[Bill Cummings]

-- that damage should buff right out.

That ranks right up there with one of my other all-time favorites:

      "It's only a flesh wound."

or how about:
Conan the Barbarian Resorted To Carrying Her For the Rest of the Day

[Bob Kuczewski]

Adventure aviation operators should face random drug tests, a New Zealand coroner said Thursday, after finding the pilot of a balloon that crashed killing 11 people was a "chronic cannabis user". Coroner Peter Ryan said pilot Lance Hopping's judgement was probably impaired by cannabis when the balloon hit power lines in January 2012 before plunging to the ground in a flaming wreck. Ryan said cannabis would account for some of the "inexplicable" actions taken by Hopping in the lead up to the crash, which killed everyone on board -- all New Zealanders -- as relatives watched from the ground in horror. ..."The question that must then be asked is: was Mr. Hopping's piloting of a commercial balloon with THC (cannabis) in his system an isolated incident, or is this a widespread problem within the adventure aviation sector?" Adventure aviation includes hot-air ballooning, gliding, tandem hang-glider and paraglider operations, as well as commercial parachuting.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/ar ... agedy.html
[also posted in "Flying with Children"]

Here's a post from "Yelp" about some of the Torrey tandem paragliding pilots:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/torrey-pines-gliderport-flight-school-la-jolla
6/6/2012
"I don't want to risk my life flying with someone who stinks like pot. I know marijuana is legal now for some people but seriously, would you want to jump off a cliff dangling from a parachute steered by someone who is stoned? The pilots aren't the only thing high, the prices are way too expensive. $150 for 15 minutes? I can go to a flight school and fly a real airplane with a licensed pilot for a whole hour for less than that."

I had a friend who took lessons at Torrey who frequently complained that Max Marien (Robin Marien's son) was often high when teaching.

P.S. I hadn't checked Yelp in a while, so I went back and read a few more. To be fair, most posts from tandem passengers were positive (came, flew, it was an amazing experience). But when you read the negative ones, they tell a different story - the story I've seen myself.

I would give this 0 stars if I could. These guys are complete dicks. The Ragnar Relay paid to use this site for a rest exchange in the SoCal race and participants paid in too of that to eat here. One of the pilots came over and literally locked the bathrooms and told us to get lost because they pay for it. Yes, and we paid to be here and to eat here! Really selfish and shitty move, and it completely ruined this spot.

They offer a living social voucher during low wind season which they don't fly in. Which makes it nearly impossible to redeem. And won't give an extension to the voucher until the next possible flight day( wind is strong enough). It is pretty much a scam for them to get your money with out a deal.

So here are some observations. The view IS amazing. Watching all the action is entertaining, to the untrained eye. The food was decent... nothing special but OK, if a bit overpriced. However there was ALOT about this place that disturbed me. If you come here to take a recreational tandem flight, be aware of a few things. First, your pilot may smoke cigarettes right on top of you, and you and your children will be subjected to a litany of foul language and crude talk amongst employees and staff. Also, there are so many people doing tandems that you may feel rushed in and out of your experience, which might leave you feeling let down after a $150 price tag. The large number of people landing and taking off from the same zone is also unsafe. I was there for 2 days and saw MULTIPLE incidents of people landing on top of one another and getting their wings tangled up. In one of these incidents I watched a 12 year old girl get drug 40 feet across the ground before smacking into a solo pilot on the other side of the field. Scary and reckless! I HAVE to comment on the bathroom situation also. There are only 3 porta-potties available for the public, all of which were in a DEPLORABLE state both days I was there. A pyramid OVER seat level and urine covering the floor!! I was blown away at the insanely unsanitary conditions! They were completely unfit for human use! Shameful!!! If you come here as a pilot hoping to fly I would warn you about the rude behavior of the staff and local pilots. I was shocked at one group of men in particular that seem to be the daily posse there. Both days I was there I heard them heckling others and loudly making extremely crude and distasteful comments about other pilots AND tourists there for a tandem expereince. After 2 days there observing all of this I can say I would NEVER bring a child into this environment! Also there are signs up stating that by county ordinance there is to be no smoking... I saw tandem pilots smoking all day long as well as kitchen staff smoking, IN the kitchen right next to said signage. This area is FILLED with families and children throughout the day. In many ways the "rules" seemed to apply to visitors but not to the "local posse", pilots, or staff. My advice would be to stop by for the view but unfortunately look elsewhere to try paragliding. This operation struck me as quite unprofessional and dangerously sloppy. If your a pilot, and can deal with a group of wierd, ego-inflated older men, then good luck. Just make sure and plot your landing well. I give them 2 stars for the great view and the fact that this place is a great concept. If it was managed and run correctly this place could be world class.

