[Bob Kuczewski]

Wow, such hypocrisy from "Billy Purdin" at Torrey Pines.

I wonder why USHPA isn't expelling Billy for badmouthing another UHSPA member?

Oh wait, that only applies to people who are critical of Air California Adventures ... and not the other way around.

It's especially ironic that Dell's student was likely not wearing a helmet when he died over a year ago, but Gabe Jebb was instructing without a helmet just this past November and USHPA didn't lift a finger against him.

[Rick Masters]

Dell would have to be as bad as you before the u$hPA will take action.

Actually, I don't think he is a USHPA member.
He would be a USPPA member, if anything.

[Rick Masters]

You can't make this stuff up

Less than a year after nearly dying in a paragliding crash while vacationing in France, Col. Sean Boyle of CFB North Bay is ready take over as Canadian air task commander of Operation IMPACT in Iraq.
http://www.torontosun.com/2015/04/03/mo ... ainst-isis

From Red Bull: "Now this is ‘ground-breaking’ paragliding"
Marvin is on my short list.
http://www.redbull.com/en/adventure/sto ... aragliding

Airplane collides with skydiver, slams him to the ground
http://www.examiner.com/article/airplan ... ure-it-all

Paragliding season opens in Austria
16 hours ago: District Steyr-Land. Collapse. Severe injuries.
10 hours ago: Göriach. Collapse. Broken back.

[wingspan33]

Rick,

Noticed this new "slang" term for collapsible canopies on another site -

PG = . . . . Cadaver Wrapper . . . .

Even seems to fit in with your last post.

[Rick Masters]

Search and rescue teams frequently find cadavers wrapped in paragliders.

My favorite humerous term is "Tree Condom."

[wingspan33]

Ahhhhh, . . . Is that photo real or "photo shopped"? I'd figure the lines and canopy would fail before the remains turned "skeletal". But then, in a possible tropical environment, insects might speed things up. ? ? ?

PS - Could also be a real tree landing with the (alive) pilot replaced with a plastic skeleton.

[Rick Masters]

This is paragliding humor at its best.
When it happens to the other guy - not to you.

[wingspan33]

Rick,

We shouldn't start a separate "soaring parachute humor" thread should we?

[Rick Masters]

        Paragliding fatality # 1305

[Rick Masters]

Paragliding fatality #1306
Collapse at 150 feet trying to land in a meadow.

Zeugen hatten beobachtet, wie der 55-Jährige in etwa 50 Metern Höhe versuchte, seinen eingeklappten Schirm zu entfalten.

Lingered in a hospital for four days before dying.

The previous death was from a collapse in a thermal immediately after takeoff. Both in Germany.

Many hang glider pilots will not even entertain the idea of flying a soaring parachute in thermal conditions.
It's too dangerous.