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So what were you useless pieces of shit doing BEFORE April 28th 2012 in the way of investigating unhooked launches and looking into strategies to prevent them?INVESTIGATOR REPORT ON THE APRIL 28, 2012
TANDEM HANG GLIDING FATALITY
MEDIA RELEASE - August 22, 2012
On Saturday, April 28th 2012, a Tandem Hang Glider, piloted by an HPAC tandem-certified instructor, Mr. Jon Orders, was involved in an accident that resulted in the death of the tandem passenger Lenami Godinez-Avila. An investigation was launched by HPAC.
Duh.The findings of this investigation were based on witness statements and evidence held by the RCMP. At this point in time, the investigation does not include any information or statement from the pilot, Mr. Orders (an HPAC accident report has not been received).
The inspection of equipment and the review of evidence have eliminated any possibility of equipment failure.
1. It wasn't being used for tandem INSTRUCTION. It was being used for tourist rides.The equipment was found to be in good to excellent condition and well suited for tandem hang gliding instruction.
2. You assholes are no way in hell qualified to be running either - and never will be.
Backup loops and carabiner locking mechanisms all up to snuff?All suspension straps and connecting devices were found to be without defect and in good working order.
And here I was thinking she might have been sucked out of the glider by an invisible dust devil.Weather conditions do not appear to have been a contributing factor.
Are you sure? Don't hesitate to take another month or two if you feel you need some more time.The investigation concluded that the passenger's harness was not connected to the glider on takeoff.
1. It's physically impossible to perform a hang check JUST prior to the pilot committing to takeoff.The required "hang-check" (or any other suitable method of harness/glider connection test) was not performed prior to the pilot committing to take off.
- At the very least people have gotta rotate to upright and pick up and trim the glider.
- And you assholes bloody well know that the procedure everybody was using at Woodside was to do the stupid goddam hang check in the staging area then get in line.
2. WHAT other suitable method of harness/glider connection test?
- Wasn't there enough space available in this report anything to be described?
- Are there any people - who haven't ever come close to launching unhooked - who feel that hang checks are counterproductive?
No shit.The failure to ensure the connection of the passenger to the glider and failure to perform a thorough pre-launch readiness assessment suggests compounding incidents of pilot error.
Whoa! Just THREE WEEKS earlier you told Jon to always do hang checks in the staging area and impressed upon him the seriousness of unhooked launches. And he launched with an unhooked passenger anyway. Hard to imagine how something like this could happen with that training so fresh in his mind.The investigation determined that these critical steps were included in the HPAC Tandem Course re-certification taken by Mr. Orders in March 2012, only a few weeks prior to this incident.
Absolutely amazing that a human being forgot to do something in this day and age. Most of that kinda bullshit went out with the Bronze Age.The investigation was unable to determine the reason for the omission of the critical pre-launch safety checks.
Yeah, I'll bet something like that could do it. If only that possibility had been considered before and someone had developed some kind of procedure to deal with it. Maybe a routine of verification within several seconds of launch would help a bit.A review of the events leading up to takeoff suggests that there were multiple distractions that may have resulted in a breakdown of standard operating procedures.
Yeah. Thanks. We read the papers.On the day of the accident, Mr. Orders had two passengers booked for a tandem flight. These two passengers knew each other (boyfriend/girlfriend).
No Jim Keen-Intellect Rooney, to be sure, but nevertheless...To accommodate the two passengers Mr. Orders employed a tandem instructor, Mr. Shaun Wallace, an Australian national with substantial tandem experience...
Was Shaun too preoccupied with his own glider to beat the shit out of Jon for allowing Lenami to get into her harness when it wasn't connected to the glider?...and a second glider to accommodate the second passenger.
Right. We certainly wouldn't wanna look to closely at the dickheads who wrote the procedures and trained and certified him. You guys obviously have no responsibility for this one whatsoever.According to launch witness statements, the two pilot instructors appeared to deal with the two tandems as a team. Both pilot instructors assisted in preparation for the multiple launches. While Mr. Orders readied for launch, Mr. Wallace was in the immediate area and would have been present and available to assist in a hang check procedure.
Mr. Wallace participated in several actions associated with the operation of Mr. Orders' tandem, including delivering the passenger to Mr. Orders, the activation of Mr. Orders' video camera, and remaining directly behind the glider during the launch process.
Mr. Orders, as Pilot In Command, was solely responsible for the safety of his passenger.
What was Mr. Wallace's reaction to seeing Mr. Orders commencing his launch run with no indication of having verified the connections within the previous five seconds?The unusual aspect of a second pilot instructor being present for the event makes it is difficult to understand how the multiple phases of the pre-flight where missed by both pilots, and how the hang check was not performed.
Well there ya go then. Just write an SOP prohibiting multiple passengers and instructors and the associated dynamics.The investigation concludes that the dynamics of multiple passengers and instructors may be the key to understanding why the critical pre-launch procedures were not performed.
WHOA! *DISTRACTION*!Until such time that a statement from Mr. Orders is made available, the investigation assumes that pilot distraction resulted in a failure to perform recommended standardized safety procedures, resulting in the death of the passenger, Lenami Godinez-Avila.
Who'da thunk!George Whitehill - 1981/05
In many flying situations a hang check is performed and then is followed by a time interval prior to actual launch. In this time interval the pilot may unconsciously unhook to adjust or check something and then forget to hook in again. This has happened many times!
If, just before committing to a launch, a second check is done every time and this is made a habit, this tragic mistake could be eliminated. Habit is the key word here. This practice must be subconscious on the part of the pilot. As we know, there are many things on the pilot's mind before launch. Especially in a competition or if conditions are radical the flyer may be thinking about so many other things that something as simple as remembering to hook in is forgotten. Relying on memory won't work as well as a deeply ingrained subconscious habit.
In the new USHGA rating system, for each flight of each task "the pilot must demonstrate a method of establishing that he/she is hooked in, just prior to launch." The purpose here is obvious.
1. Well, it's been eleven and a half months now. How are y'all comin' on those? Or is this just some bullshit you're tossing out to the media to give people the impression you're actually doing something while, in fact, you've continued to run the show EXACTLY as you were at noon on 2012/04/28?The investigation advises that recommendations will follow at a later date.
2. If Mr. Orders, as Pilot In Command, was solely responsible for the safety of his passenger and was properly trained and qualified by HPAC then - unless these recommendations that are supposed to follow at a later date are to keep on doing things EXACTLY as they were at noon on 2012/04/28 - why are you talking about recommendations to follow at a later date? Any chance these recommendations are never gonna follow 'cause:
- anything you could possibly recommend would've been recommended decades earlier and totally ignored by you assholes
- making recommendations would be an admission by HPAC that Mr. Orders was NOT solely responsible for that fatality
- you've already got your fall guy and why mess with success
Go fuck yourselves.Accident Statement prepared by:
Martin Henry
HPAC Accident Investigator
Media Contact:
Margit Nance
Executive Director
HPAC
admin@hpac.ca
1-877-370-2078
