Incident Report

[XCanytime]

Incident Report

Is There a God!

The disposable answer to the issue of this incident is to simply state “make sure you do a good preflight”.

This isn’t the first time I’ve had a close one, but even though I got lucky again, it begs for a report.

In reading incident reports over the years I have usually been able to put myself into whatever scenario is presented. Distracted, hurried, etc, and thought- ” wow- that could have definitely been me.” I would like to try and make this incident stick in my fellow pilots’ brains as their reports have stuck in mine.

It was an unusually warm fall weekend with light NW conditions, and we had all had a great day of easy soaring on Saturday. On the next day, Sunday, It looked to be lighter and kinda sketchy, but the weather was so warm and still NW that we all showed up again. For no good reason other than lack of focus, I had broken a down tube landing Saturday, and decided to do a field replacement this next day up at launch.

We were flying with a couple of our newer H2’s and the sketchy conditions turned out to be brain dead soarable for the second day in a row. Everybody was having a great time in the light conditions, and I was SEMI-RUSHED to get my downtube on and get in the air. I knew I would be last off the hill and even had a MINDSET at the beginning that the downtube wouldn’t fit, or I would have some other problem with it that would keep me on the ground. That would have been OK.

Of course it was the VG side, and because of my extraordinary piloting skills, (insert eye rolls) I hadn’t had to replace a DT for a couple years. I actually got it together without the usual 3 tries, and started to set up. You know how it is- uneven ground, spreading wings out, carefully checking it out to see what you did wrong. It just didn’t seem right at first, and I got into a MENTAL STATE of uncertainty (it was all assembled properly).

I finally accepted that I DID have it all good and finished setting up. AFTER a careful preflight, I went to zip my main zipper (nose to hang point) and found that I had taken it too far open and would have to DE-TENSION to get it to the good part and zipped. No problem- I released my keel tensioner tang and pulled the wings in just enough to get the zipper going. It looked good, and I was going to get in the air after all!

I had a great launch, but the glider didn’t feel right. My bar seemed to be farther out in front of me than usual. It was all flying fine, and as I made a few passes I decided that even though I had checked my VG, that I had probably not gotten it quite right. Maybe the pulley inside was twisted or something. I fooled with my string a couple of times, but it would not retract properly. “Oh well, I guess I’ll have to look at it again.”

I got bored after a half hour or so- and landed uneventfully. Post flight beer and ‘great day’ words began to fade, and I started looking to break down. As I casually glanced at my task ahead, I noticed that the neoprene cover that I usually have over my rear tang wasn’t in place. A closer inspection revealed the existence of god. He certainly loves fools and sinners. (see attached photo).

I would like to thank the folks at Wills Wing for using such good materials in the construction of their flying machines.

Be safe

[wuffos]

Ummmm ... what attached photo ?

[XCanytime]

Trying to import the photo. Not having any luck yet. The loop of rope attached to the tang of the pullback assembly that allows you to pull the assembly caught on the catch that the tang should have been attached to. That simple loop of rope kept the glider together. Bacil

[markc]

Just added you to the CHGPA members group Bacil, so you should now see an 'Attachments' tab on the posting page...

But please note thatyou may have to downsize the photos for the web. 30% usually does the trick.

[Dave Proctor]

Bacil-- Thanks for posting. Glad things worked out, and yes, the luck gods were smiling upon you. It is easy to miss things when you go out of your norm, like unhooking to check something on the glider..and forgetting to hook back in.

[XCanytime]

I should've mentioned that the incident pilot was not me. It was someone else. Sorry about that. Bacil

[Dave Gills]

[markc]

I can't imagine a better argument for thorough pre-flights than this report. Have to admit that I have sometimes sighed, as I confirm that 'yes, the wing has been tensioned' .... Like, how could it not be, right?

But yikes, hadn't really considered the possibility that a long haul-back line could simply wrap around the keel fitting. I can only imagine what must have gone through the pilot's mind after seeing that, after landing.

Reminds me of the time a pilot realized that the control frame hadn't been secured, upon landing after a flight : collapsed in his hands during breakdown. Pin/screw had simply not been inserted, yet the control frame remained intact in-flight, under load.

This also makes me think of times when you are travelling, perhaps visiting a site in the hopes of getting to fly, renting/borrowing a glider. Not too hard to imagine missing something like this in the midst of the excitement and craziness.

[flymiller8]

very glad that flight ended well and a great reminder of possible fatal errors.
thanks for sharing.