landing

[Tad Eareckson]

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=4334
OUCH!!!

Randy (Imaposer) - 2007/11/12 23:47:36 UTC
Georgia

I've seen quite a few whacks but yeah, it was pretty bad, actually the worse one I've seen out on the hills.

Ever seen anyone whack in the course of:
- coming in for wheel landing?
- a standup landing which was the least bit necessary for the circumstances?

The wind was crossing a bit on launch and she waited until she got a little lull. Gotta give her a little compliment here: She has never been very fast at launching, taking a long time to get settled in, get everything just so, get focused, etc. We had a conversation a few weeks ago in which I asked her to start working on making the pre-launch stuff a little quicker. She has had a problem in the past with getting everything right and then having a little gust lift a wing because she stood there so long prior to launching.

How long would she stand there prior to launching after her last verification that she was connected to her glider?

Then sometimes she would tire of fighting it and have to set the glider down and start over.

Does starting over and the sequence of actions include verification of hook-in status? Oh right. We did a hang check while we were waiting for the previous glider to launch - so why bother?

My suggestion was to try and get her target, get focused, and watch the ribbon before picking up the glider and then when the wind was right to pick it up, level the wings, adjust AOA...

...assume she was hooked in...

...and launch without a long delay.
As usual she just told me to shut up and that she had her routine. Ok, whatever. Well, she must have secretly been listening and working on it when I wasn't around because this time she did exactly that. She waited until the conditions were right, quickly picked up the glider...

...assumed she was hooked in...

...and launched. WOOO HOOO!!

She actually WAS connected to the glider!!

The launch itself went perfectly...

Nope. For the purpose of the exercise she's already dead.

...she caught a little gust on liftoff and the right wing came up a bit but she got it under control, leveled off, and flew away from the hill.

Once away and about halfway through the flight however she started a pretty flat turn to the left so that she was probably at about 45 degrees off her original direction when she got down to flare altitude.

What exactly IS flare altitude? I've never been able to figure that one out very precisely.

She appeared to be at trim and moved her hands up.

Into spiral fracture of the humerus position.

Her instructor had told her to flare on her command...

Why stop there? Why doesn't her fucking instructor tell her to launch, ease out, pull in, and correct to the right on her command? Who's supposed to be flying this goddam glider anyway?

...and I'm assuming that she did...

She said she did. She pretty obviously did. I don't think we need to be doing a whole lot of assuming on this issue.

...but it was obviously too early because she zoomed pretty high.

It was also pretty fucking obvious to the Pilot In Command - and anyone else with half a brain or better - that it was inappropriate and totally unnecessary.

I really didn't see how much arm extension she had when she started up but I was just thinking "OH SHIT, HOLD IT, HOLD IT."

You should've started THINKING a long time before that.

She started to come down then it appeared that in her fear instead of extending her arms fully she started to let them down.

Yeah, big surprise.

At one point during this all it appeared that her arms were bent at about 45 degrees and the nose started dropping.

You're analyzing shit that happened AFTER a really bad decision was executed.

The nose continued to drop as the glider started trying to recover from the stall and she flew straight into the ground with the nose and base bar hitting the ground at the same time. She was moving pretty fast by this time and she was swung violently through the control frame and slammed headfirst into the nose hard enough to knock her helmet off.

Bullshit. Reminds me of this bullshit report:

1990/03/29 - Brad Anderson - 24 - Novice - Flight Designs Javelin - platform tow - McMinnville, Oregon - head injury, ruptured thoracic aorta
"Strong novice" pilot with a lot of flying and some truck tow experience. With instructors present launched and rose to fifty feet over truck. Pushed out hard enough to release...

You don't slam headfirst into the nose hard enough to knock her helmet off and you don't push out hard enough to release. When shit like that happens it's 'cause you're using shit equipment.

I just started running down the hill fearing that she had been hurt as she was still hanging in a head down attitude with her feet and legs dangling. As I got closer I could hear her cussing and saying that she was ok.

