David's World

June 22, 2006

Bye-bye Junior - a written off glider

Here's what a not-so-happy glider looks like after a failed field landing.

The (very experienced) pilot was on a cross-country flight in south-west Scotland when we ran out of lift and had to land in a field. That's a fairly normal occurrence in gliding - your friends come around with a trailer, disassemble the plane and drive off, while the pilot either apologizes or gets fed dinner by the farmer's family.

This time, unfortunately, the intended landing site had some obstacles (walls, I believe) which the pilot could only make out very late, at which point he turned 90 degrees to land in his alternate field. That's when he struck big power cables in the approach path.

As much as it hurts everyone to see the nice new Junior to be written off - the amazing thing about it is that the pilot walked away from the accident with a few bruises. Such accidents are sufficiently rare, but even then, gliders provide a nice crumple zone to protect you. The folks in the picture smile for a reason! I would still choose a glider over hang glider, a microlight with a lawnmower engine, or a motorbike.

Hey! I just flew my first two solos in the Junior today, it was awesome! Pity with what happened to the poor little Junior in the pic and nice to hear the pilot was unscathed :)

Sooty