[JoeF]

https://chelanclassic.com/

1.b. Set-up: Turbulent dust devils regularly rip through the glider set-up and launch areas. All
hang gliders must be tied down to the steel cables or steel anchors located throughout
the setup area. Do not leave an untethered glider unattended or a paraglider laid out.

[Rick Masters]

A bloody, bloody weekend for paragliding in Europe
Three deaths from collapse in separate incidents on Mont Blanc over 5 days. Two were instructors.
Another death by collapse in Switzerland.
An electrocution in power lines in Italy on Saturday.
A paramotorist also killed himself in France on Saturday.
Another paragliding death in Spain today.
Who knows what else?

Hang gliders do not collapse.
Paragliders do.
Everybody knows this.
There is a message here but nobody is listening.

[Rick Masters]

Italian press headline:
La strage dei piloti di parapendio sul Monte Bianco: recuperato il corpo della terza vittima
The massacre of paraglider pilots on Mont Blanc: the body of the third victim is recovered
http://www.lastampa.it/2015/07/05/edizioni/aosta/la-strage-dei-piloti-di-parapendio-sul-monte-bianco-recuperato-il-corpo-della-terza-vittima-oz9pMCUdVbyV6f1cLAOz5H/pagina.html



By embracing paragliding, with its fatal design flaw, hang gliding associations across the world now respond to accidents in a different manner. Rather than analyze the accidents, they are silent. If a report comes out, the victim is usually blamed for poor pilotage, regardless of his skill level. Now those within the freeflight community commenting on accidents are ostracized, subjected to defamation and even called "traitors." This sort of response was unheard of in hang gliding before the advent of paragliding.

Before hang gliding was absorbed by an even more dangerous form of parachuting, many hang glider pilots would just shake their heads and say, "Look at those idiots kill themselves when their paragliders collapse!" It wasn't a hang gliding problem. Hang gliders had evolved to the point where almost all accidents were now a result of pilot error. They would quickly review and analyze hang gliding accidents, knowing that their lives depended on not making the same pilot error.

But as hang gliding fell under the rule of parachuting, the veil of secrecy which was an inherent part of paragliding descended also over hang gliding. Discussion of accidents was discouraged, even prohibited, and access to information was closed off by the parachutists who now dominate the sports. Why? Because the merger of hang gliding and paragliding brought with it a Sword of Damocles in the form of an ever-present and growing threat that the press and authorities and insurance companies might someday realize paragliding was far more inherently dangerous, despite being cloaked by the hard-won and proven safety record of hang gliding.

Hang glider pilots may kill themselves through pilot error but paragliders too often suddenly collapse and kill their operators, regardless of skill level. Two of the soaring parachutists killed this week on Mont Blanc were instructors. One was actually engaged in leading a group of students and teaching them how to fly the area. How long this farce will continue is anyone's guess. But paragliding has the potential to take hang gliding down with it. Hang gliding pilots worldwide need to separate from parachuting and return to their own sport.

[Rick Masters]

The scientific article:
Wing tucks are a response to atmospheric turbulence in the soaring flight of the steppe eagle Aquila nipalensis
http://rsif.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/11/101/20140645

What hang glider pilots think:
"That's interesting. I'm kinda glad my hang glider doesn't do that."

What paraglider operators (wishfully) think:
"It is therefore the same as for us; it folds downwards and comes back quite quickly."

The paraglider's article:
COLLAPSES BIRDS HAVE THEM TOO!
http://www.free.aero/en/contents/Collapses-E.pdf
-- page 63 --

Of the one thousand, three hundred and forty one paragliding fatalities that I am aware of, the vast, vast majority involved collapses.
But do you get the feeling that they are particularly dangerous from this issue of Free Aero?
Seriously... you cannot make up this level of delusion.

[Frank Colver]

My God!!! Comparing a birds wing tuck to a paraglider canopy collapse is utter stupidity.

How embarrassing for the absolutely clueless person who included that article in the publication.

fcolver

BTW - In my 80 years on this earth I've never seen a soaring bird crash due to turbulence and I've watched a lot of them in extremely rough conditions. We can't say that about paragliders now, can we?

