Kite Strings

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=20339
FTHI

Scot Huber - 2011/01/02 21:38:28 UTC
Santa Rosa, California

Risk Management

Two years ago at age 55 I launched unhooked at McClure. The wind had been blowing in perfect at launch as we set up. Me, KM, and I forget who else were there.

The land owners showed up and started talking with us and asking wuffo questions and taking pictures. I normally am very focused and almost always avoid conversation setting up and prefighting my wing. I know if I don't get this part right or overlook something it probably won't be a fun flight! But seeing as how I'd never met them before, they being the owners and all, I felt obliged to break my focus and got involved in the conversation. I got done chatting as I put on my harness and walked over and picked up my wing. I (ALWAYS) HOOK-IN before I pick up my wing. With my brain wrapped around the last answer I gave to the whatsthisfor question, I totally forgot this part of my routine.

I walk to launch, it's blowing straight in as it's been doing all along, so I don't feel the need for a set down and looksee. I'll be cool and just keep right on walking then running off launch. Show these wuffos just how together us skyriders really are. Three seconds later I'm lying on my back forty feet below launch in the rocks trying to figure out what the hell went wrong.

Within two steps the glider had taken off, as it was blowing maybe twelve. I had gone to the base tube with my hands and assumed the prone position. Because I did this I, not being hooked in, was lying on the bar. Being pulled in the glider flew itself quickly into the hillside going straight down the hill.

I maintained my right hand grip a little longer than my left and was therefore flung onto my right side when the apex slammed into the ground. Both front wires snapped. Because my parachute is on my right side I was spared broken ribs. I had on a full face helmet which saved my face and head from injury also. I was basically alright more or less, some bruises and scrapes but no doctors or hospitals. Of course it could have been worse.

What I learned from this experience is that things you trust your mind to always remember, don't always necessarily get done. It's like locking your keys in the truck when you just pulled up to the beer store and your buds are waiting in the LZ for some cold ones. It's happened to most people numbers of times, the keys part. So the question to me is how do I manage the inherent fallibility of my mind to protect my bones?

What I've come up with is adding extra steps to my preflight ritual which necessitate using my body to cover my mind. I am adding patterns of actions in other words which don't use mental processes as the final go in the launch command. In other words I always set my glider down at launch and do a walk through, leg strap pull, helmet strap, radio check and, VG adjustment.

Of course I have to use my mind to some extent to first install this pattern and remember to keep doing it, but after a while I've noticed it becomes a habit which sort of takes care of itself. Now when I walk to launch I'm preprogrammed into a ritual of action which covers to some extent the fallibility of my brain to know if I'm hooked in or not or even think about it.

Of course there are other ways to go about risk management such as using a clip on HOOK IN strap on your nose or a short checklist on your basetube you look at before launching. I don't use them but have seen others doing so. I know hang gliding is dangerous, but so is driving or skiing or surfing etc. I think we all have to be attentive to and develop routines of action to mitigate our risks whatever we do. I know I want to be flying as long as I can, so does everyone who has ever done it. I need to be honest with myself and use the input of my friends when they tell me something I'm doing, or not doing, is going to bite me someday. We need to talk safety with friends and use each other to maintain and manage the inherent risks of flight.

Hi Scot,

For whatever rating you hold and whatever ratings you held before there's a requirement that reads:

With each flight, demonstrates method of establishing that pilot is hooked in just prior to launch.

Obviously the idiot(s) who signed you off on those ratings let you slide on that little issue but "just prior to launch" does not mean always set your glider down at launch and do a walk-through and leg strap pull - then buckle your helmet, do a radio check, and adjust the VG. A lot of people have died not giving rats' asses about their helmet buckles or radios or how well their gliders were flying without them.

Nor does this requirement mean that you excuse yourself from the wuffos, stay very focused, complete setup and your preflight ritual - with extra steps - at launch, then run off the mountain.

It, contrary to popular interpretation, actually means that you verify your connection JUST PRIOR TO LAUNCH - the INSTANT before your foot moves. At that point NOTHING else is terribly important.

You ended up in a crumpled but extremely lucky heap, not because of wuffos, failure to stay focused, or a break in your routine, but because your routine sucks and doesn't comply with the provisions of your rating.

The requirement was written thirty years ago because it was understood that people were ALWAYS gonna be distracted by wuffos, equipment problems, competition pressures, and dust devils and forget to hook (back) in. And it doesn't say anything about preflighting, "HOOK IN!" ribbons, checklists, or only entering your harness when it's connected to your glider - all of which approaches are fairly, totally, or worse than useless on this particular issue.

It was blowing straight in and steady at twelve and within two steps your glider was floating. So even if you couldn't lift it yourself all you needed to do was let it up until your leg loops tugged and stopped it. Your hands were on the basetube while your feet were still on the ground so something along this line couldn't have been too tough of a trick.

I know hang gliding is dangerous...

Not a hundred thousandth as much as leaving the ramp and NOT hang gliding.

It's like locking your keys in the truck when you just pulled up to the beer store and your buds are waiting in the LZ for some cold ones.

If your life depended - EVERY TIME - upon you not making that mistake you would develop a procedure whereby you would NEVER shut the door from the outside without having the key in the lock and your thumb on it - EVERY TIME. You would also make sure your friends followed that procedure too - EVERY TIME.

...use the input of my friends when they tell me something I'm doing, or not doing, is going to bite me someday. We need to talk safety with friends and use each other to maintain and manage the inherent risks of flight.

I'm your best friend right now.

But if you don't wanna hear it from me try getting some feedback from hiflioz, gasdive, enormydude, and Spark.

JUST PRIOR TO LAUNCH - EVERY TIME. For you and anyone else at launch that you don't wanna read about or see plummeting.

Zack,

How 'bout PMing this guy and getting him over here before he snaps another pair of nose wires and hits the left side of his chest?:

Tad Eareckson wrote:How 'bout PMing this guy and getting him over here before he snaps another pair of nose wires and hits the left side of his chest?

Done.

Zack

Who's watching us watch ourselves?

For 7 years I lived in the same place. In that entire 7 years I NEVER locked my keys in the car. I ALWAYS checked that I could visually see them or feel them in my hands before slamming that door. That was my rule. That's what I did - religiously.