Yeah... it scared me soooo bad that on Sunday all I could do on the hill was cry, because the thought of running down the hill even scared me.

Physically anyway.

I just ran up to her and hugged her and then helped her get upright and unhooked.

I'm thinking that since she had turned into a quartering downwind direction that the gust hitting her from the rear exacerbated the stall making the glider pitch down more forcefully...

You're analyzing shit that happened AFTER a really bad decision was executed.

...than what I've normally seen in similar situations.

Than what you've NORMALLY seen in SIMILAR situations?
Are you asking yourself why this kind of bullshit is NORMAL and what the common denominator is in all these incidents you've accepted as routine? Is there any other flavor of aviation in which planting the nose at the end of the flight is considered just the cost of doing business?

I just know that I've never seen anyone whack at that steep of an angle.

Stick around for a while.

That was the end of that day. That night she still seemed to be in good spirits and determined to get the flares...

Great!!! Gotta love that kind of determination!

...and clear the hill the next morning but once we were there she couldn't do it.

Curse these survival instincts of ours! If only there were some kind of pill we could take to neutralize them while leaving us with the ability to stand up and walk reliably.

I tried to talk her into just forgetting about flaring and just fly. Roll in...

That's why you're PAYING for lessons and Lauren is BEING PAID for lessons.

...and get back on that horse but she just got too upset to do it.

Is this horse gonna resume a trot straight to Flaresville a mile or two down the road?

I really didn't want her to go home with that mindset but I couldn't convince her to just fly. Luckily her instructor finally convinced her and she did have one good flight but she was still not feeling it. We stopped by the office on the way home and another student was inquiring about a night class. I mentioned it to Judy and she was interested so we found Gordon and made the arrangements.

Did Lauren, Gordon, or Matt ever APOLOGIZE to Judy for the way they fucked her over? Did those motherfuckers replace her basetube or give her a few free sessions to try to reverse the damage they had done to her on that one?

We got out to the hill with the glider and ATV (more on that later ) and she had some simulator time and one-on-one with Gordon while waiting on the wind to die down a bit.

Yeah, nothing like simulator time to get your flare timing perfected.

Gordon is patient and really good at calming Judy (not an easy task).

Nowhere near as easy rattling her cage by coercing her to routinely execute a stupid, dangerous, unnecessary procedure at the conclusion of every flight.

He helped her a good bit, walking through the steps in the simulator before flying.

What was it she gained that she didn't have before Lauren yelled "Flare!"?

The wind calmed down nicely and the flying started. Since we had the ATV and I was driving Judy got somewhere around ten flights, another girl got at least that many, and a late arrival got probably six to eight, all within a little over an hour of flying time. Judy had good flights on all of them and finally got to the point of feeling the glider and flare window.

I'm a little confused here. How could she POSSIBLY have been having good flights before getting a feel for the flare window?
And lemme tell ya sumpin' Randy... If she got a good feel for the flare window on that session she did a lot better than I did after over a quarter century of flying.

She had several flights where I could tell that she had it but she just couldn't bring herself to attempt a flare.

Keep working on her. I have every confidence that you guys will get her safely back to Stupidsville so quickly that she'll hardly remember the interruption in her progress.

All in all though, she got back on the horse, built her confidence in her ability to fly, and made progress toward finding the flare window on the new (to her) glider.

Yeah, let's not stop at ability to fly... Gotta keep pushing for that flare window.

All she needs to do now is adjust her altitude perception (still rounding out to low) and find the confidence to flare again.

Moron.
Hey Randy...
- When was the last time anybody in that neck of the woods left the:
-- field with a broken arm or dislocated shoulder 'cause he never did foot landings?
-- slope in a body bag 'cause he never did hook-in checks?
- How sure are you that you have the slightest clue about priorities?

[Tad Eareckson]

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=4334
OUCH!!!

Randy - 2007/11/13 00:05:09 UTC

Yes that is one of the cardinal rules, "NEVER TAKE BACK A FLARE!!!"

