2015/03/27 Jean Lake crash

[Steve Davy]

I'm guessing it was because he's too dumb to understand what a ratio is, and didn't want any MORE folks to realize how stupid he is.

[Tad Eareckson]

EVERYBODY who makes, sells, uses, pulls a bent pin release is too dumb to understand what a ratio is, and doesn't want any more folk to realize how stupid he is.

[<BS>]

http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/las-vegas/2-dead-hang-gliding-accident-near-jean
2 dead in hang-gliding accident near Jean | Las Vegas Review-Journal

Edward James Almost - a month ago

The instructor was a friend of mine dating back 44 years, he had just moved back from Hawaii to start his hang gliding towing business. Hang glider towing is a very dangerous form of the sport because any type of equipment failure or human error can result in a "lockout" which can often be fatal as it was here. The instuctors name is Kelly Harrisson, son of a famous surfer Lorrin Harrison. Kelly was always a daredevil and was well known for pushing the limit on almost everything he did, unfortunately living on the edge finally caught up with him and tragically an innocent 12 year old boy was killed. Prayers for both families involved , Kelly will be missed by many as well as the boy who tragically died in this sensless tragedy. I apologize for the screen name , should have changed it before posting this.

[Tad Eareckson]

Hang glider towing is a very dangerous form of the sport...

Got any data to...

Zack C - 2011/03/04 05:29:28 UTC

As for platform launching, I was nervous about it when I started doing it. It looked iffy, like things could get bad fast. I've since logged around a hundred platform launches and have seen hundreds more. Never once was there any issue. I now feel platform launching is the safest way to get a hang glider into the air (in the widest range of conditions). You get away from the ground very quickly and don't launch until you have plenty of airspeed and excellent control.

...support that OPINION?

...because any type of equipment failure or human error can result in a "lockout" which can often be fatal as it was here.

Oh. ANY type of equipment failure or human error can result in a "lockout".

- A weak link break or jammed release can result in a lockout. What other equipment failures are you talking about? A broken leading edge? Yeah, that could probably do the trick - but that would likely be a problem even if you WEREN'T on tow.

- Any kind of human error. Failure to stay perfectly lined up every second of the tow? Forgot to buckle the helmet? Left the headlights on?

- Are there any issues NOT involving equipment failure or human error that can result in a lockout? A strong thermal breaking off or a dust devil? Could either of those do the trick?

What evidence do we have that this was a lockout? We don't have one word from any of the witnesses or from Mitch Shipley's crack month long investigation about the glider turning before it slammed in.

The instuctors...

What's an instructor, how many of them were there, and what were their names?

...name is Kelly Harrisson, son of a famous surfer Lorrin Harrison.

How come their last names are spelled differently?

Kelly was always a daredevil and was well known for pushing the limit on almost everything he did, unfortunately living on the edge finally caught up with him and tragically an innocent 12 year old boy was killed.

Right. Platform towing is a daredevil activity and this crash was a consequence of his living on the edge - not a fuckup by his driver and crappy equipment that didn't allow him to deal with the fuckup. In other words a one time fuckup on the front end and a permanent and deliberate fuckup on the back end.

Prayers for both families involved ,

Yeah, let's hear it for those prayers. So much more useful and effective than understanding and fixing problems.

...Kelly will be missed by many as well as the boy who tragically died in this sensless tragedy.

- I actually don't think the boy who tragically died in this sensless tragedy will be missing him all that much. I'm guessing his brain wasn't functioning all that well - if at all - after they separated him from the wreckage and floored it towards Vegas.

- Kelly doesn't get top billing on this one. He comes in a very distant second.

- This wasn't a "sensless" tragedy. Whatever happened, and we know enough of what it was - zero thanks to Mitch and his u$hPa motherfucker co-conspirators, made PERFECT sense. There was a problem on tow and he had no ability to get off tow. We've seen it thousands of times before and we'll see it thousands of times again. And when the shit hits the fan low enough we'll always continue to have hundreds of useless assholes talking about sensless tragedies and praying for families.

I apologize for the screen name , should have changed it before posting this.