But during my last few days (and in the midst of moving), I let it slip ... just once. Fortunately, a call to the locksmith is not a helicopter ride to the ER.

So having a routine and using it - even religiously - is still prone to failure (that's why the Catholics have Confession). So while I agree that we should preach (over and over) about that last minute hook-in check, the sad fact is that it's still going to be missed some percentage of the time. That's why SCUBA divers use the buddy system. You're supposed to check out your buddy's gear before entering the water. It's not very macho, but I suspect it's saved lots of divers. I don't know how that would translate to hang gliding, but two pairs of eyes will always see more than one.

Sorry for any interruption ... just my two cents.

I ALWAYS checked that I could visually see them or feel them in my hands before slamming that door. That was my rule.

Seeing OR feeling them isn't A rule. It's a set of choices.

But during my last few days (and in the midst of moving)...

Your routine was broken, you were probably a bit stressed. The move was a DISTRACTION.

Fortunately, a call to the locksmith is not a helicopter ride to the ER.

Lotsa times when the analogous mistake is made in hang gliding there's no chopper. It's obvious to everyone that there will be no need to rush you anywhere.

So having a routine and using it - even religiously - is still prone to failure (that's why the Catholics have Confession).

The hook-in check is not something you do as a routine or a religion. The people who understand it and make it effective are the ones who understand that they are total morons and are scared shitless of killing themselves. People who have the proper mind-set include Yours Truly, Steve Kinsley, Rob Kells, Helen, and Allen Sparks. Zack's working on it.

So while I agree that we should preach (over and over) about that last minute hook-in check, the sad fact is that it's still going to be missed some percentage of the time.

1. This has been preached (over and over) for about thirty years and it hasn't done any good.

2. This will only work if we suspend and/or revoke ratings of pilots and shoot the "instructors" who signed the ratings - every single one of which requires a hook-in check JUST PRIOR TO LAUNCH for every single flight.

3. The people who are properly trained and/or have the right mind-set DO NOT EVER miss this ANY percentage of the time.

4. People rarely foot launch alone in free flying and NEVER foot launch alone while towing. As long as just one person in the near vicinity isn't a negligent asshole an unhooked launch WILL NOT HAPPEN. Whenever I watch someone foot launch my eyes are LOCKED on that person's suspension and I'm looking to see if it's tensioned before he moves forward. When I see that it isn't - which is almost always the case - I know that I'm looking at an asshole who will very likely get in trouble at some point in his flying career.

5. THIS IS NOT A "LAST MINUTE" HOOK-IN CHECK. A minute is a fucking eternity. This is AT THE INSTANT OF LAUNCH. NOT TWO SECONDS AGO.

6. You do not EVER say "I know this gun's not loaded 'cause I just checked it a minute ago." You regard it as loaded ALL THE TIME. You point it at the ground and pull the trigger IMMEDIATELY before you point it at your head and pull the trigger. You KNOW it's still loaded and GAMBLE that you're wrong.

That's why SCUBA divers use the buddy system.

A one-on-one buddy system in hang gliding is COMPLETELY USELESS. We can't go over the side in pairs and we couldn't do anything to help each other even if we could.

However an ALL on one universal communist buddy system WILL work. But people gotta stop being less interested in finding out if the pilot has had a hang check in the setup area and more interested in him verifying his connection AT THE INSTANT OF LAUNCH EVERY FREAKING TIME and treating any failure of the pilot to perform the check and the crew's failure to catch him as a fatality.

(We kill people who have release failures down low because we consider release failures up high as normal and of no great significance.)

You're supposed to check out your buddy's gear before entering the water.

Checking the gear is not gonna put much of a dent in this problem 'cause the instance in which there's gonna be a dangling carabiner is probably one in a thousand or so. You hafta CHECK FOR THE CHECK and make sure that happens EVERY TIME.

It's not very macho, but I suspect it's saved lots of divers.

And I suspect that testosterone is one of the most dangerous chemical substances tolerated in hang gliding.

I don't know how that would translate to hang gliding, but two pairs of eyes will always see more than one.

1. One of the things that makes this issue so deadly is that the first pair of eyes is pointed in the worst possible direction to catch this failure. (If flightless Woodcocks flew hang gliders they'd have much better survival rates.)

2. There are usually half a dozen other pair of eyes around at any given launch. Let's commandeer ALL of them instead of squandering them on ribbons, clouds, and vultures. The pilot's pair is enough to take care of those issues.

Who's watching us watch ourselves?

We gotta know what to watch FOR. And it's more important that we watch for the CHECK than we do for the empty strap - EVERY TIME. And if you watch for the CHECK - EVERY TIME - you'll automatically catch the empty strap.

Sorry for any interruption ... just my two cents.

The more interruptions the better. It's totally miserable when there aren't any.
If you don't get ANYTHING else right with US Hawks at least get this one.

http://vimeo.com/16572582

password - red
2-112
http://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7600/28811055456_925c8abb66_o.png


Zack,
Help me beat up on this guy and get his head straight.
BING!!! Lightbulb!
Check for the check.
You give that command every time you're part of a crew just before the pilot launches. That's how you reprogram the crew.

So there's this Maryland Hang 1.5 who, on 2011/03/01, starts this thread:

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=21088

titled:

What you wish you'd known then?

To date it's had 61 posts and 2851 hits.

Participating in the discussion are Allen Sparks and Head Trauma.

Allen damn near killed himself twice - 1976 and 1978 - by assuming he was connected to his glider in his first two years of flying.

In the fall of 2007 he sells his Falcon to Bille Floyd - a clueless friend he's had since the dinosaur days. On 10/18 he assumes he's connected to it on his second flight and has to get both legs amputated below the knees.

On 2006/02/21 Head Trauma assumes he's connected to his tandem glider and puts his passenger in the powerlines and damn near kills himself.

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=18876
Hang glider Crash

Allen Sparks - 2010/09/07 01:03:18 UTC
Evergreen, Colorado

Oscar,

I'm very happy you weren't injured.

Helen,

Thanks for the Tad 'lift and tug' reminder.

I have launched unhooked and experienced the horror of hanging by my fingers over jagged rocks ... and the surreal result - i.e. not being significantly injured.

