ryoder 1,590 #1 April 29, 2012 http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2012/04/28/bc-hang-glider-fall.html"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
headoverheels 334 #2 April 29, 2012 I guess the pilot should be busted back to Hang 1. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pchapman 279 #3 April 29, 2012 Oops. Ya gotta "hook in" right. I haven't been around HG for a long time, but I think it was always normal to have a hang loop and a backup hang loop too, that hang from the glider, into which a big beefy steel biner is hooked, from which a flyer's harness hangs. Actual carabiner failures or harness suspension failures are extremely rare. I'll guess that an error in hooking up properly was most likely the problem. But I don't know all the details of what can go wrong in hang gliding. It is a concern among hang glider pilots to avoid launching without hooking in. Sounds hard to do but they manage it occasionally, especially when distracted, unclipping to move around separate from the glider, then getting back to the glider, not planning to launch right away, and then forgetting to hook back when the chance to launch comes. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CSpenceFLY 1 #4 April 29, 2012 If it happened within 30 sec. of take off how damn lost could she be? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jimmytavino 16 #5 April 29, 2012 "accidents occur,,,,, and that's hopefully what happened"..what a terrible choice of words damn. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BIGUN 1,483 #6 April 29, 2012 QuoteIf it happened within 30 sec. of take off how damn lost could she be? Assuming 10 MPH and using a Time/Speed/Distance formula.... 0.0833 miles 0.1341 km Evidently, the RCMP's or the SaR teams have migrated over to GPS and no longer carry a compass to shoot an azimuth from the point of launch to the most probably area. While it appears to be a very logical question for you and I; let's hope we don't have the full story.Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JohnMitchell 16 #7 April 29, 2012 Man, that's bad stuff. It kind of has parallels to a couple of our tandem accidents a few years ago. There are some things in this world you have to be 110% sure about, like your chest strap, hooking up your passenger, being attached to your hang glider . . . Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BIGUN 1,483 #8 April 29, 2012 Quote Man, that's bad stuff. It kind of has parallels to a couple of our tandem accidents a few years ago. There are some things in this world you have to be 110% sure about, like your chest strap, hooking up your passenger, being attached to your hang glider . . . I don't know much about hang-gliding, so would this be about the equivalent of us not hooking up three of the attachment points and not noticing the fourth hanging on by a thread in our tandem world?Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ZigZagMarquis 9 #9 April 29, 2012 Quote There are some things in this world you have to be 110% sure about, like your chest strap, hooking up your passenger, being attached to your hang glider . . . ... and making sure your legs are through your leg-straps inside your wingsuit. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ryoder 1,590 #10 April 29, 2012 Quote Man, that's bad stuff. It kind of has parallels to a couple of our tandem accidents a few years ago. Exactly what I was thinking. But in this case there is no opening shock, so I would have expected her to have been dumped on the ground at launch, rather than a half minute later."There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
davjohns 1 #11 April 29, 2012 Pretty much like jumping without a parachute on your back. There should be someone checking or giving a 'hang check' just before launch. It doesn't say if they were foot launching off a cliff or doing aeortow. If it was a foot launch, I can see where she would be hard to find. An aerotow shouldn't have gotten too far in 30 seconds. Also, an aerotow would mandate that you be hooked in right before launch. Pretty difficult to screw that one up. The foot launch should be difficult, but I can see where it could happen. If she wasn't hooked in, she was likely holding onto the pilot or wing for those thirty seconds and then couldn't hold on any longer. I've heard of it before, but never in a tandem. Those usually have the instructor and an independent safety checking things just before launch. I've never heard of this happening before. Pretty awful.I know it just wouldnt be right to kill all the stupid people that we meet.. But do you think it would be appropriate to just remove all of the warning labels and let nature take its course. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chuck_skywalker 0 #12 April 30, 2012 sad deal for everyone involved. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jimmytavino 16 #13 May 1, 2012 years ago i am certain that i saw footage of a "daredevil" who was mostly about jumping cars, over burning boxes, and driving cars through "burning tunnels of oil soaked hay bales" . he kept Improving his act and it was common for him to wear a Fully Asbestos Covered Jumpsuit ,during a show then they built skid plates onto the suit and he would be dragged, Behind a speeding car, on a tow rope and launched into those flaming tunnels of hay.. Only to slide right through and come out the far side ( Usually !!) . so then he decided that he would lay UNDER a small plane,,, like a tri pacer... holding a bar which was between the landing gear tires, laying prone, but with a tether.... and stay in that spot. through the take off, a flight and the landing...