How 'bout apologizing for the clueless and sloppy post itself?

[<BS>]

What evidence do we have that this was a lockout? We don't have one word from any of the witnesses or from Mitch Shipley's crack month long investigation about the glider turning before it slammed in.

Witnesses have said that the truck turned and the "tether" stayed attached. Does the glider need to cause the misalignment to be considered a lockout? Is this photo an example of a lockout? In this picture the towline is pulling back on the control bar. Would it be considered a lockout if everything in the photo was the same except the tow line went straight back without contacting the control bar?

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[Tad Eareckson]

Does the glider need to cause the misalignment to be considered a lockout?

No. Give me a Dragonfly and a new flight park "student" who hasn't really learned how to make a glider go left and right...

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...and I can lock him out.

When I went up to Mike Dead-Eye Robertson's step tow clinic at Ellenville (twenty-one years ago come June) and came off the cart in a strong crosswind that motherfucker gassed the winch, accelerated me into a lockout, and slammed me in hard and - I have no doubt - DELIBERATELY. (And this was AFTER the motherfucker had cut power on me while I was milking a skim in light air waiting for him to pull me up and crashed me into a downtuber - also, I have no doubt - DELIBERATETLY.)

Misaligned tension is misaligned tension and a snapshot of the situation (second to last frame, for example) doesn't know or care how things got misaligned or who or what was the cause.

Is this photo an example of a lockout?

I'd say no.

Would it be considered a lockout if everything in the photo was the same except the tow line went straight back without contacting the control bar?

I'd still say no.

I'm gonna define a lockout - and my definition of a lockout is gonna be better than Hewett's, who had his physics totally backwards, and Pagen's, who's totally full o' shit - as a situation in which the glider is diverging from the tow, sideways and/or up, with misalignment and tension overpowering the glider pilot's ability to bring his bird back under control and continue the tow. When the glider's locked out only the driver may have the ability to make adjustments to alignment and tension to save the tow.

I'm defining the situation after things have degenerated to the point at which a tensioned towline is being seriously bent around a basetube or wire as post lockout / totally tits up. Doesn't need a special term or definition. And one of the reasons I'm doing that is because it flatly contradicts Donnell's lunatic understanding of towing physics. According to Skyting "Theory" a lockout is only possible AFTER a tow tension transmission element contacts a tube or wire. Prior to that point the center of mass system is auto-correcting - the more sideways you get the more effectively the system will be weight shifting you back in line.

I think the Lin Lyons situation is probably a good bet as to what happened at Jean Dry Lake Bed. Truck thought the glider was off tow (nobody's disputed that), turned abruptly, glider overflew the truck, the easy reach wasn't so easy - big surprise.

[<BS>]

Lin's towline was pulling back on the control bar, keeping his weight forward and lowering the angle of attack. In this photo Kelly's towline is below the bar. What happens in that situation when you overfly and the tension is just pulling you straight back? I just realized with the attachment where it is on his harness, his release - while reachable in a forward position - may become harder to reach when pulled back.

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[Tad Eareckson]

Tandem platform tow, payout winch set to AT LEAST 150 pounds, plus the towline is probably being bent around and dragged over the simulator limiter frame, so probably at least a couple hundred pounds.

And the lower the glider gets - and it can do nothing but get lower fast - the more aft the vector is until you're a few feet off the surface when it's pulling STRAIGHT aft. And, oh joy, the drag friction is also getting maxed out fast. The worse things get the worse they get. Real ugly looking graph.

And I think you'd have a real hard time locking your arms out to resist the descent - 'specially if you're trying to effect the easy reach for the release with one of them.

This thing began and ended in a few heartbeats.

And now that I think of it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7b1L1okMsb8

Corbin Moorhead - 2015/03/29

The truck took a turn ... the turn caused a little bit of slack in the line ... and when the slack came out of the line it yanked the glider and caused the glider to stall and nose dive into the ground.

If you yank a glider with a towline pulling even minorly forward it goes up and the angle of attack decreases. The only way the glider goes down is if you have a very steep or aft vector.
---
P.S. 2015/04/29 18:15:00 UTC

I just realized with the attachment where it is on his harness, his release - while reachable in a forward position - may become harder to reach when pulled back.