I am a firm believer in 'lift and tug' and the mindset of assuming I am not hooked in. It is motivated by the recurring memory of my own experience ... and the tragic deaths and life-altering injuries of good friends.
-
Allen Sparks
H4, Observer
WW Sport2 155, WW Falcon2 225

And still not one of these assholes is saying anything to fill the deadly gap that Brad Barkley's idiot instructor undoubtedly left open.

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=23177
Jean Ridge

Bille Floyd - 2011/03/20 16:28:03 UTC

Last Friday i flew Jean Ridge in Vegas,with --Sparkie-- and --Radwhacker--
Had a Blast !!
Good way to start the year; with two flights on a 220 Falcon, (in Good ridge-lift) and an even Better flight on a WW Sport ll.
Glad i left the Exxtacy home !

Had three Good take-offs and even better,(Three Real Good top landings).

When my wire-man let go of the Sport; i sprang up 30ft or more in the wind.
Felt GOOD !!

The Falcon didn't quite survive the day.(sigh)
Landed in 25 --at sun-set-- then tied the glider down; only to watch it tumble over the back of the hill after the tie-down rope broke. Looks like i'll be paying some of Mitch-es rent next month ! (Darn-It ! )

Bille

GOOD RUSH !!!

And what was I just saying about Spark, his clueless friend, and Falcons?

One hour, zero minutes, thirty-seven seconds. DAMN I'M GOOD.

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=21478
a fatal hanggliding accident in israel

yuvinb - 2011/04/10 20:26:39 UTC

A fatal hang gliding accident in Israel

Fatal - yes. Accident - no. Israel - I thought you guys were smarter than this.

I'm sad to inform that our very small hang gliding community in Israel suffered a terrible loss this last Saturday.

Yossi Tsarfaty, a relatively new H2 pilot,

No. He wasn't a pilot. A hang glider PILOT never assumes he's hooked in JUST PRIOR TO LAUNCH.

took off without clipping his hang strap, held on for a minute or so before falling to his death.

The problem wasn't that he took off without clipping his hang strap. The problem was that he took off without CHECKING that he had clipped his hang strap.

He was the last one to take off that day so he asked a non-hang glider pilot to help him.

How tragic! IF ONLY there had been a lot of hang glider pilots around to help him this NEVER would've happened!

We know now that he did not perform a hang check.

Yeah. He also probably didn't perform a rendition of "I Am The Very Model Of A Modern Major-General" from Gilbert and Sullivan's "Pirates Of Penzance" either - but how's that the least bit relevant to what happened afterwards?

This was the first flight after a four months break.

An official investigation has started, I'll try to update when we'll know better.

Ya think they're gonna look at the issue of hook-in checks? (Just kidding.)

RIP our friend.

Not that he has a whole lot of choice at this point.

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=21474
fatal accident in Israel

Ido - 2011/04/10 13:16:37 UTC
Israel

The pilot was in his thirties and had been flying for two years. He died last Saturday during launch over the Sea of Galilee.

According to initial reports the pilot had launched unhooked and made a free fall down to earth after clearing the cliff, rescue teams found the body only a couple of hours later as it was getting dark and he crashed in an old mine-field.

The specific details of the incident I believe will be published later on.

What a strange little country you have. In the US we bend over backwards to suppress as many specific details of incidents as humanly possible 'cause we're more concerned about not scaring away one potential USHGA member than we are about keeping thousands of current ones from crippling or killing themselves.

We are a small community of pilots and most of us knew him well, it's an unimaginable loss and to everyone here.

So what's your small(er) community gonna do DIFFERENTLY to keep it from getting smaller still?

God rest his soul.

If God REALLY CARED about this guy...

Allen Sparks - 2011/04/10 13:23:17 UTC
Evergreen, Colorado

as someone who has survived launching unhooked and lost a friend who launched unhooked and has a friend who is seriously disabled from launching unhooked ...

sad news indeed

may he rest in peace

and may his family and friends find peace

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=18876
Hang glider Crash

Allen Sparks - 2010/09/07 01:03:18 UTC

Helen,

Thanks for the Tad 'lift and tug' reminder.

I have launched unhooked and experienced the horror of hanging by my fingers over jagged rocks ... and the surreal result - i.e. not being significantly injured.

I am a firm believer in 'lift and tug' and the mindset of assuming I am not hooked in. It is motivated by the recurring memory of my own experience ... and the tragic deaths and life-altering injuries of good friends.

You gonna say anything USEFUL this time? (You freakin' waste of space.) I guess not - this one's not even worth the shift key.

Ido - 2011/04/10 17:47:51 UTC

I spoke today with the man (not hg pilot) who helped with launch.

He testified that the wind was very strong, that there was no hang check and as the glider was carried away from him he instinctively grabbed on to the base tube. That was the only split second when if he had let go he could have survived.

We're starting to talk about what happened AFTER he screwed the pooch by skipping the hook-in check. This may be interesting but it's not very productive.

After this he hung on for about fifty seconds, though the wind was blowing strong in this position the center of gravity is positioned quite forward so he was heading down towards the landing field, there was a feeling he might make it. He escaped the sight of the people on launch when he passed a hill and that's when he fell.

I haven't been around the sport for too long but I learned that this type of incident is one that repeats every few years, all too often.

I'm guessing he was distracted by the conditions or preoccupied for other reasons on launch.

And I'm guessing that all you people are as totally clueless with respect to the concept and purpose of a hook-in check as is the rest of this idiot planet. The hook-in check is your defense against INEVITABLE distractions and preoccupations.

With many concerns, distractions that attack you at once what more can be done to just stay focused on the primary must dos?

How 'bout this? How 'bout recognizing that THERE IS NO SINGLE MORE IMPORTANT *MUST DO* IN ALL OF FOOT LAUNCHED HANG GLIDING THAN VERIFYING YOUR CONNECTION *JUST* *PRIOR* TO EACH AND EVERY LAUNCH OF YOUR ENTIRE FLYING CAREER.

This is almost exactly a year after Yossi, myself, and several others were on this launch preparing to fly when a student paraglider had spiraled, lost control, and crashed in the landing field. He also found his death at the same place. I remember that being super sad and traumatic also to him. That day in particular he felt thankful he chose hang gliding over paragliding. Such a horrible irony is just too hard to digest.

