instructors and other qualified pilot fiends

[Tad Eareckson]

http://www.willswing.com/support/manuals/
Manuals - Wills Wing

Wills Wing - 2021/02/06

Manuals

These documents are formatted in Adobe's PDF format for cross-platform compatibility and printing. Download Adobe PDF Reader.

Error
Provided file /home/willswin/public_html//wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Manuals_20150610.xlsx does not exist!

The 'AT Type Hardware Assembly Diagrams' document is a collection of general diagrams and applies to the HP AT, Super Sport, Spectrum, and Sport AT models.

Manuals for hang gliders not listed above are not available in online format, but may be ordered through your dealer or directly from us. We have manuals for most of our past production gliders in stock.

70G-1000 MANUAL - GLIDER OWNER/SERVICE EA $14.92

Batten diagrams for our hang gliders are not available in online format, but may be ordered through your dealer or directly from us. We have batten diagrams for many of our past production gliders in stock.

70G-5000 BATTEN DIAGRAM - SPECIFY MODEL EA $11.25

These motherfuckers have pulled all of their PDF glider manuals offline so they can SELL you PAPER copies. One giant leap for hanggliderkind. Real class act. Following in the footsteps of Tim Herr making the pilot rating requirements unavailable to non paid-up members. Also of Rob Kells who was a friend to every pilot he met. Note that Moyes has not yet found it necessary to sink to that level.

Hell, Steve's the current u$hPa President - to Matt Taber's VP. Probably picked that tip up from Tim as a courtesy.

These:

Alpha - Condor - Cross Country - Duck - Duck 2 - Eagle - Falcon 2 - Falcon 3 - Falcon 3-4 - Fusion - Harrier - Harrier II - HP 170 - HP II - HPAT - RamAir - Raven - Skyhawk - Spectrum - Sport - Sport 2 - Sport American - SST - Talon - U2 - Ultra Sport

I have downloaded. Get in touch with me and I'll let you have them at the old price.

This tells us just how desperate Wills is to stay afloat. And I'll tell ya sumpin' right now...

Gil Dodgen - 1995/01

All of this reminds me of a comment Mike Meier made when he was learning to fly sailplanes. He mentioned how easy it was to land a sailplane (with spoilers for glide-path control and wheels), and then said, "If other aircraft were as difficult to land as hang gliders no one would fly them."

It won't work.

Zack C - 2012/06/02 02:20:45 UTC

I just cannot fathom how our sport can be so screwed up.

No, it's not screwed up enough. Let's add a little more in the way artificially generated frustration, expense, delay, barriers to the mix and see if we get even better results. Keep on doing what you do best.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=63906
Hang Gliding and COVID-19

Leading Edge - 2020/12/06 00:01:19 UTC

Fitting that the insult would be followed by yet another 737 MAX analogy. How many MAX's that crashed were flown by pilots who were trained to fly 737s by first getting tons of actual time flying a 737? How many MAX's that crashed were flown by pilots out of 3rd world countries who learned to fly video games instead of 737's?

So moronic and despicable that one doesn't even know where to begin and I thought it needed to be archived here.

Angelo Mantas - 2020/11/20 16:09:09 UTC

This comment is so ignorant and wrong I'm not sure where to start.

On one of Leading Edge's previous posts in that thread.

[Tad Eareckson]

Joe Gregor - 2006/01

SUMMARY REPORT:
2005/10/01 / approximately 14:00
Whitwell, Tennessee
52-year-old male, H-3
Wills Wing Sport 2
High Energy Tracer
Charlie Insider
SSE at 5-7 mph; nearly straight in and smooth

A new intermediate rated pilot participating in his first hang gliding competition launched from a modified cliff-launch site and became separated from the glider seconds after launching. The pilot fell approximately 300 feet into mature hardwoods and died immediately due to severe blunt-force trauma. Witnesses state that the pilot was asked by several people just prior to launching if he needed a hang check, and he responded in the negative.

Conditions: The accident flight was initiated from a SE-facing cliff-launch site. Winds were SSE at 5-7, essentially straight in and light.

Logbook: The accident pilot held a USHGA H-3 rating (obtained in March, 2005) with the following special skill signoffs: AT, FL, PL, ST, and TURB. Detailed logbook information is not available, but still the vast majority of his time and training had been obtained via aerotow. The accident pilot had reportedly just discovered mountain flying, having logged roughly 12 flights at four different sites.

Medical: There were no known preexisting physical conditions or illnesses prior to the accident flight. The accident pilot appeared to be in good spirits, although a bit nervous as it was his first hang gliding competition.

Synopsis: The accident pilot - who was reportedly eager to get into the air - carried his glider to the launch point and set it down tail to the wind. He walked out to launch to look at conditions and was told they were fine. At this point no one had yet launched. A call for wind dummies was made, and the meet director was assessing conditions while awaiting volunteer non-competition pilots to arrive and perform the first launches. The accident pilot checked his harness points (parachute handle, leg straps, hook knife, etc.) assiduously. At least one witness stated that the accident pilot appeared a bit nervous both in this situation and before, while setting up his glider. When he went to his glider to get ready, one pilot who had been talking with him said, "Be sure to do a hang check." The accident pilot spent some time under his glider while it was turned around. He then lifted it, turned 180 degrees to face the ramp, and was met by a side wire crew. At this point his team leader told the accident pilot, "Do a hang check." The wire crewman on the right side reported that, after subsequently setting the glider down, the accident pilot started adjusting his VG rope and talking to the crew about how to give him feedback.

The accident pilot picked up his glider and proceeded to the launch point. Several pilots present at the scene reported they checked his hang point and it looked like he was hooked in. Several pilots present at the scene reported that there were four or five other individuals who said, "Do a hang check," or "Have you done a hang check?" In no case was it reported that he responded directly.

Conditions were pronounced fine and the accident pilot cleared his launch. He launched using the grapevine grip and the glider dove as soon as he put weight on it. Two videos of the launch clearly show that he rotated his hands to the beer-bottle grip as soon as he started running and the glider lifted.

The glider disappeared from view but soon reappeared going nearly straight up, reached an apex, stalled, yawed to the side, and went back down nearly vertically. Witness reports and later review of two videos taken of the launch indicate that the accident pilot had lost his grip on the glider as soon as it began pulling out from the dive. He was carried on a trajectory that sent him past the trees below launch and it was estimated that he fell approximately 300 feet. He died upon impact.

Airframe: Damage to the glider is consistent with mild impact and recovery from a tree landing. Hang strap and carabiner were both found in good condition and disconnected from one another. The parachute, a PDA-22 manufactured by Free Flight, was found in good condition still inside the deployment bag.

Analysis: No electronically recorded flight information (GPS or barograph) was available for analysis in this accident. As a result we are left with eyewitness accounts and post-crash damage analysis in order to determine what likely occurred in this accident. Sadly, the probable cause in this incident seems relatively certain.

A post incident continuity check was performed on the accident pilot's harness and glider. The glider hang strap and the carabiner were both found intact with no sign of stress. A photograph, taken just before the accident pilot launched, showed that the carabiner was actually clipped to the pilot's harness under his arm. The accident pilot was flying a Sport 2 glider with a High Energy harness. The normal white Wills Wing hang strap is a non-standard length. As a result, he had a black extension strap hooked to his glider's hang strap. The black extension strap was long enough and of the proper color to make it appear, upon a cursory inspection, that the pilot was actually attached to his wing. The black colored carabiner did not stand out against the dark colored harness and could have easily been overlooked. Several pilots reported seeing him hooked in, indicating that they had mistaken the black extension strap for his harness main strap.

The accident pilot had experienced a failure-to-hook-in event two weeks prior to this accident while attempting flight from a local ramp-launch site. He was challenged at launch by another pilot who, grabbing his nose wires, saw that the accident pilot wasn't hooked in and said: "Do you want a hang check?" The accident pilot refused this and three additional increasingly emphatic offers to perform a hang check before he was told to examine his carabiner, to discover that he was not yet hooked into his glider. The accident pilot never made comment on this incident at any time after his successful ridge-soaring flight.

Probable Cause: Failure to hook into the glider prior to launch. Failure to complete a full and complete hang check just prior to launching.

Discussion: Launching is one of the most dangerous phases of flight for a hang glider pilot. This is doubly true if the glider is mis-assembled prior to flight. For a hang glider, the harness serves the same function as the cockpit and fuselage of a conventional aircraft. Ensuring that the glider is airworthy requires a preflight check that cannot be completely performed while the glider is still partially assembled. Until the harness is attached to the wing, the glider is still only partially assembled. Performing a final hang check just prior to flight is the only way to ensure that the glider is completely assembled and airworthy. The final hang check must therefore be performed meticulously and religiously. Pilots who, for whatever reason, delay assembly or partially disassemble their glider (unhooking and remaining in the harness) while waiting at launch are at increased risk for launching a non-airworthy aircraft.

Having and maintaining a strict routine is of extreme importance to any pilot. The accident pilot may have been nervous due to his inexperience with mountain launches and his relative lack of competition experience. The latter is an important point because competition has a tendency to increase the tension and the distraction level (even though this was a low key "fun" meet.) Additionally this was a new site to this pilot, and he was flying with some new and less-than-familiar electronic equipment. All of these factors can serve to break a pilot's routine. Pilots flying under conditions that break their normal routine must exercise vigilance to ensure that all required checks are successfully completed prior to flight.

The accident pilot had trained and flown primarily via aerotow. He was relatively new to mountain flying and his background may have been a factor in this accident. The routine developed for performing a pre-flight safety check is different when launching from a dolly via aerotow vs. launching from a mountain site - increasing the potential for the pilot to make a serious oversight impacting safety of flight. Pilots experienced and confident in one launch method or maneuver should be cognizant of the fact that their skills and abilities may not be at the same level when performing a new launch method or maneuver.

