Pilot, 65, dead after glider crash near Diamond Valley | CBC News Loaded
CalgaryPilot, 65, dead after glider crash near Diamond ValleyPilot described as respected member of the Alberta gliding community
CBC News · Posted: May 29, 2024 9:18 PM MDT | Last Updated: May 29
The incident occurred during the Canadian National Soaring Championships, which is a two-week event being hosted at the Cu Nim Gliding Club, east of Diamond Valley. (David Donnelly/CBC)
A pilot described as a respected member of the Alberta gliding community died in a glider crash near Diamond Valley Wednesday afternoon.
According to Alberta RCMP, at approximately 1:30 p.m. the Turner Valley detachment received a 911 call advising that a small, non-motorized glider aircraft had crashed in a field south of Highway 7, about 60 kilometres south of Calgary.
RCMP, EMS and Diamond Valley Fire Rescue attended and found the glider aircraft and the pilot, a 65-year-old male resident of Calgary, who was declared deceased at the scene.
The incident occurred during the Canadian National Soaring Championships, which is a two-week event being hosted at the Cu Nim Gliding Club, east of Diamond Valley.
Jason Acker, the president of the Alberta Soaring Council, told CBC News that the pilot is not being named at this point, but said he competed in many national soaring championships.
Since the incident happened during competition, Acker said there were witnesses to the crash and first responders arrived on the scene quickly.
"After it was determined that it was a fatality, the RCMP and the Transportation Safety Board were notified, and they'll continue the investigation," Acker said.
In a release, Patrick McMahon, the president of the Cu Nim Gliding Club, and Christopher Gough, the club's chief flying instructor, said the pilot was a long-serving former club president who was passionate about soaring and will be missed by many.
"This lost pilot was an accomplished glider pilot, an active and reliable glider flight instructor, a regular participant in competitions.
"Out of respect for the ongoing investigation by the Transportation Safety Board, and for the family of the deceased we ask for privacy during this difficult time for the family, friends and colleagues affected by this loss," the statement said.
Acker said the future of this year's competition will be decided at a meeting Wednesday evening.
"The organizing committee and the officials will be meeting with the pilots this evening to … make a decision whether the contest will continue, or if the contest will be closed and allow for members of the club, the competitors and the community to come together and mourn the loss of their colleague," he said.
A pilot who died in a glider crash(opens in a new tab) in southern Alberta on Wednesday has been identified as Kerry Stevenson.
The Cu Nim Gliding Club confirmed Stevenson, 65, died in the crash south of Highway 7 between Diamond Valley and Okotoks.
The club described Stevenson as a long-serving member and past president who helped shape the flying careers of many glider pilots over the years.
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“In his life away from the gliding club, Kerry was a husband, a father, a grandfather, a Realtor, a motorcyclist, a dog dad and many other beloved titles,” the club said in a statement Thursday.
“Kerry will be fondly remembered and missed by members of the gliding club and members of the many communities where he contributed.”
The gliding community gathered at Cu Nim on Wednesday night to remember Stevenson.
He worked with Royal LePage as a Realtor for several decades.
“He was kind, caring and always had a positive outlook about life,” Corinne Lyall, an owner and broker with Royal LePage Benchmark, said in an emailed statement.
During the incident on Wednesday, a 911 caller told RCMP a pilot tried to eject from a glider but his parachute appeared to not deploy, causing him to fall hundreds of feet.
The glider then crashed into a field in the area.
The incident occurred during the Canadian National Soaring Championships, which the Cu Nim Gliding Club was hosting.
The club said the Transportation Safety Board has launched an investigation into the incident.
itsgrosswhatinet wrote: ↑Fri May 31, 2024 12:14 am
Why? Because they break apart?
No. Gliders are incredibly strong actually, stronger than most GA aircraft. A common K-21 trainer has a load rating of +6.5 and -4.0.
The reason for the chutes is because gliders often fly in close proximity to other gliders. Whether taking advantage of some thermals, flying along a ridge or mountain for some wave action. The chances of a midair are higher. Quite a sight to be in the same thermal as 6-10 other gliders.
You also have to consider the terrain gliders often fly over. Ridges and mountains may not offer many suitable off-field landing spots. You're often limited to farm fields when it comes to off-field landings as trying to put it down on some rural road may pose some threats with the wingspan many gliders have, specially competition ones.
Gliders can also be more difficult to see when head on.
I plan to fly the K-21 this year and it is not uncommon to see it easily from the ground when it is on base leg but have difficulty finding it when it is on final. Especially if the background is white clouds.
itsgrosswhatinet wrote: ↑Fri May 31, 2024 12:14 am
Why? Because they break apart?