Don't worry, you can screw the analogous pooch in paragliding too. But it's a lot easier to commit - and prevent - in hang gliding.

Thank you for your support.

You want support? Come over to this forum.

David Boggs - 2011/04/10 18:50:45 UTC
Beaumont, California

Hook in or hang on.

Real useful advice, Dave - especially just after the point's been made that if he HADN'T hung on he'd have been OK.

Diev Hart - 2011/04/10 19:29:31 UTC
Santa Cruz, California

VERY sad, sorry for for the loss of your (our) friend and fellow pilot...

I try to always launch with a tight hang strap and this wont happen...let the glider come up and fly before you run or hold it up so they are tight, then run (but always pull the glider up as part of your launch practice so you feel the tug on your leg straps...

Hey Jack! Somebody's saying something intelligent on your forum!!! Aren't you gonna ban him? Or at least lock the thread?

Al Dicken - 2011/04/10 21:00:37 UTC
British Columbia

We recently lost a new pilot in our club with only about a dozen hg'ers.

Marvin Trudeau - 2010/08/18 - the student of an instructor who's carrying a manslaughter conviction as a consequence of failing to verify that a tandem passenger was connected to the glider before he launched on 2003/03/29 (while we're on the subject).

I feel your pain, brother, and salute his life.
Condolences to his family and friends.

Yep. And plenty more condolences in reserve for the next one.

Nic Welbourn (Nicos) - 2011/04/10 22:46:43 UTC
Canberra

Very sorry to hear this.

I guess it's the local culture to not hook in until after pre-flight? Hopefully local pilots can learn from this one, hopefully we can all learn.

Yeah. They should learn what you guys have. Always adhere to a certain procedure such that any time anyone's in his harness he can be assumed to have a glider over him and be connected to it. That way nobody ever has to go through the tedium of verifying that he or a fellow pilot actually DOES have a glider over him and is connected to it JUST PRIOR TO LAUNCH.

NMERider - 2011/04/11 03:53:30 UTC
Southern California

I spoke with an Israeli friend of mine who talked to a witness who also gathered numerous reports. The bottom line is the Yossi was in a big hurry and neglected to hook in.

Bullshit. The bottom line is that neither he nor ANY of that community EVER CHECKS that he's hooked in JUST PRIOR TO LAUNCH.

He'd even recruited a PG pilot with no experience giving a hang check or wire assistance to an HG pilot.

ABSOLUTELY SHOCKING!!! Plummeting into an old mine field with a partially opened parachute was too good for him! Let's take him back up in a chopper and drop him in the same place - this time without the partially opened parachute!

Yossi held on to the glider for fifty seconds. There are several videos of the event. He did not reach for his reserve until he to too close to the ground and his partially deployed reserve was found near him. Yossi's widow was there an watched the whole thing until he disappeared from sight.

Guess what? The same thing happened at Mingus Mountain near Phoenix two years ago. That pilot was had not flown in two years...

Not that it's terribly relevant but... Bullshit - he was an active pilot and that was his second launch of the day.

...and was in a big hurry.

Bullshit.

Arizona Hang Glider Association
http://ahga.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2860
Mingus Accident Report

Randy SkyWalker - 2008/09/02 23:12 UTC
Phoenix

He was not alone on launch nor where he fell, and although many believe it was the hurry and rush situation, I know for a fact it was not that "simple". Kunio was anxious to fly and with my help we assembled his glider to ready it for launch. After thorough pre-flight on his wing and choosing to go to the north launch he took meticulous attention and time to pick his cycle and his location on the launch.

He left the primary launch line because he was impatient...

So if he goes to another - empty - perfectly safe and usable ramp he's "IMPATIENT". So if someone's checking out from the supermarket and moves to a register with a shorter line that person should be categorized as "IMPATIENT"?

...and unhooked...

Have you got a source that says he was hooked in at any time before his second launch? I don't.

...to walk his Litespeed over to the other ramp. He never did a hang check or asked his wire assistant for a hang check.

And - wouldn't ya know it - Randy was a paraglider pilot too! We REALLY need to start getting serious with these guys - kill one or two of their kids to send the message. If he had been a hang glider pilot this NEVER would've happened!!!

He too hung on too long before he let go of one hand and threw his reserve after it was too late.

He let go with one hand to toss his chute WHILE HE WAS STANDING IN THE CONTROL FRAME. He had (miraculously) climbed back into it and he would've been absolutely fine if he had just dropped his butt back and relaxed. But he stayed inside it and the glider was diving too steeply and oscillating.

His widow and child got to watch the whole horrible event.

She wasn't a widow until the horrible event was over. (And there were two kids.)

Will you (the reader) be next?

No. I'm like Rob Kells. I'm ALWAYS scared shitless JUST BEFORE I launch. So I ALWAYS verify JUST BEFORE I launch.

I hope to heck, not!!

Jim Rooney - 2011/04/11 08:25:52 UTC
Queenstown

Oh yeah... Jim Rooney, Queenstown.

The Press - 2006/03/15

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is urgently pushing for new hang-gliding industry standards after learning a hang-gliding pilot who suffered serious injuries in a crash three weeks ago (2006/02/21) had not clipped himself on to the glider.

Extreme Air tandem gliding pilot James (Jim) Rooney safely clipped his passenger into the glider before departing from the Coronet Peak launch site, near Queenstown, CAA sports and recreation manager Rex Kenny said yesterday.

In a video, he was seen to hold on to the glider for about fifty meters before hitting power lines.

Before all the Aussie method evangelists chime in (as we know they will)... please pause for a second and notice the common thread to nearly every "not hooked in" story out there...

was in a big hurry

Bullshit. That's a quote from Jonathan. It's flat out false with respect to Kunio and I'm hearing NOTHING - so far anyway - to support that from primary sources with respect to Yossi. And I'm not finding it terribly credible that anybody with the wind coming in strong like it was WOULD be in a particular hurry to get into it.

And...