Yeah, Randy... Reminds me a lot of THIS cardinal rule:
"When you grab a wolf by the ears, DON'T LET GO!!!"
But let's start thinking a little bit about how often we're gonna be in a situation in which grabbing a wolf by the ears is an appropriate action.

But it is a hard rule to follow as it isn't an instinctive thing to do.

Yeah, after you've committed to a stupid, counterintuitive procedure and fucked it up make sure you minimize the damage with another counterintuitive procedure.

Your instincts seem to scream at you that if pushing the bar up got you into this predicament then you should pull it back to get out of it.

They don't just SEEM to.

I've been lucky so far having only had this happen once in my early flare attempts. I had just gotten my fourth flare and cleared the small hill on my last flight of the evening class. My instructor told me that I had cleared and asked me if I wanted to fly the glider down as we were finished flying for the day.

Of course I did, I was stoked. Feeling all full of myself I flew down let out to trim and forgot to bleed of any speed or test and went straight into a flare. I started to push up hard and probably got about a quarter to half of the way when I realized that I had screwed the pooch and was zooming pretty high.

You screwed the pooch when you took the more dangerous landing option for no other reason than adhering to convention.

Somehow in the back of my mind I remembered someone telling me what to do and I just held it until I stopped going up and then pushed up with all I had, locked my arms, and held it.

It worked.

I'm estimating that my feet where probably about eight to ten feet up at the peak of the zoom and I came down hard. Hard enough that it jarred me from my feet up through my spine and the glider came down with such force that I had to let it down on my shoulders but I caught it. It was NOT pleasant but it was MUCH better than the alternative.

It wasn't much better than one of the alternatives you threw out of the equation when you decided to foot land.

I've probably had in excess of sixty flare landings since then without incident.

Well then... It's really hard to imagine that you'll ever damage a glider, break an arm, or dislocate a shoulder as a result af a totally unnecessary flare landing at any point in your future hang gliding career.

I learned my lesson.

Great. Took me about a quarter century to start learning MY lesson. But the lesson I learned is a lot different from the one you did.

I think you've learned yours too although you learned it in a harder fashion than I did. TEST FIRST and then you shouldn't zoom but if you ever do just hold it until it stops going up then shove that thing up and HOLD.

Judy... The lesson you need to learn - which you've really known from the start - is assess the situation and use the best, safest option you have for getting the glider on the ground and stopped.

Nibs - 2007/11/13 00:11:46 UTC
Atlanta

Glad you are ok! Don't get too freaked out. I know its fresh in your mind but we've all had mishaps.

Yeah. Pretty much all of us get indoctrinated and hardwired with this bullshit. And pay the price for it.

Lesson learned.

Bullshit.

Jonathan Boarini - 2007/11/13 00:15:56 UTC
Miami

Don't let it scare you. If you get knocked, just get right back on the damn horse. Everybody has moments like that.

Idiot.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=4334
OUCH!!!

Judy Phillips - 2007/11/13 00:16:23 UTC

Yeah, it felt to me like I was pushed into the ground nose first. And since I had started to parachute down before the gust, I must've had my arms extended at least enough to allow that.

Who cares? How did you get into the situation in the first place?

All the trouble came with the gust, really.

All the trouble came when your idiot "instructor" yelled "Flare!", really.

But, it's interesting to hear other perspectives, as I'll admit that I froze.

Who cares?

But when I did, I could see that my arms were up - AND Lauren was yelling for me to "HOLD IT, HOLD IT" - which I did until the gust.

Yeah. It's absolutely AMAZING what a gust can do to the best laid standup landing plans - and all Jim Fucking Rooney's brilliant essays on flare techniques and timing.

And then she later commented that you never know when a freak gust of wind is gonna show up, like she thought that maybe it could have been conditions.

Yeah...

