Paul Tjaden from Quest Air writes:

A few days
ago I promised that I would write a more complete accident report regarding the
tragic hang gliding accident we recently had at Quest Air resulting in the death
of our good friend, Zach Marzec. I do want to warn you in advance that there
will be no great revelations from what you already know. Many times Zach flew
with a video camera which could have possibly told us more but on this occasion
he did not.

The weather
conditions seemed quite benign. It was a typical winter day in central Florida
with sunny skies, moderate temperatures and a light south west wind. It was,
however, a high pressure, dry air day that sometimes creates punchy conditions
with small, tight, strong thermals versus the big fat soft ones that Florida is
famous for. Time of day was approximately 3:00. None of these conditions were
even slightly alarming or would have caused any concern about launching.

Zach Marzec
was an advanced rated pilot who was a tandem instructor for Kitty Hawk Kites
where he logged a huge number of aerotow flights. He was current (flying every
day) and was flying his personal glider that he was very familiar with and had
towed many times. Sorry, I do not have specific numbers of hours or flights
logged but experience does not appear to have been an issue.

The glider
was a Moyes Xtralite. This glider was a fairly old design. I believe the last
ones built were in the mid 1990’s, but it was in good, airworthy condition and
rigged properly.  I know of no reports that this glider is difficult to tow or
has any deficiencies for aero towing but I am not an expert on it and have never
flown one. The glider hit base tube first and sustained very little damage upon
impact so it was easy to ascertain that the glider did not appear to have had
any structural failure that would have caused the accident.

The tow
aircraft was a Moyes Dragonfly with a 914 Rotax engine and was piloted by a
highly experienced tow pilot. The tow line was approximately 250 feet long which
is standard and Zach was using the “pro tow” method where the tow line is
attached directly to a bridle on the pilot’s harness and is not attached to the
glider at all. A standard 130 pound test weak link was being used.

Another
pilot had launched with no issues immediately before the accident. The launch
started on the main runway at the north end (2,000 feet long) and was normal
until at approximately 50 feet in altitude when the tow plane hit extremely
strong lift elevating it quickly and abruptly. Because of the length of the tow
line, it was a few seconds later when Zach’s glider entered the same strong lift
and he was at an estimated 100 to 150 feet in altitude at this time. When the
lift/turbulence was encountered, the weak link on the tow line broke as the nose
of the glider pitched up quickly to a very high angle of attack. Apparently, the
glider stalled or possibly did a short tail slide and then stalled and then
nosed down and tumbled. Eye witnesses said the glider tumbled twice and then
struck the ground with the base tube low. Due to the extremely low altitude,
there was no time for the pilot to deploy his reserve parachute.

Zach was
conscious immediately after the accident but died in route to the hospital.

Beyond
these facts anything else would be pure speculation.  I have personally had
numerous weak link breaks on tow, both low and high, after hitting turbulence
and have never felt in danger of a tumble. I have witnessed countless others
have weak link breaks with no serious problems. We train aero tow pilots how to
handle this situation and I am certain that Zach had also encountered this
situation many times before and knew how to react properly. Apparently, Zach
simply hit strong low level turbulence, probably a dust devil that could not be
seen due to the lack of dust in Florida, the nose went too high and he tumbled
at a very low altitude.

Strong dust
devils in Florida definitely do exist even though they are rare. My wife had a
near miss when she encountered a severe dusty a couple years ago and I almost
lost a brand new $18,000 ATOS VX when it was torn from its tie down and thrown
upside down.

I wish I
could shed more light on this accident but I am afraid this is all we know and
probably will know. Zach was a great guy with an incredible outlook and zest for
life. He will be sorely missed.