Neil Lawson of whiteplanes, died yesterday

From what I was told he was behind a hedge and stood up on top of his
vehicle just as the glider came over the hedge.

We have a minimum finish safety height of 500ft unless you declare a
straight in and a beer can finish radius.

As a avid photographer and pilot I have sympathy for all evolved.

Hanging around aircraft is dangerous enough !

The added danger of distorted vision depth perception when looking through a
view finder and eye focus adjustment as we have been shown can result in
your death.

There are more than 14000 images @ http://www.whiteplanes.com/

RIP Neil Lawson

Mal


"Paul Remde" wrote in message
news:_3vKe.239714$_o.116348@attbi_s71...
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

Well, Kirk, the first poster said the pilot was finishing. He also said
the pilot was arrested, why? Because he committed a homicide. That's
right he was responsible for the death of an innocent bystander. This
tragic loss of life occured because the junior pilot was performing the
prescribed finish maneuver. He was flying the finish gate because
that's what we do, we sanction it, its in our rules.

The local authoraties did their job, they arrested the guy responsible
and the competition was suspended.

How many more finish gate accidents must we endure before this
outmoded, unneccessary and proven unsafe finish gate is abolished and
replaced by the mandatory GPS finish cylinder?

You really don't want to argue that the pilot wasn't operating his
aircraft below 500 feet (not in the act of landing) and that he wasn't
within 500 feet of a person, do you?

JJ Sinclair

wrote:
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

In article .com,
"JJ Sinclair" wrote:

You really don't want to argue that the pilot wasn't operating his
aircraft below 500 feet (not in the act of landing) and that he wasn't
within 500 feet of a person, do you?

I really don't think you could argue that a touch-and-go or missed
approach to a runway or airfield in active use means that you are "not
in the act of landing".

--
Bruce | 41.1670S | \ spoken | -+-
Hoult | 174.8263E | /\ here. | ----------O----------

Crazy idea: how about putting a whistle on the gear
door so when the gear is down it whistles through the
air? Also works
as a gear indicator. I dunno, maybe not a great idea,
but something.

Hmmm...I think about this because in the past year
I had two incidents. One was a person taking photos
just on the edge of a runway, enough so I had to move
to within a foot of the fence on the right to avoid
him. I was in quite a predicament-I could avoid hitting
him and risk injuring myself and a passenger, or hit
him. I avoided him and then had to intentionally ground
loop to avoid ANOTHER pedestrian I had been channeled
in towards. I was too fast to stop safely before him,
and too slow to have excellent rudder control. After
the incident I chewed on him, and then myself. He
agreed to not take pictures anywhere near me again.
I shuddered and promised to scan the runway
better from the back seat and not taxi all the way
to the takeoff spot.

A while later a reporter was covering an event. One
of the glass gliders caught a wingtip on takeoff and
ground looped, with the wing slicing past within three
feet. I was hiding (safely)behind a Ford truck behind
her during the whole event. Not the best view, but
I'm a bit chicken. Not very gallant. She asked me
if I thought soaring was dangerous...

I didn't tell her this, but I thought:
A glider can be a silent scythe of death. It doesn't
have the very loud warning that its piston brothers
has. It is the bitterest irony when those threatened
or injured or killed are the same people who are the
most valuable to our sport.

I'm sorry to hear of this tragedy. I hope we can avoid
this in the future. I don't have a pat answer, but
I hope glider pilots reading this will discuss this
incident at their gliderports.

At 02:30 11 August 2005, Bruce Hoult wrote:
In article ,
'JJ Sinclair' wrote:

You really don't want to argue that the pilot wasn't
operating his
aircraft below 500 feet (not in the act of landing)
and that he wasn't
within 500 feet of a person, do you?

I really don't think you could argue that a touch-and-go
or missed
approach to a runway or airfield in active use means
that you are 'not
in the act of landing'.

--
Bruce | 41.1670S | \ spoken | -+-
Hoult | 174.8263E | /\ here. | ----------O----------

Mark J. Boyd

In article ,
M B wrote:

Crazy idea: how about putting a whistle on the gear door so when the
gear is down it whistles through the air? Also works as a gear
indicator. I dunno, maybe not a great idea, but something.

As you sugesting that he didn't know the glider was there? Becuase if
not then that suggestion is pretty irelevant to this tragedy.

I don't think you get pics such as the following by not knowing that the
glider is the

http://www.whiteplanes.com/gliders/gliders23.htm

--
Bruce | 41.1670S | \ spoken | -+-
Hoult | 174.8263E | /\ here. | ----------O----------

JJ, You are clearly a total moron. I emailed you personally
about this subject, yet you persist in your irresponsible,
innaccurate, and sensationalist cr@p. You have no idea
what you are talking about. Do us all a favour and
shut up.