Judy Phillips - 2007/11/12 22:00:48 UTC

Lauren went down to the landing area and had told me to wait until I got a wind cycle that I liked before launching. So, I'm waiting as the wind was crossing and was starting to get real switchy.

Finally, it calmed down enough that I thought I could get a good launch/flight/flare. I pick up the glider, yell "clear" and go. On launch I got a little crosswind right as my feet had started to leave the ground, which I corrected.

The flight was a bitch because I kept getting knocked to the left and I was having to make corrections, and even then couldn't stay on target. Since I was already off target and was having trouble finding it again, I decided the best thing I could do was to just try and keep my wings as level as possible and just wheel it in.

You just NEVER KNOW - even after years of experience - when a freak gust of wind is gonna show up. Maybe, possibly the conditions coulda had something to do with what happened to you after Lauren overrode your decision to just try and keep your wings as level as possible and just wheel it in. Who coulda POSSIBLY predicted that a freak gust of wind woulda shown up after you blasted straight up, stopped, and hung there for a while?

I'll need to clarify it with her next week as I need to know what I did, or if it was even conditions that I could handle.

I decided the best thing I could do was to just try and keep my wings as level as possible and just wheel it in.

1. You were handling them just fine - right up to the point...

So after coming out to trim and moving my hands in position to flare, she yells, as my wings are level at this time. So, I start to do it.

...at which your idiot fucking instructor yelled "Flare!"
2. If the conditions HAD BEEN more than you could handle, whose fault was it for putting you up into them?
3. What are you paying this bitch for anyway?

I wish I would have been more coherent at the time after when everyone was talking about it. It's funny what you remember. I can remember pounding the ground and saying the "f" word over and over and then yelling at Randy that I was okay. I thought he was gonna have a heart attack.

I have seen people zoom before...

Maybe that should've been a hint that this wasn't the greatest landing procedure on the planet - especially for beginners. And especially for beginners in rather marginal conditions with crappy instructors.

...and I have even felt like I would on my initial test in the past.

Try to listen to your survival instincts a lot more - and your douchebag "instructors" a lot less.

But I have never seen anything to the degree of this. I wish I could remember everything in greater detail. Hopefully, it was, at least, a learning experience for the folks on the hill with me.

Yeah. Maybe next time you should fly into a fence or do a 180 back into the face of the hill so your fellow students can learn to avoid doing that in the future.

I think people are under the impression that I pulled back in from the flare - which I'm sure that I didn't, because Lauren was telling me to hold it. I COULDN'T hold it once I started turning.

What do you think Lauren was feeling and thinking when she watched you going halfway into orbit on her command to flare in those conditions? Has the bitch acknowledged ANY responsibility for what happened to you? Or is she allowing you to believe that this was mostly just an issue of your inherent incompetence as a pilot combined with a totally unpredictable Act of God?

Also, I'd like to know... What is the appropriate thing to do in a crash such as this???

1. Exactly what you did in the crash such as as that.
2. If you reserve landing flares and standup landings for situations which call for them I can pretty much one hundred percent guarantee you that you'll never again have a crash like that one.

I let go (instinct) of the downtubes before I nosed in. I've heard other people say to hold onto one downtube with both hands. Which is right???

Thankfully I had the presence of mind to not hold on the downtubes or I might have two broken arms, or dislocated shoulders at least.

1. You're typing with both hands, aren't you?
2. Why are you asking these idiots? Shouldn't your excellent instructors at Lookout have covered this before you got high enough on the hill to be able to hurt yourself?

[Tad Eareckson]

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=4334
OUCH!!!

gerg - 2007/11/13 00:44:01 UTC
Mill Creek, Washington

Glad you're doing OK. Sounds like a good learning experience!

Yeah.

I stood there looking ahead and could feel tears rolling down my face. I looked at Lauren and then a friend of mine, Jaime, came over and told me that I looked too nervous and not to launch feeling that way.

Right. Kinda makes you wonder why whipstalling a glider ten feet into the air and trashing a basetube isn't a USHGA requirement for a Hang One.

