He was standing on the roof of his car, to get better
pictures of the
finishing gliders. One of those gliders caught him.
The pilot involved is a British team mate, Ian Craigie.
He has been
arrested.

Very sad news for the whole gliding world, for his
friends and
relatives.

He will be missed

Aldo Cernezzi

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/l...re/4137234.stm

http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/

Yet another finish gate accident.

There is a better way (GPS)

Time to stop living in the past.

Condolences to yet another family,

JJ Sinclair

At 10:06 10 August 2005, 2cernauta2 wrote:
Dear All,

I hear from my Italian friends at the Junior's WGCs
that the famous
soaring photographer Neil Lawson has died yesterday.
He was standing on the roof of his car, to get better
pictures of the
finishing gliders. One of those gliders caught him.
The pilot involved is a British team mate, Ian Craigie.
He has been
arrested.

Very sad news for the whole gliding world, for his
friends and
relatives.

He will be missed

Aldo Cernezzi

What a tragedy.

Neil was THE world best gliding photographer.

Condolenses to his family and friends.

Whilst I never met Neil personally we used to talk online frequently
discussing gliding and photography.

A truely sad day.

Al

In the course of selecting a photo for the poster which advertised the Pilot
Performance Survey at the 2005 SSA convention, I had occasion to correspond
with Mr. Lawson and, when the bank charges for a wire transfer proved more
than the fee for the photo, to speak with him at some length. His knowledge
of our sport was authoritative, his photographs elegant, informative and,
importantly properly archived with complete and appropriate accompanying
information, all qualities that differentiate a consummate professional from
the ranks of the hacks and the amateurs.

A good part of his work will be preserved in "Sailplane and Gliding". Never
the less, there must be many important but unseen images in his archives. I
hope that some way can be found to keep his oeuvre together and accessible
for the sake of his memory and the history of our sport.

Raphael H. Warshaw
Claremont, CA


"Andy Blackburn" wrote in message
...
At 10:06 10 August 2005, 2cernauta2 wrote:
Dear All,

I hear from my Italian friends at the Junior's WGCs
that the famous
soaring photographer Neil Lawson has died yesterday.
He was standing on the roof of his car, to get better
pictures of the
finishing gliders. One of those gliders caught him.
The pilot involved is a British team mate, Ian Craigie.
He has been
arrested.

Very sad news for the whole gliding world, for his
friends and
relatives.

He will be missed

Aldo Cernezzi

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/l...re/4137234.stm

http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/

Condolences to all affected by this tragedy.

But, JJ, tell me how a correctly performed contest finish at 50 ft
(per current SRA rules) and per FARs (no overflying of people, man-made
objects, reckless, etc) has direct relevance with this accident?

By your logic, takeoffs should be done away with (ref groundloop that
hit and injured spectator at Tonopah) at contests, too.

And how do you know it was a finish - it could have been a pre-arranged
photo op after the finish, coordinated between the photographer and the
pilot - that went horribly wrong. Not the first time that has
happened.

Sorry, you are on the wrong soapbox this time. Take a deep breath and
go fix a glider or something.

Kirk
66

To a man with a hammer everything looks like a nail.

Aldo & Everyone,

While competing at last year's Club Class Worlds in Norway, both Susan
and I got to meet and start to get to know Neil a little bit. Beyond
his terrific skills as an aviation photographer, he was just a "good
bloke" - as the Brits say. He always had a certain "twinkle" in his
eyes whether for the next great photo or the next great party. So raise
a pint for Neil and let's make sure his photos and his memory do not
soon die.

Tim McAllister "EY"

P.S. That was Neil's cover shot on the November 2004 "Soaring" of me
flying a low and fast finish in a Libelle at World's in Norway. I will
treasure that shot forever...

2cernauta2 wrote:
Dear All,

I hear from my Italian friends at the Junior's WGCs that the famous
soaring photographer Neil Lawson has died yesterday.
He was standing on the roof of his car, to get better pictures of the
finishing gliders. One of those gliders caught him.
The pilot involved is a British team mate, Ian Craigie. He has been
arrested.

Very sad news for the whole gliding world, for his friends and
relatives.

He will be missed

Aldo Cernezzi

Hi,

That is extremely sad news.

Having taken a few soaring photos myself I have long been very impressed
with the high quality of is photos as seen in many Soaring and Sailplane &
Gliding magazines and on his web site.
http://www.whiteplanes.com/

At a contest a few years ago a few pilots did high-speed, low altitude
finishes. I was shooting them through a long lens. It was difficult to
judge distance between us while looking through the lens.

My heartfelt sympathy and prayers to Neil's friends and family and the
glider pilot.

Paul Remde


"2cernauta2" wrote in message
...
Dear All,

I hear from my Italian friends at the Junior's WGCs that the famous
soaring photographer Neil Lawson has died yesterday.
He was standing on the roof of his car, to get better pictures of the
finishing gliders. One of those gliders caught him.
The pilot involved is a British team mate, Ian Craigie. He has been
arrested.

Very sad news for the whole gliding world, for his friends and
relatives.

He will be missed

Aldo Cernezzi