Another Paraglider - Paraglider Crash at Torrey Today ...

Of course, some of the early media reports call them "hang-gliders":


Does anyone see a hang glider in that picture?   


Fox 5 did a little better job:




Channel 10 seems to have gotten it right as well:




Let's see, wasn't it just 12 days ago (March 20th, 2016) that another PG crashed?




And wasn't it less than a week before that when Gabe Jebb was caught on film violating USHPA's safety rules?




But according to U$HPA, everything is just fine at Torrey.
Please send them more money for their RRG ... they're going to need it.

Here's part of my post to the Sylmar Forum (and to Ken Andrews - USHPA Regional Director for Region 3) :

They'll close Torrey to hang gliding soon because of all the paraglider crashes.
Good thing there weren't little kids joyriding on those paragliders.
That would have been it.

Bob,

It's hard for the concessionaire to control individual pilots, flying on their own. So, one PG pilot crashes a little while back and then another two PG pilots fly unsafely into each other, . . . well how can the concessionaire be responsible for THOSE problems?

. . . . Hmmmmmm, . . . . unless the Gabe Jebb no-helmet-while-hooked-in problem is just the so called "Tip of the Iceberg". I wonder if the three people who crash/collided recently were students of Air California Adventure Inc.? I wonder what ratings these three pilots had? I wonder what wind conditions they were flying in

Heck, these most recent accident victims were probably badly trained foreign collapsible canopy occupants. Air California Adventure Inc. probably trains their students with impeccable care and skill. I'll bet that Gabe Jebb not wearing his helmet is part of a ACA Inc. rating test! The student must answer the following question correctly -

"What basic and simple USHPA safety rule did your instructor violate during your training secession today?"

If they don't get the answer correct, they fail the whole test. Yea, I bet that's what's going on! Professionals all the way!

But, gee, I just remembered that last year while out in CA for the Dockweiler event I also visited Torrey Pines. To get some good exercise in, I walked down to the beach. While beginning my walk back up a young female ACA PG student landed on the beach (her first solo flight and she was instructed to land below). I talked with her some on our climb back to the top. I wished her luck with her future flying. I mentioned that it's good she's flying at Torrey Pines since sites with turbulence can cause the canopy to collapse and drop you to the ground. She looked puzzled. I asked, "Didn't they teach you all about that?" She responded, "No." I may have responded by saying, "I fly hang gliders because that can't happen with them.".

Golly, now I'm really confused. Is ACA Inc. (and Torrey Pines City Park) a good place to learn to fly PGs, or a bad place to learn to fly PGs?

Maybe the U$hPa should investigate. After all, three accident victims in less than two weeks! And an instructor who sets up weird test questions, to boot!

One other thought, Bob.

Since yesterday was April 1st, the whole deal could have been a big April Fools joke!

Here's a couple other jokes -

Q - What does ACA Inc stand for?


A - Air Crash Adventure Incarnate.

or,

A - Air Collision Adventure Incapacitated

Belated April Fools!

That should be criminal.
I'm serious.
Jail time.

I agree, Rick.

The young lady I spoke of was a student at the nearby UC campus. I suspect that she had just bought her own canopy (although I don't know that for sure). She was definitely enthusiastic about flying. But, it seemed obvious, had been kept ignorant of the safety related dangers/flaws inherent with soarable parachutes. I would also bet she was still only P1 rated. Yet she was allowed to fly somewhere where, if something went wrong, she was very likely to be high enough off the ground to fall and die.

Having once been a hang gliding instructor (for about 5 years), I NEVER allowed a Beginner (H1) rated student pilot to fly solo anywhere but a small training hill. Now, any HG/PG student pilot could conceivably be killed even falling to the ground from only 10 feet high. But with an instructor only a dozen or so feet away keenly observing the student's progression skill wise, . . . well, even a mild injury is fairly unlikely. BUT sending a P1 off of a 300'+ cliff site?

I've mentioned before that it should be required (by law?) that any and every PG student be informed, in detail, about the results of an unrecoverable canopy deflation at altitude. I think the identical text should be printed on every canopy - like the US Surgeon General's cigarette warning.

I'm sure the Paraglider Manufacturers Association will be receptive:

“All members are expected to conduct business in an honest and moral way. This means that all publications in any form, from members should be truthful. This is particularly important in the subject of certification and safety issues. Publications in this instance include but is not limited to: - websites - forums - advertising in any form - letters and emails - press releases. This moral obligation applies equally to other areas of business activity, such as company law, employment and financial matters.”
-- Paraglider Manufacturers Association, Article 10

On second thought, nobody in paragliding is going to admit that paragliders have an inherently-flawed design that threatens the safety of the people who fly them. The entire "active flying" argument was an effort to lay all blame on the pilot. Therefore, when anyone is killed or injured on a paraglider, the response from paraglider enthusiasts is invariably that it was the operator's fault, and not a problem the paraglider itself.

This is perhaps my biggest criticism of the USHPA. They are no longer honest players. There is too much money in paragliding for them to speak too loudly. Not that they would. They appear to have swallowed their own koolaid.

That's my biggest criticism as well. Their actions regarding my expulsion were as dishonest as I've ever seen. They say a fish rots from its head, and the one constant that I've seen for the last 10 years of dishonesty has been Mark Forbes. I believe that his control of the insurance is something that none of the other Directors want to deal with, and so they let him call all the shots. That was also clear in my expulsion hearing when some of the other Directors questioned the validity of expelling me and Mark Forbes backed them down.

By the way, I just checked my email and found a few photos of the downed paraglider that were sent to me:

Here's a wide angle version showing most of the 300 foot cliff:



Here's a zoomed in version:

No pilot and no glider are immune to collapses however active flying will virtually eliminate any tendency to collapse.
If you have a collapse, the first thing to do is to control your direction. You should fly away from the ground or obstacles and other pilots, or at least not to fly into them.
–M6 Mantra manual, Ozone Gliders LTD.

If you are low enough to fly into obstacles, wouldn't it be a better idea to throw your reserve when your paraglider collapses?
And how are helpless falling humans on falling, collapsed paragliders supposed to steer, anyway?
It's a good thing for the paragliding industry and their promotional arm U$hPA that there are so many gullible, ignorant people out there.