If it makes you feel any better, just this Saturday, after having not been up for a couple of months, I had my first somewhat similar non-foot landing.

How often have you heard of someone coming in for a wheel landing and not landing on the wheels?

I'm relatively tall, so I think that's helped save me in the past, but not this time. I'd been doing a lot of reading about proper flair technique and practicing it over and over in my head.

If they were spelling flare with an "i" maybe you shoulda considered another text. Kind like you don't wanna put too much stock in the suggested reference on towing when it has too many references to tow pressure.

Well, after about half an hour in the air, it's time to come in, and I get my approach, start diving onto final and slowly releasing back-pressure until I think "Okay, now it's time", at which point I flaired with what's probably more flair authority and better technique than I usually use.

People who do wheel landings never hafta think "Okay, now it's time." They let the glider do that. And the glider's judgment is almost always a helluva lot better than that of the person connected to it.

Well, the glider still had some energy left...

Yeah, the glider knew that.

...I shot up ten feet...

Seems to be a popular altitude.

...all forward momentum stopped, and I held the flair. Kept shouting in my head "HOLD IT! HOLD IT!!!"

Damn! That's EXACTLY what Judy was saying to herself and Lauren was yelling at her. Same day too. Glad everybody's on the same wavelength with this. Must mean everybody's doing things right!

Dropped vertically but with too much momentum and just couldn't keep my legs up, so I landed on my feet, which immediately buckled, and landed on my ass, and the glider landed on the keel and wheels.

Gee. And if you had gone for a wheel landing you coulda left out the buckling legs, ass, and keel parts.

No damage, so I got lucky in that I didn't get hit by a gust.

Yes.

I had mixed feelings about it... On the one side it was a good strong flair...

Indeed!

...and I came to a nice no-step stop with absolutely zero forward momentum...

1. Exactly where were you landing which required a nice no-step stop with absolutely zero forward momentum?
2. What other places do you fly and/or plan to which require a nice no-step stop with absolutely zero forward momentum?
3. How long a hang gliding career are you expecting to have landing in places which require a nice no-step stop with absolutely zero forward momentum?

...but on the downside I completely forgot about the crescendo flair, and just nailed it when I thought it was time.

That ain't the only landing option you completely forgot about, dude. Judy's way ahead of you on this one.

The second flight was a much better two-stepper...

A TWO-stepper? Not a good idea when you're landing in a narrow dry riverbed with large rocks strewn all over the place or a field filled with seven foot high corn.

...but I still have some more practice to do.

Yeah. Keep practicing. I have little doubt that with enough practice you can be the first person in the history of hang gliding to really make this a safe and reliable means of ending a flight.

Now to just combine the two... e.g. Nice crescendo flair with good technique until I can nail it.

Do keep us apprised of your progress.

I need to convince my old instructor to get out the old scooter again and get in a good day of landing practice...

And make sure you fly in the kind of crap air that Judy was so you won't get too delusional about your chances of pulling these things off back out in the real world.

It's hard to perfect a skill when you only do it once or twice a month.

Don't worry. After a good day of scooter tow landing practice I'm sure you'll have it perfected and that that skill will serve you well for the rest of your flying career.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=4334
OUCH!!!

fly n mater - 2007/11/13 01:38:41 UTC

A gust or the wind picking up could have cause your ballooning up but I'm inclined to think you had just a good old fashioned whack.

Dime a dozen. Hardly worthy of mention.

But you have to remember, you are the pilot in charge and the person feeling what the glider is telling.

Right. And I'm having a hard time remembering a glider ever telling me to whipstall it.

I'm NOT saying don't listen to your instructor, but to feel the glider and flare when it tells you to flare.

Yes. You ARE in fact saying don't listen to your instructor. And if ever an instructor was worth not listening to, Lauren would be a pretty good candidate - both Laurens as a matter of fact.

The instructors have a good sense of when you should flare from seeing so many, but they too occasionally get it wrong in a blue moon.