1977/03/05 - Robert Sage
1977/08/19 - Dick Stark
1978/08/02 - Tim Schwarzenberg
1979/06/22 - Sam White
1984/--/-- - Gene Palmer
1985/02/-- - Larry Tudor
1988/07/03 - George DePerrio
1988/09/04 - Eric Oppie
1990/10/00 - Werner Graf
1998/01/10 - Bob Gillisse
1998/04/28 - Marc Fink
2000/04/26 - Richard Zadorozny
2001/12/05 - Terry Spencer
2005/10/01 - Bill Priday
2007/10/18 - Bille Floyd
2---/--/-- - Phil Beck
2010/01/17 - Martin Apopot
2010/11/06 - B Asher

That's a list of people who ended up embarrassed, out some bucks, bruised, battered, mangled, and/or dead because they started moving with their carabiners dangling who had and/or took all the time in the world beforehand.

I've seen plenty of other types of incidents/accidents that share this demon.

With your circle of knuckle dragger friends I'm absolutely certain you have.

Ok, on with the inevitable

Sorry for the loss.

Robert Seckold - 2011/04/11 09:40:33 UTC
New South Wales

You know Jim I saw this yesterday and was just sad that this continues to happen year after year after bloody year.

I wasn't going to comment but seeing as though you made the comment it was being in a rush is the common thread in this type of accident. Well as far as I am concerned, no matter how much of a rush you are in, if you use the Aussie method, not people's particular interpretation of the Aussie method but The Aussie Method...

Meaning YOUR particular interpretation of "The Aussie Method" - 'cause "The Aussie Method" is nowhere defined in or required by the hang gliding regulations of any country on the planet - including/especially yours.

...of treating you harness the same as you treat your batons, that is part of your glider set up before you get anywhere near launch, you won't forget to attach your harness to your glider, ergo won't launch un-hooked.

And you will also NEVER check your connection JUST PRIOR TO LAUNCH because - whatever variation of The Aussie Method you and your fellow whack jobs subscribe to the element common to all is that you must NEVER check your connection JUST PRIOR TO LAUNCH.

And you will also never check Yossi's connection JUST PRIOR TO LAUNCH because you should be able to safely assume that he's an Aussie Methodist whack job too.

You may very well forget your leg loops, helmet, or any number of other things, but at least your harness and you will still be connected to your glider.

Actually...

1979/09/23 - Clay Lockett - 44 - Simi, California - Phoenix

Apparently lost control of his glider when he slipped out of the harness. Crashed into the canyon wall one mile up.

1991/09/19 - Mark Kerns - 41 - Advanced - Years - Airwave Magic IV - Wasatch State Park - Utah - Fatal: head, chest, pelvis, leg

Experienced pilot simply forgot to put legs through leg straps of cocoon harness. He could not get his foot into the boot after launch (which has saved other pilots), was able to hold on for several seconds, but slipped out of the harness and fell 200 feet. Died instantly.

Austrian Times - 2009/08/28

A German hang-glider was killed when he plunged fifteen metres to the ground after forgetting to do up his leg straps during a flight yesterday in Tyrol.

Local police said the man, 58, took off from a mountain station near Tannheim but was seen clinging onto the hang glider with his hands and with his legs dangling down in front of him, forcing the craft to lose altitude.

They said he was killed immediately when he lost his grip and fell just 200 metres from his intended landing area.

...your harness WILL be connected to your glider but if you're not positively connected to your harness it may not matter. In fact you may be a couple of hundred feet below your harness - and parachute - and glider wishing that it wasn't.

You wanna leave the mountain with a pretty good idea that you've got the glider and the leg loops...

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=15239
Lift and Tug - identified my absent leg loop - thank you!

Norm Boessler - 2010/01/11 13:24:30 UTC
Armidale, New South Wales

I went for a fly at Mount Borah last Saturday and it turned out to be a PG comp weekend. No probs, I decided to help out with sniffing for thermals in front of the ridge for the pilots as the first thermal was proving hard to hook. Quite a few were bombing out. I decided to switch harnesses to the powered one so I could sit it out in front of the hill till thermals reappeared. Turned out to be a good move as I would have definitely have bombed out myself.

Anyway, I got in the harness and was sure that I had both legs in the loops but the Mosquito A10 is a front entry and is difficult to sight what is being stepped into but I was sure that I had them both in. I did my hang check which confirmed (among other things) that the hang loop was the right length for that harness but did not give me any leg loop confirmation. It is very difficult to visually check but I REMEMBERED stepping into both loops so why should there be a problem??

So I started the motor and did final power checks - all normal and ready. This particular takeoff is a little tricky as it combines a powered launch with a sloped hill launch. Not really a good situation as it mixes two paradigms of launch. One which is committed from the first step and one which must have abort planning. I opted to use the entire run space by starting right at the back of the launch area so I could have some abort possibility if needed. The wind was light so I was not expecting an abrupt updraft at the ridge. It was also going to be a gradual power up and not a full power launch - just enough to get good airspeed and clean separation from the hill.

Wings balanced and level, all clear, lift the glider and a quick squat and BAM - only one leg loop pulls on my tackle. This asymmetric nad squishing was IMMEDIATELY detected followed by a mental switch which condemned the launch as I spat the throttle out and put down the A-Frame with the greatest of shock and relief simultaneously!!!

Thank you ORG for giving me the 'lift and tug' final check immediately before launch.

Cheers, Norm.

And by "ORG" he means ME - not any of you Aussie Methodist shitheads.

Steve Baran - 2011/04/11 13:12:34 UTC
Chattaroy, Washington

Wow, very sad. Condolences to family and friends.

I suppose each of us, regardless of how we get ready to launch, should have thought about.... what if I launch here and I'm not hooked in?

Bullshit. What if you morons assumed, regardless of how you got ready to launch, that you weren't hooked in and actually followed USHGA regulations two thirds of the time and did the fucking hook-in check?

Maybe this should be on our preflight list.

IT ISN'T A FUCKING *PREFLIGHT* ISSUE. IT'S A FUCKING *LAUNCH SEQUENCE* ISSUE.

The decisions to make can be different depending on the flying site/conditions. Sites with a gentle slope - let go ASAP. Other sites... hard to tell. Hold on and get ready to throw the chute, let go and throw the chute, climb into the control frame and 'fly' the glider. I suppose just thinking about what one would do would reinforce hooking in.

