"The EPA complied with standard practices and relevant policies and procedures covering objectivity and integrity in planning and conducting its testing of
glider vehicles in 2017," according to the audit.
The Wood Week rally started some years ago with a few local pilots gathering with their old
gliders, and over the years it has attracted more and more interest.
It was unlikely that the
glider pilot saw the helicopter until it passed, the report added.
Richard Westmaas, the mastermind behind the move to The Netherlands, is an enthusiast who had toyed with the idea of building a Horsa
glider for the 75th anniversary commemorations of Operation Market Garden, the Arnhem operation.
READY FOR BATTLE Fred, and troops marching to board
glidersNo further details have been provided about the person flying the
glider.
"We hope the
glider pilot makes a full and swift recovery from his ordeal."
Owens had a solution--a set of tools he had used before in other regions of the ocean: Spray
gliders. These untethered ocean-bound robots can dive below the ocean surface to measure seawater properties that scientists use to paint a picture of subsurface current systems.
The wireless communication systems and sensors installed on the
glider have also been tested in this experiment.
This "significantly increased the opportunity for mis-rigging" the
glider. Despite this modification, the
glider had successfully been flown numerous times before and Mr Anderson had never encountered any difficulties in rigging or setting up his
glider.
As a result, the aircraft would have had no effective elevator control and the pilot would have been unable to control the pitch of the
glider.