Yeah, right.
- Really advanced pilots don't have particularly good senses of when to flare the gliders they're on.
- Throw in a little trashy air and predictability goes down the toilet.
- A halfway decent instructor will realize that when he's telling the student when to flare the student is really learning anything.
- A really good instructor...

Christian Thoreson - 2004/10

Thus wheel landings, the safest and easiest way to consistently land a hang glider...

...won't be teaching beginning students dangerous practices that won't be of any use to them.

So feel the glider and flare when it tells you to flare.

I've NEVER had a glider tell me to flare it. But none of them have ever had any problem telling me when they want to LAND.

I'm so glad you're okay. Gliders can be fixed, so let them take the worst of it.

She's already figured out an arrangement which minimizes the likelihood of either one of them having to take ANYTHING. So leave her the fuck alone.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=4334
OUCH!!!

Judy Phillips - 2007/11/13 01:49:56 UTC

You're right Mater. And I should point out that I in no way feel that it was Lauren's fault for telling me to do so.

Yeah. It was probably Saddam Hussein's fault. We should probably invade Iraq.

Zack C - 2010/12/13 04:58:15 UTC

I had a very different mindset too back then and trusted the people that made my equipment. Since then I've realized (largely due to this discussion) that while I can certainly consider the advice of others, I can't trust anyone in this sport but myself (and maybe the people at Wills Wing).

You didn't learn shit from that exercise, Judy.

I did feel that the glider was out to trim, etc. but I'm unsure why I zoomed.

Ever see a Cessna land by whipstalling two feet off the runway? Ever see a Cessna zoom the way you did?

I waited before I even moved my hands up, hence her telling me to flare. We had discussed earlier that if she saw me go out to trim and then get my hands in position, etc., that she would signal by yelling flare if I wasn't in a turn, etc. So, long story short, I'm still unsure about the whole situation.

Your idiot instructor fucked up, you fucked up by listening to her, and you're continuing to fuck up by trying to analyze what happened to your glider after you fucked up and failing to blame your idiot instructor and the negligent incompetent assholes running the program.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://ozreport.com/11.126
The Exxtacy landing accident at Morningside
2007/06/27 15:13:32 UTC

Robert S. Poulios - 2007/06/25

I got to Morningside around noon yesterday (2007/06/24) and saw lots of people around a glider lying on the aerotow field grass. Police sirens and two ambulances were coming in behind me. Here's what I heard or saw:
- Pilot had just aerotowed and was coming in for landing. Winds were switchy, West then NW @ 10-12 with gusts.
- Pilot was not landing downwind, but heading mostly West on approach.
- Glider did flip, either near ground or when touching down.
- Pilot was conscious but could not move arms and/or legs.
- Green "Life Star" helicopter arrived approximately a half hour later. Took pilot to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Hospital in Hanover/Lebanon, New Hampshire. (The very best hospital around!)
- Pilot's wife (Debbie) was extremely distraught. She had videotaped flight but turned it off as he was coming in for expected uneventful landing.
- Later saw Mike Onorato's glider - his Exxtacy rigid wing. Both wing sections seemed intact, but one downtube was broken and the carbon fiber base bar was completely severed at each end.

Debbie Onorato - 2007/06/27

Dear Micki and Al,

I am at the trauma center in Lebanon, New Hampshire called Dartmouth Hitchcock and I found their computer. I thought I would write and let you know how much I appreciate your email.

Mike is still in the ICU since Sunday. He is confirmed as being quadriplegic. I was informed in the ER on Sunday, but hoped 48 hours would maybe make the doctors wrong.

I cannot believe this nightmare. I know we will deal with this and I am grateful that it looks like he will not need a permanent ventilator. He has been trying hard since yesterday and they hope to take it out today.

Right now they are inserting something for protection from blood clots. I am planning on staying with him up here as long as my job and finances allow. He will eventually move to Gaylord Rehab in Wallingford, Connecticut.

