RIP Matt Wright (Balleka on YouTube)

I am very saddened by this news. I loved Matt's videos from afar and I am sure I would have been happy to be his friend. As another poster said - his videos were the ones I sent to others to explain the wonder of soaring. He captured it perfectly

Condolences to his family, friends and colleagues

AE

On Monday, December 5, 2016 at 3:54:30 AM UTC-7, Stephan van den Berg wrote:
Dreadful news coming from the UK today. Matt Wright (Balleka on YouTube) was tragically killed in a mid-air whilst flying his glider this weekend. I believe he collided with a power plane.

I'm sure we have all watched some of Matt's videos on YouTube over and over. He will be sorely missed.

RIP Balleka and the Flying Shark

Here's an interview with Matt from a while back:

https://audioboom.com/posts/1552789-...watery-landing

Thanks.

Here is his YouTube link..... https://m.youtube.com/results?q=balleka&sm=1

Note, some videos just have "Balleka" in the name, but are NOT Matts videos.

Damn. He his videos have motivated me to drop weight to get back onto flying after an 8 year hiatus. Tragic.

This accident is being investigated by the AAIB, but has there been any eyewitness reports on what might have happened? Initial posting had this as a possible winch-related incident?

https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=191862

At 16:55 22 December 2016, Duster wrote:
This accident is being investigated by the AAIB, but has there been any
eyewitness reports on what might have happened? Initial posting had this
as
a possible winch-related incident?

https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=191862

Published to-day:
https://assets.publishing.service.go...f0b652634c6f36
/Schleicher_ASW_24_G-CFNG_02-18.pdf

Well this detailed accident report gives closure, at least to me, on what exactly happened to Matt.
I kinda of felt I got to know him through his awesome videos that I watched again and again.
There is a tough lesson to learn here, however one wants to read into it.
RIP Balleka and the Flying Shark.

Well said.

The pictures from Belleka's GoPro cameras in the report had quite an effect on me. They are hard for me to look at, being simultaneously so familiar yet so foreboding. I must admit feeling dumbstruck when I saw them.

The report was exceptionally informative and thoroughly researched. It is a something of a relief to finally have an answer to the question of how this could have happened. Its sad to lose a friend, even one that you never met.

Matt

Several weeks ago I was downwind of a mountain range in strong wind when I encountered rotor at 1400 ft AGL. Since I was flying a ride, thought I would get out of rotor, and immediately turned downwind. I lost 400 ft in a 180 degree turn. Speed dropped, much more than expected and I found myself pushing and pushing on the stick to keep flying. I thought the report said Matt was flying at about 70 kts when he hit. I wonder if the downdraft was so strong he felt as if in a stall but he was actually flying?

Matt's mishap was a terrible tragedy, and Matt added so much to the sport. He is missed and I never even met him.

On Monday, December 5, 2016 at 2:54:30 AM UTC-8, Stephan van den Berg wrote:
Dreadful news coming from the UK today. Matt Wright (Balleka on YouTube) was tragically killed in a mid-air whilst flying his glider this weekend. I believe he collided with a power plane.

I'm sure we have all watched some of Matt's videos on YouTube over and over. He will be sorely missed.

RIP Balleka and the Flying Shark

I read that three cameras were in the glider. Are those videos available?