Recommendation: Always perform a full and complete hang check just prior to launching. Pilots should make full use of their wire crew, when available, to assist in evaluating their aircraft (glider and harness) for airworthiness prior to launching.

Techniques, such as the so-called "Aussie technique" of completely assembling the glider before pre-flight and not removing the harness until flight is complete, can be used to eliminate one common failure mode - that of unhooking from the glider and failing to properly hook back in prior to launching.

Another technique that can be used to eliminate critical errors is the religious use of checklists and standardized procedures. Over the century-long course of manned-aviation history, maintaining a strict routine and standardized procedure has proven a potent safety multiplier. Hang glider pilots experience a much wider range of conditions during take-off, approach, and landing than do most pilots of conventional aircraft. Additionally, the individualist nature of our sport does not lend well to efforts at standardization. This puts hang glider pilots at significantly increased risk compared to their fixed-wing brethren, and this risk must be managed intelligently and professionally. Since our aircraft are so simple, use of a written checklist has proven unnecessary for most pilots. This, unfortunately, makes us vulnerable to making critical omissions when conditions cause a break in our individual routine. Alarm bells should go off in our heads when we note a break in our routine. One way to manage this risk is to limit changes to equipment, flying sites, venue, and flying tasks to one element at a time. If you decide to fly a new site, for instance, avoid doing so with a brand-new harness or wing.

One important technique for managing risk at launch is to always make efficient use of any available ground crew. The pilot in command bears sole responsibility for the safe conduct of his or her flight. Thus, performing a full and complete hang check just prior to flight is the sole responsibility of the pilot in command. In discharging this responsibility, pilots should make maximum use of available ground crew to help ensure that whatever checks they routinely perform have been successfully completed prior to flight.

Recommendation: Event organizers should encourage all pilots involved in an event to demonstrate that their aircraft is airworthy just prior to flight as a condition for launching during the event.

While the pilot in command bears sole responsibility for performing all required checks, accurately judging conditions, and conducting a safe flight, it behooves everyone to do what they can to help fellow pilots achieve these goals. The wide range of operating conditions and flying equipment, the self-imposed lack of standardized operating practices, and the understandable pre-occupation we all have ensuring the safe conduct of our own flight, makes this an extremely difficult task for the community. Organized events, however, provide a more controlled and constrained environment, one where procedures could be implemented that would significantly enhance safety. While several people reportedly challenged the pilot to confirm that he had performed a hang check, and had glanced at his equipment to see if everything looked OK, no one demanded to observe a full and complete hang check as a condition of helping him launch. Had such a demand been made, and the accident pilot complied, this accident would never have occurred.

Photos: Dean Funk
http://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51057200171_7f7bde8330_o.png


http://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51056473138_21710b947f_o.png

C.J. Sturtevant

A previous Master's Tips column by Rob Kells (page 56 in last month's issue) also addresses dealing with distractions during pre-flight, and offers suggestions on how to ensure that pilot and glider are firmly connected before committing aviation. It's worth rereading.

That one was a massive historical event.

- It would be hard to pick a more horrifying launch at which to make that mistake.

09-05019
http://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2928/13891086719_3ba7e65d38_o.png


http://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2933/14074543322_a183cc3a23_o.png
10-05124

- 2005 Tennessee Tree Toppers Team Challenge - Day One - Wind Dummy Flight One. The place was packed, Pagen was there, probably a world record for the most eyewitnesses to a fatal FTHI incident. People were permanently traumatized. If no flying careers were ended then and there you can bet your bottom dollar that many were diminished and foreshortened. And I one hundred percent guarantee you that a good time was not had by all at that low key "fun" meet.

- At least two Kite Strings contributors had spent some quality time with Bill (Priday) - Allen and Yours Truly. And I've had three flights from that launch - well prior to the incident.

- It left u$hPa's future existence in question and they had to start jumping through all kinds of hoops to pretend they were a competent and responsible recreational aviation organization - the Rob Kells article, the Paul Voight video, this infuriating pretentious vacuous waste-of-bandwidth excuse of a report.

But there was tons of real-time chatter about this one on the Capitol Club rag (and it's still up) so they couldn't just pull facts outta their asses before the statutes of limitations had kicked in.

But half a year shy of a decade post impact we get this:

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=32681
Tandem crash in LV (speculation thread)

Mark G. Forbes - 2015/03/31 03:10:32 UTC

Based on our past experience, comments in club forums and venues like this one can and will be cited in court. As an example, a comment as innocuous as "Let's all keep an eye out for each other out there" was used to argue that every pilot present at a launch site had a duty to prevent a launched-unhooked fatal accident. The pilots at the site didn't know that the pilot in question was intent on launching; they thought he was just walking over to the ramp to line up first. And then he ran off the ramp, the glider flew away and he didn't. And then we got sued.

TOTAL FICTION Mark feels like pulling outta his ass and NOBODY SAYS ANYTHING. I guess a big part of that is because nobody with fewer than six fresh cups of coffee in him could make it through more than a third of Joe's report without nodding off.

And note that Joe doesn't drop off the screen until 2016/02/28 04:44:55 UTC. So that's a little shy of eleven months of overlap. If you've done a legitimate job on a legitimate report with legitimate countermeasure recommendations do you listen to that shit and not say anything? And/Or do you not tune into any of the wires after an eleven year old tandem "student" gets splattered along with his "instructor" south of Vegas in what I'd say was the most significant incident in the world history of the sport?

I can only conclude that there's no way in hell that Joe was ever anything more/other than a u$hPa damage control operative - big fuckin' surprise. Predecessor of the late Mitch Shipley. We can't even remember what it was like to have an R.V. Wills or Doug Hildreth. And I still can't understand how the new and improved version individuals like that manage to live like that and look into mirrors.

And Pagen and all the Chattanooga, Henson, Manquin, Capitol assholes...

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=32681
Tandem crash in LV (speculation thread)

Mark G. Forbes - 2015/04/01 03:46:29 UTC

Among ourselves, we agree (via the waiver) that we understand we're engaged in a risky sport that can cause serious injury or death. We each agree that we are personally and individually responsible for our own safety. If we have an accident and get hurt, we agree in advance that it is solely our own fault, no matter what the circumstances might be. We sign at the bottom saying that we fully understand these things, that we accept them, and that we know we are giving up the right to sue anybody if an accident happens.

Those are fundamental tenets of our sport. We are all individually responsible for ourselves and our safety. We need to see and avoid all other pilots, avoid crashing into people or property and use good judgment when flying. If someone doesn't agree with those principles, then they don't need to be involved in our sport.

Great job defining who does and doesn't need to be involved in OUR sport, Mark. Looks like we're now down to the best of the best of the best. How much longer are you guessing our sport will survive this level of refinement?
---
2021/04/07 14:00:00 UTC

http://www.kitestrings.org/post12250.html#p12250 - continuation

[Tad Eareckson]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3h1uyn_zTlo
Quest Air Hang Gliding - More Than A Feeling

TheHangskier (Casey Cox) - 2012/04/11

Visit Quest Air in Groveland, Fl and enjoy not only the great flying, but also the pool, hot tub, yoga classes, clubhouse, camping, volleyball, hiking, lake swimming, canoeing and fishing.

Located only 30 miles from Disney World in Orlando, Florida, you can't miss the adventure of a tandem flight

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=25795
5yo Son Got A Tandem

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3h1uyn_zTlo


I had previously pulled eight stills...

12-03806 - 13-03827 - 14-04008 - 15-04421 - 16-04428 - 24-10700 - 38-14522 - 49-21014

from this video but decided it needed a more extensive rework. 854x480 - full rez displayed.

Casey went extinct 2016/02/26 00:27:50 UTC - over half a dozen years ago.

Quest morphed into Wllotree / Paradise Airsports.

Mitch Shipley...
- 21 year old son Trevor killed in traffic "accident" 2009/07/24.
- Rooney enabler - 2011/01/31.
- Rearranged Paul Edwards face on his landing clinic scooter tow winch 2012/09 in the Henson Gap LZ.
- u$hPa damage control point man for 2015/03/27 Jean Lake.
- Demolished himself around 2019/10/01 at Potato ("Tater") Hill (North Carolina) blowing his approach and Plan B landing and vanished forever.

I'd known and flown with him in this neck of the woods. Dark Side of the Force fer sure but still kinda sad.

01-00400
- 01 - chronological order
- -0 - minutes
- 04 - seconds
- 00 - frame (30 fps)

01-00400

02-00513

03-01205

04-01206

05-01611

06-01612

07-02121

08-02302

09-02613

10-03102

11-03516

12-03806

13-03827

14-04008

15-04421

16-04428

17-04515

18-04516

19-04929

20-05310

21-05912

22-10203

23-10322

24-10700


http://www.chgpa.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3107
I have a tandem rating!!!

Lauren Tjaden - 2008/03/23 22:20:15 UTC

When Jim got me locked out to the right, I couldn't keep the pitch of the glider with one hand for more than a second (the pressure was a zillion pounds, more or less), but the F'ing release slid around when I tried to hit it. The barrel release wouldn't work because we had too much pressure on it.

25-11428

Anyhow, the tandem can indeed perform big wingovers, as I demonstrated when I finally got separated from the tug.

26-11517

27-11725

28-11814

29-12014

30-12201

31-12309

32-12310

33-12703

34-13307

35-13803


Quest geophraphy below in next three frames.

36-14303

37-14409

38-14522

39-14523

40-14723


Outboard being trailered through in background.

