[Free]

Free, I understand that the mechanism may have worked fine. Like my example of the rafting adventure, yea the rafts float, the life preservers will preserve your life, and the rusty paddles will paddle the rafts, . . .

BUT could one or all of those "slightly off" features of the equipment contribute to an accident?
Compare that to a well researched, developed and maintained professional product.

Harrison’s company was registered as a Nevada limited liability company LLC in January, according to secretary of state’s office.

This was a new venture fresh out of the gates. The long 2x6's for a base tube cradle does look like a quick cobble job.
More time to practice and work on their procedures would have been a good idea before going full scale carnival ride.

[Note : I have since seen some pictures that appear to be closer up shots of the "tow trailer" rig. In those pictures the details of the set-up seem more professional. The from-a-distance shots, not so much.

I wondered about the steel pipe tether that looked like it could easily be ripped off of it's flimsy looking attachment on the front of the trailer.
The idea is unique but I wondered about the leveraged stress on the structure. Who knows of anything like it elsewhere?
I was thinking that might have been be implicated in the crash. A quick turn throwing the glider off to the side?
I guess that was not the case.

On a new point - The tandem pilot was 55 years old. I had my first heart attack (very mild luckily!) when I was 54. I hope they do an autopsy on the pilot to be sure things didn't "go wrong" because he was having a serious heart related event. That would involve the kind of situation where there's not much that could have been done. Except perhaps the ability (through education) of the tandem pilot to recognize early symptoms.

My guess, we'll find this guy was very healthy. Black belt, clean living, kayaker..

With video on board the wing (has this actually been confirmed?) there are lots of things that can be better understood.

That's what we need to stop the speculation. Keep your own health up in the meantime.
It could be a while.

[wingspan33]

Free,

That sounds like a likely description of what happened (two posts back). Releasing a video taken during the "fateful" flight would really help. I wonder if the police have custody of that (camera or camera memory)?

I am also puzzled by the local FAA officials thinking that they don't have jurisdiction over hang glider tandems. For sure they DO! Shows the unfortunate ignorance of Federal Officials.

[Bill Cummings]

“I wondered about the steel pipe tether that looked like it could easily be ripped off of it's flimsy looking attachment on the front of the trailer.
The idea is unique but I wondered about the leveraged stress on the structure. Who knows of anything like it elsewhere?
I was thinking that might have been be implicated in the crash. A quick turn throwing the glider off to the side?
I guess that was not the case.”

The boom bar would have been removed for a flight. Curt Graham (sp?) had a training flatbed at Hobbs New Mexico USA, with a boom bar. The square shaped metal box set the limit that the boom bar, hooked to the hang glider, could move. Only so high, so far left, so far right and down setting on the truck. When a student could keep the boom bar from touching the steel framed limiter the student had acquired a very fine touch controlling the glider. All this time the glider cannot get away from the truck.

[wingspan33]

. . . Releasing a video taken during the "fateful" flight would really help. I wonder if the police have custody of that (camera or camera memory)?

I am also puzzled by the local FAA officials thinking that they don't have jurisdiction over hang glider tandems. For sure they DO! Shows the unfortunate ignorance of Federal Officials.

Sorry to quote myself but . . .

A reliable source has confirmed that the local Nevada police do have custody of the video taken on the flight. Therefore, the information exists.

Also, relevant individuals do have the ability to look into this matter. My research confirms this.

I can't and won't go into more detail at this time. Why? - Well, I've got to head out to begin a serious car repair on a beautiful near 60 degree day (warmest day this year, here abouts).

[JoeF]

1. Speculation is a good thing. Just give notice to readers that a note is speculative. Any suppression of speculation has ulterior motives, I highly suspect. Robust comprehensive speculating will hold solution keys; wise sifting among speculation items could produce tools for knowing things. Science involves speculating. During speculating, one may be fully aware that one will often be missing match to an incident; however, investigators of fact carry bias that may miss seeing matters of fact. To finally get clear on a matter, test hypotheses, even hypotheses that show up in speculative discourse.

2.

Hi Nathan,
You might be the first in open news to note that the incident of
Harrison and Ayrs
was NOT a hang glider mode incident as is being broadly reported. Rather, the
incident is of a system that was in truck-towing manned-kiting mode.
Hang glider mode is free of remote towing vehicles.
Thanks for any correction you might do in the open news arena.

Best,
Joe Faust

3. Remote-anchor manned kiting is not hang gliding. A wing arrangement in the remote-anchor manned kiting is not a hang glider, but a wing of a remote-anchor manned kiting system.

~ JoeF

[brianscharp]

A reliable source has confirmed that the local Nevada police do have custody of the video taken on the flight. Therefore, the information exists.

Also, relevant individuals do have the ability to look into this matter. My research confirms this.

That is good news, but I'll still be shocked if any of us actually ever get to see it. I'll bet it goes to and stays with the ushpa investigation.

[Bill Cummings]

A reliable source has confirmed that the local Nevada police do have custody of the video taken on the flight. Therefore, the information exists.

Also, relevant individuals do have the ability to look into this matter. My research confirms this.

That is good news, but I'll still be shocked if any of us actually ever get to see it. I'll bet it goes to and stays with the ushpa investigation.

If it said I missed or forgot--- was the pilot married? I'm wondering if the camera and memory card belong to his survivors or just who legally will take possession of the camera and memory card.

[brianscharp]

The brief moments of trying to catch flight turned horribly bad in just seconds. "The truck took a turn ... the turn caused a little bit of slack in the line ... and when the slack came out of the line it yanked the glider and caused the glider to stall and nose dive into the ground," Corbin Moorhead said.

This description doesn't mention the truck stopping, just turning. That sounds like the set up for a lockout. If they were watching from the back of the truck it might look like the glider was going straight down and its turning further away hard to notice.

[Free]

.. I'll still be shocked if any of us actually ever get to see it. I'll bet it goes to and stays with the ushpa investigation.

The way it really works, according to Mark G. Forbes, is that u$hPa/corporation/Tim Herr will make that decision.

Mark G. Forbes - 2011/09/30 23:21:56 UTC

Here's how it really works:

- Member submits an accident report. Could be the pilot who had the accident, or some other witness.

- Accident report is sent to Tim to maintain legal privilege. Tim reviews the report and determines whether there's significant legal risk associated with it. He may redact certain parts (personally identifiable information, etc.) if in his opinion exposure of that information poses a risk to us. If the report is very risky, he may decide that it can't be shared further, and will notify the ED about it. He may also notify our insurers if he sees a potential for a claim, as is normal practice for any incident where we are aware of such a potential.

- Redacted report goes to the accident review chairs, for incorporation into periodic articles in the magazine. Articles focus on root causes of accidents, not on personal narratives or details.

[JoeF]

Who owns the video?
Is it possible to ask the owner to release the video for the study by those who are involved in truck-towed manned kiting? Yes. But what would the answer be by the owner? A sport org cannot be first-order owner of the video. Does not the video belong to the heirs of Kelly Harrison? Or maybe the parents of Ayrs owns rights to a copy of the video. Would the heirs want others to become safer after such huge investment of life?

The last person I want to have custody of a sole copy of the video would be Tim Herr! Conflicts of interest all over the place! And since u$hPa cannot seem to be solidly interested in pilot safety (see MGF's notes), then that org should not be sole keeper of evidence. No way!