Another one down

[bones]

I was having a bad afternoon as it was but then just on dark, i was testing the rotor tach and just making sure things were right for our flight up to Tully in the morning, and something very gloomy happened, :( i was informed and asked to take place in a search at first light tomorrow, this time a glider has gone down SOMEWHERE, last transmission they got was he was at 7500' no idea where, so there is a huge area to look in, approx a radius of 100km of the airport, so Peg and i instead of going for a nice week end up the coast, are a small part of what probably will be a huge turn out of planes looking for this 80year old man, on his first flight in his new second hand machine. just makes you feel sick in the guts :censored:

[rotor]

Good on ya bones .... have done quite a few searches from FW when I was part of the Civil SAR Unit that CASA used to run 10 years back. It's a good feeling knowing you might play a small part in helping some one. Let's hope he's just down through lack of lift and is ok.

Cheers :cheers:

rotor

[Mitch]

Sad situation indeed.:(

You know Bones, if you'd bite the bullet and train Peg,:D you would be able to cover more search area.

Have a safe search Mate.

Mitch.

[firefly]

You know Mitch, I was thinking the same thing, and Bones even said if I did have a licence he could take the red machine and I could take the white one.... he is denying he said it now.

Anyways at least I can be an extra set of eyes up there tomorrow.

[bones]

Well they found the wings off the glider about,12.30 today, no fusalage as yet, but they did not require my services any more so we decided to head home for a rest.

Ummmm i was going to bring up another matter but i will talk it over with some people at the AGM in a few weeks and report back then.

[bones]

Well i got the latest news, the fusalage was located some 2 km away from where the wings were located, the wings were only approx 100mts apart, the fusalage obviously hit with great force. Accident investigaters arriving tomorrow to go through things, ect, maybe know more then.
Sad to have lost a pilot, but at the age of 79 doing what he loved, damn hard to see a better way out from my thinking.

[Graeme]

Not good news for his family and friends, but thanks for keeping us posted Bones.

Graeme.

[niquenaque]

Tragic, he could have had more fun, but at least he went out the way I'd like to - having fun.

Sounds like a pull up after VNE was exceeded, any thunderstorm activity there that day?? A 2000 m separation between the wings and the fuselage is a fair distance, 7500' is near 2500m. I suppose we'll find out the result in due course.

Regards,

Nic.

[disco]

It is a shame, poor bloke.

You lot seem to be a bit to keen to die from a great height...

I was flying around at 4700ft over the ocean today and the thought of a snaped hubbar came into my mind. From that height, you'd have time to think about the quickest way to die on impact and get into that position.:confused: I was thinking head first would be best. But better still I'd have a heart attack and die of fright before impact.

I could think of better ways to go anyway. Poor bloke.

[rotor]

from 4,700ft it wouldn't matter what position you were in ....

you cant get any quicker than "instant" - lights on/lights off

[disco]

I thought I'd heard of skydivers surviving things like that????

[Mitch]

Whilst in Sydney recently I heard a sky diver 'pilot' (the guy or woman who is strapped to your back, gave his life in an attempt to save the paying thrill seeker, when the shoots did not open.

Apparently he picked a soft landing spot, told her to close her eyes and brace, as he rotated and went in, his back making contact first.

He died and saved her life by this action. He did his job, I wonder how many would. I wonder if I would.

They are recorded events where sky divers have gone in to marsh lands, river banks/mud, sand dunes covered in 2 meter high scrub and soft sand and survived the experience.

Mitch.

[disco]

Wow!

[SamL]

Well they found the wings off the glider about,12.30 today, no fusalage as yet, but they did not require my services any more so we decided to head home for a rest.

Ummmm i was going to bring up another matter but i will talk it over with some people at the AGM in a few weeks and report back then.

Not a very sobering site, and very difficult to predict what you may have done if it was you.
Below are some pic's of a Skyfox which went in at Phillip Island in 2007. Luckely both crew were not hurt.
Here are 3 of the pic's, one of which I took from my machine.

SamL.....

[disco]

Great to see that his wing is still attached. Did he have an engine failure?

[firefly]

Made the paper....

[mark horan]

Deano,

If you are worried about snapping a hub bar, you had better buy a new one otherwise start worrying about a great white shark jumping 4500 feet and pulling you out of the sky.... there is as much chance of that happening as breaking a perfectly good hub bar.

When are you comming to Jinglemoney?

Mark.

[disco]

Deano,

If you are worried about snapping a hub bar, you had better buy a new one otherwise start worrying about a great white shark jumping 4500 feet and pulling you out of the sky.... there is as much chance of that happening as breaking a perfectly good hub bar.

When are you comming to Jinglemoney?

Mark.

I'll try to get up there soon. About the hubbar, She'll be rite. we should organise a few blokes and go for a bit of a stroll. If i come up, will you be keen to do a bit of a trip around and back. A bit over an hour?