Try this. Try treating the gun as if it's ACTUALLY LOADED EVERY TIME YOU PICK IT UP. Try thinking that you are NEVER hooked in IMMEDIATELY PRIOR to EVERY launch. Try listening to what Diev's saying.

Launching not hooked in with no plan has got to be pretty terrifying for the pilot.

Just AFTER the launch is the wrong time to be terrified. If EVERYBODY - including and especially the crew is terrified just BEFORE EVERY launch this will NEVER happen.

I know it is for everyone else as I've seen it happen - even with three pilots helping assist the launch (assisted windy cliff launch from a ramp distracted everyone).

1. These were OBVIOUSLY paraglider pilots or this would NEVER have happened. Right?
2. And the launching pilot was OBVIOUSLY in a big hurry or this would NEVER have happened. Right?
3. And he probably hadn't flown for at least four months either. Right?
4. All he / you guys had to do was let the glider float up a little.
5. Not one of you four guys has ever heard of a hook-in check. Right?

Thanks to the pilot I just bought a Sport 2 from there are two "HOOK IN" stickers on the base tube looking right up at the pilot. One simply cannot avoid seeing the stickers.

Yeah, those things are REMARKABLY effective. I don't know why the HGMA doesn't require them in order for a glider to pass certification. Think of all the lives we could save.

There could very well be signage at each launch site saying just the same "HOOK IN".

Yeah, right. Standing on a ramp a couple of hundred feet over a boulder pile won't get someone focused on the issue but a "HOOK IN" sign right next to the ramp will.

How 'bout if the sign said "Hook-In CHECK" instead - and people actually started doing them every once in a while?

Since not hooking in keeps happening - we're simply not doing the best we can to avoid this situation.

Right. We simply lack the requisite motivation.

We're working on two new flying sites right now. We'll likely fly them before the month is out. Before we do I'll make and post "HOOK IN" signs for each of the launches.

Or you could just start following the fucking rules.

Bob Grant - 2011/04/11 15:14:44 UTC
Canada

Yes, Being in a HURRY with the excitement of flight has killed so many of us. My good friend Jerome Duprey did the same thing at Lookout December 31, 1979.

1979/12/31 - Lookout Mountain - Tennessee - Jerome DuPrey - Sirocco III

Hang IV Canadian pilot, with over 600 flights. Another tragic failure to hook in by a veteran. Hung onto the control bar uprights almost to the landing area, but fell from 50-75' after a 360.

1. Neither this report nor your statement provide any indication that this guy was in a hurry.
2. And even if he was that may have had absolutely no bearing on the issue of his connection status.

RIP lost friends and we surely miss you.

Skydog Bob

David Boggs - 2011/04/11 15:30:02 UTC

Before all the Aussie method evangelists chime in

I thought it was bad form to bring that up on a obituary thread.

Jim's perpetually in bad form but where does it say that this is an "obituary thread"?

This type of "accident" is harder to accomplish with the aussie method.

Or...

Rob Kells - 2005/12

"Knowing" that if you are in your harness you must be hooked in, means that if something comes up that causes you to unhook for any reason, you are actually in greater danger of thinking you are hooked in when you are not. This happened to a pilot who used the Oz Method for several years and then went to the training hill for some practice flights. He unhooked from the glider to carry it up the hill. At the top, sitting under the glider with his harness on, he picked up the glider and launched unhooked.

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=18695
How could this accident happen?

William Olive - 2010/01/28 04:50:53 UTC

Phil Beck did this twice (or was that three times?) in a day at Hexham (Victoria) one time while foot launch aerotow testing gliders. Of course, with a swag of gliders to test fly, Phil would unclip from the glider he'd just landed, then clip into the next one to be tested.

Except, at least twice, he didn't clip in.

...a lot easier.

Then it would have to be one of the many other parts on the glider that wasn't assembled properly.

It's awfully hard to pick up a glider that isn't assembled properly nowadays.

Don't RUSH

Didnt want to miss the window

There are other days

What to do what to do ?
Recent news and awareness don't seem to work.
Check list don't seem to work...

The United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, Inc.

Standard Operating Procedure
12. Rating System
02. Pilot Proficiency System
02. Rating Requirements
03. Witnessed Tasks for Launch Skill Requirement - Foot Launch

04. Beginner Hang Gliding Rating (H-1)
-B. Required Witnessed Tasks
03. With each flight, demonstrate method(s) of establishing that pilot is hooked in just prior to launch.
-C. Tandem
01. With each flight demonstrate method(s) of preflighting glider and harness and establishing that pilot is hooked in just prior to launch.

05. Novice Hang Gliding Rating (H-2)
-B. Required Witnessed Tasks
02. Demonstrated Skills and Knowledge
-c. With each flight, demonstrates method of establishing that pilot is hooked in just prior to launch.

06. Intermediate Hang Gliding Rating (H-3)
-B. Required Witnessed Tasks
02. Demonstrated Skills and Knowledge
-e. With each flight, demonstrates a method of establishing that the pilot is hooked in just prior to launch.

07. Advanced Hang Gliding Rating (H-4)
-B. Required Witnessed Tasks
02. Demonstrated Skills and Knowledge
-d. With each flight, demonstrates a method of establishing that pilot is hooked in just prior to launch.

How 'bout we give that a try?

JJ Coté - 2011/04/11 17:11:38 UTC
Lunenburg, Massachusetts

Signs and stickers are unlikely to help. I know I have a streamer on one of my front wires (it even says "HOOK IN!" on it), but I can't remember having seen it the last couple of times I flew. Notices like that will get blocked out by the brain and fade into the wallpaper very quickly. Also, climbing into the control frame is probably harder than you might imagine. Can you do a chin-up with 25-30 pounds of extra ballast?

This is the most preventable cause of fatal accidents. Seems like it should be straightforward to make it stop happening, but I don't know whether it actually will.

People who treat the gun as if it's always loaded tend not to blow people's heads off - by accident anyway.

Michael Abdullah - 2011/04/11 17:26:27 UTC
Naugatuck

I know this is hind sight, but too bad while he was hanging on he didn't think to throw his chute. I thought I read somewhere on this forum that someone was in a very similar position and throwing their chute saved them. Once it began to deploy they let go and made it to the ground under canopy.

