Some really good questions to and answers from the pilot on the discussion attached to the video. Normally I don't look at the comments on YouTube as they are pretty puerile but this seems to be an exception.
To sum it up, from what I understand he was ridge soaring and went below the recommended lowest altitude before attempting a return to the field. On the way back he was in sinking air up to 600fpm but would have still made it back if he could have made it through the notch in the ridge we see ahead of him on the video. He decided it wasn't going to work and put it down on the road instead but clipped a mailbox on the rollout.
Top marks to him for having the balls to post the clip and being totally honest about the chain of events that led to the accident. At least he didn't panic and had made a plan if things went badly wrong. Could so easily have been another stall/spin fatality. He's an experienced power pilot but fairly new to gliding - he says he's going to edit the rest of the vid. and add comments, should be extremely educational.
Last edited by FullWings; 15th Jul 2012 at 06:46.