landing

[Tad Eareckson]

Other than Jonathan, most XC pilots that land in less than optimal lzs, do not video themselves landing.

Yeah.

http://www.shga.com/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=3376
Status of Pilot Injured June 30th - Please pass this around!

NMERider - 2012/07/06 22:46:50 UTC

Hey Everyone,

Fast Eddy (Ed Skow) and I want want to express our sincere appreciation for everyone's concern regarding our good friend Tony who crashed on Saturday in the debris basin adjacent to Veteran's Memorial Park.

http://scpa.info/bb/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2590
7/1 Sunday Evening Report

Santa Barbara Soaring Association - 2012/07/02 10:14

On Saturday, June 30th 2012, Tony Deleo (aka Diablo) was gravely injured while attempting to land a flex wing hang glider in a debris basin west of the main LZ at Sylmar. At present, the extent of his injuries is not certain, but they are life threatening. We expect to have more clarity sometime Monday after family members consult with Tony's doctor.

The information provided to the community at this time is not meant to be inclusive and includes some speculation.

Tony's injuries encompass both skeletal and internal organ damage including but not limited to: numerous broken ribs which punctured and collapsed both lungs, loss of consciousness, possible fractured cervical vertebrae (broken neck), numerous fractures in the pelvic area (hip), fractured left elbow.

Currently, the most serious injuries threatening his survival are internal organ damage, especially his lungs. He has a lot of internal bleeding, which is being drained by numerous chest tubes. Tony is on a breathing machine.

Unconsciousness may be a concern, he reportedly had some degree of intermittent consciousness after the incident and the reason for his current unconscious state is not known by myself but may be understood by others and might be attributed to many possibilities including deliberate sedation. Hopefully we will learn more from his medical team soon. He was wearing a good quality full face helmet, but the helmet shows signs of significant impact damage. When I saw him Sunday evening, his face looked good (tan and handsome) without apparent contusions, lacerations, or swelling.

The possible broken neck is an obvious concern. His doctors likely have tested his motor response, but haven't communicated their findings to the family yet. Neck fractures pose a grave risk to the spinal cord, but many pilots have recovered from neck fractures with their spinal cord undamaged.

Pelvic fractures are serious, but hopefully not life threatening in Tony's case. His elbow is reportedly "shattered", but vital function stabilization is the current priority so they likely won't begin skeletal reconstruction until he is breathing on his own.

Diablo was flying a Wills Wing Eagle borrowed from Andy Beem. The Eagle is an intermediate double surface flex wing hang glider. Edward Skow reported Tony had gone west several miles to the West Towers and was returning upwind, but likely was not able to make it back to the main Landing Zone. Pilots were getting into the mid 4s, about a thousand over launch which is 3540. Sylmar's main LZ is 1370 so the vertical decent compares with the Eliminator to Parma, but offset 500 feet higher. Not sure which of several debris basins Diablo was targeting, but they are mostly a few hundred higher than the main LZ. Jeff Chipman posted an incident report on the Sylmar discussion page at:

http://shga.com/forum/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?t=3357
The topic or post you requested does not exist

Jeff's posting contains some observations by airborne pilots, including an impact perception and a note that the LZ was sloping downhill into the prevailing wind. Edward relayed second hand reports by non-pilots that indicate Tony may have caught a tip and "cartwheeled" (spun?).

Probably just as well. Wouldn't wanna frighten the children too much.
Most XC pilots that land in less than optimal fields are assholes who tend to have very short flying careers. That's why whenever I flew XC - after learning the hard way - I didn't land in less than optimal fields. I only landed in fields at least twice as long, fat, and flat as the primary.

NMERider - 2010/08/10

So the entire time I'm on this twelve mile long glide I've got my eyes peeled for potential places to land where I'm not gonna trip - or even better yet, where I can land on those wheels.

Jonathan seems to have some leanings along those lines himself.

Yes, you can cherrypick countless bad foot landings.

And whenever you or Jason Boehm cherrypick from the miniscule reserve of GOOD foot landings you can always hear the astonished half dozen guys in the downtube replacement area cheering as people would for an Olympic gymnast nailing a landing. That's 'cause the required skill, luck, and success rates are about the same.

