FATE IS THE HUNTER

The story of how a tiny piece of metal jeopardised Sebastian's chances of success in a contest and almost led to disaster.

WORDS BY TOMASZ KAWA TRANSLATED BY TOMASZ CIESIELSKI

SUPPLIED

SEBASTIAN KAWA WAS to defend his world title in 13.5m class in Italy in the first half of September 2019. We were looking forward to this trip to Italy and the wonderful Apennine Mountains. The Tyrrhenian and Adriatic Seas embracing the Italian peninsula have a significant impact on the local climate and enhance the soaring weather phenomena over this mountain chain. Two opposing sea breezes sweep over the coastal areas to finally meet over the mountains. Days are often clear and sunny. Wonderful cumulus clouds build up in the convergence zone but frequently overdevelop and produce mountain storms.

Flying in the mountains in good conditions is a delight and offers many alternatives for soaring pilots, but it also requires a large amount of knowledge, experience and skills to make the most of it. You must respect the mountains where the amplified atmospheric dynamics and topography produce lots of invisible traps. Emergency landing zones in the mountains are difficult to find in general; in this region of Italy it is even harder. Here, for thirty centuries, man has used the bottom of the valleys and gentle slopes to build villages, farms and stone fences. The larger pastures and fields are on the steep slopes.

Sebastian’s mountain experience has been acquired at home in the Carpathian Alps, the New Zealand Southern Alps, the Andes, the Pyrenees as well as his exploration of the Caucasus and Himalayas and represents a significant asset. Once again, he was flying the GP-14 Velo, the great Polish 13.5 m glider developed by Grzegorz Peszke from Krosno. The competitivity of this new design in which Sebastian won 2nd FAI World 13.5 Class Championship in 2017 was further enhanced by new rules allowing the use of water ballast in the 13.5 m Class. We were full of optimism. The event was well planned. Pavullo airport, nicely situated among the hills had new function/briefing facilities. A spectacular opening ceremony was planned with a parade in the city and impressive airshow programme at the airport. The media coverage was good. Sebastian was almost ‘dressed in laurels’ before the competition even started.

However, nobody has influence on the weather. The opening ceremony was ruined by a storm. An overheated and humid air mass parked over the competition area offered lazy thermals or early overdevelopment and show stopping storms. During the second practice day the lid closing the compartment of the BRS (Ballistic Recovery System - parachute deployed by a rocket) in Sebastian’s glider came loose and disappeared. This not only impacted the glider performance; the open compartment created an unbearable noise.

Two spares were sent from Poland, but wouldn’t arrive until two days later, missing the contest start date. Sebastian’s decision to search for the lost one in the woody hills made everyone laugh. He must drive for hours, climb the woody slopes and search for the one square foot piece of composite (OK-fortunately white!) in dense vegetation. But, using his logger, pictures and GPS, he found it! He then had to play Tarzan, climbing the high tree it was caught in.

We interpreted it as sign of good luck but the next day proved that that had been wishful thinking.

On the last practice day, the weather deteriorated quickly. Most pilots were already headed for home after the first portion of the task while Sebastian flew deeper into the turning circle. Because of the weakening lift and unfriendly mountain terrain he would certainly have turned back earlier in a pure glider.

However, he had an electric engine which so far had operated very well. The battery’s charge level would allow him to return to the airport with a comfortable margin. He still had a comfortable altitude but was faced with flying through 30 kilometres of a long narrow, unpleasant valley with no identified landing opportunities. He opted to use the engine.

Once the mast with the engine and propeller were deployed, he attempted to start the engine – nothing happened. He retried the switches, checked the batteries, switched off all other instruments from the power supply, kept trying to start it - nothing.

Now he was committed to landing. Between few possible slopes he selected one covered with grass, looking like a hay meadow. There were no obstacles on the up-hill final. The field was relatively steep, but he had landed in similar fields a number of times. Such landings require a large speed margin, which will dissipate rapidly after the flare when

the glider is flying up, parallel to the slope before smoothly touching down. Once on the ground the glider should be turned across the slope to avoid sliding back.