41-14925

42-15001

43-15208

44-15402

45-15427

46-20001

47-20320

48-20525

49-21014

www.questairhanggliding.com
Producer: Casey Cox & Reflection Film Productions - www.reflectionfp.com
Music: Boston - "More Than A Feeling"

[Tad Eareckson]

http://nf104.com
Bob Smith (1928 - 2010)
11 Unwanted Record for Chuck Yeager

http://www.chuckyeager.org/nf-104-crash/
NF-104 CRASH

[Tad Eareckson]

http://www.chgpa.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=8051
Mishap -- Initial Report

Jeff Eggers - 2022/03/04 14:05:12 UTC

CHGPA Members - I'm saddened to write that we lost Ward Odenwald in a fatal accident yesterday (Thursday) at Woodstock. The mishap occurred at approximately 3:10 pm when Ward's hang-glider impacted a tree while setting up to land in the bridge/cornfield LZ. Local residents responded to the crash and activated emergency medical response and local sheriffs removed the glider from the area. Sheriffs notified Ward's family late Thursday evening. John Middleton and Rich Heigel are both in touch with Ward's family. We will get the club further details as they become available. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and all of Ward's friends at this extremely difficult time.

Anthony Lloyd - 2022/03/05 18:44:42 UTC
---
Last edited by A.Lloyd on 2022/03/07 13:33:19 UTC, edited 1 time in total.

Mark Cavanaugh - 2022/03/07 08:06:25 UTC

Family and friends of Ward who may be checking into our forums for the first time might be unaware that we are deliberately not posting very much at the moment.

That's intentional. We don't want to add to their burden. And a forum is a poor substitute for meaningful conversations.

But Ward has many friends here. So please know that he and you are in our thoughts.

http://www.chgpa.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=8053
Ward's Service

Bacil Dickert - 2022/03/11 11:02:31 UTC

It was a nice service. I went to Ward's house afterwards because I felt it was the right thing to do, to personally talk to Arlene, Ward IV, and Alexandra each alone individually. And I did. It was the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my life, aside from legally disconnecting from 35 years of my life the day before. And each of them were very appreciative of me taking the time to express my condolences. I left my number w/ Arlene, offering her answers to any future questions she, Ward IV, or Alexandra might have.

Rich Hiegel - 2022/03/10 23:01:14 UTC

It was a really nice service..and I was especially happy to see the all the pilots there. I know the family appreciated it..Rich

Mark Cavanaugh - 2022/03/12 02:30:10 UTC

Bacil, I just have to say : Thank you for visiting with Ward's family!
I simply couldn't handle it, the funeral alone was so darn hard.
And heck, you and Rich were THERE when it all went down.
So kudos to you for making that effort, and I hope that you are both doing ok (ish).

Jeff Eggers - 2022/03/04 14:05:12 UTC

CHGPA Members...

Oh, ya gotta be a CHGPA Member to able to read about, have any interest in this incident?

I'm saddened to write that we lost Ward Odenwald in a fatal accident...

Accident?

...yesterday (Thursday) at Woodstock. The mishap...

Mishap?

an unlucky accident: although there were a few minor mishaps, none of the pancakes stuck to the ceiling | the event passed without mishap.

Neither of those characterizations is doing it for me.

...occurred at approximately 3:10 pm...

Gliders were sinking out. We know that at least two humongous airtime flyers were already down. Wind at the field was zilch gusting to negligible. The relevant terrain is such that nobody in the entire history of Woodstock hang gliding has ever had the slightest problem making a field from the downstream eighty percent of that ridge - save for those who got blown over the back. (Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.)

...when Ward's hang-glider...

Since when did we start hyphenating hang-gliding?
And please don't trouble yourself to provide any details of equipment beyond "hang-glider".

...impacted a tree...

Just his glider? Where was Ward while this was happening? I can recall three tree encounters over the course of my career.

1982/06/26. High Top LZ, maybe 38°17'48.33" N 078°34'26.88" W or close by. As a Two under Mark Airey's incompetent instruction and supervision. Comet 165 stuck and it and pilot got to the surface unscathed.

1988/07/02. Original/North Woodstock launch - 38°52'40.36" N 078°26'29.66" W. Comet 165, cleared the slot, turned SW to max out ridge lift, too slow as things turned out, got turned back towards the ridge by a powerful thermal and dumped. Back into the trees until a White Oak trunk stopped my port wing. Was sure I was about to become toast when looking at the boulders I was about to plummet into but got away with severe bruising which necessitated my being stretchered out. (But I was able to start doing a pathetic imitation of walking the next day.)

1997/04/13. Woodstock. Overly aggressive effort to cross Edinburg Gap. Had to park HPAT 158 in/between two trees - Sycamore and Tulip. Shortly after stabilizing the relevant Tulip branch sheared off. Got off unscathed with an airframe that took everything and was pretty much totally destroyed.

Note that glider and rather mediocre excuse for a pilot at most of the times were involved in all three.

...while setting up to land...

He was setting up to land from at or below local treetop level? Seems like we have some serious problems with this one.
Nobody's EVER hit a treetop while setting up to land. One hits a treetop substantially after fucking up setting up to land.
And do note the conspicuous absence of any mention of any flavor or degree of air movement.

...in the bridge/cornfield LZ.

38°52'43.30" N 078°28'16.37" W

Local residents responded to the crash...

Crash or mishap. Pick one.
While the two or more hang glider "pilots" stood around with their thumbs up their asses.
Who gives a rat's ass? My interest in the events of the day ended with the fatal impact with the surface.

Hang gliders don't CRASH into trees. They clip, fly into, get snagged by, land in them. They crash onto surfaces below or near them after contact. Somebody show me a video of a hang glider crashing into a tree. Or just find me a legitimate report. (They used to actually exist back in the day.)

...and activated emergency medical response...

The points at which this incident became and ceased being an emergency had passed no more than a minute or two prior to the point at which any calls went out.

What did you, Rich, possibly other flyers do? Two or more of you flyers just stood around waiting for the cops and ambulance to show? Remember what happened at Mingus when Kunio Yoshimura went off unhooked? Not buying it.

There were probably some "local residents" out there watching landings and chatting with you. Ward hit the trees between the field and river after turning onto final too low.

Also possible that he turned onto final too low over the extensive wooded area off the NW / normally upwind end of the field. That would've made access to what was left of pilot and glider more problematic and maybe a better fit for this crap excuse for a narrative. Windsock could've been indicating a SE trickle and the field slopes slightly uphill on that heading.

On the other other hand that's one helluva long walk from where people would normally be parking and breaking down and it's tough to believe that even a long-time-in-mothballs Three would be setting up an approach from a distance like that - not to mention such a lethally low altitude.

...and local sheriffs...

Multiple local sheriffs for Shenandoah County?

...removed the glider from the area.

What area? Can't be bothered to give us anything more than an unspecified local area?

What glider? We don't even get to hear what it was he was flying?

Area? Ward died when his hang-glider impacted a tree. If he'd died when his hang-glider impacted a tree he and his hang-glider would've still been in the tree and we'd sure as hell have heard mention of that recovery operation. But he and his hang-glider were removed from the AREA. He died when he hit the ground - broken neck and/or internal injuries. And I'm not buying that any medical examiner would've determined otherwise on that short notice.

Sheriffs notified Ward's family late Thursday evening. John Middleton and Rich Heigel...

Hiegel.

...are both in touch with Ward's family. We will get the club further details as they become available.

OK, I'll start holding my breath.
FURTHER details? I somehow managed to miss the details previously released.
The club? One has to be a member of your shitty little club to qualify for receipt of any information about this fatal crash?
Who's "We"? And what qualifications does one need to have in order to qualify for the "We" classification?
Oh, please... Don't trouble yourselves. I'm already overwhelmed by the flood of useful information flowing from this one.
Why aren't they available NOW? Was there:
- a track log still awaiting downloading?
- some video recording - from:
-- Ward's glider
-- another still airborne glider
-- an iPhone from a landed glider or local spectator
yet to be viewed and posted?
So you know that there ARE further details that ARE presently being withheld. By whom? With what possible justification?
Bullshit. You never never did or even had the slightest intention of ever doing so.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and all of Ward's friends at this extremely difficult time.

OUR thoughts and prayers? Can I have a list of the names and qualifications of those who authorized you to speak on their behalf? But do keep up with the prayers. That's about all participants in this sport have really had going for them for at least 98 percent of its history.

Mark Cavanaugh - 2022/03/07 08:06:25 UTC

Family and friends of Ward who may be checking into our forums for the first time might be unaware that we are deliberately not posting very much at the moment.

No shit.

Oh. So there was consultation on what Jeff would post prior to 2022/03/04 14:05:12 UTC.

Define "we". List the names and qualifications of the individuals authorized to make decisions regarding the (permanent) suppression of virtually all useful information of this critical incident which ended the life of a highly experienced and accomplished flyer at a mid Two level level launch and LZ in zilch conditions.

The implication being that after this moment we'll start getting some useful information and analysis of this incident.

If they're checking into your forums for the first time it's BECAUSE they're seeking information about what happened and why - dickhead.

And if they have the slightest degree of decency to them they'll want every molecule of relevant information published to minimize the probability of a rerun for another flyer and his or her family and friends. And if they don't then fuck 'em. They're part of the problem and hinderances to solutions. But back in the era before this sport went fully and irretrievable down the Timothy Herr / Mark G. Forbes sewer we had Doug Hildreth working his ass off for years publishing top quality incident reports and analyses. And quote me one ONE individual of any family or friend stripe who voiced the slightest negative reaction to any detail of accurate and conscientious publicly available reporting.

