Calgary Herald

Rob Clarkson <email> writes:

Well as you may have noticed the local media wasted no time covering Jim's accident. Within hours one paper had found my phone number on line and called me to find out what happened. As the media tends to make a lot of mistakes and make the stories as sensational as possible I was a little reluctant to talk with them. I was pleased to see that they were accurate with the facts we gave them and wasn't too dramatic.

A few things you didn't read in the paper. Any one who has been in the sport for many years knows that Jim is a legend in the sport. He held a few world records on a rigid wing. We are having our annual spring comp in Vulcan Alberta. We are platform towing with a pay out winch behind trucks.

He was flying a Firebird Sierra. I heard was from about 1986. He told me Sunday that he had nearly locked out but released and landed safely. The glider didn't look quite right and found that the nose plate was on backwards. He had turned it around and felt that had been the problem.

Monday I towed up first and landed just before Jim towed. I saw him come off the truck and looked fine. I turned and walked away and never saw him lock out and dive into the ground from about 50' . He broke both ankles, right shoulder, cracked ribs, cracked vertebra, punctured lung, and bruised kidney. He has no brain or spinal cord injury and will recover in time.

Two of the pilots are married to nurses who helped administer first aid. Fire trucks were on scene quickly. The young fire fighters did a great job securing Jim on a spine board as the ambulance was on another call. Soon after they had him ready to go the ambulance showed up to take him to hospital in Vulcan and then air lifted to Calgary. The Police arrived a couple hours later as they were busy with so many other accidents because of the long weekend.

I haven't talked to Jim since the accident but in my opinion the cause was an old glider that shouldn't have been towed. I think that any glider older than five years should be retired. The new gliders fly so nice and handle so well, I think pilots would enjoy flying so much more if they would get there hands on a newer model glider. They have been around long enough you don't have to buy new if money is an issue.