[FWM News] Death of Frank App

[Far West Masters news]

Sadly I must pass on to you that one of our Masters Racers, Frank App died
in a Glider accident on May 19th. Frank raced about a half dozen races with
us this past season, and also raced extensively on the club racing circuit.
Frank trained at Northstar, and lived in Truckee. I have pasted below the
preliminary NTSB report of the accident.

 

On May 19, 2012, about 1530 Pacific daylight time, an experimental
Avia-Stroitel AC-5M glider, N186P, impacted the terrain about 1 mile east of
Kingston, Nevada. The commercial pilot, who was the sole occupant of the
glider, received fatal injuries, and the glider, which was owned and
operated by the pilot, sustained substantial damage. The local 14 Code of
Federal Regulations Part 91 flight, which departed the Kingston Airstrip
about 30 minutes prior to the accident, was being operated in visual
meteorological conditions. No flight plan had been filed.

According to witnesses, just prior to the accident sequence, the glider was
seen in a steep left turn about 500 to 600 feet above ground level. It then
suddenly entered a steep climb, while still remaining in a steep left turn.
During the climb, the pilot either bailed out of the glider, or was ejected
from it. The glider then made an uncontrolled descent into the terrain.
Although the pilot was wearing a parachute, its ripcord was not pulled, and
the parachute did not open.

 

Mark Mirviss

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.dlewis.org/pipermail/news/attachments/20120531/28ea6bb8/attachment.html>