I thrived on those reports. Helped counter the crap I was being fed through USHGA's instruction and Pilot Proficiency System. And one can see the value of the reporting by following the printed history of USHGA/u$hPa degrading and totally gutting it as time went by.

That's intentional.

No shit.

We don't want to add to their burden.

Again. Who the hell is "we"?
If anything you're adding to their burden by providing NOTHING beyond what they already know.
Name some Boeing 737 victims' family members who were ever on board with Boeing's refraining from adding to family members' burdens by not identifying the issue and eliminating it.

And a forum is a poor substitute for meaningful conversations.

All of them - save for this one - are...

http://www.ushawks.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=1081
Platform towing /risk mitigation / accident

Sam Kellner - 2012/07/03 02:25:58 UTC

No, you don't get an accident report.

...now - by design. And you've been extremely instrumental and effective in making that one so.

Name one advancement ever achieved in any facet this shit heap of a flavor of aviation in the half century of its sordid history that arose from a meaningful conversation that wasn't documented in print and/or imagery. I'll be standing by and holding my breath waiting for one of you sleaze bags to come up with something.

And while you're at it name one thing Ward, Rich Hiegel, any of you bereaved players ever contributed to the sport that advanced its competency, safety, technology. I'm guessing tons of stuff but nobody will ever hear about ary of it 'cause anything in publicly accessible print is a poor substitute for meaningful conversations.

But Ward has many friends here. So please know that he and you are in our thoughts.

If he does/did... Then fuck him. Your lot is worthy of zilch beyond total contempt.

How 'bout me, Mark? Am I ever in your thoughts? This guy totally and terminally screws the pooch in brain dead easy circumstances and he's totally and permanently the greatest thing since sliced bread. I work my ass off to expose this crappy sport's negligent, incompetent, corrupt approach to aviation and after an active flying career that spanned the years from 1980 to 2008 as an expression of your gratitude none of you motherfuckers has ever heard of me before.

I heard that a fatigued starboard side wire blew at its bottom/inboard end as he was cranking around to final. (Probably work hardened in the middle as a consequence of him performing Wills Wing's lunatic preflight load test beyond ten or fifteen flying sessions.) There's NOTHING that we've had subsequent to this one that eliminates this scenario.

Bacil Dickert - 2022/03/11 11:02:31 UTC

It was a nice service. I went to Ward's house afterwards because I felt it was the right thing to do...

Tell us how you feel about the reporting we're getting on this one.
- Also feel it's been the right thing to do?
- Doesn't matter 'cause you had a front row view and already know everything of any relevance, value, importance?

...to personally talk to Arlene, Ward IV, and Alexandra each alone individually. And I did. It was the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my life, aside from legally disconnecting from 35 years of my life the day before.

Divorce?

And each of them were very appreciative of me taking the time to express my condolences.

That's all you did. Express your condolences. Yours were so much more valuable than other friends' condolences 'cause you had a front row seat for the crash.

We haven't heard anything about any discussion of the incident. And hang gliding DOES have a history of non pilot family members registering, posting, engaging flying communities regarding the incidents.

This is a lie as far as I'm concerned.

I left my number w/ Arlene, offering her answers to any future questions she, Ward IV, or Alexandra might have.

Which is damned close to admitting that Arlene, Ward IV, and Alexandra had questions regarding the fatal incident and would've appreciated more than the total zilch published by the CHGA Damage Control Committee.

And we never heard that any of them ever got back to you so it's a damn good bet that none of them ever did.

And how 'bout the people who fly these things? Have you ever offered to answer any of their questions? Get some useful information out to help reduce the probability of another dead pilot and devastated family?

I'm saddened to write that we lost Ward Odenwald in a fatal accident yesterday (Thursday) at Woodstock. The mishap occurred at approximately 3:10 pm when Ward's hang-glider impacted a tree while setting up to land in the bridge/cornfield LZ.

That's it - date and crash time, launch and landing sites, pilot name, hit a tree on approach, died instantly on impact of an unspecified tree somewhere in the vicinity.

u$hPa flavor.

03/03/22 – Ward Odenwald

Ward Odenwald (71), an USHPA intermediate (H3) pilot, USHPA member since 1980, suffered fatal injuries hitting a tree during a landing approach.

Gawd, I'd assumed he'd been a Five. Airtime requirements were a lot lower back in the day.

I'd landed there a few times. On a good day with lotsa gliders everyone (not going XC) will be landing at the primary - 38°52'50.19" N 078°27'20.66" W. This one is WAY more convenient - crops permitting. And in early March crops are gonna be totally permitting. Leave/Shuttle one car at / back down to the field...

I'll wager that's EXACTLY what we're seeing in the (current) 2019/10/13 (Sunday) Google Earth satellite imagery.

http://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53884304485_aa2164f72b_o.png


Parked retrieval vehicle at 38°52'36.98" N 078°28'10.94" W, windsock showing straight in on the LZ side of the road. (I looked for gliders on launch and/or airborne but came up empty.)

And in the current Street View imagery we can see a couple windsocks drooping from the fence on the LZ side of the Woodstock Tower Road.

And a forum is a poor substitute for meaningful conversations.

About 2.3 years now at this point. Show me one molecule of evidence that all of your countless meaningful conversations on this one have made this sport one molecule's worth of improvement.
The identified players I've known offline in this one...
- Rich Hiegel's always been a highly regarded and respected total douchebag.
- Bacil I've always kinda liked but he's never stood up for anything that's needed standing up for.
- Mark also likeable but he devolved into a total Industry tool.
- Crossed paths with Ward a few times early in my game. Doesn't take much to put the balance of all one's accomplishment deeply and permanently into the red.

http://www.chgpa.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=8054
Remembering Ward Odenwald

This guy was very intelligent and accomplished. But the sport's always been a sewer with respect to theory, equipment, procedures, compliance with legitimate SOPs... Somebody name me one action Ward ever undertook to address shit like:
- unhooked launches
- spot landing requirements and contests
- perfected foot landings
- Joe Greblo
- easily reachable bent pin releases
- infallible standard aerotow weak links
- pro toad bridles
- Skyting theory
- Jim Keen Intellect Rooney
- tandem discovery flights
- Arys Moorhead

And here's a thought kids... Publicly and indelibly state that if a flight of your own ever terminates in your brain becoming permanently inoperative then fuck the presumed sensitivities of all family and actual and presumed friends and insist that every harvestable dust particle of relevant information and evidence - including and especially what was recorded on the GoPro - be made fully and permanently available to the public. (Possibly excepting Timothy Herr, Mark G. Forbes, Davis Straub, Jack Axaopoulos...)
---
2024/08/01

[Tad Eareckson]

http://forums.chgpa.com/viewtopic.php?t=3799
GPS - Is it worth the $$ in region 9

Ward Odenwald - 2009/03/19 17:25:47 UTC

After 24 years of watching the cloud streets and raising my children, I'm finally transitioning back into this remarkable sport. When I left, my Ball vario was just fine (its all we had) now the new instruments look like they require advanced double degrees in physics and computer science. I'm surprised that they don't offer in-flight movies. I'd like to hear from those of you that fly with a vario linked to a GPS tracker. How has it helped your flying at local sites? Has it added miles to your XC flights? The companies that sell them claim that theirs will get you back into that lost thermal. Is this true? I'd appreciate any feedback.

Thanks in advance!

http://forums.chgpa.com/viewtopic.php?t=3878
Woodstock 5/10 landings

Ward Oldenwald - 2009/05/12 15:07:36 UTC

Here's one graybeard's 2 cents/armchair opinion on bring it down on those roller coaster days. When turbulence becomes a major descriptor of the flight, flying a figure eight pattern at the downwind edge of the field (always turning towards the LZ with your eyes focusing like a laser on where you want to touch down) will enable one to adjust for wind drift, lift and sever bursts of gravity. Based on yours and Red Baron's posts about just how intense the air was during the earlier flights, would it have been better to pick a field farther away from the ridge?

Rich Hiegel - 2009/05/15 12:24:22 UTC

Woodstock can be a very difficult location to fly in high and even slightly crossing winds. The river below has cut multiple ridges in the side of the mtn and has caused rolling hills close to the river (landing area). If you choose to launch in such conditions 20+ be awear that you will encounter tubulance at launch and below if the winds are not straight in...A good rule of thumb is to climb the tower to check on wind conditions since winds do and will roll and eddie straight in at launch. Also, I firmly believe in the standard aircraft approach in such conditions. I have seen to many pilots hit trees in turbulant conditions doing figure 8's at the end of the landing area..practice your aircraft approaches in a large familiar field and get use to adjusting your base leg and final turn based on conditions ( refer to Dennis Pagens book on flying skills)...RH
P.S. Woodstock is a wonderful place to fly and the ridge supports great flights to the north and south and over the back..

Rich Hiegel - 2009/05/16 14:04:17 UTC

Which glider is not as important as the judgement of the pilot in control..believe me I have made some judgements that did not always work out well for me and almost every single close call or incident I have had in Hang gliding resulted in flying in high wind conditions..I'm not saying not do it but add it into your risk caculation before flying and realize it adds another dimension to the day. I have in the past launched into high wind conditions knowing that I would not want to land in those current conditions (Many x-c days are like that)..but by the time I was flying in conditions such as that I had hundreds of flying hours practicing my landing techniques..Still with all that said, I've been bitten a time or two !...Also the months of April, May and early June typically have the strongest thermal conditions of the year..and on those high lapse rate days expect turbulance low to the ground..especially on final..If you are forced to land on such a day at mid day ( strong thermals w/strong winds 20+ @ launch) I would advise to use the method that Dennis Pagen outlines in his book (aircraft approach)..and it would be advisable to add more speed into your final approach..RH

http://forums.chgpa.com/viewtopic.php?t=4699
Re: Pulpit 1/30

Ward Odenwald - 2011/02/03 16:35:26 UTC

I also use the figure 8 approach for the same reasons mentioned by Bacil but was "flamed" for suggesting it during an earlier discussion...

http://forums.chgpa.com/viewtopic.php?t=3878
Woodstock 5/10 landings

...so I'd like to see more discussion about the pros and cons of different techniques. For me, staying above the LZ field and focusing on the spot where I want to land while burning altitude is the safest approach. Above ~1500 ASL, 360 degree turns and then transition to figure 8s at the down-wind edge of the field with reversing turn directions so that you never take your eyes off of the landing target.