RIP brother.

Yeah, let's not talk about not smoking - let's talk about dealing with emphysema and lung cancer.

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=21474
fatal accident in Israel

NMERider - 2011/04/11 17:53:00 UTC

That requires letting go with one hand on a glider traveling seventy mph and wildly oscillating that will then immediately go into a death spiral the moment you let go and start pulling G forces so high your remaining hand will be ripped from the control bar in less than half a second. In other words it requires a huge leap of faith to perform the deed because you will almost immediately go into free fall. Try it sometime and tell the rest of us how it felt.

We had a pilot at Sylmar launch unhooked at Towers, which is a 45 degree weed-covered dirt slope. He let go within one second and went tumbling down the hill. He was flying yesterday. The event was a few years ago.

Find and watch a video of a dirigible breaking its mooring back in the 1920s and see how many ground crew hang onto the mooring rope and then fall to their deaths vs the crew that let go soon enough to survive the fall. The ratio will shock you if you can find a video of the old newsreel footage. If you do, please post it here. I feel that it's right on point.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_kSNWMeFXE
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_kSNWMeFXE[/video]

I've witnessed too many accidents in my life where the people involved did things that just defy all common sense. I'm not kidding about the dirigible crew members hanging on to the rope and falling to their deaths. My guess is this type of unhooked fatality will exceed the number of deployments and immediate releases by a very scary ratio.

I think it's human nature to hang on tight. We have to train ourselves to go against our natures...

Bullshit. No matter what one says, humans are gonna be human - they're gonna forget, rush, be distracted, and hang on and you're NEVER gonna train it out of them. And even if you could make a dent after ten years you'd kill the people who'd been flying less than ten years.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/skysailingtowing/message/6406
Hook in failure

Luis Filipe Barradas - 2007/12/16 03:12:38 UTC

Tad and Peter,

I experienced the same accident, but came out only with a broken wrist.

Not accounting for the reasons that allowed me to launch without hooking up...

That's what happened:

Double release (bridle under/over bar) and hydraulic winch, foot launch, hands immediately on the bar, and going up fast, at about 45 degrees angle. The first reaction is to tight the grip, not to release; by the time you blink, you are at twenty-five feet.

One hand out of the bar, and released; could not get the hand back to the bar. Glider banking now to the left. Released the grip of my left hand, on purpose, and fell.

There was not much time for the "what if". Waiting for the 'abort' would take me much higher; I'm not saying that it was the best decision, but it was the one, at that time.

Do not try this at home.

P.S. Yes Tad, you got the translation right; it would never happens if I was using the dolly to take off.

...and follow safe procedure.

Sorry buddy. If you've moved a foot forward without having verified your connection within the previous two seconds you're so fucking far outside of the realm of following safe procedure that it isn't even worth talking about. In Yossi's situation - strong wind - there was ABSOLUTELY NO REASON he shouldn't have been feeling tight suspension and leg loops the entire time through launch.

The SAFE PROCEDURE is to tether all the dirigible crewmen to something on the ground that the dirigible can't rip out - not to train them all to let go during a critical two second window.

The SAFE PROCEDURE is to make sure that no student hang glider pilot EVER - from Flight Number One on - launches without verifying his connection IMMEDIATELY PRIOR - not to let go of the glider, climb into the control frame, or throw his chute with one hand.

The SAFE PROCEDURE is called a hook-in check and was encoded into USHGA regulations thirty years ago next month - but nobody teaches or adheres to it.

Hopefully, Yossi's untimely passing saves at least one other life or at least a few limbs.

Bullshit. We've had these "wake up calls" at regular and frequent intervals since the dawn of time and they serve no purpose whatsoever. Maybe if we'd start shooting some instructors...

SkyPilot - 2011/04/12 02:17:46 UTC
Honolulu

Sad as this incident is - my heartfelt condolonences to the family and friends - we are all better pilots, hopefully, because of this. I'm constantly reminded how lucky we are to have this site and all the insightful commentary.

Yep. Just as long as people don't get too much more insightful than Jack.

http://www.kitestrings.org/post108.html#p108

Bob Kuczewski - 2011/02/18 03:49:59 UTC

For seven years I lived in the same place. In that entire seven years I NEVER locked my keys in the car. I ALWAYS checked that I could visually see them or feel them in my hands before slamming that door. That was my rule. That's what I did - religiously.

But during my last few days (and in the midst of moving), I let it slip ... just once. Fortunately, a call to the locksmith is not a helicopter ride to the ER.

So having a routine and using it - even religiously - is still prone to failure (that's why the Catholics have Confession).

A few more comments on this one...

- You're operating in injun country where the consequences of locking yourself out of the car may very likely be your scalp hanging from someone's belt.

- So you have redundancy built into the system by ALWAYS having ANOTHER key magneted inside the gas filler flap.

- You can't just leave it there 'cause the injuns are gonna find it and your scalp will thus end up hanging from someone's belt via that route.

- So as part of your setup/preflight and postflight routines you "always" secure and remove the spare before taking off and after landing.

- As you're trying to take off one time nothing happens when you turn the key in the ignition.

- So you pop the hood, find that there's corrosion on the battery terminals, and swear 'cause there's a dust cloud coming up from approaching injuns a mile and a half away.

- So you quickly grab the spare and use it to open the trunk get the tools.

- You drop the spare in the trunk where you know you won't lose it (you're way ahead of me), deal with the problem, toss the tools back, slam the trunk shut, and get the hell outta there with a minute to spare.

- The next stop you're gonna do some more recon but as you're slamming the door you're thinking more about how close your hair came to having been transferred to someone's belt than you are about your procedures and guess what?

- More injuns.

- Fortunately there's a big rock right next to the car and you smash the driver's side window and keep your hair with fifty yards to spare.

There was a DISTRACTION - a DISRUPTION of your ROUTINE. This time the same distraction that took out your secondary line of defense also took out the primary.

But you got lucky because of the environment in which you screwed the pooch, kept your hair, and only suffered relatively minor, easily reparable damage to your glider - oops - CAR.