This was complete bs... I had been to the nude beach below and admired the paragliding from above. I agree with the other review about there release of reliability and just how confident they were in their flying skills. Okay no problem allow me to sign my life away should the instructor fail to steer correctly or mother nature blow us into a cliff wall. The weather appeared just fine to me, there were many other paragliders in the sky however I was told I had to wait because it wasn't safe to fly due to the current weather condition. Wow, really?!?

If it wasn't safe to fly why were so many still in the sky and not told to land during my waiting time because of the non safe weather condition or did someone just need to take a lunch break and wasted my time?

To each is own, right? To me this was a waste of money and terrible first experience towards something that should have been exciting.

The gliderport itself... beautiful.

But the gliderport store and shop, workers there are douchebags, and they're shady about returns. Be warned

The owner and manager extort money from independent pilots. They are under a city lease which allows them to charge $35 per flight. I heard the manager say to our pilot that for $100 he would allow us to fly. Extortion. The City should fix this, it is a public park.

Other wise, a great view of coast and activities.

who wouldn't want to jump off a cliff with nothing but a strip of nylon saving you from a grisly death? after some intense badgering, i finally agreed to fork out the money to go paragliding. sure, it was a gorgeous day, and sure, the view was beautiful, but it was totally NOT worth $150 (for 20 minutes of gliding time).

**long story: after signing the necessary papers and watching other paragliders sail across the sky, i was called up. i was getting situated in the harnesses when, all of a sudden, the wind caught my parachute and dragged me a good 40 feet down the grassy lawn. (yippee. is it over yet?) eventually, my instructor and i made it off the cliff and started gliding. he pointed out some naked people on the beach below and proceeded to tell me stories about seeing naked people through the windows of the houses that we were passing. (awesome. my guide is a perv.) since that conversation lasted all of 5 minutes, we tried making small talk. (i can't believe i paid $150 for forced conversation with a peeping-tom.) eventually our conversation stalled, and we glided in silence. after a while, he asked me if i wanted to take some pictures. i totally didn't know you could bring a camera with you. a camera may have made time pass by a little faster, but alas, disappointment was the theme of the day. 5 minutes later we landed back on the grassy lawn. after my airborne excursion, my body felt heavy...but my pockets were decidedly lighter.

**short story: watching paragliding is more fun than actually paragliding.

Well the place is beautiful. Since I am from Florida we have the lovely ocean but not these views. Went back a second day to see the sunset. The gliding was boring and I am a big chicken. The "manager" Jeramy gave the most boring ride. He told me nothing about the area and we only flew over a small area while I saw other instructors talk to people and give them big long rides. Mine was a dud. Landed on beach an not back on the cliffs. Okay with that a you are warned about it. I just wonder if it was the pilots skill as everyone else landed back on the cliff. Best be in shape for the climb back up-it is huge and you are not prepared-no water or anything. Not worth the $150. However, you can enjoy the place and people without gliding. I spent the entire day up there. The cafe had excellent food.

You can get food here, but it's nothing worth anything.

I used to go here to fly RC gliders. Tons of fun, and a great flying spot right here in San Diego. Problem is, the guy who leases this land from San Diego (for like $1 or something), makes all of his money from the paragliding operation. So, he's not a big fan of the RCs. In fact he's been downright nasty to rule-abiding folks on many occasions.

Still, if you wanna to a tandem paraglide for your birthday or something, this is the place to go. And it's a nice spot to just chill out and watch the sunset.