...I'm finally transitioning back into this remarkable sport.

Pity it's not thought and treated as a flavor of a legitimate aviation - rather than a "sport". But remarkadble... Definitely.

Here's one graybeard's 2 cents/armchair opinion on bring it down on those roller coaster days.

How 'bout proofreading/preflighting before you commit. Or even postflighting a day or two later.

Aren't the members of your audience supposed to have been trained and certified on how do this shit by their u$hPa certified instructors and ratings officials before they go up in these environments? And if their certification is legitimate shouldn't their procedures by uniform and such that they don't need and won't benefit from opinions voiced on local club controlled forums?

I treat every landing as if it's gonna go roller coaster within the next couple of seconds.

Until you're on final and shift to upright in preparation for a perfectly timed and executed landing flare. (Not that we're seeing you doing this real prematurely but it is what tends to get taught and perpetrated a lot.)

Also I treat every foot launch as if I neglected to hook in - within a couple seconds of commitment. See any problems with those approaches to the issues?

When turbulence becomes a major descriptor of the flight, flying a figure eight pattern at the downwind edge of the field (always turning towards the LZ...

I guess on 2022/03/03 turbulence was zilch - 'cause as best as we can tell from the part of day's acivities we were permitted to hear you never even got anywhere close to the edge of the field.

How 'bout being OVER the LZ? When I do approaches I'm always over the field or its edge for downwind and base.

...with your eyes focusing...

...like a laser on where you want to touch down)...

How's that been working for ya lately, Ward? If you had to focus on something maybe the treeline at the downwind end of field would've been a better choice. And even if not it couldn't have been any worse.

This is total smoking gun.

...will enable one to adjust for wind drift, lift and sever bursts of gravity.

I typically start doing that when I arrive a couple hundred feet over the center of the field.
How well can you do that with your hands on the control tubes at shoulder or ear height?

For me, staying above the LZ field and focusing...

...on the spot where I want to land...

How do you select these spots where you determine you want to land? Want differentiates them from other spots we typically find in cattle pastures and fallow corn and soybean fields?

...while burning altitude...

Funny we tend not to see conventional aircraft taking that "approach".
And one thing we know for sure regarding the end of your 2022/03/03 flight...

...is the safest approach.

Tell us about the other approaches you've tried and/or observed others executing. Do you have any statistical data and/or anecdotal information...

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=27086
Steve Pearson on landings

Steve Pearson - 2012/03/28 23:26:05 UTC

I can't control the glider in strong air with my hands at shoulder or ear height and I'd rather land on my belly with my hands on the basetube than get turned downwind.

...to support your position?

Above ~1500 ASL, 360 degree turns and then transition to figure 8s at the down-wind edge of the field with reversing turn directions so that you never take your eyes off of the landing target.

Do that for just two seconds and your landing target may have moved out of range. The results are never pretty.

How 'bout the downwind treeline? That ever get your attention? I'm guessing not - based on the results of your final final approach.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://forums.chgpa.com/viewtopic.php?t=7349
Woodstock, Thursday (9/28)

Ward Odenwald - 2017/10/01 01:00:09 UTC

I landed in a newly harvested cornfield south of takeoff and the "Shenandoah Valley Farmer Hospitality" was the very best! Once the glider was secured, I walked to the farmhouse to introduced myself and soon after Matt insisted that I take his 4-wheel drive cart back to my glider and ~ 30 minutes later, his brother, Rick, came out with cold water and helped me with directions for Walt's and Lucas' retrieval.

North of takeoff. Next SE river bend protruding SE in towards the ridge downstream from the primary's. 2017/09/28 - 38°53'32.23" N 078°26'42.57" W.

Ward Odenwald - 2017/10/01 01:08:18 UTC

Last set of images showing Walt just after takeoff and my landing.

http://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53893687385_50beb4b25c_o.jpg

Walt is the little white speck appearing halfway between launch (directly below Ward) and the primary. The bridge field a little short of which Ward is gonna die a wee bit over four years and five months from now is 38°52'43.30" N 078°28'16.37" W - at two o'clock from his helmet.

http://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53894431995_9d75dbb7b6_o.jpg

38°53'32.23" N 078°26'42.57" W

Why do we need - or want - a drag chute in these circumstances? (The wheels (present) we can use.) And why does the CHGA Damage Control unit conspicuously make no mention of its deployed presence or absence? (Along with everything else of conceivable substance of course.) I think we have a smoking gun here.

http://forums.chgpa.com/viewtopic.php?t=7859
Moyes Litespeed RS4 and Wills Wing Sport 2 gliders (SOLD)

Ward Odenwald - 2020/11/08 21:55:06 UTC

Reason for selling: The Sport 2 has helped me learn how to detect and react to subtle changes in thermal lift. To me, the difference between climbing in a thermal and making it to cloud base. However, once every five years (regardless of my good/bad behavior) I deserve a new toy. Five years ago, it was a kayak and today it's a Sport 3.

http://www.willswing.com.mx/sport_3
Sport 3 - Wills Wing Mx

Ward Odenwald

I am extremely happy with the glider. The Sport 3 arrived in Pittsburg last Monday, Pete test flew it on Wednesday and I had my first flight on Saturday. Wow! To say the least, I can't say enough about the quality of its workmanship and performance! I spent Thursday and Friday getting used to its set up and break down as well as taking a close look at everything and I'm impressed. I believe I looked at every visible sail stitch and not one of them remotely looked out of place!

http://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53893373802_3751fe16eb_o.jpg

Pete Lehmann.
Can't identify the site (yet).
Wheels.

http://forums.chgpa.com/viewtopic.php?t=8012
Woodstock, Friday Nov 19

Ward Odenwald - 2021/11/26 21:58:40 UTC

One more view highlighting the Massanutten and the Sycamore Trees lining the banks of the Shenandoah's north fork.

http://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53894335982_66fcb7be9b_o.jpg

The nearest visible SE protruding river bend is one downstream from the primary's (38°52'50.16" N 078°27'20.41" W). See above (38°53'32.23" N 078°26'42.57" W).
No wheels.

http://forums.chgpa.com/viewtopic.php?t=8047
Woodstock tomorrow, March 3rd

Ward Odenwald - 2022/03/02 12:16:10 UTC

Forecasts are looking good for Thursday afternoon. Any interest?

Rich Hiegel - 2022/03/02 12:17:14 UTC

Im in Ward.. thinking about getting there around noon.. Rich

[Tad Eareckson]

http://forums.chgpa.com/viewtopic.php?t=6707
Using a drogue chute: impressions from two flights

Ward Odenwald - 2015/07/19 17:29:39 UTC

Recently, I started using a drogue chute to lower the glide performance of the LiteSpeed during landing. It's a WW chute attached to a Moyes matrix harness and as most already know, I prefer landing on my wheels (damaged/old knees) but will use the legs when the grass is long or the LZ is rocky. The Wills Wing manual does an excellent job of describing how to use it and details important safety issues for it correct use. What follows are several impressions and mistakes that may help others:

As you can see from the photos, I should have stowed my towline before deploying. As clearly stated in the manual, loose lines (including zipper lines) can become entangled in the chute lines. I was lucky that this was not an issue during both landings.

The photos also show that I was lucky in another way, in that the keel mounted camera was just far enough back so as not to catch the chute as it moved from one side of the keel to the other. When I attached the camera, the distance to the chute was not considered.

While setting up my final approach, the photos also show that during turns the chute shifts toward the direction of the turn. In other words, after initiating a turn the chute moved from near center or just off to one side to the lower wing side. This does not create a control issue when making low bank moderate airspeed turns. However, if you are using the turn to burn off excess altitude - when you exit the high bank turn your air speed has gone up significantly and so has the drag force or pull of the chute!! As a result, the chute is now pulling your center of gravity/hips toward the lower wing side and a significant amount of muscle plus reduced airspeed is required to level the wings. After a reread of the manual, there was no direct discussion of this. Next time, I’ll deploy after burning off the excess altitude and use wide turns after deploying.

Highland, with its wide-open fields, is a great place to learn how to get the most out of a drogue chute. I don't plan on using it for all landings but want to become proficient in its safe use especially for approaches into tight XC fields.

I hope this helps,
Ward

P.S. The ordered photos start with a view of my favorite landing location.

http://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53896762360_b80771a0fe_o.jpg

http://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53896762365_3ebe7f0a43_o.jpg

Recently, I started using a drogue chute...

Can we call it a DRAG chute? That's the probable origin of the word and we use it to increase drag / decrease lift-to-drag ratio which only gets up to around 15:1 in topless bladewings which have stall speeds in the high teens.

...to lower the glide performance...

But not the stall speed.
Can you visualize any situations when lowered glide performance might not work well to one's advantage?

...of the LiteSpeed during landing.

- Sorry, I have yet to stumble across a report of you ever NEEDING to lower the glide performance of the LiteSpeed during any landing.

- Define "landing". We all know when it ends. When does it begin? How does APPROACH fit into this discussion?

