Glider crash in Grand Teton

The pilot was an opera soprano. A beautiful voice has been stilled.


 
When sung by a gifted performer, Ave Maria is a spellbinding song. Just beautiful.
 
$350 an hour for a glider ride?
 
3393RP said:
When sung by a gifted performer, Ave Maria is a spellbinding song. Just beautiful.
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I can't stand listening to people sing, but you are right. I can listen to the right person sing Ave Maria.
 
SkyDog58 said:
I guess the tow to 12,000' is the main reason.
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It's actually a tow to 5,800 AGL. ;)

I don't think $350 is out of line. They have maintenance costs for tow planes and gliders, insurance costs, hangar costs for 12 months while making money for just 5 months, and support staff and pilot salaries.

I would pay that no problem. Heck, I've shelled out around $1,350 for rides in the three Collings Foundation bombers and there's more to come if I ever take a flight in their TF-51 and the CAF's FiFi.

Some things are worth doing for certain people.

I found this video interview of Ms. Ciesinski, she relates how flying became a passion for her.

 
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I paid $50 for a glider and tow to 3,000 agl, and the flight lasted 18 minutes. Prorated, the Grand Teton glider cost abt 2x as much.

But cornfields vs spectacular mountains . . .
 
Well look at the difference between the price for a tandem skydive and a lift ticket for a fun jumper.

If someone's only probably going to go up once, requires a instructor/pilot, you're going to pay a bit more
 
Was recently in Driggs ID and regretting that there are no longer glider rides offered after this crash. FBO there is still in business and nice. So decided to look into the history of this a bit more.

From a legal perspective, the case was dismissed after about 6 months with the statement that the parties had reached a settlement agreement -- no idea what that settlement was.

In terms of cause, some further discussion on rec.aviation.soaring that this was essentially 'rogue air' causing a lot of sink (https://www.danlj.org/~danlj/Soaring/SoaringRx/2013-01-Rogue-Air-Oct2014-p20-29_Bob_Thompson.pdf). She was apparently below the nearby ridgeline shortly before she noted there was something very bad going on.

Having been up above IceFloe lake, it strikes me one could try to land there, especially when it is covered in ice, as it often is. The impact crater was in the snowfield above that lake.
 
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