Depends on where the lanyard was anchored but, yeah, that could've been a significant issue too. Good thinking.
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Edit - 2015/07/05 12:50:00 UTC

...plus the towline is probably being bent around and dragged over the simulator limiter frame...

No, obviously not - just look at the photo directly above. Kelly did a nice job designing and engineering the rig itself. That was a careless, stupid thing to say.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://www.ushawks.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1802
Jean Lake

Joe Faust - 2015/05/25 21:28:27 UTC

An org report on the case has been given to some people. Video was not extended but to incident explorers, it seems so in first blush. Holding back the video from the general flight community may be a loss to community-safety potential. Hopefully all will come out for others to examine. More accurate information on one sector's conclusions is invited. In one sense it might be the case that everyone is an instructor somewhat to others; let the information out!

So I look around and all I can find is:

http://www.ushpa.aero/safety/Fatality%20Report%202015.pdf
Fatality Report 2015 (Jan-May)

2015 HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING FATALITIES
JANUARY-MAY

HANG GLIDING FATALITIES

March 27, 2015 - Kelly Harrison

Kelly Harrison (56), a Master (H5) pilot, tandem and advanced instructor and USHPA member since 1990, suffered fatal injuries during a tandem platform truck circuit tow at Jean Dry Lakebed near Las Vegas Nevada. His 11 year old student also perished in the accident.

May 9, 2015 - Markus Schaedler

Markus Schaedler (59), an Advanced (H4) pilot and USHPA member since 2001, suffered fatal injuries during a flight from Kagel Mountain in Sylmar, CA. The circumstances surrounding the incident are currently still under investigation.

May 17, 2015 - Scott Trueblood

Scott Trueblood (44), a Novice (H2) pilot and USHPA member since 2014, suffered fatal injuries during a flight in Ellenville, NY. The circumstances surrounding the incident are currently still under investigation.

Ain't it really great what you can get after a couple months of investigation with a very experienced tow administrator (Mitch Shipley) working with two of the local instructors there to get to the truth?

- Anybody wondering what a "tandem platform truck circuit tow" is? It's a tandem platform truck SURFACE tow. (Circuit/Surface - sound a lot alike, meanings are pretty much the same.) From this we have confirmation that it wasn't a tandem platform truck AERO tow.

- Oh. His 11 year old "student" ALSO perished in the accident. Glad we got that issue straightened out. I wasn't all that sure. (Probably wasn't wearing a helmet.) Guess he didn't have a name...

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7644/16353971834_15d6781e0c_o.png


...or an elementary school. Probably didn't need one. After all, he WAS a tandem hang gliding STUDENT.

- So they just suffered fatal injuries and perished in the course of this circuit tow? Was the ground involved at any point? Is there a possibility the glider...

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...made some kind of contact with it? Maybe they were just clipped by a low flying passenger jet. We'll probably never know for sure what really happened.

- Anything about the driver?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnYC5BXdt48
12-year-old killed in hang glider accident

Capt. Peter Boffelli
Metro Traffic Bureau

The glider was supposed to release the tether from the truck itself. Apparently that tether release did not occur. So what occurred was when that truck turned around thinking that the tether was released the glider itself plummeted straight to the ground.

Guess not, nuthin' anywhere in this highly detailed report.

- Weather? No mention - must not have had any in the Vegas area that afternoon.

- Wasn't there a video? No? Did the medical examiner know enough about hang gliding accidents to check Kelly's digestive tract for a card during the autopsy?

- March 27, 2015? Glad you specified that this was 2015 in this report on 2015 fatalities.

- Note that the last date we have on in this undated documentation of 2015 fatalities is 05/17. (Nailed a paraglider on the same day - keep up the great work, u$hPa.) And note for the 05/09 and 17 fatalities we're told:

The circumstances surrounding the incident are currently still under investigation.

-- So what if we don' give flying fucks about the CIRCUMSTANCES SURROUNDING the incident? Can't you just tell us why the fuckin' gliders crashed and leave out any crap about what the dirt bikers were doing on their trails?