( hence the skid plates on his chest and knees.. ) HE WAS tethered to the belly of the plane.. (or i would think..through the belly of the plane, to some contact point within the structure of the fuselage.. and that tether secured to his heat suit.. His very HEAVY heat suit..and there seemed to be ,,,,, Only ONE.. connection point,, besides his hands...this had to be 15 years ago or more . It was on one of the early version video shows of the time. There were cameras mounted near the gear, and footage shot from the ground, and anyway shortly after getting through the take off... the viewer can SEE the cable/ tether let go... and the poor guy was left hanging from the bar.... BAD stuff.... not sure if the pilot was aware of the predicament,, doesn't really matter. the poor guy fell, and that was that... i want to say his name was "spanky spangler" or some such moniker.,,, Does anyone Else recall seeing that, or hearing of it???? may he R I P ... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ryoder 1,590 #14 May 1, 2012 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIP2IMaTmLM"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pchapman 279 #15 May 1, 2012 Quotehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIP2IMaTmLM Yeah, stuntman Jim Bailey. If that's the video I remember, it's a little on the nasty side, as one can hear him grunting in the intercom while trying desperately to hold on, before he falls to his death. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jimmytavino 16 #16 May 1, 2012 damn.... sorry i even brought it up....i had the name.... incorrect....but the sentiment remains the same... R I P Now ,,!!! as for the rigging crew... " what the f@*k" ?? OVER!!!???? terrible waste....imo Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
riddler 0 #17 May 1, 2012 According to this web site, she was located seven hours later, about 20 meters from the pilot's shoe.Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
davjohns 1 #18 May 1, 2012 My guess is that she was holding onto him and the shoe went with her when she fell. A few years ago, at a site I fly, a guy went off the ramp without being hooked in. He was notorious for forgetting. Nobody knew he was about to fly. He yelled 'clear', which indicates he is about to launch, and he launched. Nobody had a chance to check him. He held onto the glider as long as he could and then dropped a couple hundred feet to the ground. There is a procedure for dealing with this situation, but very few have the upper body strength to pull themselves up into the control frame without simultaneously sterring the glider in an undesired fashion. This is a real travesty. Somebody clearly failed to follow one of the most basic safety procedures called a 'hang check'. Alternately, there was some highly unserviceable equipment involved, but that is far less likely from what I have seen.I know it just wouldnt be right to kill all the stupid people that we meet.. But do you think it would be appropriate to just remove all of the warning labels and let nature take its course. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
davjohns 1 #19 May 1, 2012 http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2012/04/30/bc-hang-glider-death.html Checked my hanggliding forum. Looks like she wasn't hooked in. Eye witness report indicates that was the case. Terrible.I know it just wouldnt be right to kill all the stupid people that we meet.. But do you think it would be appropriate to just remove all of the warning labels and let nature take its course. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GeorgiaDon 379 #20 May 2, 2012 Quotehttp://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2012/04/30/bc-hang-glider-death.html Checked my hanggliding forum. Looks like she wasn't hooked in. Eye witness report indicates that was the case. Terrible.Made it clicky. Apparently there is a camera mounted so the customer can have a video of their flight. The pilot has been charged with obstruction; it is alleged that he removed and swallowed the memory card. Don_____________________________________ Tolerance is the cost we must pay for our adventure in liberty. (Dworkin, 1996) “Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.” (Yeats) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JohnRich 4 #21 May 15, 2012 Update: "Hang glider pilot apologizes for deadly flight" http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/05/15/hang-glider-pilot-apologizes-for-deadly-flight/ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
riddler 0 #22 May 16, 2012 QuoteOrders was charged with obstruction of justice for swallowing the memory card, which is now in the possession of police. Well, now there is no doubt about him swallowing it. Details of the memory-card recovery are still pending, and hopefully will never be released. What a crappy thing to happen. Instructors want to share their joy of the sport, many of them lose money to do it. The student, meanwhile, thinks that these instructors do this all the time, and their risk is mitigated by experience.Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GeorgiaDon 379 #23 February 16, 2013 Update: pilot now charged with criminal negligence causing death. Don_____________________________________ Tolerance is the cost we must pay for our adventure in liberty. (Dworkin, 1996) “Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.” (Yeats) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