No. Gliders are incredibly strong actually, stronger than most GA aircraft. A common K-21 trainer has a load rating of +6.5 and -4.0.
The reason for the chutes is because gliders often fly in close proximity to other gliders. Whether taking advantage of some thermals, flying along a ridge or mountain for some wave action. The chances of a midair are higher. Quite a sight to be in the same thermal as 6-10 other gliders.
You also have to consider the terrain gliders often fly over. Ridges and mountains may not offer many suitable off-field landing spots. You're often limited to farm fields when it comes to off-field landings as trying to put it down on some rural road may pose some threats with the wingspan many gliders have, specially competition ones.
They wear parachutes because there's limited places to land? Crazy.
itsgrosswhatinet wrote: ↑Fri May 31, 2024 12:14 am
Why? Because they break apart?
No. Gliders are incredibly strong actually, stronger than most GA aircraft. A common K-21 trainer has a load rating of +6.5 and -4.0.
The reason for the chutes is because gliders often fly in close proximity to other gliders. Whether taking advantage of some thermals, flying along a ridge or mountain for some wave action. The chances of a midair are higher. Quite a sight to be in the same thermal as 6-10 other gliders.
You also have to consider the terrain gliders often fly over. Ridges and mountains may not offer many suitable off-field landing spots. You're often limited to farm fields when it comes to off-field landings as trying to put it down on some rural road may pose some threats with the wingspan many gliders have, specially competition ones.
They wear parachutes because there's limited places to land? Crazy.
It's one of the reasons, yes. Sailplane flying is very popular anywhere around mountains, not many places to safely land in the mountains. That's not an issue in Southern Ontario where farm fields are abundant. But it is still a good idea give then higher risk of a mid air collision. Another point I forgot to mention is that the seats in these gliders are made for someone using a parachute. You'd either need cushions or be extremely uncomfortable flying one without it.
As to the limited landing spots. You're pretty much limited to airfields or farm fields. Roads would be a very bad idea in a large percentage of gliders given their wingspan. I started my flying days in the 2-33 and that has a wingspan of 51ft. Many high performance glider wingspans are in the 90-100ft. To put that into perspective, a 737-800 has a wingspan of 117ft. The German Eta has a wingspan of 101.5ft.
C-FMXC, a privately operated Sportine Aviacija LAK-17B FES was participating in a gliding
competition at the Cu Nim Aerodrome (CEH2), Black Diamond, AB. After flying for approximately
30 minutes the pilot bailed out of the glider; his parachute did not open and he subsequently died
from his injuries. The glider impacted terrain, 1.8 NM SE of CEH2 and sustained significant
damage.
I've been told if I had to bail out from a glider (I flew them some time ago) To make sure my hand was actually
pulling the parachute release's handle.
The pilot stalled the aircraft while circling at low altitude in a thermal. As the report states, thermals tend to become wider with altitude(or narrower at lower altitudes). That can increase the risk for an accident.
There is always a risk of a glider pilot not making it to an airport. The result will be "landing Out" which they obviously try to avoid. While they are trained or made to be aware of procedures for landing out, even a safe out landing likely involves great inconvenience for a retrieval. Perhaps a towplane can fly in and tow the glider out but I think the vast majority of cases involve taking the glider apart and putting it in a trailer. And it is not unusual for a glider to be damaged, as has happened several times at the place where I fly gliders. Therefore, there is significant temptation to make it back to the airport.
That can lead a pilot to be trying to eke out some lift from a thermal at low altitude, possibly a weak thermal that might be ignored at a higher altitude, instead of seconding on and focusing on an out landing.
But with a narrower thermal and marginal lift, one will be tempted to turn more tightly increasing risk of a stall. Keep in mind that the speed one uses while circling can be quite close to the stall speed with occasional buffeting felt. Like powered aircraft, some gliders have more benign stall characteristics than other gliders. In this case, there could have been self-induced pressure to due the flight being part of a competition as opposed to being at risk of landing out.
This pilot was very experienced in gliders and the type looks to be fairly high performance. Perhaps in such an aircraft type with a skilled pilot, it would not be unusual to be circling/thermalling still at 1300' but it was certainly low for getting into a spin although it sounds like the aircraft had pretty much recovered by the time the pilot exited. Perhaps he immediately decided to bail out when the spin happened and was unaware that somehow the aircraft had recovered by itself. It does seem risky to bail out at such a low altitude under any circumstances and a spin can frequently be stopped fairly quickly(only 200’ lost in the accident spin).