People post them because they are exciting and get hits.

Go to ANY LZ in light air and watch what happens.

There are infinitesimally more good foot landings that are made safely every day.

You accidentally said that exactly right. I've already got it archived on the "Quotes" thread.

Nobody puts these on youtube because they are boring and get no hits.

Ya know what's REALLY boring?

7:15
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72SJu09S-Y0

8-71716-C
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7369/13962618245_163eb65caa_o.png


http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2920/13939515566_f9b68a2595_o.png
9-72800-C

Watching hang gliders, Dragonflies, and Cessnas land on wheels. Hell, watching carrier landings is boring compared to watching light air hang glider foot landings - and I mean that totally literally.

Good foot landing skills are a good technique to have in your flying skills bag.

Yeah, especially for people with shit field selection skills.

Good foot landing skills allow the pilot to land in lzs other than the mellow meadows.

Sure. But the problem is...

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=25536
Whoops! Snapped another tip wand :-O

NMERider - 2012/03/14 15:17:14 UTC

Landing clinics don't help in real world XC flying. I have had the wind do 180 degree 15 mph switches during my final legs. What landing clinic have you ever attended that's going to help? I saved that one by running like a motherfukker. And BTW - It was on large rocks on an ungroomed surface.

When I come in on many of these flights with sloppy landings, I am often physically and mentally exhausted. That means fatigued to the max. Many times I can't even lift my glider and harness, I'm so pooped.

This is the price of flying real XC. I have seen many a great pilot come in an land on record-setting flights and they literally just fly into the ground and pound in. I kid you not.

None of this is any excuse mind you. There has to be a methodology for preparing to land safely and cleanly while exhausted. This is NOT something I have worked on.

Jim Rooney threw a big tantrum and stopped posting here.

His one-technique-fits-all attitude espoused on the Oz Report Forum has become tiresome to read. It does not work in the fucked-up world of XC landings and weary pilots.

I refuse to come in with both hands on the downtubes ever again. I have had some very powerful thermals and gusts kick off and lost control of the glider due to hands on the downtubes. I prefer both hands on the control bar all the way until trim and ground effect. I have been lifted right off the deck in the desert and carried over 150 yards.

I like what Steve Pearson does when he comes in and may adapt something like that.

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.

...that nobody's got them.
Look what's going on with The Davis Show now. The motherfucker has sabotaged and locked down enough threads and banned enough people that there's no discussions about any of the disaster areas in hang gliding that can be EASILY fixed - unhooked launches, releases, weak links - and all that goes on anymore is 24/7 Rooney Landings.
The instructors can't teach them, regular Joes and world class comp pilots can't learn them, after forty years of broken arms and downtubes we're still breaking arms and downtubes at the same staggering rate, but The Rooney Papers are gonna change everything.
THIS:

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=26567
base tube training

pegasus - 2012/07/05 16:52:59 UTC

There is a time when a newbie has to use the basetube for the first time. Some pilots take to this naturally, to others this is an unnerving experience...

is fucking OBSCENE.
We're gonna duct tape your hands to the downtubes tubes until after we sign you off on your Two, assuming you don't break an arm and quit the sport before then, because ten years from now, assuming you don't break another arm and quit the sport before then, you may make a really stupid decision to land in a narrow dry riverbed with large rocks strewn all over the place so you can get an extra half mile in an XC competition and might be able to come through in good enough shape to walk out unassisted if you really nail a standup landing inside of a twenty-five foot radius circle of survivable real estate.
And there's NO FUCKIN' WAY you're gonna get crippled before then because your upright control authority and speed range suck, you get a hand trapped on a downtube during a whack, you screw up a transition from base to downtube, or you get gusted during a flare. Guys who have shit like that happen to them shoulda been playing checkers anyway.
And there's NO FUCKIN' WAY you're gonna break your fuckin' neck stalling back into a mountain...

http://ozreport.com/14.129
Packsaddle accident report

Shane Nestle - 2010/07/01

John Seward
2010/06/26

Being that John was still very new to flying in the prone position, I believe that he was likely not shifting his weight, but simply turning his body in the direction he wanted to turn.

