instructors and other qualified pilot fiends

[Tad Eareckson]

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=33814
USHPA CGL insurance update

NMERider - 2016/01/12 02:22:33 UTC

Mark G. Forbes - 2016/01/12 00:40:14 UTC

If you need a capsule summary, here's what to know:...

I'm going out on a limb here and I'm going to sum everything up into one succinct 4-word phrase that should be easy for everyone to live by:
1) Don't damage spectators. - Don't be an asshole
2) Put the target well out in the middle of the landing area, not near spectators. - Don't be an asshole
3) Leave plenty of clearance from power lines. - Don't be an asshole
4) Don't sue other pilots, instructors, landowners or USHPA if you get hurt. - Don't be an asshole
5) Follow the USHPA [and HGMA] recommendations for operating limits. - Don't be an asshole
6) Hang check! Make sure you're connected to the glider. - Don't be an asshole [that's Tad's job anyway]

1) Don't damage spectators. - Don't be an asshole

So who are the people who've deliberately damaged spectators? Who are the people who've inadvertently damaged spectators and what were the circumstances? THIS:

02-00007


is about seven and three quarters seconds prior to what's probably the most serious non fatal devastation of a "spectator" in the history of the sport. And I'm not seeing anyone being an asshole.

2) Put the target well out in the middle of the landing area, not near spectators. - Don't be an asshole

- Why do we need "targets" - 'specially in the middles of landing areas? What's a sane argument against conserving as much runway as safely possible on every landing - or simulating same when the runway is effectively infinitely long?

- Can you cite some incidents involving people having put targets near spectators?

3) Leave plenty of clearance from power lines. - Don't be an asshole

I'm an asshole. I come in damn close to powerlines - and treetops which can kill me just as dead - but with tons of SPEED. And I don't ever overshoot runways.

4) Don't sue other pilots, instructors, landowners or USHPA if you get hurt. - Don't be an asshole

Other "pilots" - 'specially of the tug flavor, instructors, u$hPa NEED to be sued. They deliberately violate laws and SOPs and maim and kill people under their influence and control. One's an asshole if one DOESN'T sue these motherfuckers and/or get them behind bars where they belong. Jon Orders went behind bars to the protests of NO ONE and the motherfuckers who trained and certified him got total free passes. But they're gonna take credit for the excellent programs they're running when little girl tandem thrill riders DON'T get dropped a thousand feet.

5) Follow the USHPA [and HGMA] recommendations for operating limits. - Don't be an asshole

How 'bout u$hPa SOPs and FAA aerotowing regulations?

14-03123
http://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5154/14422541620_a48c55b758_o.png


http://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5529/14422573378_5385a9a99a_o.png
19-03703

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=30971
Zach Marzec

NMERider - 2013/02/19 22:56:19 UTC

I will appreciate that it is the tug pilot's call as to the maximum breaking strength of any so-called weak link system and not mine.

Those are just suggestions and The Industry can violate the fuck out of them for decades, kill people, and totally get away with it?

6) Hang check! Make sure you're connected to the glider. - Don't be an asshole [that's Tad's job anyway]

Yeah Jonathan. Hang check! Make sure you're connected to the glider. If you don't do one...

Rob Kells - 2005/12

My partners - Steve Pearson and Mike Meier - and I have over twenty-five thousand hang glider flights between us and have managed (so far) to have hooked in every time. I also spoke with test pilots Ken Howells and Peter Swanson about their methods (another five thousand flights). Not one of us regularly uses either of the two most popular methods outlined above.

...you're an asshole. Thanks.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=33814
USHPA CGL insurance update

Brian Scharp - 2016/01/13 18:59:31 UTC

NMERider - 2016/01/12 02:22:33 UTC
6) Hang check! Make sure you're connected to the glider. - Don't be an asshole [that's Tad's job anyway]

6) Hook-in check! - Don't be an asshole

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=33076
'Lift and Tug Before You Get Off' - PSA video from Heli1

NMERider - 2015/06/28 20:59:16 UTC

All of my fiends who launched without their leg loops did hang checks. Hang checks do not prevent pilots from separating from their glider and falling free. Only the hook-in check accomplishes this. It needs to be done near enough to launch that no distraction will intervene that leaves a pilot disconnected.

NMERider - 2015/06/28 20:35:10 UTC

I suggest you read Tad's dissertation and get yourself and your friends into the habit of assuming that you are always unhooked and then perform a lift and tug with two seconds of starting your launch run every single time any of you attempts to fly.

NMERider - 2015/06/28 20:59:16 UTC

All of my fiends...

Didn't catch that the first time. How appropriate for this topic.

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=31781
Another hang check lesson

Alan Deikman - 2014/09/23 19:47:06 UTC

For my part I will just refer you to the classic Tad Eareckson essay which I call "the gun is always loaded" which is a bit overworked but probably all you will ever need to read regarding FTHI. A lot of people will find it gores their particular sacred Ox, but I have never seen anyone point out a flaw in his logic.

