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with the press, showing them the flying and crash site, taking care of Don's gear, and displaying it for the service. Some of Don's friends were also small plane pilots, and wanted more detailed information about what caused his crash.
Layne Self was an eyewitness to Don's accident, and he submitted a detailed accident report to USHGA that was also posted on the Discussion Board. I was not at Lookout when the accident happed, so I cannot give a first-hand account of the events. Instead, I have taken excerpts from Layne's account so people can know what happened. I want to make it clear that the following are edited excerpts from Layne's account. To see his full report, which has good commentary on accident prevention, take a look on the Discussion Board.
...Winds were light and lift was sparse but workable in as benign conditions as one would expect in winter. The cycles would come and go and short 10 - 20 min. flights were the norm. I was below launch at the parking area describing to a spectator what our sport was all about when Don launched. I was using Don and his wing as a graphic for this spectator when a short pulse came to the hill. For us Lookout pilots these pulses kind of roll into the mountain and flying in them is sort of like going over gentle rolling hills. I observed Don's wing pitch up gently in one of these "rollers" and I saw that he did not release brake pressure to let the wing come over head as is usual. He stayed in deep brakes for the minimum sink I'm sure he perceived it gave him. The next thing I saw was a gentle tip stall and a negative rotation start. Don completed one full rotation without doing anything to correct his negative spin. Don could not have been more than 100 ft. above any terrain feature at the height of his entire flight. I continued to watch him go deeper in brake for a very full-on negative spin for what I remember as at least three rotations. Don didn't throw his parachute as expected, he instead buried the other brake to effect a full stall. It went into a full horseshoe flying away from the hill. The wing never recovered from the full stall. He threw his reserve at about an altitude of 20-30 ft. The reserve didn't get to line stretch before Don crashed.
Several pilots reached Don very soon after his crash. They found him without obvious external injuries, but he was breathless and pulseless. They performed CPR until medics arrived and took over. In the end, he was pronounced dead on the scene. An autopsy was performed, which found that his death was the result of severe internal injuries. Some people had wondered if perhaps he had suffered a stroke or heart attack in-flight; there was no evidence of either problem.
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