...'cause you don't know what a fuckin' basetube is and what you should be doing with it.
Welcome to the United States Hang Check and Standup Spot Landing Association.

[Tad Eareckson]

John Wright - 2012/07/14 06:55
Carlsbad, California

It's been a while since I was on the board at CSS, but I spent a significant amount of time dealing with an idiot pilot who, among other things, didn't want to fly with a helmet.

Helmets are required for insurance reasons, even for kiting in the LZ.

It's a fine line to walk: ensuring safety (and insurance) for all, while not "being the man" and getting up in people's grills-n-shit. I'm not good at walking that line.

I'm little fuzzy on how trash talking another club grows the sport. Do you really want to score sibling club rivalry points by citing a flying brother's death? That's a pretty low bar to limbo under, and limbo is a generous term.

Maybe we can stick to something simple like growing green grass to land on. CSS will help SHGA cut theirs.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=26365
Hang-glider pilot critically injured in B.C.

nuclear1 - 2012/06/13 06:19:43 UTC
Vancouver

Hang-glider pilot (Michael Richard Wood) critically (fatally) injured in B.C.
38-year-old man from Hope, B.C., is in critical condition after being injured in a hang-gliding accident just outside of Lumby B.C. on Monday (2012/06/11).
Witnesses say the man was approaching for a landing just before 2 p.m. PT when he stalled the glider and one wing touched the ground, sending it into a cartwheel motion.

Prone with his hands on the basetube or upright with his hands on the downtubes? (As if I need to ask.)

The man, whose name has not been released, hit ground with full force.

But with his legs taking the brunt of it - so he should be OK.

He was flown to a Kelowna hospital where he remains in critical condition in intensive care.

Go figure.

Fred Wilson - 2012/07/06 19:34:13 UTC
Vernon, British Columbia

A witness reported that it was a high speed stall on landing approach that got him.
(Rapidly increasing the angle of attack at higher airspeeds can cause a high-speed stall or may merely cause the aircraft to climb.)

Bullshit.

Where he crashed. A large and very, very easy and forgiving LZ.

http://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1484/25977042260_fe3c65c37b_o.jpg


http://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2947/33408397021_e302630341_o.jpg

Al Dicken - 2012/07/15 16:13:55 UTC
British Columbia

I can assure you, this LZ can be a nightmare; as I got over the field at about four hundred feet I was getting pockets of strong lift and sink, getting spat so low is freaky, and I was trying to work my way up till things calmed down.
Looking at the windsocks (about a hundred meters apart), they were 180 degrees opposed at 15 kph! I was going fast, to punch through the shit, and was trying hard just to keep the wings level.

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.

I was prepared to land on the wheels if I had to...

DUDE!!! That's the LAST thing you wanna be doing!!!

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=16983
Landing a Moyes Extralite 164

Jaco Herbst - 2009/08/16 13:42:28 UTC

We fly like that (hands on the control bar)... why not land like that?

George Stebbins - 2009/08/16 17:37:41 UTC

In no particular order, and not a complete list:

01) Because our heads hitting the ground can kill us.
02) Because crashing on our feet is unlikely to kill us.
03) Because we can run faster on our feet than on our ears. (To quote Greg DeWolf.)
04) Because crashing feet first a dozen times is better than crashing head first even one time.
05) Because doing all that stuff (getting upright, moving two hands, keeping pitch correct) all at the same time just before landing is asking for a mistake.
06) Because you should be going fast into your ground skimming, and going fast head-first near the ground is risky. Just ask Chris Muller. Oh wait, you can't: He hit head first. And he was way better than most of us.
07) Because it is inherently obvious to anyone not prejudiced against it that approaching with your landing gear down is better than putting it down at the last second, unless there is some hugely overriding reason not to do so (Space Shuttle is an example.)
08) Because your legs are the strongest bones in your body, and your neck is one of the most fragile.
09) Because I'd rather break my leg (or even arm) than my neck if things go wrong. (Wouldn't you?)
10) Because landing is the most difficult thing we typically do in a hang glider. Why increase the danger?
11) Because I have had too many friends die from head impacts, and a few become (partially) paralyzed. Your mileage may differ.
12) Because I think it is more important to be alive than to have my friends think I am cool.
13) Because dead people are no longer cool. And if in some way they still are, they can't enjoy it.
14) Because the only reason you are used to flying prone more is that you do it more. Fly upright some each flight, and you'll find you can do it quite nicely on landing too. Practice matters.
15) Because there are only three reasons we fly prone at altitude, and none of them should matter much during landing: 1) Streamlining, 2) Comfort, 3) we are used to it.