My wife planned an amazing surprise for my birthday, paragliding over La Jolla beach. How cool is that? Well... we arrived at the Gliderport and went inside to check in. The vibe was immediately off, as the manager and staff were strangely condescending and combative from the get-go. After expressing interest in a tandem paragliding ride, they hand me the liability release to sign. I start reading it, and the manager makes a mocking comment, "Huh, we got a reader here." RED FLAG - now I know that I need to read this release form. While I'm reading it, two more staff members make the same crack comment, trying to get me to hurry up and sign the 'damn' thing. Listen, accidents can happen, forces of nature can happen, that's just the reality of higher risk activities...but when you sign their release you exempt them from negligence (in multiple paragraphs). Your guide could be strung out on LSD, forget to strap you in, or fly you straight into a cliff, and you've signed away your right (or your surviving family's right) to sue them for negligence. Knowing that that won't hold up, you also sign away your right to take them to court. If you do, you pay their legal fees from day one, even if you win the case; you can even infer from the release that you'd be responsible to cover any restitution fees that they owe you if you win the case. It's a massive, legal circle jerk. I lined out whole sentences and paragraphs and was told, "You don't sign, you don't fly." So, I held onto my $150 dollars and walked away. To note, I am not a lawyer and even I could tell that this was the most toxic liability release that I have ever read. Why would a 'reputable' company need to screw you over so badly in their contracts? I decided not to find out.

[Rick Masters]

Famed climber Dean Potter and Graham Hunt die in illegal Yosemite BASE-jump on Saturday, May 16, attempting to clear a notch below Taft Point.

[Rick Masters]

Yesterday, a soaring parachutist at Ft. Funston becomes paragliding's one-thousand-three-hundred-and fifteenth fatality that I am aware of.
That makes four fatalities in the USA so far this year.

[Frank Colver]

I can't watch the rest of the video of Potter and dog.

The LA Times article this morning about his death jump yesterday didn't say whether the dog was with him or not - I hope not.

The dog did not make a rational decision to do something so dangerous and unnatural to its species. I realize that our faithful companions do a lot of things with us that are not natural to them but they also put a blind faith in us to keep them safe, just like our children do.

FC

[Rick Masters]

The dog is wondering where his master is.

[Rick Masters]

Dead 5 months after P2 issued

May 17
Mussel Rock Park Beach
Junichi Nakamura of San Bruno was the one thousand, three hundred and sixteenth person to die on a paraglider that I am aware of.

P-2
Region 2
USHPA #95300
Junichi Nakamura
San Bruno CA
Rating issued 12/13/2014 by Jeffrey Greenbaum

"Since 1988 Jeff Greenbaum and Airtime of San Francisco have taught hundreds of people how to safely fly paragliders."
http://www.paragliding-lessons.com/

P2 Basic Paragliding Lesson Package
In this package you will get unlimited training to the P2 threshold. Lessons must be completed within six months of first lesson.
Weekend Rate (Students can train any days, weekends and midweek)
$1900

[Frank Colver]

taught hundreds of people how to safely fly paragliders."

Isn't the term "safely fly paragliders" an oxymoron?

FC

[Rick Masters]

Public perception

Isn't the term "safely fly paragliders" an oxymoron?

Well, even I expect them to fly safely at the beach. They usually kill themselves inland in thermal conditions when they foolishly gamble that their canopies won't collapse in turbulence.

We all know hang gliding and paragliding are dangerous sports. But do you know, as a hang glider pilot, how many skydivers have died this year? How about ultralight pilots? How about balloonists? BASE-jumpers? No, you probably don't. These are different sports outside of hang gliding. They have their own organizations. This separation tends to insulate each sport from bad news about the others.

Except for the USHPA, the only U.S. organization that combines unrelated extreme sports. Thanks to the huge error of combining the sports of paragliding and hang gliding, bad news gets doubled or tripled - or worse.

If our national organization represented hang gliding alone, our bad press for 2015 would look like this:

2015 USHGA FATALITIES
March 27, 2015 – Kelly Harrison
May 9, 2015 - Markus Schaedler
May 17, 2015 – Scott Trueblood

That's bad enough. But by combining hang gliding with some dangerous variants of parachuting, our bad press looks like this:

2015 USHPA FATALITIES
January 16, 2015 – Clayton Butler
January 25, 2015 – William “Billy” Baker
March 1, 2015 – Ronald Faoro
March 27, 2015 – Kelly Harrison
May 1, 2015 – Siegfried (Ziggy) Muhlhauser
May 9, 2015 - Markus Schaedler
May 17, 2015 – Junichi Nakamura
May 17, 2015 – Scott Trueblood

How is this an advantage to anybody?

[Rick Masters]

Trees - God's gift to paragliders


“If instead of the trees he had crashed into the rocks or just the ground he might have suffered a fatal blow. His ropes being tangled in the branches and his dangling from the tree effectively cushioned him from impact. The tree saved the parachutist’s life.”
http://photo.bgnnews.com/german-parachutist-narrowly-avoids-death-by-crashing-into-trees-in-fethiye-fotogaleri-6193