At 01:54 11 August 2005, Jj Sinclair wrote:

Well, Kirk, the first poster said the pilot was finishing.
He also said
the pilot was arrested, why? Because he committed a
homicide. That's
right he was responsible for the death of an innocent
bystander. This
tragic loss of life occured because the junior pilot
was performing the
prescribed finish maneuver. He was flying the finish
gate because
that's what we do, we sanction it, its in our rules.

The local authoraties did their job, they arrested
the guy responsible
and the competition was suspended.

How many more finish gate accidents must we endure
before this
outmoded, unneccessary and proven unsafe finish gate
is abolished and
replaced by the mandatory GPS finish cylinder?

You really don't want to argue that the pilot wasn't
operating his
aircraft below 500 feet (not in the act of landing)
and that he wasn't
within 500 feet of a person, do you?

JJ Sinclair

wrote:
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

Jj,

given that;

a/ the tragedy happened less than 48 hours ago
b/ you werent there and know none of the facts
c/ you have only heard the vague details from somebody
who wasnt there, who heard from somebody else..

why dont you have a bit of tact, do us all a favour,
and as we say in the UK..

Wind your neck in !

There will be a full accident investigation report
into this tragedy, once thats published, perhaps then
you might consider it to be a more approriate time
to forward your views...

Now lets drop this until the investigation has been
completed and show at least some respect to Neil, and
those left grieving!

Toby

At 01:54 11 August 2005, Jj Sinclair wrote:

Well, Kirk, the first poster said the pilot was finishing.
He also said
the pilot was arrested, why? Because he committed a
homicide. That's
right he was responsible for the death of an innocent
bystander. This
tragic loss of life occured because the junior pilot
was performing the
prescribed finish maneuver. He was flying the finish
gate because
that's what we do, we sanction it, its in our rules.

The local authoraties did their job, they arrested
the guy responsible
and the competition was suspended.

How many more finish gate accidents must we endure
before this
outmoded, unneccessary and proven unsafe finish gate
is abolished and
replaced by the mandatory GPS finish cylinder?

You really don't want to argue that the pilot wasn't
operating his
aircraft below 500 feet (not in the act of landing)
and that he wasn't
within 500 feet of a person, do you?

JJ Sinclair

wrote:
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

This is terrible news. I knew Neil well - he always
had time for a chat and I marvelled at his skill with
a camera. The week we had in Jaca was the most fun
I've had on a gliding holiday - largely because we
had such a good laugh over a 'Pacharan' or four....every
night.
He'll be sorely missed but he leaves an incomparable
legacy.

Paul






At 15:30 10 August 2005, wrote:
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

JJ Sinclair wrote:

Well, Kirk, the first poster said the pilot was finishing. He also said
the pilot was arrested, why? Because he committed a homicide. That's
right he was responsible for the death of an innocent bystander.

No. This wasn't an "innocent bystander". This was a well informed
insider, who knew exactly what he was doing and deliberately decided to
take the well known risk.

Every accident is a very sad thing, of course, but the truth is the truth.

Stefan

How could anyone persist after receiving a PERSONAL
E-mail. How rude and inconsiderate. Perhaps he doesn't
know who you are or maybe he just doesn't care but
you could avoid all of your suffering by choosing,
which authors posts you open.




At 08:36 11 August 2005, Jeremy Hood wrote:
JJ, You are clearly a total moron. I emailed you personally
about this subject, yet you persist in your irresponsible,
innaccurate, and sensationalist cr@p. You have no idea
what you are talking about. Do us all a favour and
shut up.



At 01:54 11 August 2005, Jj Sinclair wrote:

Well, Kirk, the first poster said the pilot was finishing.
He also said
the pilot was arrested, why? Because he committed a
homicide. That's
right he was responsible for the death of an innocent
bystander. This
tragic loss of life occured because the junior pilot
was performing the
prescribed finish maneuver. He was flying the finish
gate because
that's what we do, we sanction it, its in our rules.

The local authoraties did their job, they arrested
the guy responsible
and the competition was suspended.

How many more finish gate accidents must we endure
before this
outmoded, unneccessary and proven unsafe finish gate
is abolished and
replaced by the mandatory GPS finish cylinder?

You really don't want to argue that the pilot wasn't
operating his
aircraft below 500 feet (not in the act of landing)
and that he wasn't
within 500 feet of a person, do you?

JJ Sinclair

wrote:
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