In an emergency situation like that it's IMPERATIVE that you come in on your feet to optimize your chances of survival - the way Mike did.

...but brought it down into the wind and all was okay. Conditions in the sky were considerably smoother.
This was two days before MW's flight, initial reports were that LZ conditions were good, but I've since heard that it was switching on him as well.
His wing appeared to only have a bent downtube, harnesses can be killers, too.
Please take care, my friends...

And keep reading all those Rooney posts so you'll know exactly how to do and practice for a landing in a narrow dry riverbed with large rocks strew all over the place or a field filled with seven foot high corn.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://www.shga.com/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=3398
A broken humerus, guess the cost.

Orion Price - 2012/07/15 02:31:54 UTC
San Fernando Valley

Finally saw the total cost of my broken arm. Whoever comes closest without going over wins a dollar.

Orion Price - 2012/07/15 02:48:12 UTC

Would you believe it's more than 20,000?

Yes.

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=22176
Paragliding Collapses

Jim Rooney - 2011/06/12 13:57:58 UTC

Most common HG injury... spiral fracture of the humerus.

Some of the cost to ourselves and society for using the end of every flight as high risk practice for a life threatening emergency instead of just landing the goddam glider as safely as possible.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://www.shga.com/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=3398
A broken humerus, guess the cost.

Orion Price - 2012/07/16 06:39:18 UTC

It was almost 70k. 68 and change. Just for the surgery.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=26657
An Experiment

Tom Dunlap - 2012/07/16 14:55:46 UTC

The experimental idea itself is suggested by the fact that everyone who has ever flown a hang glider has had the experience of executing the landing flare to early and finding themselves suddenly lifted well above their intended path. Its a necessary part of the learning process.

Yeah.
- A necessary necessary part of the learning process for flying HANG GLIDERS.
- A conspicuously absent part of the learning process for flying any other flavor of fixed wing aircraft.
- Also a conspicuously absent part of the learning process for paraplegic hang gliding students who can't be forced by their idiot fucking instructors to do standup landings.
And isn't it just wonderful after we've gotten through the learning process and...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuMxK9PadzA


http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3682/14088396670_62d49cbf36_o.png
17-4117
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkElZMhpmp0


...have all those experiences safely behind us.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=23533
Frustrated

GoIllini - 2011/10/21 16:16:26 UTC

Here in the Northeast, you get a lot of bumpy air, a lot of rotor, and there's always a good chance of the wind doing something completely unpredictable. One time as I was on final off of an H2 sled run, the wind did a 180 degree shift. Oh, that already happened to you two frigging times on the training hill, and you may have to land on your wheels, but at least you know what to do to avoid a stall and keep yourself and your glider healthy.

Oh. So in an EMERGENCY situation to avoid a stall and keep yourself and your glider healthy a wheel landing tends to be the safest option.
So the standup crap is best for very safe circumstances and is primarily used for demonstrating what a highly skilled pilot you are and impressing everybody?

[Tad Eareckson]

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=26681
John "Wiley" Carlton

Shannon Moon - 2012/07/20 01:00:54 UTC
Florida

This is a sad day for all of us. When I first started flying again at Seminole Lake Gliderport and added on my glider rating, Wiley was one of my favorite tow pilots. He always seemed to find a nice spot of lift to drop me in at the end of the tow. Like many of the SLG gang, I could always count on him for a hand getting my sailplane into/out of the hangar or trailer.

After I crashed my Sport 2 two years back, later Wiley took the time to tell me "don't let the #@#@$ bastards get you down, you know what happened, you learned from it, and you go on" when some of the inevitable speculation and harsh comments about my crash got me down.

I recall one time at Seminole when a fellow was making really snarky comments to Knutt, and Wiley pretty much chased the guy off the airport. I remember thinking it was nice to see someone stink up for someone who was getting crap unfairly (and also thinking to myself not to tick Wiley off, lol!)