Life as we knew it has changed forever and it was in an instant. He had a great flight and I watched and videotaped his landing. It was a good landing and I turned off the camera and then it happened about ten feet up.

Morningside employees, friends, passersby, medics, and Life Star people have been fabulous. The response from the hang gliding community has been overwhelming. Thanks to all and this accident was an accident and nothing negative for hang gliding. He could have been hit by a car or run over on a bike. He was doing what he loved.

I hope I am making sense, I am in shock and my mind is jumbled. Please pass my email to everyone. I know Mike would love to hear from all by letters or email, we have a long road ahead and will take it one step at a time.

I will be in touch with an update. I will get him strong and dream about getting him up to Marty's (Finger Lakes Aerotow Park) in September.

Love,
Debbie

Debbie Onorato - 2007/06/30

Hi Pete,

He is breathing on his own and talking and he is alive. I am so grateful. Yesterday was awful, his blood pressure is low (and it's normally fairly low) but his heart rate keeps spiking. I guess that can happen, ask Mary. Today is a better day. We will be here a while yet, he is still in ICU. Please pass this along.

Thank you - any news, I will email.

Debbie Onorato - 2007/07/05

Hi Bryan,

Thank you so much for the wonderful note you wrote. It means a lot to me to know Michael and I have your support and hopefully we'll be back in no time.

Here's what happened: Mike was out hang gliding on a beautiful Sunday morning. He had a great flight, error free until he was ten feet off the ground. A crosswind came out of nowhere and flipped his glider causing him to land on his head. All the other pilots who were around and saw the accident were very clear to let Mike know that his flight was completely perfect and it was just a freak occurrence. There was nothing he could have done to prevent this accident.

While we all regret the fact of it, Mike was doing something he loved. Here's where things stand: Mike fractured the C4 and C5 vertebrae causing severe damage to his spinal column. At this point he is a quadriplegic without feeling in his hands and lower body but he has feeling up to four inches below his neck.

He is alert, talking, and breathing mostly on his own with an oxygen mask. Every day there are new challenges but we are optimistic as his breathing improves and hope to be at Gaylord (rehab center) soon. Please be sure to let everyone know that Mike and I are receiving everyone's emails and calls and we appreciate the support more than you can know.

Thank you for everything! Debbie O.

Angie - 2007/08/21
Florida

My brother's accident

I registered to this site to be able to leave a message in honor of my brother Mike. He was in a devastating hg accident in New Hampshire this summer. It left him paralyzed and without hope of ever leading a normal life again. Yet, he still loves that which has taken so much away. You can read his story on Caringbridge.org. Visit to "mikeonorato". He and Deb need your well wishes and prayers, especially this day.

I can only wish that in the future a more rigorous attempt is made in developing some type of safety harness/metal halo that would lessen the risk of neck injuries. I know Mike would be totally against this because he would feel it would restrict the freedom and thrill of flight. After Dale Earnhart's accident in Nascar, the neck protection has been more widely accepted. I just wish something could have been there to protect my brother.

Mike was set for a perfect landing, barely ten feet up when a freak wind event slammed him to the ground.

He loved the time he spent in the sky.
Pray for him to be at peace.

Angie - 2007/08/23

My brother's accident... update

Thank you to all of Mike and Deb's hg friends. It has been a struggle for Mike. He decided a couple of week's ago to have his ventilator removed. He was at peace with his decision and we supported him on it. He could not deal with a life without his wings. Mike is flying with the angels now.

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=3504
Update: Fateful accident in New Hampshire

Tom Galvin - 2007/09/04 01:38:10 UTC
Pagosa Springs, Colorado

We were just discussing this in the Ellenville LZ this evening, with a few people who were at the wake. I heard that he had just landed, and was still hooked in when a sudden gust flipped the glider over. For now, treat this as hearsay. I am sure an official accident report is forthcoming in the magazine in a few months.

1. I think it's pretty clear that the problem developed at ten feet and NOT after he had landed and before he had unhooked.