- How's that been working out for you lately?

- Here's a thought... Don't deploy the stupid drag chute before you turn onto final. For any situation in which it's likely to become useful. Which we shouldn't be getting into in the first place.

- And note that once it's out it's out. It butchers your airspeed, performance, control authority and there's no way in hell you'll be able to get any of it back in an approach situation. If I could wave a wand and forever banish them I'd do it in a nanosecond. Jonathan might be a bit miffed at me 'cause he's gotten pretty good at using them safely, appropriately, effectively. But:
-- the injury he sustained because of one put the balance permanently in the red
-- I don't believe the absence of that option would cramp his XC style one iota's worth

http://www.kitestrings.org/post5882.html#p5882
20-30326
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2860/13650864904_5d87fcc970_o.png



(Anybody else think we're seeing something of a pattern here?)

I think the primary reason you put this bullet in your Russian roulette cylinder was your refusal to get solid Downwind-Base-Final approaches - which was pretty much all I ever did after freeing my mind from the deadly u$hPa crap with which they tried to indoctrinate me early in my high flying career.

Another reason... A new glider toy with which to play. And from the manufacturers' perspective... Something else to sell to their gliders owners.

Mike Meier - 2005/08/~18

Years ago we didn't even put backup hang loops on our gliders (there's no other component on your glider that is backed up, and there are plenty of other components that are more likely to fail, and where the failure would be just as serious), but for some reason the whole backup hang loop thing is a big psychological need for most pilots.

Another backup loop. Solves nonexistent problems while causing potentially and actually deadly ones.

One time in the course of my flying career I maybe could have benefitted from a drag chute deployment.

1998/09/19, Fisher Road launch (40°05'19.52" N 078°12'58.88" W), HPAT 158, Wills Wing outboard pneumatic wheels, light SE, thermal. I'd made to the (SW) end of the finger ridge - Ritchey Knob. Couldn't maintain to make it back (to launch or the designated LZ). 40°03'37.85" N 078°15'25.16" W looked like a good option but the SW runway option was rather imperceptibly - from a bit over - downhill. Started realizing that approaching turn onto final.

Pulled in to get it down and succeeded in getting it down on the wheels. But that translated to screaming along very efficiently in ground effect forever. In hindsight now the thought now occurs to me that extending my base (there'd been no downwind) a bit (to SE) and coming back to get on final after a couple hard fast slipping turns might not have been a bad idea. And I sure wouldn't have turned down an offer of a drag chute. But I finally ran out of steam with maybe forty yards to spare.

But things were happening so fast it's questionable that I would've been able to safely deploy a chute / could've afforded the time and effort involved in deployment.

And I:
- had lost the ridge because the air was too light.
- should've realized that:
-- I'd probably be finalling downhill to some extent
-- the strength of a possible tailwind would've been negligible

And hell... When I was working at Kitty Hawk in '82 when I'd start sinking out at the North Bowl of Jockey's Ridge I'd turn my Comet 165 downwind and flare and stop on my feet just fine halfway up the slope to save myself a lot of climbing. (But of course foot landing a hang glider uphill with even a fairly strong tailwind is a total no-brainer anyway.)

It's a WW chute attached to a Moyes matrix harness...

Also designed to reduce drag to the max possible extent. And not to mention your helmet.

...and as most already know, I prefer landing on my wheels...

Wheels are for fags.
Yeah, but if you do that you'll never be able to get your flare timing perfected.
What if you have to land in a narrow dry riverbed with large rocks strewn all over the place?

...(damaged/old knees)...

They won't get any older now.

...but will use the legs when the grass is long or the LZ is rocky.

If the grass is long or the LZ is rocky it's not an LZ - it's a bail-out. And if people insist on using such areas as LZs then a lot of them are gonna get hurt. Period. Look at the LZs used for commercial and club operations. They're ALL Happy Acres Putting Greens with which sailplanes would have zero issues.

The field in which you'd intended to land on the last flight of your career was neither rocky nor overgrown with grass. It was humongous, pool table flat, as soft a place to fall on as one could reasonably ask for.

Here's a thought... Practice with it at altitude when you have nothing better to do. Get comfortable with deployment, work all the bugs out, stow it, never use it again until you find yourself in a situation in which you need it. And then don't deploy it until after you've completed your turn
onto final. Also never get into a situation in which you need to deploy it. If you do get into a situation in which you need it it's 'cause you screwed the pooch. So don't screw any pooches. And we've never heard of you being in a relevant situation.

I treated all of my landings - which were virtually all in Happy Acres Putting Greens in the same region in which you flew - as if I were coming down into turbulent postage stamps. Tight fast DBF's, often with hard slipping turns from base to final to minimize use of available runway. It was a fun way to end a flight of any length in a primary or after sinking out from an XC.

And did the Ridgely crowd ever bother to tell you about the 2012/06/06 Paul Vernon wheat field landing...

http://www.kitestrings.org/post6007.html#p6007
10-12926
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2919/14039022660_d24ac7c976_o.png


...which left him permanently vegged? (It's a good bet that if you teach people HOW to land in tall grass and crops they'll become a lot less likely to AVOID landing it tall grass and crops.)

The Wills Wing manual does an excellent job of describing how to use it and details important safety issues for it correct use.

Gotta love the irony.
The assumption being that it has a correct use.
Apparently not that excellent or effective a job.
Did it say anything about WHEN and WHEN NOT to bring it into play? Apparently not.
Lemme amend that a little. Don't use it and don't get into a situation in which it might make a significant positive difference.
Funny I can find neither a drag chute nor a manual for one on the current (Mexican) Wills Wing website.

What follows are several impressions and mistakes that may help others:

You're making potentially lethal mistakes you don't even recognize as mistakes every time you go up at Ridgely and often when you come down anywhere.

Any thoughts on CHGA's actions to weld an iron lid on the mistakes you made which cost you your life? With service above and beyond the call of duty from your great bud Rich Hiegel?

As you can see from the photos, I should have stowed my towline...

That wasn't your towline. That was your BRIDLE. And be thankful that it WASN'T your towline. Ridgely was never real concerned about ensuring that the tug's weak link was better than what was on the back end of the rope.

...before deploying.

And what did you gain by deploying on this one? (And we know what you lost by deploying on your last one.)

Probably should've lost another thousand feet before deploying. What's the point of getting a nice performing glider if you're gonna butcher half its performance with this accessory that's designed precisely for that function?

As clearly stated in the manual, loose lines (including zipper lines) can become entangled in the chute lines.

Here's a thought... Keep the chute lines out of the equation.

I was lucky that this was not an issue during both landings.

Being trapped in a pod for landing shouldn't be a big fucking deal in any halfway sane landing environment.
And we all know when your drag chute related luck permanently ran out.

The photos also show that I was lucky in another way, in that the keel mounted camera was just far enough back so as not to catch the chute as it moved from one side of the keel to the other. When I attached the camera, the distance to the chute was not considered.

You didn't consider the issue. And apparently neither did Wills Wing. Despite the fact that in this era everyone and his dog is flying with a keel mounted GoPro. (Although I am having a hard time seeing a camera being much more of an issue for the chute than the keel itself - i.e. zilch.)

While setting up my final approach, the photos also show that during turns the chute shifts toward the direction of the turn. In other words, after initiating a turn the chute moved from near center or just off to one side to the lower wing side.

Here's a thought. The airspeed felt below the wing increases from the low/slower wingtip to the high/faster wingtip. It's weathervaning a little.

This does not create a control issue when making low bank moderate airspeed turns.

Unfortunately I don't do low bank moderate airspeed turns when I'm in my pattern. I crank and bank as if I'm coming into a postage stamp. It's safe and fun and preps me for a situation I should never get into. And I can do a tight field. And with all your effort and practice with your drag chute you were unable to bring it down into one of the two designated humongous Woodstock Happy Acres Putting Greens.

However, if you are using the turn to burn off excess altitude...

If I'm using a turn to burn off excess altitude it's the one going onto final and it shouldn't be a critical one.

...when you exit the high bank turn your air speed has gone up significantly and so has the drag force or pull of the chute!!

How could there possibly be a problem with a pull of the chute working against your airspeed and glide ratio? When you're trying to get down safely in a field so restricted that use of a drag chute would be highly advantageous? (Holy shit.)

As a result, the chute is now pulling your center of gravity/hips toward the lower wing side and a significant amount of muscle plus reduced airspeed is required to level the wings.

See above about deploying a drag chute prior to being leveled out low on final. Not to mention at least very nearly into the field.

After a reread of the manual, there was no direct discussion of this.

Maybe they didn't anticipate anybody being clueless enough to deploy a drag chute prior to being on final in the field or close fucking enough.

Next time, I'll deploy after burning off the excess altitude and use wide turns after deploying.

I can hardly wait to start practicing with one of these things and mastering the techniques.
Holy shit.

Highland, with its wide-open fields, is a great place to learn how to get the most out of a drogue chute.

Highland, with its wide-open fields, is a great place to work on getting your flare timing perfected.

It's also a great place to practice DBF approaches:

- but if you're turning onto final at two hundred feet it's not doing you much good for your ability to put it down safely in a tight field when you're flying XC

- which will reduce to zilch the probability that the safety of a future landing will ever depend upon the deployment of a drag chute

One would think that Highland, with its wide-open fields, would be a great place to land a high performance blade wing without flying into a taxiway sign and breaking arms in three places in sled conditions. Nevertheless we had a carrier pilot do just that. And the real tragedy was that he came up short of his intended spot.

Yep. Hard to go wrong practicing emergency procedures in environments with zero similarities to the ones in which the equipment might me of some possible use. Shark repellent in Death Valley. See how great it works?

