Remember this one every time you rig or else...

Pilot was trying to correct glider before crash

By Patrick Lester

John Carlson also had trouble asssembling the aircraft the day it went down off Route 152 in Hilltown.

HILLTOWN —The pilot who died in the glider crash near the Philadelphia Glider Council's airstrip apparently was trying to correct the position of the aircraft before it crashed nose down off Route 152 earlier this month, investigators say.

In addition, witnesses said John D. Carlson had difficulty assembling the glider before the fatal flight, according to a preliminary report of the crash filed by the National Transportation Safety Board.

Carlson, a 49-year-old Princeton, N.J., man and member of the Philadelphia Glider Council, was pronounced dead at the scene of the Aug. 10 crash, which happened shortly before 2 p.m.

After takeoff, Carlson's Shemp-Hirth Standard Cirrus began to rise above the Cessna plane towing his glider by a rope, forcing Carlson to take corrective action, witnesses told investigators.

Carlson tried at least three times to reposition the glider behind the tow plane. On the third try, the glider rose to about 20 or 30 feet above the ground, headed toward the ground, bounced up and appeared to be making a climb, the report says

The glider was about 200 feet off the ground when it slowed to a stall and 'quickly pitched downward and impacted nose down,' an unidentified witness told investigators.

'According to a witness, the pilot was in good spirits when he assembled the glider and prepared it for flight,' the report says. '(The witness) and (Carlson) performed a flight control check. However, the witness only observed the control movements, and not the movement of the cockpit controls.'

Investigators are still probing what caused the crash, but released preliminary details on the crash this week. It could take about six months before a final report is released.

The pilot in the plane towing Carlson's glider said the tow was 'normal' at the start of the flight, but he eventually felt his airplane being pulled to the left by the movement of the glider, the report says. 'The tow rope broke before the tow plane pilot could disconnect the glider,' the report says.

The impact of the crash crushed the fuselage and shattered a fiberglass cockpit shell. Investigators found small pieces of grass imbedded in the right wing and debris from the plane and items from the cockpit on the ground.

Carlson was certified to fly single and multi-engine planes as well as gliders, and had flown for a total of 3,000 hours, the report said.

Before the glider crashed, Carlson had flown it at least 17 times for a total of about 25 hours, according to his flight log and Glider Council records. He had piloted gliders for a total of about 70 hours.

The glider club owns about 135 acres off Route 152 and has about 120 members.

August 23, 2002

This tragedy gives more imputus to the idea of having the pilot hold the control surfaces while an assistant moves the controls in the cockpit. I believe I read about that technique in this news group and now use it exclusively.