Your primary - always feeling the key at the time you slam the door - AND secondary - always ensuring an accessible spare - procedures BOTH FAILED that time. On paper you got killed.

So do you just stop doing one or the other or both altogether? They're NOT absolutely/totally bulletproof but they WORKED for SEVEN YEARS - including that other time five years ago when you locked the spare key in the trunk after changing a tire.

Are you more or less likely to repeat the pooch screw you just completed under similar circumstances?

And when you're training new injun country drivers do you NOT train them to feel before slam EVERY time? Whose gonna keep more hair - feel and slammers or I know I've got the key in my pocket and a spare under the flap so fuckit slammers?

You ABSOLUTELY *MUST* gimme a write-up of your unloaded gun incident. That was so MARVELOUSLY ANALOGOUS to this issue.

Also need one about the time you failed to install the pin at the downtube/basetube junction. (That's a pooch screw Bob and I share but I got WAY closer to launch than he did.)

http://www.chgpa.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1153
Hooking In

Steve Kinsley - 2005/10/06 22:57:44 UTC

I am somewhat irritated at Lobsterman myself. Marc (Fink) believes, wrongly, that he happened upon me unhooked and about to launch. Just not correct. I was very much aware that I was unhooked. Told him so at the time. Story goes around and around and comes back to me now and then. So to Mark Cavanaugh's complaint that an incident is not relevant, in my case it is not even true.

But I did have an incident where I failed to hook in. At High Rock. Eddie Miller saved my sorry butt. Sure woke me up. Too bad Bill did not have a scare like that. I now have a nice DSL line through the tangle of Alzheimer's plaque. That was at least ten years ago and there is still not a blade of grass on that neuron path. So that is not how I am going to die.

What we really have to do is to vaccinate pilots, like I have been, but without the scare. How do you do that? How do you get them to internalize a procedure so that they do it no matter what distractions are present? I don't know. But I have come to feel that the communal effort to assure that pilots are hooked can be destructive of this purpose. I never intended to advocate that wire crews should not be vigilant; just that they avoid hijacking the process.

You hafta shoot nearly all the current instructors and start the students off right from Flight One.

You need to scare the crap out of everyone with respect to this issue.

The smart students will get it pretty quick 'cause they're the ones most likely to understand that they're idiots and thus are very prone to kill themselves this way.

The idiots (Holger comes immediately to mind) you'll have a much harder time with 'cause idiots NEVER understand that they're idiots and are always totally confident in their abilities to follow preflight procedures and remain immune from distraction.

The glider must NEVER start moving forward into a launch unless a hook-in check has been performed IMMEDIATELY prior. Every launch, right from the start, no exceptions.

And train them at the same time to watch their fellow students for the check every launch. Train them so that after a day on the hill their hearts will skip beats if they ever see some nut case assume and go.

We hafta train people so that when they're serving on crew they'll be vigilant about the HOOK-IN CHECK *EVERY* launch and stop expecting them to catch the dangling carabiner once every five hundred launches.

If the hang checkers and Aussie Methodists get to them before we do almost all of them are screwed. Bill's instructor was Steve Wendt and Steve Wendt has never heard of a hook-in check. After that we've gotta sacrifice the Darwin material and concentrate on people with IQs in the double and triple digits.

Start and keep 'em scared.

The British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association Technical Manual

Section 2 - Operating Procedures
Chapter 1 - General
Appendix C2 - The Pre-flight Check (cont)

Hang Gliding
For Hang Glider pilots the memory aid and check list order is almost identical - just a few minor changes.

Will Geordie Have His Cat Aboard?

W= Wind and Weather
Check:
- Wind direction - Is it shifting around?
- Wind strength - Is it varying much? Is it satisfactory for your level of experience? Will it remain so?
- Visibility - Will the visibility remain satisfactory?
- Weather - Any rain approaching, any signs indicating likely turbulence?

G= Glider
Give your glider a quick 'once over' to confirm nothing has altered since your DI.
Check
- Quick release points
- Batten elastics
- Tip sticks
- Under surface zips and inspection points
- Luff lines not caught under battens

H= Helmet
Check:
- That you are wearing one.
- That it fits snugly and will not drop over your eyes.
- That it is fastened - and won't fall off.

H= Harness
Carry out the hang check. This is accomplished in one of two ways;
a) Lying Down (preferred way) : With assistance from the nose man lie down and check:
- You are clipped in properly and your karabiners are locked

Yeah, definitely make sure those karabiners are locked - both of them. We've lost so many pilots who took off with unlocked karabiners.

- Swing back and forth to check that clearance above the base bar is sufficient (about a fist)
- Your harness is worn properly and is comfortable
- Your harness straps are not twisted
- Your legs are through the leg loops
b) Stand Up Method : Stand up and, holding on to the front wires, lean forward to tighten the straps.
Turn your head and check:
- You are properly clipped in and the karabiners are fastened
- The harness is worn properly and seems to be comfortable
- The straps are not twisted
- Your legs are through the leg loops.
NOTE: This method does not allow you to check that you are clear of the bottom bar.

C= Controls
Check:
- Vb set for take off.

A= All Clear
Check:
- Your take off path is clear - nothing to trip you or wrench your ankles
- No bushes, posts etc. or roving people/livestock within leading edge range
- No gliders or people about to appear mysteriously from below the brow, on their way up
- Airspace above, in front and below you is clear from other air users and will remain so during your take off sequence
- No one is about to overshoot their top landing and need the airspace you are about to occupy

You are now ready to launch.

Right.

You can now be ONE HUNDRED PERCENT *CERTAIN* that you are hooked in and ready to go 'cause you just did a hang check (and verified your clearance if you did the good kind) before checking and, if necessary, adjusting your VG, inspecting the runway surface, and looking for stray bushes, pilots, wuffos, cows, hikers, and launch divers.

And if you had to kill a little time fiddling with your VG (or radio or camera) and wait for the stray bushes, pilots, wuffos, cows, hikers, and/or launch divers to clear YOU ARE STILL READY TO LAUNCH - 'cause, hell, you were absolutely positive you were hooked in and ready to go a minute or two ago. Right?

So have a GREAT FLIGHT and I'll catch ya in the LZ later for a few cold ones.