[Rick Masters]

Lakes - another of God's gifts to paragliders



Who needs common sense when one has God? After all, God protects children and fools.
Or, as I have written on Mythology of the Airframe, "After a while God tires of protecting fools but may God protect their fatherless children."
Soaring parachutists were outraged at this sentiment when I published it in 2012. Why? Don't they love children? I do.
Few things are more important than children. Paragliding certainly isn't one of them.
I just hope someone protects and provides for the struggling wife and helpless children after their father stupidly kills himself by inflating his ego instead of his canopy.
Perhaps I should start a dating service for paragliding widows.
There sure are a lot of them...

[Rick Masters]

No one could be this stupid.



Correction: Thousands of people are this stupid.
It remains unbelievable to me that that so many people bet their lives that they will not be killed by a simple thermal. This is a bad bet. Thermals are a natural and common occurrence in the atmosphere. It is impossible not to encounter them. Contrast this incident with a hang glider pilot in the same situation. His sail, supported by an airframe and capable of withstanding several Gs of negative load, cannot collapse or lose the airfoil shape that allows it to fly. The hang glider pilot senses the lift, turns and banks, and joyously rides the thermal into the sky.

Why would anyone chose to fly a paraglider when the risk is so extreme and clear? Why would anyone choose the risk of becoming a helpless human falling from deadly altitude over the joy of secure freeflight? The only answer is that soaring parachutists are delusional. They create a false reality and eagerly share it among themselves until they are ultimately crippled or killed. The ones who are not yet crippled or killed blame those who are for being poor pilots. Anyone outside the sport is castigated for stating the obvious.

[Rick Masters]

June 2, 2015
Today in Paragliding
3 accidents that I know of

1) One death (# 1315).
2) One broken back
3) Both legs broken

Paragliding - the closest thing to flying like a brick.

[Rick Masters]

The one thousand, three hundred and seventeenth PG fatality that I know of occurs when a paraglider is winch-towed to 300 meters, the canopy collapses, he throws his reserve but it doesn't open in time.

[Rick Masters]

Lawyers prepare to move on paragliding; target passenger flights.

Skydiving and Paragliding Accidents and Injuries
Because of the dangerous nature of aerial sports, injuries from skydiving and paragliding accidents are almost always serious and are often fatal. Adrenaline junkies are at the mercy of the equipment and training they receive for their high flying excursions; and when the equipment is faulty or the training is inadequate, the results are often deadly. Instructors, equipment manufacturers, employees, and recreation companies may be legally responsible for accidents that occur when a skydiver or paraglider uses their services.

COMMON SKYDIVING AND PARAGLIDING INJURIES
Broken bones
Traumatic brain injuries (TBI)
Spinal cord injuries
Paralysis
Death

SKYDIVING AND PARACHUTING
Skydiving and parachuting accidents caused 21 deaths in the United States in 2010 (dropzone.com) One aspect that many of these accidents have in common is that the victims were often experienced skydivers. These fatal accidents were most often caused by:
Product defects
Equipment malfunction
Improper packing
Cord defects
Harness failure
Defective steering handles

PARASAILING AND PARAGLIDING
Parasailing and paragliding accidents are different from skydiving and parachuting accidents in that the passengers are often inexperienced and the sport is not regulated at the federal, state, or county level. They count on operators, instructors, boat drivers, and other officials to guide them in their sailing/gliding excursions. When these trained officials fail to properly do their job, the results can be devastating for victims. Common causes of accidents include:
Faulty/worn equipment
Bad weather
Poor training
Improper maintenance of boats
http://thomasjhenrylaw.com/practice-areas/skydiving-accidents/
__________________________

No mention of hang gliding.
Hang glider pilots who wish to contribute financially to the defense of parachuting (paragliding) should remain in the U$hPa.
They will, of course, say it is in defense of free-flight.
But I would like hang glider pilots to make a differentiation.
Hang gliders are the simplest form of sailplanes.
Paragliders are the most complicated form of parachutes.
They are not even remotely the same.

[JoeF]

Dated clip:

WHGAJuly15of2015.JPG (77.61 KiB) Viewed 16361 times

[Rick Masters]

Paragliding Slaughter Forecast

Weather forecast for Saturday, July 18 2015 (made Wednesday, July 15 2015)
Note the predicted temperatures from Berlin to Greece: 102+F !!!!!!!!!!!
Soaring parachutists will flock to the Alps like madmen.

[Rick Masters]

DEATH SPORT
Four helpless falling humans on paragliders have died since my last post - one from my former hang gliding club, the SLO Soaring Association.

WHAT WILL IT TAKE FOR HANG GLIDER PILOTS TO REALIZE THAT BEING CLOSELY ASSOCIATED WITH PARACHUTING IS A VERY BAD IDEA?

[Rick Masters]

Paraglider commander attempts new world record*


* How many people can get killed in one paraglider crash?

[Rick Masters]

July 6, 2015    We don't need no stinking helmets
Soaring parachutist Paul Pop, with 15 years experience, dies of "open head trauma" following the collapse of his paraglider


Video: http://vid1.stirileprotv.ro/2015/07/07/61689974-2.mp4