[Rick Masters]

Vast areas of Mont Blanc closed to hang gliding



Due to the three paragliding fatalities on Mont Blanc over the past week, involving paragliding collapses in lee turbulence, the airspace marked in red has been closed to hang gliding.



French police have announced, "Anyone who flies over this area voluntarily or involuntarily, is subject to criminal prosecution, fines and confiscation of equipment ... In addition to these sanctions, so does safety and sustainability of the practice of free flight in the valley." ("Toute personne qui survole cette zone de manière volontaire ou involontaire, s'expose à des poursuites pénales, amendes et confiscation de matériel… Au-delà de ces sanctions, il en va de la sécurité et de la pérennité de la pratique du vol libre dans la vallée.")
http://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/alpes/haute-savoie/chamonix/parapente-au-pays-du-mont-blanc-deces-de-trois-pratiquants-en-une-semaine-765006.html

[Rick Masters]

Paraglider seriously injured after crashing near San Jacinto
July 8, 2015
http://www.kesq.com/news/paraglider-seriously-injured-after-crashing-near-san-jacinto/34057954

David Pearson -- SAN JACINTO: Paraglider killed during test flight
October 28, 2014
http://www.pe.com/articles/jacinto-752919-san-crash.html

Hang glider pilot hospitalized after crashing in San Jacinto
June 30, 2014
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-hang-glider-pilot-hospitalized-san-jacinto-20140630-story.html

Hang gliding accident near San Jacinto injures two men
May 25, 2014
http://www.fundcapitalamerica.com/hang-gliding-accident-near-san-jacinto-injures-two-men/

Paraglider Left Critically Injured After Crashing In San Jacinto
January 27, 2013
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2013/01/27/paraglider-left-critically-injured-after-crashing-in-san-jacinto/

Paul Borne -- San Jacinto: Paraglider Killed After Striking Power Lines
November 25, 2012
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2012/11/25/paraglider-killed-after-striking-power-lines/

[Rick Masters]

A look at paragliding fatalities: Is the safety record improving?

Every year I take a look at paragliding fatalities over the first half of the year and compare it to previous years to see if the record is improving.
Or I suppose I could just ask people who paraglide. They tell me that safety has improved with the emphasis on "active flying."
That "active flying" sounds like a good idea. I imagine that it's a lot like "flying," only safer. But probably not quite as safe as "real active flying."
But what do I know? I'm a hang glider pilot. We just fly.
So let's take a look at the fatalities in freeflight paragliding to July 10 of the past few years and see what the trend is.

Global paragliding fatalities Jan 1 to Jul 10 (incomplete)

2015    46
2014    51
2013    38
2012    46
2011    44
2010    50

Average: 45.8

So there you have it. The big improvement in safety from "active flying," whatever that is.
Oh, here's what it is:

One of the most important things in paragliding is to learn how to respond to an asymmetric collapse - the most frequent cause of an accident. When you're flying near the ground or along a ridge, it may even save your life if you know how to actively prevent a collapse, or to minimize its consequences. Even with a "forgiving" state-of-the-art paraglider which recovers itself quickly, a collapse might change your flight path in such a way that you're bound to crash.
http://www.activefly.com/simulator_en.htm

Sounds like a way to encourage soaring parachutists to spend more time in the PDMC (Paraglider Dead Mans Curve).

[Rick Masters]

I have reports of four paragliding accidents with five injuries in Italy, today, keeping the helicopters there very busy.
Unlike hang gliders, which call on helicopters several times a year for occasional accidents, paragliding requires helicopters on a daily basis.
Without this significant taxpayer subsidy, the fatality rate of paragliding would be much higher than it already is.

[Rick Masters]

SWITZERLAND
"Weekend of fear in paragliding"
Between Saturday and Sunday, there have been several incidents between Ticino and Graubünden


http://www.cdt.ch/ticino/cronaca/134699/week-end-di-paura-in-parapendio.html