I really liked Wiley. This is a sad loss for the soaring community.

OK Shannon, let's take a look at your Sport 2 crash from two years back.

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=17092
Crash at Questair

Shannon Moon - 2010/05/28 12:31:35 UTC

This is my write-up of my hang gliding accident on 2010/05/09 at Quest Air in Groveland, Florida during an attempted foot landing which resulted in shattered arms, bilateral humerus fractures, and radial nerve trauma. I could not write this up before now as I am just getting enough motor control in my right hand to type very slowly.

An attempted foot landing which resulted in shattered arms, bilateral humerus fractures, and radial nerve trauma. At an airport. Big fucking surprise.

First, a little background about myself. I am a general aviation pilot, single engine and glider (sailplane), with about 500 hours. I own and fly a DG-300 sailplane.

How many times have you:
- crashed any of those other aircraft on landing?
- attempted to whipstall them the instant you feel them start to settle?

I had taken a couple of years off from hang gliding. I had around 100-110 flights (all aerotow at Quest).

Fine establishment. Really great people. They've been perfecting aerotowing for nearly twenty years.

At the peak of my hang gliding I was more fit than I am now (5'5", 120 pounds vs about 30-40 pounds overweight now).

Let's not forget the shattered arms, bilateral humerus fractures, and radial nerve trauma.

Most of those were in a Falcon 2 170, and most were wheel landings. I only had a handful of flights on my Sport 2.

Have any trouble with any of those wheel landings?

I took a number of tandem refresher flights before re-soloing a Falcon on landing gear and then a couple of flights on my Sport 2, all good wheel landings till the last flight.

So you were having all good landings until you tried to put it down on your feet. Then you came away with shattered arms, bilateral humerus fractures, and radial nerve trauma.
Any conclusions we might be able to draw from this data so far?

After the initial flights on my Sport, there were three weeks in a row with bad weather for a newly returned pilot, so my skills may have deteriorated.

Your skills MAY have deteriorated?What skills that MAY have deteriorated were you thinking about?
Do you think your single engine and sailplane skills also deteriorated during those three weeks of bad weather?

On 5/8 I was on my way to Quest at around 06:30 when I was struck with GI problems (possibly food poisoning) and ended up vomiting on the side of the road for an hour before heading home. I mention this because it may have impacted my reaction times the next day.

It MAY have impacted your reaction times the next day?
How much were your reaction times impacted when you got back in the car and continued home? Were you losing about a quarter second when you were seeing brake lights and yellows in front of you?

On 5/9 I headed out early for a flight thinking I was recovered enough to fly (note: bad decision #1, I should have waited for another weekend).

So you weren't really OK to fly but perfectly OK to drive. Guess there aren't a whole lot of kids chasing balls into the streets in your neck of the swamp.

Arriving at Quest I was a little hesitant about the flight as my wind watch showed 8-10K wind with an occasional gust 12-15, (note: bad decision #2, should have not flown, or flown the rental Falcon on landing gear).

1. So you're saying that you'd have been perfectly OK doing a wheel landing.
2. So there were no wheels on your Sport?
3. If there were no wheels on your Sport, Bad Decision #1 was made a LONG time ago and totally dwarfs anything else you're listing as bad decisions. And the motherfuckers who sold you the glider and have been supervising your training should be stood up against a freakin' wall (which almost certainly wouldn't be a bad idea anyway).

Unlike other flights, I did not wear gloves, which is unusual. I have small hands so gloves help me keep a good grip on the control bars (note: bad decision #3 deviating from normal flight gear/routine).

1. You're five foot five and your hands are too small to grip basetube and downtube tubing?
2. If you have small hands wouldn't the thickness of the gloves further increase the difficulty of getting your hands around the tubing?

Launch went smoothly (I previously had issues with the Sport sticking to the cart, even carrying it a few feet into the air). I was a tad high on initial climb out but waited for the tug to climb up to me. VG was set 50-60%.

Tow seemed to go well, it was a little turbulent below about 800 feet.

Were your control actions lagging due to impacted reaction times and inability to grip the basetube?

Towed to about 2500. Release was good.

