Tragedy at the Alvord Desert, Oregon

I am very sorry to report that there has been another fatality in our sport.. Yesterday, July 17th, at the annual Alvord Desert Safari, Dave Kibby crashed during an auto tow launch. All I have at this time is that as he rotated into his climb he was hit with a gust, rolled to the left and hit the deck. He was killed instantly. I wasn't there, and I didn't know Dave, but I know most of the other people involved at this event. My thoughts go out to friends and family.

Boggs

Dave attended one of our Akafliegs. He was a kind and generous man.

--Bob K.

On Thursday, 18 July 2019 08:39:25 UTC-6, Waveguru wrote:
I am very sorry to report that there has been another fatality in our sport. Yesterday, July 17th, at the annual Alvord Desert Safari, Dave Kibby crashed during an auto tow launch. All I have at this time is that as he rotated into his climb he was hit with a gust, rolled to the left and hit the deck. He was killed instantly. I wasn't there, and I didn't know Dave, but I know most of the other people involved at this event. My thoughts go out to friends and family.

Boggs

My condolences to his friends and family. It seems to me that we are having a horrible streak of tragedies at the moment - or is this typical and I just never paid attention before?

On Thursday, July 18, 2019 at 11:02:08 AM UTC-7, ProfJ wrote:
On Thursday, 18 July 2019 08:39:25 UTC-6, Waveguru wrote:
I am very sorry to report that there has been another fatality in our sport. Yesterday, July 17th, at the annual Alvord Desert Safari, Dave Kibby crashed during an auto tow launch. All I have at this time is that as he rotated into his climb he was hit with a gust, rolled to the left and hit the deck. He was killed instantly. I wasn't there, and I didn't know Dave, but I know most of the other people involved at this event. My thoughts go out to friends and family.

Boggs

My condolences to his friends and family. It seems to me that we are having a horrible streak of tragedies at the moment - or is this typical and I just never paid attention before?

Unfortunately and tragically this is typical, although this year so far it is more concentrated in the last few weeks. Last year we lost 11 pilots to glider accidents as far as I know. we loosing 6 pilots on average per year in the US, mostly during the summer.

Ramy