No sane argument against it, no flaw in the logic, no record of a negative side effect from the entire history of the sport, biggest bang for the buck approach in the sport, 100.00 percent effective. And NO acknowledgement.

And that, people of varying ages, tells us EXACTLY how much the vile assholes running and populating this sport are gonna start doing to get shit together following the historic 2015 bloodbath and insurance crisis.

[Steve Davy]

And NO acknowledgement.

Yep. Big fucking surprise, no?

[Tad Eareckson]

I'm proud of realizing what an excellent predictor of dickheadedness Aussie Methodism is as early as I did. Aussie Methodist? Go ahead and hate the motherfucker on as many levels as you feel like - can't possibly go wrong. Always had a bad feeling about that crap.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=46212
Happy Birthday John W. Dickenson!!

Ken de Russy - 2016/01/23 05:26:06 UTC

Today is John Dickenson's 82nd Birthday. We are indeed fortunate that John is alive and well living in his native Australia. You should go right now to John's Guest Book:
http://users3.smartgb.com/g/g.php?a=s&i=g35-20147-6d
and thank him for your magic carpet.

I can't use my magic carpet anymore because:

Graeme Henderson - 2016/01/24 07:24:52 UTC

I like hang gliding but really the majority of the people involved in it are revolting.

John designed, built and successfully flew his first hang glider on September 8, 1963 in Grafton. His revolutionary airframe and pendulum weight-shift control method became the template for the tens of thousands of copies that populated the worldwide viral spread of a new sport. The essential elements of Dickenson's creation are apparent in nearly all hang gliders built since.

http://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1689/24285003090_55ecf8256d_o.jpg

http://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1481/24212749389_306e378fc6_o.jpg

http://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1705/24472184722_905535a50b_o.jpg

But note that ZERO percent of the illustrated early hang gliders ARE being safely foot launched and ZERO percent WILL BE foot landed. ALL are being towed (through the basetube) up to launch speed and all will be skied to stops at the other end of the flight.

And the evidence is OVERWHELMING that these things CANNOT be "SAFELY" foot launched and landed in real world still air, thermal, and many other conditions and situations.

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."

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.

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.

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=28835
Why I don't paraglide

Tom Emery - 2013/04/17 14:29:12 UTC

Been flying Crestline about a year now. I've seen more bent aluminum than twisted risers. Every time another hang pounds in, Steven, the resident PG master, just rolls his eyes and says something like, "And you guys think hang gliding is safer."

http://www.ushawks.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2095
Should we try a different way? Designwise....

Steve Corbin - 2015/09/02 22:26:04 UTC

This is a subject that I have been meditating on for quite some time now.

I hear and read about the alleged decline in participation in HG, and how PG is thriving.

Any un-biased observer should be able to see why wanna-be pilots find PG more attractive than HG. Standing around in the Andy Jackson Memorial International Airpark at a busy fly-in shows that a PG landing is a total non-event, while everyone stands up to watch HG's, piloted by "experts", come in to land. A good landing by a HG is greeted by cheers, an acknowledgement that landing one successfully is a demonstration not just of skill, but good luck as well.

And the launch is pretty much just the landing in reverse 'cept on the plus side:
- it's always optional and the timing is chosen
- it's usually optimized with terrain modification or a ramp
- wire crew can be utilized
and on the minus in light air you have to generate the power rather than dissipate it.

Minor error in the execution of a dolly or platform tow launch... Essentially never happens.

Minor error in the execution of a foot launch...

Karen Carra - Maryland - 61868 - Exp: 2016/06/30
- H3 - 1998/07/22 - Judy McCarty - AT FL AWCL CL FSL RLF TUR XC
- P2 - 2002/06/12 - Scotty Marion - FL FSL RS

Kenneth Andrews - California - 76491 - H5 - 2014/03/22 - Alan Crouse - AT FL AWCL CL FSL HA RLF TUR XC - OBS

Glider crashes. And it almost always crashes in terrain in which one would really rather it didn't.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=34002
Fatality reported at McClure--Ken Muscio

Mark G. Forbes - 2016/01/29 00:49:48 UTC

We've received a report of a fatal HG accident involving Ken Muscio at McClure today.

Please, folks....let's be careful out there. We've had one bad HG crash at Lookout already this month, and now a fatal accident in California. This is not a good start to the year. There will be further information coming once witnesses file their reports though the AIRS system. <edit> Not directly from AIRS, but rather from the accident reviewers once they've gone through the reports and summarized them into a form that can be presented to members. </edit>

We...

Who's "We", Mark? Tim Herr and the u$hPa Priesthood?

...'ve received a report of a fatal HG accident...

Oh. It was an "accident" this time. Could've happened to any of the best of us - and did. Oh well, you know what they say about shit.

...involving Ken Muscio...

Oh good. Ken was just INVOLVED. Probably just a wire crewman. So he's OK. Wonder who the poor sod who bought it was.

...at McClure today.

Probably towing. The complexity of towing makes that flavor of the sport really dangerous. Best not to go there, people of varying ages.

Please, folks....let's be careful out there.