-- Oh. They're CURRENTLY STILL under investigation - as opposed to just currently OR still. Ya really gotta be thorough investigating fatal crashes. Accident investigations involving fatalities take a long time.

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=25656
The young girl who died hang gliding solo

Jim Rooney - 2012/03/06 18:34:14 UTC

ND's onto it.

No one ever wants to wait for the accident investigation... they want to know "NOW DAMNIT!" and there's always a lot of self-serving arguments surrounding it.

And it's always the same.
The same damn arguments get drug up every time. And they're all just as pointless every time.

We have a system in place.
It works.
Let it work.

Our procedures are well established at this point in time and there are no gaping hidden holes that need to be addressed immediately.

RR asked what the status was.
ND's provided the answer (thank you).

Please take a deep breath. And wait.
Accident investigations involving fatalities take a long time. And by long, I mean they can take years.
(yes, years, I'm not kidding)

The sky is not falling.

And by long, I mean they can take years. (Yes - years. I'm not kidding.)

-- So since they're NOT saying the CIRMUMSTANCES SURROUNDING this incident are CURRENTLY STILL under investigation we can quite safely conclude that these:

March 27, 2015 - Kelly Harrison

Kelly Harrison (56), a Master (H5) pilot, tandem and advanced instructor and USHPA member since 1990, suffered fatal injuries during a tandem platform truck circuit tow at Jean Dry Lakebed near Las Vegas Nevada. His 11 year old student also perished in the accident.

49 words of diluted substanceless TOTAL CRAP is this...

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=41619
Goodbye Bob K?

Rich Hass - 2015/04/04 01:28:50 UTC

The death of Kelley Harrison, a Master rated, Advanced Instructor and Tandem Instructor, and his 11 year old student during a tandem lesson near Las Vegas last week is a devastating loss. It is a loss to the families of Mr. Harrison and his student and I personally extend my heartfelt condolences to both families. It is a loss to the sport as well. Mr. Harrison was an active pilot and instructor with students and flying friends around the country. Tandem hang gliding fatalities are a rarity and we all want to understand what happened and prevent the same thing from happening again.

In the immediate aftermath of this tragedy, USHPA assembled a team of experts in hang gliding, hang gliding instruction, hang gliding tandems and towing of hang gliders and offered their expertise to the local government officials who are investigating this accident. I am pleased to report that the local officials and USHPA experts are sifting through the evidence together, analysing the accident. A report will be released when the investigation is complete in a responsible manner.

Contrary to the absurd accusation that was apparently made for political gain on this forum, there is no "damage control" or "suppression of information" by USHPA. There is simply nothing to report yet because the investigation has just begun and is not yet complete.

...long promised thorough and highly detailed professional final report for which we've been waiting so patiently while carefully not engaging in deadly speculation.

The motherfuckers controlling this sport are soulless serial baby killers and the motherfuckers in it who tolerate these motherfuckers deserve anything and everything that happens to them ten times over.

P.S. Hey driver...

I can easily forgive you for making the mistake that set this one up and rendered Kelly's easily reachable release just as useless as he and everybody and his dog knew it would be if he ever really needed it. But I hope you rot in hell for all eternity for your cowardly silence and cooperation with this despicable cover-up effort.
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2020/05/10 22:30:00 UTC

No, CIRCUIT was the intended term. But it's still bullshit 'cause although that was the intent of the Dope On The Rope In Command no more than a third of a circuit's worth of non total disaster mode tow flight was attained. Also... I'm cutting myself some slack 'cause u$hPa incident reports are so poorly written - combination of intent and semiliteracy of unidentified reporters - that one tends not probe further when one encounters anything that seems to ring a bit off.

[<BS>]

March 27, 2015 - Kelly Harrison

Kelly Harrison (56), a Master (H5) pilot, tandem and advanced instructor and USHPA member since 1990, suffered fatal injuries during a tandem platform truck circuit tow at Jean Dry Lakebed near Las Vegas Nevada. His 11 year old student also perished in the accident.

That can't be the report.