With a Quest release? Miraculous! Got it on video?

At about 2100 I went upright to practice handling while in a landing position.

1. How much did your handling improve when you went upright?
2. What are the two most critical phases of the flight?
3. During what two phases of the flight is it most critical to have maximum control authority?
4. If being upright with your hands on the downtubes gives you such a great control authority boost for your landings then how come you're not launching that way as well?

Turbulence seemed to pick up a little and I felt like I was having trouble getting the glider to be responsive (note: bad action #4, I always land with a quarter VG and forgot to change it, so of course it felt less controllable).

So speed it up a little.

Around 1200-500 I started feeling nauseous, having stomach cramps as I practiced arching my back for landing, and had broken out in a cold sweat, maybe still suffering from the food poisoning bout from the day before? (Bad decision #5, should have gotten back in harness for a wheel landing).

BULL'S-EYE.

Wind was still strong as I started doing figure eights at the approach end of the runway. At this point I really just wanted to land. I turned in for final at maybe 200-300 feet with extra speed to compensate for gusty winds. At around 25-35 feet there was a particularly strong gust and my left wing dropped. I had just started to transition my hands up higher...

Yeah, ya gotta have your hands up high to get a really good whipstall in a strong gusty wind for a standup landing at an airport so you can hone the skills you'll need for landings in narrow dry riverbeds with large rocks strewn all over the place.

...on the downtubes and one hand slipped off...

So maybe it's not a great idea to be adjusting our grips on our controls until after we've gotten down to a low skim and are just about outta steam...


T2 Landing 2/1/2012

- IF THEN.

...(I should have had my gloves on!).

Yeah, no freakin' way you'd have missed your grip with your gloves on.

I got it back and struggled to level wings and mostly leveled it, it was maybe 5-10 degrees down. At this point I should have immediately leveled off in preparation to flare, but did not for reasons unknown (very bad action #6).

Any possibility that the fact that you had a totally unnecessary flare on your to-do list distracted you from the critical shit?
Does THIS:

http://www.chgpa.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3695
good day until the wreck

Lauren Tjaden - 2008/12/31 04:29:12 UTC

came in with no wind after an hour and had right wing drop. instead of wrestling gilder straight i tried to flare while desperately trying to straighten.

bad bad whack. horrible pain, i could not move. screaming with pain, literally. took a very long time to get me out and to the hospital. got very good drugs.

- a year and five months prior at the same fucking airport - ring any bells for you?

Instead I hit the ground with a groundspeed of probably 20-25 knots.

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.

I don't remember anything after grabbing the downtube again until after impact.

Yeah Shannon, there are TONS of people who don't remember anything after grabbing downtubes. Maybe there's a lesson in there somewhere.

(Salvaged video from my GoPro helmet cam is consistent with this scenario.)

Can we get a look? Never mind, this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaTu5Y4WBdY

18-3704


probably isn't that bad an approximation.

After watching the video I am at a loss as to why I did not level off then immediately flare. Perhaps the high VG setting contributed. It looks like I had two or three seconds to make the transition but did not do so.

Sounds to me like the previous day's food poisoning episode took two or three seconds off your reaction time. It's beyond me how you made it to Quest with rear ending a Pinto and being incinerated in the ensuing fireball.

Since I don't remember those last seconds, I guess I'll never know. I came to stunned, unable to move (or even breathe), a few moments later in a lot of pain and very disoriented.

Now comes the preachy part: I credit my full face Skyrunner helmet with saving my life. If I had not had a full face helmet, I would have suffered severe facial trauma. Bystanders reported hearing the keel of my glider snap down on my helmet (there is a mark on the rear left side just above the edge of the helmet). It probably saved me from devastating spinal trauma. Guys and gals, wear full face helmets!!!!

My harness also protected me from worse chest trauma. The parachute on my chest definitely took some of the impact, and even so I have bones and cartilage bruised and fluids infiltrated in the ribs/cartilage.

Yeah, thanks. I'll remember that for the next time I groundloop my glider into the runway at twenty to twenty-five knots.

A lot of bad decisions contributed to this accident.

1. Contributed to this WHAT?
2. Compromising a landing to practice a dangerous useless stunt is such a bad decision that pretty much any other landing pooch you screw pales to insignificance alongside it.

