Peter Masak killed in 15 Meter Nationals crash

copied from http://www.ssa.org/contests/

15 Meter Nationals
Report for 23 May
(report by John Good)

This is a hard report to write. A huge number of people were involved
in an enormous search and rescue effort that began at 6:30pm yesterday, and
continued without interruption until well after noon today. But we were not
able to produce the result we so earnestly sought. Peter Masak crashed in a
heavily wooded area on the east side of Tussey Mountain, a few miles south
of the village of Alexandria at about 4:30 yesterday. Rescuers finally
reached him at around 10:00am today. The crash was not survivable - his
glider was destroyed and he was killed on impact.
A full description of the rescue effort would be a long and possibly
interesting tale of heroic effort, a certain amount of official obstruction
and bungling, frustration, innovation, perseverance, and finally tragedy. I
will undertake to write this story at some point because there are some
valuable lessons to be learned. But I feel I can't do it justice now. I got
just 2 hours of sleep last night - plenty of others got none at all. The
emotional drain of all this is perhaps better imagined than described.

Though I didn't know Peter well, I counted him as a friend, and my
heart is heavy today. I'll skip long encomiums and simply say that he was an
excellent example of the gentlemanly, thoughtful and uncommonly talented
person that our sport seems to attract.


I have time for just a couple of thoughts:

The effort that this sort of search requires is simply mind-boggling.
I couldn't hope to fully list the people here who gave unstintingly of their
time and effort, with no thought for personal expense, comfort or safety. I'
ll mention Brian and Cheri Milner as representative of many, many others.
Brian left around 8:00pm yesterday and worked until 3:00pm today, ferrying
search crews around in his car, coordinating communications, and doing many
other things. Cheri manned the phone back at Mifflin County Airport; she
would not consider grabbing a couple of hours sleep at the risk of leaving a
phone call unanswered.

Peter carried an ELT (emergency locator transmitter) and its signal
was invaluable. Instead of concentrating our search in the Big Valley near
the home field (where most pilots flew yesterday) we were able to find his
location (about 30 miles from home) less than an hour after he was missed,
accurate to a few miles. An Air Force satellite picked up the signals, and
this produced an impressive response from the Civil Air Patrol and local
emergency squads, little of which would have been possible if all we'd been
able to report was an overdue pilot. It's true that the ELT did not save
Peter's life. It's also true that it did save an incalculable amount of
time, effort, worry, heartache and risk to searchers. The crash was in a
rugged section of a protected watershed where hiking and hunting are
restricted. One local on the scene estimated that without the ELT it would
have been "years" until the crash was found.

By general consensus, today was not a contest day. It's unfortunate
that we lost it, as the weather looked reasonably good and those who've been
following this contest know that this has not often been the case. We now
need valid tasks on at lest three of the last four scheduled contest days -
I hope we can get them.


- John Good

John,
I am deeply saddened to hear of the loss of such a fine man. I share the pain.

"Jim" wrote in message
...
copied from http://www.ssa.org/contests/

15 Meter Nationals
Report for 23 May
(report by John Good)

This is a hard report to write. A huge number of people were
involved
in an enormous search and rescue effort that began at 6:30pm yesterday,
and
continued without interruption until well after noon today. But we were
not
able to produce the result we so earnestly sought. Peter Masak crashed in
a
heavily wooded area on the east side of Tussey Mountain, a few miles south
of the village of Alexandria at about 4:30 yesterday. Rescuers finally
reached him at around 10:00am today. The crash was not survivable - his
glider was destroyed and he was killed on impact.
(............)
Terribly saddened by these news, I share the pain.

Is it possible to tell us what happened ? (Out landing, collision,
incapacitation, thunderstorm)

Even though he was one of the top pilots and even manufactured varios, when
he was in our area for a few years, he was just one of the guys. I did a
BFR one year with him and it really felt strange, me checking out Peter
Masak. He will really be lost.

Fred Blair

I had the pleasure of getting to know Peter over the last five years or so.

Of all the people I know, Peter is perhaps the most humble, yet the most
accomplished. When I describe him, I think of him as a renaissance man, versed
in science, art, and technology...par with Leonardo DaVinci.

I still cannot talk of him in the past tense...that will take quite a while. I
am honored to know him. My heart goes to his immediate family, as well as to
all of us in his extended soaring family.

The loss is not only of what he achieves, but also what a lifetime of the
future will bring.

The accident brings home the fragility of life and that even gods are striken
down. But being far far lesser than a god, I know I have to stay with soaring.
It is part of my life, and I know it is part of Peter's.

Go with the gods, Peter.

Jim Vincent
CFIG
N483SZ
illspam

Oh, man. Peter contributed to the Vintage, Collegiate, and Homebuilder
movements, sponsored youth, invented revolutionary soaring products and so
on, besides being a World Team pilot for Canada and USA. So many of us in
the sport are better off for having known this friendly genius.

John H. Campbell
SSA Youth Committee

Thats terrible. Spoke to Peter several times on phone about various
things and he sent me things to try. He sure was one of the main guys
who introduced winglets to gliding around the world. He seemed a very
niece bloke........Ian McPhee Australia

What a sad loss for soaring! I first met Peter in '87 when he did his 1000 km
flight under very difficult conditions at Ridge Soaring. I was among the many
who didn't make it that day; Peter and I wrote an article in Soaring about our
experiences. I will always remember his friendly, always optimistic manner and
his willingness to share whatever he knew with anyone who asked. Let's all
fly safely in his memory.



Mike Yankee

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For those who don't know Peter, I suggest to read his report about
2003 US 15m National in Free flight 2003/6 page 6:
http://www.wgc.mb.ca/sac/freeflight/03_06.pdf
If such a great man can die in this sport...

/Janos

My computer has crashed twice trying to download from this link.

Anyone know another source?


Mike Yankee

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To reply, delete everything after "com".)