report about my accident, Woodstock, June 11, 2020

[wmelo]

Guys,

As you may already know, I crashed my glider in my last flight in Woodstock. As a result, I ended up with 22 stitches on my nose.

With this experience, I learned the follow lessons:

a) Do not screw up especially when you are landing
b) If you do screw up, make sure you have coated nose wires: they are very sharp!
c) If you do screw up and do not have coated nose wires, make sure you have a helmet with a visor

We had only 2 HG pilots flying that day: Marc and I. Bacil volunteered to help us take off and also rescue us after landing.

After Mark took off, I waited for a good cycle to venture myself on the air. The winds were cross and when straight on the slot, winds were too weak. After several min (10-15 min?), I had a good take off, turned left and steadily move up on the ridge.

I never got very high: 1K feet above the take off a couple of times when I was able to get a good thermal. But most of the time, I was only 500 feet above of the ridge.

After 1h flying back and forth in front of the ridge I decided to land I think it was 7:00pm.

I arrived in the bridge field with plenty of altitude. I flew a few squares to burn my altitude before starting my DBF: this is when I screw up big time.

I poorly calculate my altitude in my last 360 and realized that I was too low. I did not pay attention on the following issues:

a) It was a hot day, so the air was not very dense: glider dives faster
b) I am too heavy to my glider: glider dives faster
c) I did not notice that the wind was dead in the LZ: glider dives faster

These factors combined with my poor judgment about my altitude resulted in a very bad accident.

When I am started by DBF, I saw that I was too low, and I would not be able to complete my DBF. Instead of continuing to fly straight and land, I decided to turn 90 degrees to not land with a tail wind (although, like I said I did not notice that there is no wind in the LZ). Once again, I poorly calculate my distance from the trees and forced the glider to land on the wheels.

My right wheel opened (it is a bad wheel) and the control got stuck on the ground. The glider nose went down and I was pushed forward cutting pretty badly my nose in the (ironically called) nose wires.

Bacil was in the LZ and quickly came to my rescue. He helped get out the glider and harness. Most importantly, he helped to keep my nose skin in the right place and called 911.

After a few mins (10min?), the ambulance arrived and brought me to the WS hospital. I few hours late, I left the hospital with 22 stitches on my charming nose.

My experience would be worse if I could not count to my friends:
a) Bacil for running to my rescue, helping me out, and calling 911
b) Gary who went to WS after knowing about my accident to help and keeping my glider in his ranch
c) Mark who was forced to land in the other field (since the LZ was occupied with cars and people) for helping packing my stuff and for waiting for my release from the hospital.

These guys are not just great HG pilots, they are also loyal friends!

[mcgowantk]

Walt

Thanks for posting about this so that we can learn from this unfortunate accident. But most importantly, I am glad that you were not hurt worse. Heal fast and I hope to see you out again soon. Take care

Tom McGowan

[wuffos]

Thank you for your accident report.
2 questions:
What kind of wheel opens? Snap-On ? What diameter?
What model glider has uncoated nose wires?

Bill U., Phila., PA

[wmelo]

U2 145
I don’t know exactly the wheels brand. They were not from WW. I will take a pic & post

[Dave Proctor]

Walt—thank you for posting the report. Glad you were not hurt more seriously. I did not witness the event but this is a reminder that we all need to mind our approaches. If it is a huge LZ no need to be super low turning final.

Dave

[krryerson]

Walt,
Sorry to hear that you had a bad experience.
I bought the Moyes dynamic wheels for my Gecko.
One of the best wheels I ever have had.
Also, do use use my drogue chute, to increase safety during landing, when needed.
Hope to see you soon.
Knut

https://s959.photobucket.com/user/Knut_ ... .jpeg.html

https://s959.photobucket.com/user/Knut_ ... .jpeg.html

https://s959.photobucket.com/user/Knut_ ... .jpeg.html

[dbodner]

Walt,

I hope you're healing well.

I assume you were wearing a full-face helmet, but the chin-bar alone wasn't enough to protect your nose from the wire.

David Bodner

[Lucky_Chevy]

Heal quickly my friend.

Thanks for posting your account. There is nothing more terrifying than seeing the ground go by on a hot/humid day.

[Ward Odenwald]

Walt, thanks for telling us what happened. Looking back at that afternoon to help the rest of us is a difficult task to say the least.

I agree that a visor would have helped. I’ve flown with one for years and make a point of keeping the discards with deep scratches to remind me of what could have happened. Also, a big fan of wheels.

When deciding on what type of wheel to fly with (plastic vs. air/pneumatic tires), consider what happens during a hard landing in a farm field that has recently been rained on. My primary concern is the following question; is the wheel that impacts the ground first going to roll or is it going to cut into the soil? If it’s the latter, bad things can happen really fast. Once the wheel breaks the surface, the likelihood of it rolling out of its trench is remote given that the initial tug on the control bar is going to send the nose down. To enhance the chance that this doesn’t happen, the surface of the wheel has to be flexible enough to quickly change its footprint when the vertical force is significant. In other words, will it deform and, as a result, widen its contact with the ground or will its vertical force on the ground create a trench? Plastic wheels, designed for advanced gliders (even those with thicker ground surfaces), have zero force-deflection.

A little over 9 years ago, I switched from pneumatic tires to plastic wheels as they were aerodynamic, lighter, designed for carbon control bars and had little or no maintenance issues. A year later, while attempting a wheel landing at Smithsburg, I experienced my first, and only, wheel grabbing nose-in. During that “face planting” event, one or both wheels trenched and my forward flying speed triggered an instant nose-in. I was really lucky to escape with no physical injury but my right leading edge snapped just inches from the nose. The break was most likely due to the force of its impact with the ground or from my helmet or both. Before flying again, I replaced the carbon control bar/plastic wheel combination with a round aluminum bar and pneumatic tires and since then, after numerous wheel landings, plenty of mud and grass stains on my harness but no damage to me or my gliders.

Plastic wheels are ideal for ground handling but given the concerns aired above they shouldn’t be relied on for wheel landings.

Thanks again Walt for your write up.

Ward

[krryerson]

Agree, nothing better than “replaced the control bar/plastic wheel combination with a round aluminum bar and pneumatic tires”.
Knut