Woodstock Blown Launch 3/4

[XCanytime]

I blew my launch today at Woodstock at 4:30P. Right wing got up a little during the run, then got worse a few seconds later in the air. I failed to react in time. Low and slow is not the way to go. I impacted the trees 15 to 20' up, did not catch, and fell to the ground on my belly on an incline. I am relatively OK. Cut below right eye, probably from a branch. Most likely some rocks impacted my fibula bone where it enters the right knee, and the same bone just above the ankle. Leg hurts from the fib/knee joint down, but can walk gingerly. Evident damage: glider suffered both leading edges broken, and a tear in the sail. May be other damage too. I will write more tomorrow in order to hopefully help others avoid the same fate. Bacil

[smurfsky101]

let us know if there's anything we can do to help (glider teardown w/ a 6 pack, whatever)

Crossing my fingers on you walking from this 100% unscathed

[XCanytime]

I have been thinking a lot about what happened yesterday. I know the inaction on my part is the root cause for the mishap. But I am aghast at the fact that my reaction time was very slow. That is not like me. Save for a blown launch at Woodstock in 1993 on my 3rd mountain flight (mushing flight into brush in the slot), I have launched successfully w/o a mishap for over 23 years, being on it quickly if the ground track is off center. So the fact that I was cold from sitting around for hours waiting for the winds to die down, my mental acuity and sharpness may have been affected by that. My MO for all the years I have been flying has been to not wait around. If it is soarable, launchable for my skill rating, landable, and not out of hand aloft, I go. So I was out of my normal routine yesterday, waiting around and getting cold in the process. It is my supreme hope that what happened yesterday helps pilots to avoid the same fate. I would like to thank Tom McGowan, Gary Smith, Ric Caylor, Randy Weber, and Jon Brantley for taking care of me and my glider. Bacil

[Dave Gills]

Ouch!
Glad you are OK.
Are you going to fix your glider or order a new one?
How long do you think you will be grounded?
At least it didn't happen in the middle of flying season.
(Just trying to look on the better side)

[thermalup]

Greetings Bacil,
Thank you for sharing this information and especially the cold weather assessment of your mental state. Your message registers loud and clear with me. Typical winter flying conditions are often in the 20's up here in NW Michigan and I have noticed that my decision making skills degrade in the lower temperatures ... sometimes before launching if there is a lengthy waiting period ... but also while airborne if I am aloft long enough to the point where shivering begins. I experienced moderate hypoxia some years ago out west and to me the lack of mental awareness when overly cold feels similar to this. I have felt the same mental degradation when flying dehydrated too. Hope that you and your glider heal quickly! ..::J

[lbunner]

Hi Bacil, I am glad you are okay. It is obvious that you have internalized the what, how and why of your mishap and I am certain that you know how to prevent this in the future. I would like to hear more detail on the launch sequence, specifically about wind direction and speed, your initial launch run, wing attitude, actions you took etc. Although you state the root cause was being cold, the rest of us could learn from what actually happened on launch. What did the others on launch see? Thanks for sharing and again I am glad you are doing well, aluminum is cheap, bones aren't!

[XCanytime]

Larry the conditions were moderate and pretty much straight in. I got the right wing up just a tad on the launch run, which made my ground track off the centerline of the slot, heading towards the lower left corner. The problem is I did not react at all to go to the basetube and pull in for more airspeed. I was frozen in the saddle, literally and figuratively. Then the wing rose even more and my fate was sealed. Low and slow and in a left turn headed for the trees on the left side of the slot. Completely behind the 8 ball from the get go. And I am usually on it very quickly. My reactions were too slow; in fact, they were nonexistent. That's not my normal operating mode. I was not sharp. You have to be on your A game every time you commit to launch. Bacil

[eggzkitz]

Bacil-

Sorry to hear but glad you're relatively unscathed and walking. Heal fast and thanks for sharing this with the group.

Best,
Jeff

[silverwings]

Bacil being inactive in the cold while waiting undoubtedly effective your mental and physical state contributing to this accident. Thanks for the post and update on the conditions. We all screw up at times and hopefully can learn from our and others mistakes. Can Tom McGowan, Gary Smith, Ric Caylor, Randy Weber, and Jon Brantley please comment on what they observed in your launch sequence? Hope your leg and ankle our ok.

[garys]

I can't tell you Bacil how relieved and thankful we are that you walked away from one of the shortest Woodstock flights that I have witnessed. I think you had a slight nose pop on your first step and your right wing started to lift immediately. I am not telling you anything that you don't already know here but; You did not seem to be committed to a strong launch from the start and you did not fly the glider, you let the glider fly you. I witnessed an identical "short flight" years ago at Woodstock. It had all of the same attributes and I think you guys probably landed within 30 feet from each other. I think we all need to go back to the basics. Pick a spot on the horizon or in the distance for reference in your launch run and get well clear of the slot before any turns. I use the river in front of launch as my indicator. It is easy to see and line up with. If you are off track from your indicator, adjust immediately. Your life depends on it. Make your own wind speed like Usane (sp?) Bolt running the 100 meters. We all recommend launching in lulls at WS because of the lower risk of turbulence so this is extra important. I have heard a few pilots who are committed to their launches, actually grunt from exertion as they run. This kind of launch always gets a thumbs up from the old timers standing around. If I am cold from sitting around all day or fatigued from lack of sleep I will leave launch and go sit in my truck in the parking lot for a while. I park it with my windshield into the sun on cold windy days for the solar gain. I rehydrate and have something to eat. Takes about 20 min to warm up and recharge my personal batteries so to speak. 20/20 hindsight but always worth talking about this.

