Well the Pete Cesco thread turned into a useful discussion on safety.
All to the good.
I understand the desire to move the finish away from the airfield but
making at the ground 3Km out was so obviously stupid I still can't
believe it. We've only severely broken two gliders and risked pilots'
necks before starting to fix that.
If you want a remote finish move it vertically. About 1000 to 1500
feet above the middle of the airfield will do fine. Don't make it at
that height you get distance points only. That will DEFINITELY
encourage not cutting it too fine, just as the ground does. Must be
above the minimum for the last 3km(or say 5km). Lots of time to sort
out a crowded circuit as the racing stops below finish height.
For some strange reason discussing accidents seems taboo. FWIW I've
heard from 3 sources that the Waikerie accident was a spin in, not a
misjudged final glide.
If what I've heard is anything like true the story needs to get out
at least in preliminary form as soon as possible.
With any luck the flight recorder data is available.
One other thing - eyewitness accounts, even from the participants,
are notoriously unreliable. Wernher von Braun and his mates found
that out at Peenemunde in 1942 when several witnesses would give
totally conflicting accounts of what happened to the failed rocket
launches, hence started filming them.
There is also a well known phenomenon of people suffering a traumatic
event or shock not remembering a damn thing for some seconds to
minutes even though they were conscious and functioning because it
doesn't go in to long term memory. You don't even have to be injured
for this to happen. (I consulted a flying shrink about that one)
Mike
Borgelt Instruments - design & manufacture of quality soaring
instrumentation since 1978
www.borgeltinstruments.com
tel: 07 4635 5784 overseas: int+61-7-4635 5784
mob: 042835 5784 : int+61-42835 5784
P O Box 4607, Toowoomba East, QLD 4350, Australia
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