2. We don't hear that Mike's short term memory got wiped, there's no contradiction of the original report from any sources close to Mike, Debbie was there and maybe looking, and I've been flipped a few zillion times on the dunes without ever so much as being scratched.

3. I think that there's about zero probability that the glider flipped before impact.

4. If Mike was doing everything right landing forty cross in ten to twelve with gusts on a beautiful Sunday morning in New Hampshire and got his neck broken none of us should be doing much other than sleds and glassy ridge soaring.

5. If this was just an accident it bloody well IS something negative for hang gliding. And the family members should be doing something - with my full support - to get the sport shut down.

6. Zillions of hang gliders are flown and landed in the nastiest thermal conditions people can adjust their schedules to find and get to. So where are all the other reports of deaths, paralysis, hard crashes, and near misses resulting from freak crosswinds?

7. And where are all the detailed accounts from the other pilots who were around and saw the accident telling us how fast he was flying, how he was rotated, where his hands were, and what - if anything - he was using in the way of wheels?

8. In hang gliding going upright at two hundred feet and moving your hands high on the downtubes so you're ready to flare and have much better roll control constitutes a perfect approach - and my guess is he was doing something along those lines and slow when he got hit by a nasty gust.

9. My guess he was doing his perfect completely perfect approach EXACTLY the way the late Bill Vogel used to do on HIS rigid...

http://www.flyatos.com/bill_landing.jpg


...before he got surprised by some power lines with insufficient maneuvering speed.

I am sure an official accident report is forthcoming in the magazine in a few months.

Yeah, right.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=26892
What is the point of hang gliding instruction?

Bill Jacques - 2012/03/09 01:53:20 UTC

The main reason why I quit - never felt really secure regarding landing without injury.
And that was after FIVE YEARS of flying.

Bill J.

PS. Never skied before. Skiing out here in Aspen for only three months and I am already at groomed black diamonds. Why? Because I feel "in control" and know I can always stop, or even fall, without injuring myself.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-8oVEo8ybA
Dave Seib at Moriaty
28°01'07.44" S 153°09'31.23" E

CHGCvids - 2008/12/29

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-8oVEo8ybA

Dave Seib at Moriarty

Dave Seib pulls off an awesome landing at the 2004 Canungra Classic on the last day which was deemed too strong to hold a task. A bunch of guys flew anyway, Dave being one of them.

Moriarty Park is in Canungra and was in rotor from the prevailing westerly and Mount Misery. Dave decided to land there anyway, in a small field at the best of times, in rotary winds. Only a crazy pilot or an extremely skilled pilot would attempt such a thing. This is HOW you land a high performance hang glider in a tight spot.

Ian9toes - 2009
I know that place, haven't landed there myself, but as you can see there isn't much room. That was one sweet setup and executed landing.

james crago - 2013
miss ya mate

ROCCS777
RIP

This IS how you land a high performance - or any other - hang glider in a tight spot. BUT...
- Never ONCE in this video is there the slightest evidence of turbulence. Dave's doing smooth aerobatics up high and never gets the least bit rocked nor has to make the least roll correction throughout the approach and landing.
- I don't give a rat's ass how extremely skilled you are - a world aerobatics champion can't handle a rotor in the LZ one iota better than a proned out solid Hang Two of the same weight on the same glider. There's a point at which Ma Nature will overwhelm whatever control authority you have and - regardless of what the card in your wallet has printed on it - you become a passenger.

[Steve Davy]

Small chance I might go flying tomorrow, if do I want to do a wheel landing. Looks simple enough but is there anything particular I need to know before I do this?
Do I try to hold it off the ground as long as possible landing as slow as I can, or set down near trim?
Do I need to be concerned about the glider ground looping after touch down?
Do I do anything different if I land into the wind as opposed to no wind?
This will be on a Falcon with 10 inch pneumatic tires.

P.S. Landing on hard pack dirt moderately bumpy.