The report brought back memories from this past summer because I accidentally stalled a glider a few months ago at about 1500' while trying to gain some altitude in weak lift(due to being very distracted by the position of another aircraft). But the stall was benign and easily recovered from after I made a large nosedown input. I didn't have a parachute but the thought of bailing out, if only I had a parachute, did not occur to me. I think a spin recovery and out-landing would be less risky. Fortunately for me, I was quite close to the airport at a point called High Key and therefore just joined the downwind leg and landed.
The glider pilot was quite experienced.
But that glider was new to him and he had little time on it and had never practiced stalls or even tight thermalling on it.
Then he got into an inadvertent stall and incipient spin.
But the glider had pretty much recovered to level flight just before the canopy was jettisoned. So maybe he got spooked the the spin at lower altitude, and started to prepare to bail out... while the plane recovered on its own! (Something which has also happened to aerobatic pilots.)
When he bailed, he was at maybe 1000 to 1100' AGL, in that range. Low but not impossibly low if leaving from nearly level flight.
He managed a timely bailout.... but then never pulled. It isn't like he didn't pull quite in time, pulling too low, but he didn't pull at all. So that was unfortunate.
While the report had some quibbles about when the parachute was last packed, etc., there was nothing apparently wrong with it that would have stopped a normal deployment.
He probably should have been more familiar with his ripcord handle location. The report doesn't comment on the fit of the harness, but it is understandable that emergency pilot rigs are often worn loose when worn for longer periods. You just don't want them so loose that the harness will shift so much in freefall that it gets hard to locate, reach to, and pull the handle. Even experienced skydivers get into problems locating a handle on rare occasions, when under stress and the harness is a bit ill-fitting or loose.
I won't get into details too much, but those TSB reports can be a bit annoying in the way they sometimes leave one to read between the lines for what the real contributing factors are, obscuring important factors, but then overemphasize other aspects of the accident that aren't a big deal. Certainly opinions will differ on the causes & contributing factors because that always involves expectations of what is reasonable. And then news reporters, not knowing aviation well, pick up on the wrong things to emphasize, making their reports seem to put the blame on the wrong things. Frustrating but somewhat inevitable.
CBC News for example picked up on the age of the rig, 26 years, greater than the 20 years recommended by the parachute and rig manufacturers. But left out the bit where the report notes that that is not a mandatory limit in Canada, and it is up to the rigger to determine airworthiness. As a skydiver I concur -- Our rigs & parachutes almost never have age limits. If some gear isn't outmoded, and hasn't been weakened and faded by UV exposure, and hasn't been all frayed by wear and tear, then the age isn't that big a factor. Still, some riggers may choose for liability reasons not to pack pilot rigs over 20 years, the recommended limit some (but not all) pilot rig companies use.
The report made it sound like the pilot should have been an active parachutist to be fully familiar with his equipment. Well, sure, in some theoretical way. But overall that's a ridiculous stretch, nobody requires a pilot to be a skydiver to wear an emergency parachute. It wouldn't hurt for someone wearing an emergency rig to get a jump or two, to get more familiar with leaving a plane and not getting shocked by a wind blast. But student skydives are quite a bit different than emergency bailouts -- since one has a ram air parachute system, and may not be pulling any handle on one's first jumps, or may be pulling a handle in a totally different location than on a bailout rig. A glider pilot probably will generally have to make do with training and practice on the ground, for bailing out, although a dummy run throughs of procedures while in the air could help too.
bodyflyer2 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 09, 2025 2:08 pm
.......those TSB reports can be a bit annoying in the way they sometimes leave one to read between the lines for what the real contributing factors are, obscuring important factors, but then overemphasize other aspects of the accident that aren't a big deal. Certainly opinions will differ on the causes & contributing factors because that always involves expectations of what is reasonable. And then news reporters, not knowing aviation well, pick up on the wrong things to emphasize, making their reports seem to put the blame on the wrong things. Frustrating but somewhat inevitable.
In the end, he stalled it which is pilot error and it appears that he decided to take a very risky alternative to attempting a full aircraft recovery. Possibly contributing to getting into the situation in the first place may have been the decision to thermal at a fairly low altitude but there are a lot of variables there such as aircraft performance, pilot skill, overall experience and in the aircraft to make that a grey area for me. I don't have enough glider experience or first hand knowledge to know that. He wasn't really low and may have had a nearby landing place as a back-up already chosen if things didn't work out(According to the report, he was on a downwind leg, although at 1.8 miles, it seems a bit far away, especially when downwind with such a strong wind).