Everything went smoothly as per the book, but after the flare, when the flight path needed to be near parallel to the ground the glider hit an unseen bump. With high speed this acted as a take-off ramp …

SEBASTIAN: (…) I am crossing the tree line, start pulling-up and am anticipating brushing the grass – all of a sudden - Boom! The glider jumps in the air at a high angle, immediately losing its speed. No speed, no controls…Wait… I see the top of the trees again. At the next contact with the ground, the landing gear is gone, the fuselage is cracked. For me it’s worse.

As we hit the ground, I feel the pain in my back. I have difficulties getting out of the cockpit. For several minutes I lie down on the wing to calm

the pain. I shouldn’t have moved!

Fortunately, I can feel and move all my limbs. Never do that! Do not move. Do not strain yourself but wait for help if there is any doubt about the stability of your spine (…)

It was a blow like a fall onto the butt from the roof of the house. I don’t want to think about what the effect would have been if the glider had entered the dive phase. Sebastian was probably saved by the engine mast, which when protruding from the fuselage changes the balance of the glider to nose-up.

Sebastian was refusing to accept the effects of the accident. He considered the possibilities of fixing the glider and continuing in the championship. He was offered a glider. However, once the initial shock wore off and the pain intensified, he had to go to a local hospital. While tests did not find major injuries, full rest was recommended. Later extended diagnostics in a Polish hospital showed that the injuries are much more serious. The cause of the engine failure was trivial. The tiny limit switch which closes the power supply circuit after full deployment of the mast had failed. It is designed to prevent an accidental start before full extraction of the engine and propeller. This accident proves, once again that in aviation everything counts, even small things.

If Sebastian had known that the sustainer system would fail him, he would not have flown into difficult conditions in a deep valley in the Tatra Mountains.

Technical progress makes aircraft more perfect and reliable. However, it can prompt pilots to greater risk and increase the accident statistics when systems fail. Internal combustion engines have their drawbacks and limitations. The impact of air temperature changes is one of them. Jet engines seemed a great alternative because of their low weight, but for now they are not fully reliable either. Electric drives give great hopes as the batteries improve. In each of these systems there are electrical control systems, and this is the Achilles heel. Digital and electrical components are susceptible to damage and break down without warning. They need to be backed up and warn about anomalies and/or allow the pilot to override automatic controls manually.

To err is human. Man is less reliable than a machine in routine tasks, but humans can see, anticipate and remediate mistakes. Machines can't do that yet. At the present stage of development of auxiliary engines, the glider pilot should always act as if flying a glider without an engine. Don't fly to places where there's no turning back. Always have a safe landing option in the case of system failure.

Designers too do not always pay enough attention to the ergonomics and comfort impacting the safety of the pilot. The idea that ‘the pilot is like a jockey - he has to find the way to fit a horse’ cannot be accepted. The glider pilot is flying in a sitting or reclining position. The full dynamic load of a hard landing is received by the spine and may create extreme loads on this system. Any deviation from the natural position of the spine increases the vulnerability to its damage, and worse - the spinal cord.

Flexion loads increase susceptibility to fractures. The principle is simple - what is comfortable for the pilot must also allow for their safety. The GP-14 glider has, as said above, a BRS. The pilot therefore is flying without wearing

a parachute. The cockpit was equipped with a profiled bucket seat and backrest; if it wasn't, the extent of Sebastian's injuries could have been greater. Flying is beautiful and safe when there is no pressure and the taste for risk does not suppress the instinct of self-preservation. Human nature needs competition. Sport releases this instinct and even encourages gambling. Therefore, you need to be vigilant not to exceed the risk limits. It's just a game. No podium finish or record won should put health or life on the balance.

Back to the contest.

In Pavullo, Italian Stefano Ghiorzo came first. Second was Uli Schwenk from Germany in the Lithuanian Mini LAK. Tomas Gostner came in third. The 4th place was taken by the Italian Vittorio Pinni, flying a GP-14 from Krosno. Both Italians competed in the Polish Diana 2 with shortened wings. It's a good recognition for Polish gliders. This was the last glider competition for 13.5 metre class. The new class of electric powered self-launch gliders will fill this gap. It will be acceptable to use the engine to improve the result or to reach the finish. Specific scoring will be used. The difference from the day winner's result and the number of negative points for engine use will be used in scoring. To test this scoring system in practice an informal competition was organised in Pavullo in parallel to the 13.5m Worlds. The winner was Luka Znidarsic from Slovenia, the creator of the FES electric drive system.