Board Wants Transponders On Gliders

The National Transportation Safety Board issued recommendations to the FAA and the Soaring Society of America on Tuesday for new policies on gliders. The board's recommendations follow an August 28, 2006, midair collision near Smith, NV between a sailplane and a corporate jet, that amazingly resulted in only minor injuries to those involved.

In its recommendations A-08-10 through A-08-13, the board wants FAA to remove transponder exemptions, create a range of transponder codes unique to gliders to better identify them to air traffic controllers, develop transponder installation recommendations for glider owners to speed adoption of the technology, and make sure controllers get trained on the new codes.

In a separate announcement, the Board also recommended that the Soaring Society of America inform its members, glider clubs, chapters, and glider fixed-base operators of the circumstances of the August 2006 accident, and use the information to encourage voluntary transponder installations and emphasize the importance of their use. The NTSB also wants SSA members to develop working groups with local air traffic control (ATC) facilities to develop and distribute detailed guidance and information related to air traffic routes, ATC radio communications, transponder use, and other pertinent information to improve the safety of glider and aircraft operations in their area. (A-08-14 and A-08-15)

As ANN reported, Akihiro Hirao of Japan was flying his Schleicher ASH 27 glider (a similar 25 model is shown in the graphic below) over the mountains at about 3:10 pm just as a Hawker 800XP was starting its descent into the Carson City airport. The glider impacted the jet's nose -- sending both planes briefly out of control.

As Hirao attempted to bail out of his stricken plane, which lost a wing in the collision, the pilot of the NetJets Hawker was dealing with a shattered instrument panel. Passengers onboard the charted jet from San Diego say she was able to stabilize the jet quickly, after banking sharply immediately after the impact and descending several thousand feet.

Hirao jumped from the glider, and parachuted into the mountains. He was found by Washoe Tribal Police at about 5:45 pm -- two-and-a-half hours after the incident began -- walking near the mouth of Lone Pine Canyon.

Meanwhile, onboard the Hawker the plane's pilot set up for an emergency landing at Carson City. The pilot circled Washoe Lake several times in order to burn off fuel, and then executed a flawless wheels-up landing at the airport.

Just typing that out got our pulses racing...

FMI: Read The Board's Full Recommendations Here And Here (.pdf)