Maybe you should be thinking more about getting the least out of a drag chute. But:
- you never did.
- thanks bigtime for writing your own fatality report six years plus seven and a half months prior to actual event. Crystal ball? Time travelling?

This is a lot like getting the most out of your automobile brakes. The goal is to get the LEAST out of them.
- safe, moderate, steady, fuel efficient speed
- monitor traffic, lights far ahead
- foot off the gas immediately when:
-- traffic ahead slows or stops
-- the next light turns yellow
- downshift / employ engine braking
- lightly, smoothly apply braking as needed

The difference is that you tend to be safer at low (ground) speeds in cars and at reasonably high speeds for aircraft.

I don't plan on using it for all landings but want to become proficient in its safe use especially for approaches into tight XC fields.

Oh really. Tell us about your approach on final at 2022/03/03 20:10 UTC to a pancake flat cleared field area with two thirds of the runway potential of the paved Ridgely one.

And what's the worst that could possibly happen in what is virtually always the most critical phase of hang gliding (or any other flavor of aircraft) flight as a consequence of lowered glide performance?

IF you do one of these you DON'T do it for APPROACHES. You do it when you're IN the field. AFTER you've gone onto final and are clear (enough) of the downwind trees or powerlines.

This:

07-1014
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8604/16469500399_1f72de17ae_o.png


is what you need to be planning to do for ALL landings in zilch to moderate air for EVERY landing. And it takes very little in terms of proficiency and/or currency. I haven't flown for close to sixteen years but I could still pull one of those off in my sleep.

And fuck all the u$hPa instructors - Joe Greblo in particular - who teach anything else at Two level and beyond.

And if you're using wide turns after deploying you haven't come anywhere close to burning off excess altitude. And I don't think you have a workable concept of the meaning of excess altitude. Probably not minimum altitude either - based upon the results of the last approach of your life.

Tell us about some of these tight XC fields into which you've landed. I have yet to stumble across a reference. And if you were unable to put it down in the vastly superior of the two brain dead, sled accessible Woodstock fields on 2022/03/03 I can't imagine you surviving many XC landings in actual tight fields. And when I was flying XC in some of the same areas you were I don't recall being unable to keep brain dead easy stuff in comfortable range at all times.

How's that working out for ya? You just wrote the fatality report that your ol' flying buds went to so much effort to suppress.

It doesn't have a safe use. It seriously compromises the performance of your glider. Become proficient in staying out of situations requiring its safe use.

I hope this helps,
Ward

Yeah Ward, this helps. More than you could possibly imagine. Just not quite the way you intended. And the costs of your glider - and life - outweighed the benefits. 'Specially with your ol' Capitol Club buds - including and especially Rich Hiegel - working their butts off to suppress any useful information on this incident.

Yeah, but not for you. And one of the things your highly valued CHGA friends are worried about is your family suing Wills Wing outta existence. Reminds me of Arys Moorhead and the stupid Wills Wing outboard wheels - the axle of the port one of those which snagged the tow bridle after things started going seriously south on Kelly Harrison's total clusterfuck of a tandem thrill ride operation.

And let's reverse roles here. You're standing in the bridge field as Rich comes up a bit short 'cause of his landing safety enhancing drag chute. Are you gonna go off the reservation and blow the whistle? Like I did very shortly before your re-entry into the sport? Which I one hundred percent guarantee you would've ended your flying career too?

Nah, they liked you dead a lot better than they would've alive if you'd taken that route.

I haven't flown since the end of the season prior to the one of your re-emergence. Crossed paths with you a few times back in the day, knew of and was impressed by your accomplishments and seeming expertise, was saddened and mystified (as was the intent of your great CHGA / u$hPa / Industry buds), finally decided to take a shot at cracking the code. And succeeded beyond my wildest dreams.

And even if I'm totally off the mark - which I don't believe for a nanosecond - it doesn't matter. You still wrote a major book on great ways to kill oneself in the approaching, landing, equipment, mindsets departments.

P.S. The ordered photos start with a view of my favorite landing location.

Shouldn't have been. It should've been a great place to learn and practice techniques for landing in demanding circumstances but I always had a blast approaching and parking in the Woodstock primary with minimum consumption of runway - and zero interest in moronic spots.

And we know what suddenly became your least favorite landing location during the last few seconds of your flying career - and life.

A lot of what you achieved up over the ridge and valley outmatched what I was able to accomplish in the years that I had but the end of the flight phase... Stunningly misdirected and clueless. Not to mention the total crap you were flying with and doing at the Ridgely operation.

And note we never had any of that crew emerge from the woodwork in response to your sad and totally needless passing.
---
In the course of composing this one I've found/realized that this:

http://forums.chgpa.com/viewtopic.php?t=7349
Woodstock, Thursday (9/28)

Ward Odenwald - 2017/10/01 01:00:09 UTC
2017/09/28
http://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53894431995_9d75dbb7b6_o.jpg

is the last record we have of Ward deploying his drag chute at the end of any flight anywhere. He makes no mention of it and his stills of his flights either don't include the landing or illustrate in no uncertain terms that it wasn't deployed.

I'm thinking he may well have gotten a bit tired of this thing butchering his performance and control on approach and cutting into his fun factor. But his second to last high flight (also at Woodstock) was 2021/11/19 - three and a third months prior - so maybe time to get things outta mothballs, blow the dust off, do a refresher with the drag chute.

That's a reasonable hypothesis, his buds are gonna maintain the code of silence until their deaths, we have no shortage of unpleasant and ugly drag chute incidents, Ward had documented it butchering his control authority, it's designed to butcher the kite's glide performance, so let's go/stay with it. When most of us hear hoofbeats we shouldn't immediately start thinking about zebras.

Also - for what it's worth - Ward never published that after a considerable test flying time with his chute he'd started having serious second thoughts on the issue.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://forums.chgpa.com/viewtopic.php?t=8054
Remembering Ward Odenwald

Rich Hiegel - 2022/03/10 23:04:57 UTC

A Tribute to Ward

It's been several days now since the accident and I've had a bit of time to reflect on Ward as a pilot but more importantly as a good friend and a brother in flight.

I first met Ward in 1978 we both had new gliders, I just acquired an Eipper Flexi 3 and Ward just purchased a new Seagull 10 meter. We were setting them up for the first time at the SE training hill outside of Thurmont Md. We hit it off right away, and started talking about flying High Rock Md, in those days our main cliff launch mountain site. Ward was one of the first hang gliding pilots to go cross country routinely from High Rock. I can remember many days sitting in the landing field and hearing radio reports about how far down wind Ward was from launch. It wasn't long before we both had purchased Seedwing Sensor 510's from Bob Trampenau and I would soon be joining Ward on many cross country adventures.

I can recall several but the one that sticks out in my mind is the flight we made together climbing and circling together in the same thermal to cloud base high above High Rock. We attained an altitude of over 7000ft before preceding downwind. Moments later Ward came over the radio to share with me we were now directly over Camp David ( in those days Camp David was restricted only to 5000 ft ceiling..today you can't fly over it at all) I'll never forget him pointing out the helicopter launch pad at Camp David and the two Presidential copters that were taking off bringing then President Regan back to Washington and the White House. We ended up flying close to 50 miles together that day landing past Sykesville Md.

I also remember the magical day we climbed above 10,000ft on our eastward track back towards Baltimore from High Rock. It was an incredible day, one that happens only a few times in your flying career. I still have the photo that Ward took at cloudbase that day the valley laid out below in a checker board pattern and the next cloud we were flying toward clearly in view.

When Ward made the decision to leave hang gliding in the late 80s I was at a loss but understood the need for him to put other parts of his life first. What amazed me was what he did a few days later, showing up at my house with his new Sensor 510 C on top of his car telling me he wanted me to have it as a gift. I loved that glider, and when I flew it, I felt it was in recognition of him.

There are not too many people in my life that I respected or admired more than Ward. I enjoyed many flights with him soaring many miles together in the same thermals. One of my main reasons to start flying again was to try and recreate some of those experiences again but unfortunately, it was not in the cards.

If I could leave you with a few insights on Ward for those that didn't know him well. Ward was extremely intelligent, a renowned scientist at the NIH and a very careful and insightful pilot but also a very accomplished pilot with many thousands of hours in an hang glider and several decades of flying experience. We talked many hours about our families, he was extremely proud of his family and rightly so. Nearly every time we flew together Ward would update me on is wife Arlene and his son and daughter, since our families we so similar both of us having kids nearly at the same age going through the same chapters in life at nearly the same time. We would spend many hours dissecting the weather, cross country routes, gliders and their performance etc...

He was also very competitive, in the 80s when we flew together it would inevitably turn into an impromptu competition of who could out fly the other. When I left the sport I still would continue to drive retrieval for Ward on his cross country flights. I would find him usually far from his launch point with that Ward smile on his face relishing the day and the result of an XC flights conclusion.

I never thought I would be expressing this publicly, but I will miss him more than I can say. His sudden departure has cut me deeply and will be with me for years to come.

Rich Hiegel #26209

Tad Eareckson - #32674

A Tribute to Ward

An ACTUAL Tribute to Ward would've been a legitimate, competent, thorough incident report. And if Ward would've been at odds with that then fuck him. Having his dead body and destroyed unidentified glider extracted from he trees short of the LZ would've been plenty tribute enough.

It's been several days now since the accident...

Accident? I looked that up in the dictionary. Cite me another example of a hang gliding accident. I've never heard of any before and if I had I'd have immediately exited the sport.

...and I've had a bit of time to reflect on Ward as a pilot...

Me too. And I shortly came to the conclusion that while he was a very accomplished flyer he never came anywhere close to being a pilot.