Yeah folks. Be careful out there. People get killed flying these things, ya know. And try to be as focused as possible.

We've had one bad HG crash at Lookout already this month...

Really?

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=20756
How is Zach Etheridge doing?

Bob Flynn - 2011/02/04 11:26:34 UTC

Lookout keeps this kind of stuff under their hat. You never hear of accidents there. But every time I go there, I hear about quite a few. Blown launches, tree landings, etc.

Probably had absolutely nothing to do with any of the issues that just got Ken killed so it was undoubtedly a good decision not to mention that anything had happened until just now.

...and now a fatal accident in California.

Keep up the great work, California. Just 28 days into the new year and you're already up to half of your contributions for last year.

This is not a good start to the year.

Unless your goal is to beat last year's record. A day short of two months ahead of 2015's first fatal splat. But that one was a twofer so let's call it just one month.

There will be further information coming once witnesses file their reports though the AIRS system.

I'm sure if we're patient and don't speculate any we'll get the kind of quality information we've come to expect in recent years after people suffer fatal injuries.

<edit> Not directly from AIRS, but rather from the accident reviewers...

First rate accident reviewers like Mitch Shipley who can make sure everyone thoroughly understands what's typical in our sport.

...once they've gone through the reports and summarized them into a form that can be presented to members. </edit>

Heavily redacted, sanitized, misleading bullshit. 'Cause members aren't permitted to actually know anything about what actually happens in these events. Now everybody remember to suck Mark's dick for all the excellent work he does in making this sport everything it can be.

And here's the first chunk of data on this one that u$hPa didn't want anybody to be able to see:

Ken Muscio - California - 30625 - H4 - 1983/05/13 - Tim Morley - AT FL AWCL CL FSL RLF TUR XC - MNTR

[Tad Eareckson]

Tad Eareckson - 2013/04/02 15:09:20 UTC

Name one person who's mastered foot landings.

miguel - 2013/04/02 15:58:44 UTC

Ken Muscio

We'll probably see. At the moment we've got nothing and before I found this exchange I was thinking with a gun to my head I'd say landing incident.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=34002
Fatality reported at McClure--Ken Muscio

Scot Huber - 2016/01/29 20:19:28 UTC
Santa Rosa

KM was involved in a midair close to the terrain at McClure. From what I've heard...

So we've got at least one witness who's talked about the incident but won't make the information available to the public.

...he and the other pilot clipped wings out by bugfart.

And fuck anybody who doesn't know where bugfart is.

KM was pulled in hard probably trying to avoid the contact and didn't have the altitude to correct or throw his chute. The other pilot made it to the LZ and was unhurt physically.

And is also keeping his mouth shut / ass covered.

Witnesses say he didn't move from the point of impact at all so at least he didn't suffer.

Course not. Died doing what he loved - instantly.

He had some vertebra fused together in his neck after a blown launch...

...that he loved...

...at Dunlap a couple of years ago...

2012/09.

...which limited his neck movements a lot.

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=27396
Scooter tow faillure... or Never Land On Your Face

Mitch Shipley - 2012/10/22 19:04:16 UTC

We engage in a sport that has risk and that is part of the attraction.

He's wearing the neck brace and driving for Shannon and I in the pic I'm attaching.

http://forum.hanggliding.org/download/file.php?id=26611


Damn. Wish me had one of those. That would almost certainly increase my attraction to the sport.

I don't know if the restricted neck movement contributed to the accident...

So it was an accident?

...but it well might have.

How 'bout this pro toad here:

06-03114
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3728/9655895292_f4f808fb0e_o.png


Think the restricted ability he had to pull the fuckin' bar back may have contributed to the whip inconvenience he experienced when his Rooney Link increased the safety of the towing operation? Or do ya think he learned how to safely compensate in a short clinic with Steve Exceptionally-Knowledgeable Wendt?

Hope this helps people understand the circumstances of his passing...

Nah, I prefer to ignore this report and wait until the u$hPa spin doctors have gone through the reports and summarized them into a form that can be presented to members.

...and maybe give some peace to the great loss we all feel.

Why should we be feeling any grief and loss about this one? He died doing what he loved, didn't he?

Scot Huber - Santa Rosa, California - 65324 - H4 - 2000/08/21 - Leo Jones - AT FL AWCL CL FSL RLF TUR XC

P.S. Note Mark said "members". US nonmembers, foreign flyers holding memberships in their own countries' national organizations, sailplane pilots, prospective hang glider pilots, the general public can go fuck themselves.

[Steve Davy]

I met Ken twice. First time was 2009/11/22 when I drove him and Gary (birdman) up to launch at McClure. Second time was at Big Sur 2010/01/01.
I recall that he was a very quiet person.

[Tad Eareckson]

When you drove HE and Gary.

He certainly was on the web. Have been thinking what a pity it was that the most competent and accomplished hang glider pilot on the face of planet never seems to have uttered a single public comment on any of the brain dead obvious issues that had been slaughtering his fellow flyers since the dawn of the sport - particularly during the year just past.