I had planned to go to Lookout Mountain Flight Park in late June for foot landing training and a mountain clinic.

Yeah, that's a super place to go to practice dangerous stunt landings.

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

Judy Phillips - 2007/11/12 23:47:36 UTC
Newnan, Georgia

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 cross wind 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.

Now, Lauren was waiting for me to get ready to land as she was going to yell "flare" if it looked as though it would be possible.

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. I got my hands up but hadn't completely locked my elbows, when I zoomed!

When I realized how high I was (it looked like I went up about ten feet) I freaked out and couldn't finish the flare. I held what I had and floated down a couple of feet, when a big gust blew me even father to the left, which then caused the wind to be at my back.

As the glider starts its process of recovering from the stall it felt like the wind was contributing and pushing it on over. I nosed into the ground very hard. My helmet was knocked off of my head as I was going down.

As soon as I saw that I was going to crash, I took my hands off the downtubes and allowed myself to swing through the control frame, as I was in a pretty bad situation.

If you're in gusty conditions like you had when you half totaled yourself they'll even tell you when to flare.

I'm not sure why I was so gung ho to try a foot landing that day.

After over a quarter century's worth of foot landing I'm not sure why ANYBODY'S gung ho to do them ANY day.

I think I had a little "go fever", particularly in light of the three prior weekends when I couldn't fly due to weather.

I can understand that. Pretty much all REAL hang glider pilots are in the sport for the foot landings.

I hope I learn from this and become a better pilot.

You WERE a better pilot when you were just landing aircraft and not going through all kinds of stupid convoluted bullshit to whipstall them at just the right instant.

Unfortunately there is a possibility I won't be able to fly again. The damage to my left arm was far worse than the right (probably from hitting left wing down). There is nerve trauma, and my orthopedic surgeon has said it could take more than a year to recover function in my arm.

Yeah, well here's your previous Jack Show post:

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=17092
Crash at Questair

Shannon Moon - 2010/06/29 17:46:13 UTC

Recovering

Thanks everyone for the continued kind emails, IMS, Facebook msgs, etc. My recovery is continuing slowly but surely. For those who asked for an update: I have total use of my right hand now and about eighty percent range of motion in the right arm/wrist/elbow shoulder. Now it is mostly a case of slow strength training in the right arm (I still can only lift a two to three pounds over my head).

The left arm is much slower going, with limited use of my hand and maybe twenty percent range of motion to the elbow/shoulder (none in my wrist). The good news is my physical therapist says there are finally signs that my radial nerve (damaged by the fractures) is healing and starting to send a few nerve impulses to my wrist & hand... who knows, perhaps my recovery will be quicker than originally thought! Maybe I will be shopping for a Freedom hang glider in six to eight months and doing some hill training at Lookout... and I am dying to get back in the air in my DG-300!!!

And you changed your tag from:

I love my Sport 2 135! She's my baby! I love my DG-300, she's my girl!

to:

I miss my Sport 2, but I love my DG-300

So it looks like practicing a safe hang glider landing narrowed your flying options to stuff that doesn't take much in the way of arm functionality.

I hope other pilots can learn from my accident.

Nope.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuMxK9PadzA


http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3682/14088396670_62d49cbf36_o.png
17-4117

Be cautious, and wait to fly another day if you don't feel comfortable with condition or aren't at the peak of your health. Keep your focus and beware of distractions.

Fly safe!

And keep up with those foot landing skills! You could get really hurt landing in a narrow dry riverbed with large rocks strewn all over the place if your flare timing isn't up to snuff!

After I crashed my Sport 2 two years back, later Wiley took the time to tell me "don't let the #@#@$ bastards get you down, you know what happened, you learned from it, and you go on" when some of the inevitable speculation and harsh comments about my crash got me down.

So what really good standup landing tips did you get from Wiley?

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."

Anything of that caliber?
Hey Mike... Ya think if you and all of your dealership assholes would back off on the fucking foot landings you'd have more people staying in the sport and buying your gliders?

[Steve Davy]

Very compelling post! Well done.

[Tad Eareckson]

Aw, shucks. These things write themselves. Fish in a barrel.