[mcgowantk]

I would agree with Bacil's and Gary's description of the flight. I was surprised that he did not immediately react to the right wing lifting. Conditions were good on launch, pretty much straight in between 5 and 10.

My take away is for someone that typically has strong launches is that "Too err is human." I don't know how to fly without mistakes but hope that this will keep a little of the fear of God in my launch run.

Thanks to Bacil for sharing and for being objective in his analysis. I am so glad he was ok.

Tom McGowan

[smurfsky101]

regarding the grunt / yell on launch - it's a 'tradition' for the E-Team hang gliding club members to all scream when they launch Elsinore. Might inadvertently help.

Cold weather flying sucks because you have extra gear / clothes, feel sluggish, and sometimes have heavy gloves on - all of these things encumber movement, and maybe even judgement.

Bacil I also follow your strategy of 'get set up, if it's safe, go' , especially on cold days, which is why I was scrambling to get off yesterday as soon as possible.

@Bacil if you need a wing to fly you're always more than welcome to fly my U2-145

[ricsoar2]

Description of accident: Bacil was attempting to launch his Wills Wing Sport 2 135 around 1630 at the Woodstock VA launch site on Saturday March 4, 2017. While attempting to launch his glider the glider traveled forward while turning to the left then entered the trees at approximately a full 90 degree from the intended launching path. He entered the tree line approximately 20 ft. above the ground and approximately 50 from the starting launch point.

Weather conditions during the accident: The sky was blue with no visible clouds. At 1600 the winds were approximately NW 10 to 20 mph and backing down. The wind streamers showed swirling air in the slot at times with periods of strait in launchable lulls backing down to 10 mph or less.

My prospective: I was preparing to launch next after Bacil. I was in the setup area on the right side in front of my glider putting on my harness while watching the event. I couldn’t see the wind streamers nor could I see Bacil’s feet due to the wing wire men. I believe that Tom and Gary were the wing wire men. I think that Jon was also on launch. Randy was tending to his glider because he was planning to launch soon too. I did have a full view of the wing and Bacil’s hand position on the control frame and his body position. His hands were shoulder level and grasping behind the frame but in front of his head. There was space between his body and hands. His body appeared to be vertical. His forward speed seemed slow to me. A very short time after being airborne he seemed to push out popping the nose while the right wing was lifting and the glider accelerated in a banking left turn. He made no apparent effort to high side his body to the right side of the control frame. The glider was gaining altitude while turning left. He made no apparent effort to pull in or make any adjustments. The glider was doing its own thing and he was just hanging on as he would later recall. The sounds of the impact were loud and terrifying. It appeared the right leading edge struck the trees first. An opening in the trees allowed the glider to spin left allowing the nose to turn back to a direction pointing NW. Then gravity pulled the glider to the ground keel first with the nose turned up. When I arrived Bacil was prone with his head pointing down the slope but was flat on the ground for the most part.

[sailin]

Could not have been more happy to hear Bacil talking and see him moving around after the impact with the ground. You are one tough dude Bacil !

Sorry I am a little late in the thread here. Here are my observations from the day ( I think pretty similar to what has already been posted) It was a sunny breezy/gusty day at Woodstock. Frequent lulls but they were short lived and followed by stronger gusty stuff. A little after 4pm there was a pretty noticeable change in the wind and it started to smooth out and come in fairly straight at about 5 -10 mph. Everybody started to move pretty quickly with a purpose to get going. Bacil was first in the harness and was down in the slot pretty quickly. The cycles were nice and he picked a good one.....fairly straight in and maybe a little under 10mph? Within the first couple of steps the right wing came up a bit and the glider started tracking a little left. 9/10 times Bacil would have pulled his speed on, rolled that wing level and flown away from the mountain. It just didn't happen that way on Saturday. The wing didn't get rolled level, and the airspeed started to decline. The glider climbed in a slow/stalled left turn into the trees......maybe 50-100 feet down the slot and 15-20 feet up in the trees on the left side of the slot. 9/10 times Bacil would have got the wing level, kept his speed up and flown away from the mountain. Why didn't that happen on Sunday.....I'm not 100% sure , most likely several things coming together. It was cold, we were on launch for a while and then there was a quick sudden shift into "go" mode.......maybe too quick after hanging around all day getting chilled and being settled into "smoking and joking" mode. Why did the wing come up in the first place ? Not sure and I can't think of an obvious or definitive reason why from that moment or thinking back....maybe not the smoothest transition into the walk, jog, run? In my mind launcing is a series of things going deliberately right and there are opportunities (sometimes) to get things back on track if doesn't start perfect but the window of opportunity is small and short .....and that requires being mentally ready and totally committed. I think maybe Bacil was just ready to launch too soon before he was mentally ready to be deliberate about the launch sequence and totally committed to flying that wing away from the mountain no matter what. Thanks for sharing this with all of us Bacil.

Look forward to flying with you soon my friend !

Jon