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When Your Body Quits. Gravity Wins!!. Weight & Balance - A Universal Problem. SGS 2-22 ACCIDENT PIC was 16 years-old with nearly 9 hours of flight time. Pilot’s second solo sortie of the day. While practicing steep turns, the pilot lost consciousness.
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When Your Body Quits Gravity Wins!!
SGS 2-22 ACCIDENT • PIC was 16 years-old with nearly 9 hours of flight time. • Pilot’s second solo sortie of the day. • While practicing steep turns, the pilot lost consciousness. • Regained consciousness while approaching power lines, flew under power lines and landed in a field. During rollout the wing struck a pipe and spun the glider around. • Wing substantially damaged - no injury.
PHYSICIAN’S REPORT • Dehydrated and the victim of Vasovagal Syncope. • Vasovagal Syncope. • Fainting occurring as a physiological response to stress. (Physical, Emotional, or both) • Reported hyperventilation played a role.
PILOT COMMENTS • The pilot stated “The winds were not bad enough to where I could not solo.” • The tow was “fairly rough.” • Stated he was “being frustrated” by the turbulence and “having trouble controlling the plane.” • He began to get “frustrated and nervous.” • He was “breathing really hard because (he) was scared.” • He began to “feel strange” and his face and hands “felt numb”, he saw “a lot of little dots” and “passed out.”
QUESTIONS • Circumstances leading up to the accident. • Rested? Hydrated? • Winds “were not bad enough”, does this mean they were marginal? Pilot’s opinion.
QUESTIONS • Was his anxiety noticeable prior to the flight? • Did the instructor notice? • Did fellow pilots notice?
QUESTIONS • “Having trouble controlling the plane”, was proficiency where it should have been for the conditions?
STRESSORS • Physical - environmental conditions - heat, humidity, noise, vibration, and lack of oxygen. • Physiological - fatigue, lack of sleep, physical fitness. • Psychological - mental workload, social, emotional.