http://groups.yahoo.com/group/trikeflyers_socialbar/message/14143

Samantha Jo Moore , Mon Aug 28, 2006 8:01 pm:


While sitting at my office, I heard a loud gnarly noise but since couldn't see
anything I didn't pay much attention to it. (I can only see the west 1/3 of the
runway from my office.) Five minutes later, my friend who is volunteers for
Search and Rescue with the Sheriff's Office called and asked me if I was OK. She
had been called out to search for a downed glider involved in a midair collision
and she thought it could have been me.


As I walked to the FBO downstairs there was a lot of commotion because a jet had
crash landed on the runway. So curious that I am I grabbed my camera and went to
check it out. I snapped some pictures that I posted on


http://ph.groups.yahoo.com/group/trikeflyers_socialbar/photos/browse/45a9?b=1&m=t





Click above for higher resolution version.


I found one of the passengers hanging out and talked to her. This is what she
told me:


They were on approach to Reno airport (RNO). At 15K feet, about 40 miles south
of RNO all of a sudden they hit a sailplane (well, she said that the sailplane
hit them). The witness/passenger saw the sailplane through the pilot's
windshield and upon impact the sailplane slid to the right side of the jet. She
saw the instrument panel blow up into the captain's face. The female captain,
with her face cracked open and bleeding, managed to call out a mayday, and fly
the plane with a right engine flameout, no nose, serious damage to the right
wing, and no landing gear, to a safe belly landing at our airport. She was
transported to the ER to take her face taken care of. The male co-pilot and all
the four passengers were safe, just a little shaken.


Emergency crews were on scene immediately and had already foamed the aircraft as
it had a minor fuel leak.


Some more background information: Reno (RNO) is about 30 miles north of Carson
City (CXP), and Minden (MEV) is about 15 miles south of Carson. The approach to
RNO is directly from the south, so airliners get vectored in using Victor Airway
V165, which takes them straight over Minden and Carson City. Minden is the
sailplane capital of the US due to the awesome thermal activity available daily,
and the frequent waves that form over the Sierra Nevada.


After seeing first hand the damage to the Hawker 800XP private jet, I can't
imagine that the sailplane pilot survived. So far (and it's been already a
couple of hours since the midair) nobody has heard of the pilot or found the
wreckage yet.

The glider pilot was found alive and unhurt. He walked out from
Segall Peak.


http://www.krnv.com/Global/story.asp?S=5337875


http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nevada/2006/aug/28/082810100.html


http://www.krnv.com/Global/story.asp?S=5337875