...but more importantly as a good friend and a brother in flight.

Of yours? Couldn't agree much more.

When Ward made the decision to leave...

Leave the ridge and head out to the LZ? Do continue.

...hang gliding in the late 80s I was at a loss but understood the need for him to put other parts of his life first.

So then why were you at a loss?
When I first heard about the incident I was at a loss. A fair bit less so now.

What amazed me was what he did a few days later, showing up at my house with his new Sensor 510 C on top of his car telling me he wanted me to have it as a gift. I loved that glider, and when I flew it, I felt it was in recognition of him.

And now you're pissing all over him by working to bury for all eternity as much critical information as possible about the most important flight of his very extensive hang gliding.

There are not too many people in my life that I respected or admired more than Ward.

I'm sure you did. Now name some contributions he made to fix any of the lethal issues with which the sport has bristled since it's emergence about five and a half decades ago.

I enjoyed many flights with him soaring many miles together in the same thermals. One of my main reasons to start flying again was to try and recreate some of those experiences again but unfortunately, it was not in the cards.

What became my most prominent interest was to prevent a lot of experiences from ever happening again.

If I could leave you with a few insights on Ward for those that didn't know him well.

Yeah Rich. That's what we REALLY need. A few of your insights on Ward for those that didn't know him well. But don't bother on my behalf. I got to know him quite well enough in the course of putting most of the puzzle pieces together.

Ward was extremely intelligent...

Possibly in his profession, no way in hell in this game.

Was he intelligent enough to figure out with respect to towing what Brian Pattenden had by 1979/09/26? Which led to the implementation of the Brooks Bridle by 1982/06?

Cite me some examples of innovations, contributions, reformations Ward made, contributed to in technology, procedures departments.

http://chgpa.com
http://chgpa.org
Capital Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association
http://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53927472831_0379fe2a60_o.png


Is that draggy crap he used to get up to working altitude at that extinct incompetent commercial operation on the Eastern Shore anything he could've improved upon?

(And I just noticed that it's .com and not .org.)

...a renowned scientist at the NIH and a very careful and insightful pilot...

Really? Then it's hard to imagine many of the rest of us having snowballs' chances in hell.

Cite me something from the insightful department. I'm not seeing anything. And he seemed to be perfectly OK with Ridgely's Standard Aerotow Weak Links and easily reachable bent pin releases.

http://www.chgpa.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=939
Weak link breaks?

Dan Tomlinson - 2005/08/31 00:33:01 UTC

Tad's post is difficult to read but I've seen his work. His release mechanism is elegant in its simplicity and effectiveness.

...but also a very accomplished pilot...

Obviously not on a lot of issues where it really mattered. And we can forget about his last flight.

Fuck accomplished pilots. They're a dime a dozen in this sport - if you're using airtime, mileage, altitude gains as rulers. But on that note... I was minimally impressed by his landing approaches while reviewing the record. And the one scrap of information from his final flight that does us any good states that:

The mishap occurred at approximately 3:10 pm when Ward's hang-glider impacted a tree while setting up to land in the bridge/cornfield LZ.

Gotta love that sentence. Sounds like Ward had tried to launch while unhooked and his glider had impacted a tree while it (Ward's glider) was setting up to land in the bridge/cornfield LZ. Ward was watching back at launch via binocular as the horror was unfolding.

...with many thousands of hours in an hang glider and several decades of flying experience.

Pity you weren't able to make it more vague than that. And did you have in mind a noun that started with a vowel as you wrote "an".
What's his legacy? Hang gliding was in such great shape that there was nothing of any significance worth addressing?

We talked many hours about our families, he was extremely proud of his family and rightly so.

I'm not so proud of his family. They should've DEMANDED that you motherfuckers publicly publish every detail of what transpired at Woodstock on 2022/03/03.

Nearly every time we flew together Ward would update me on is wife Arlene and his son and daughter, since our families we so similar both of us having kids nearly at the same age going through the same chapters in life at nearly the same time. We would spend many hours dissecting the weather, cross country routes, gliders and their performance etc...

Great. Did anybody ever talk about Arys Moorehead's family? Or was it enough to send Mitch Shipley out to Vegas to handle the damage control? There's NOTHING on your club rag about that one.

Got any information which might prevent another family from losing a member in a similar manner for a similar reason? No wait. There was absolutely nothing Ward did wrong or could have done better or differently on that flight which would have resulted in any degree of a better outcome. And publishing anything of any substance on it would serve only to further traumatize his family.

He was also very competitive...

Yeah, competitive. If you wanna win in a sport you definitely don't wanna leak any information which could benefit any of your rivals - which could potentially be anybody. Probably had in his will a request that if he ended his life on a glider no useful information on the incident be released. Minimize the threat of his accomplishments being topped.

...in the 80s when we flew together it would inevitably turn into an impromptu competition of who could out fly the other.

Which one of you won on the launch to landing distance on your 2022/03/03 flights?

When I left the sport...

I thank you on behalf of the sport. Now could you do everyone a big favor and leave it again?

...I still would continue to drive retrieval for Ward on his cross country flights. I would find him usually far from his launch point with that Ward smile on his face relishing the day and the result of an XC flights conclusion.

Can we get some stills of his landing approaches from some of those?

I never thought I would be expressing this publicly, but I will miss him more than I can say.

Good. You've demonstrated yourself to be a major part of the problem.

1983 I had a rough experience with testicular cancer, chemo, surgery. Last flight prior (Comet 165) had been 1983/03/13 - High Rock. But by 1983/12/17 (eighty years to the day after the Wright Brothers scored at Kitty Hawk) I was back in the air (again over High Rock).

1984/02/11-12 Gerard Thevenot, Jean-Michel Bernasconi, Mark Airey (asshole - I'd worked under him the whole '82 season) ran a clinic in conjunction with KHK to demo/promote their Cosmos trike/tug. I went down for it from the CHGA area in a carpool in the company of Lester Billings, Denis Scheele, Rich Hiegel. (Rich worked (works?) for REI (which had an outlet near Lasick's where CHGA used to meet)). Steve Wendt was the manager at that time - the beginning of his second season there.

The tugs (two) were fast and the bridles were one point. The clinic got blown out on Day 1 in the early afternoon and I went to the dune to take advantage of aforementioned air.

My log entry:

SSW - 15 mph - gusty

Made several low hot passes, got gusted back on spine, and, in attempting to milk glider back into lift, stalled and fell from about 5'. Was pushed out fully on impact, swung into basetube when downtube failed. Cut upper lip - eight stitches.

It wasn't a big fuckin' deal and I'd have been fine if either I hadn't eaten basetube or had had a full-face helmet when I did.

I was back to fly my first AT but Steve had been advised to exclude me by Rich - who, in his expert medical opinion, had determined that I didn't yet have the strength and/or endurance to safely complete the exercise. Which, no that I think about it, was a totally moronic assessment of relevant issues of the flight. And the stitches in the lip? Versus the shape lotsa bomber and fighter pilots were in returning to England with and landing just fine?

And it this point I'm a Three with:
- Special Skills:
--Towing Launch
-- Flat Slope Launch
-- Cliff Launch
-- 360 Turns
-- Auxiliary Power
-- Assisted Windy Cliff Launch
-- Turbulence
- over 35.5 hours:
-- mostly from dunes where they tend to be hard to get
-- shortly after the point at which you could get a Four with 25
- mountain flights from four launches in three states
- powered Quicksilver (15 HP tow-stroke if ya wanna call that "powered") flights with pontoons
- tow flights with powered and payout winches (the first with a three-point (pre Brooks/Hewett) and boat
- Instructor certification with one and a quarter seasons teaching on the dunes

And it also just now occurs to me that NOBODY involved in the running of the day and a half clinic had a ghost of a thought about any of the flyers crashing left and right due to actual incompetence being grounded.

We're returning after the clinic and Rich announced that "A good time was had by all." Yeah Rich? Go fuck yourself. I wonder if you made a similar comment to any or all of the other survivors of the 2022/03/03 festivities.

I was ready to launch at High Rock the next Saturday / six days later and Rich challenged me - but wasn't able to get his superior judgement into effect on that one. I flew for 2:35 and landed just fine. That motherfucker never apologized to me. Steve later did. Said he hadn't known me at the time. (And I guess none of the stuff on my card would've counted for anything substantive.)

And speaking of aerotowing and Steve... Remember 2005/05/29 when he watched Holly Korzillius get half killed at his Blue Sky / Manquin operation? All her fault 'cause she couldn't find her two point bridle and opted to give "pro tow" a go without having completed Steve's (fictitious) short protow clinic? While Steve was watching her launch and saying nothing? I don't recall what Steve was using for a tug / tugs but the Cosmos tugs were fast and all the stuff that followed could tow slower. There was no such thing as two point at the dawn of AT, damn near everybody down there was a first timer, there was no "clinic" beyond a description of what would be going on for the assembled flyers? I'm not sure we were even using weak links - probably not 'cause I don't recall any such increases in the safety of the towing operations. And there were no serious launch incidents. Also no injury incidents of any degree.

His sudden departure has cut me deeply and will be with me for years to come.

But you and your ilk will, as usual, do NOTHING in the way of revealing, let alone addressing any hint of a relevant issue on this one. And his family? Guess they also have zero interest in reducing the probability of another one like this. Must be something in the DNA. But what the hell... This is a really great Tribute to Ward anyway.

And I have zero sympathy for you.

Nothing more of substance in the thread. And of course near zilch of substance ever reported anywhere on the incident - undoubtedly because:

Mark Cavanaugh - 2022/03/07 08:06:25 UTC

...a forum is a poor substitute for meaningful conversations.