Mid-Air Collision in Lewes

[Matthew]

Sad news. Two planes collided in Lewes killing both pilots. See--

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 01131.html

Be careful and watch out for other aircraft. At the Pulpit of Saturday a sailplane buzzed launch at only about 50' over going about a million miles per hour. I saw a big jet coming into land at Hagerstown when OTB at the Pulpit on Saturday.

Matthew

[Lauren Tjaden]

Cindy and I flew over the site of the accident yesterday shortly after it occurred and didn't see the search efforts or much of anything. We had no idea anything had occurred. Cindy wrote last night and told me about the accident.
You have to watch carefully for planes pulling banners when you fly along the beach. The pilots can be aggressive sometimes.

Lauren
Matthew <adventuretales@yahoo.com> wrote:

Sad news. Two planes collided in Lewes killing both pilots. See--

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/10/AR2005071001131.html

Be careful and watch out for other aircraft. At the Pulpit of Saturday a sailplane buzzed launch at only about 50' over going about a million miles per hour. I saw a big jet coming into land at Hagerstown when OTB at the Pulpit on Saturday.

Matthew

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com

[Danny Brotto]

Mathew

Just so that you (and others) understand the envelope that sailplanes fly in while ridge running. The view forward and up in a sailplane going 100 kts is quite good and I assure you that the pilots flying the ridge at the 'burg on Saturday were quite aware of the hang gliders there. In fact during the morning pilot briefing at Fairfield, the various sites that HG activity might be occurring was discussed. McConnelsburg, Massanuuten, and High Rock were mentioned. During the day, multiple announcements about HG activity at McConnelsburg were made by the sailplane pilots flying past there.

Danny Brotto

[Flying Lobster]

Cool, and I'm sure most sailplane pilots are careful professionals--but what about gliders BELOW the sailplane, like ones on launch?? I personally like flying with sailplanes--but I have to agree that the many low level passes I've witnessed have been announced by a whoosh with the sailplane already gone by the time I figured out what it was. I guess the part I don't like is that the hang gliders are totally dependent on the sailplane's judgement since there's little chance of spotting one from launch if they are making a high speed, low-level pass. Head on they are almost invisible.

marc

[Spark]

Matthew

Just so that you (and others) understand the envelope that sailplanes fly in while ridge running. The view forward and up in a sailplane going 100 kts is quite good and I assure you that the pilots flying the ridge at the 'burg on Saturday were quite aware of the hang gliders there. In fact during the morning pilot briefing at Fairfield, the various sites that HG activity might be occurring was discussed. McConnelsburg, Massanuuten, and High Rock were mentioned. During the day, multiple announcements about HG activity at McConnelsburg were made by the sailplane pilots flying past there.

Danny Brotto

Danny,

Thanks for that info. I recall an incident a month or so ago at Jacks when a group of maybe 4 sailplane pilots racing the ridge were passing directly over (and below launch) at high speeds. It seems that they were aware of our activities, as some of them 'waved' wing. They made maybe four or five circuits of the ridge.

We discussed the risk of launching at the time a sailplane was passing overhead and agreed it would be best to wait until after the group had passed. Later, while Jim Hodges (H2) was flying, a sailplane performed a series of wingovers right over launch, maybe a couple hundred feet from Jim.

I really enjoy seeing sailplanes in the air and flying with them in thermals.

I'm not too confortable when they 'buzz launch' while we are in the air nearby or getting ready to launch ... maybe I'm just getting wimpy in my old age.