23
July 2016
While C.J. and I were volunteering at Chelan we heard rumors of a fatality at Blanchard. At first there was talk that it might have been a female pilot. Later we heard it was a male pilot, and still later, that it was TJ. Specifics of the accident were scarce since no pilot had seen the event. A non-pilot witness reported that “over half of “ TJ’s wing had collapsed and that he was low on the spine between the west and south launches. Too low for a reserve and not enough trees to catch his wing, TJ hit the ground hard. The witness reached him quickly but TJ died soon after, long before the EMTs could get there. An autopsy determined that he had suffered a burst aorta.
TJ’s funeral was on Monday, 18 July, but we had just
returned from a week of camping at Chelan and could not get ready for a trip to
Bellingham so soon. However, the pilot community, mostly NCSC the local
chapter, put together a celebration of TJ’s life on Saturday the 23rd
at Samish Viewpoint, aka Blanchard launch. We followed the request of the
organizers and parked at Jeff and Stacy’s and got a ride up with our wings.
From the number of cars filling the small parking lot and crowding the sides of
the road, not many other pilots had carpooled from the Beck’s. The one DNR
picnic table was supplemented by several folding tables and there were lots of
potluck food, notably some good baked beans and several large sub sandwiches
cut into slices. C.J. had brought a basket of blueberry-lemon muffins, one of
the few other homemade goodies. Before lunch, however, Conrad Kurp led the
service which featured several people speaking of their memories of TJ.
After lunch pilots began to launch into what looked like a
perfect flying day – blue sky with puffy clouds and light wind from the SW.
Soon hangs and paras were soaring. Conditions looked pretty benign (although I
did see some pretty good surges), so C.J. and I joined the line for launch. I
got off on my first inflation and found lift right off launch. I went right and
found strong thermals that took me to over 1600ft from the 1200 ft takeoff. I
went back along the clearcut and then found it somewhat slow to come back to
the west launch again. When I crossed the spine toward the south launch I ran
into strong and turbulent lift which I did not try to work. I went back to the
right and stayed between 1100 and 1400 ft occasionally getting tip collapses
and surges. After around 25 minutes I had had enough especially as I flew
through the air above the spine again and got the washing-machine treatment.
Out over the east end of the LZ I ran into enough lift to turn once but there
were other wings approaching the field so I did not try to climb away from the
LZ. The windsock seemed to be showing E as I came in on final but landing to
the south and a bit west seemed to work fine (:32). Later C.J. came out after
30 minutes or so and at 195 ft ran into lift which Chris Ammonson had marked
and climbed back up to 2400 ft drifting east and having an unusual view of the
Oyster Dome from above and to the south. After an hour and some C.J. landed. I
got a ride back to Beck’s with Beth and Ernie (and Guy) to pick up our vehicle.
C.J. and Patricia passed me as I was heading for the LZ. I think they were
giving Steve Thibault a ride to get his car at launch. Later, Patricia said
conditions looked good but didn’t launch as she felt rushed because they had to
get home to meet Andrey and Sabrina to loan them their kayaks. We went with
CJB, Derek, and Laura-from-Mexico to the Old Edison Inn where we were joined by
Chris and Patricia. C.J. and I shared a ½-lb Bow Burger and a side Caesar
salad.
In addition to the people I mentioned there were lots whom I
did not know. But there were a few more: the Becks, Tom Allen, Sid, Murdoch and
Jan, Guy and Rita, James Pfiser, Jenn Kaatz, Emma Dionisio, Herta, Roger Brock, Casey
(woodcarver, HG), Jaro, and Ralph Boirum with his new wife.
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