Paraglider Crash at Torrey (August 12, 2011)

Bob Kuczewski · **Posted:** Sat Aug 13, 2011 5:01 pm

From: http://www.10news.com/news/28851759/detail.html

Quote:

POSTED: 3:27 pm PDT August 12, 2011
UPDATED: 6:52 pm PDT August 12, 2011

Medical crews rescued a paraglider pilot who crashed on a cliff in the Torrey Pines area.

According to dispatchers, the incident happened shortly before 2 p.m. near the Torrey Pines Gliderport.

Authorities said a wind gust caused the glider's wing to fold, which then led to the paraglider being dropped from the sky. Dispatchers said the paraglider crashed about 200 feet down a nearby cliff.
...
The unidentified man was airlifted to Scripps La Jolla Hospital and his condition remains unknown.

The article quotes a San Diego lifeguard as saying:

Quote:

"He was extremely high. He was trying to maneuver a turn and lost wind out of his sail … [he] came straight down on his back on the Cliffside,"

Bob Kuczewski · **Posted:** Sat Aug 13, 2011 5:36 pm

Here's the wind profile during the accident. According to the story, the incident happened around 2pm.

Attachment:

weather_during_PG_crash_August_2011.png [ 23.77 KiB | Viewed 6247 times ]

SamKellner · **Posted:** Sat Aug 13, 2011 8:24 pm

Not good news. Sorry to hear this.

Is the wind speed spike about 2pm?

Hope for the best.

Bob Kuczewski · **Posted:** Sun Aug 14, 2011 6:01 am

The article was posted at 3:27 on August 12th, and the incident happened at 2pm (but they didn't give the date). So I'm assuming that it either happened at 2pm on the 12th or possibly at 2pm on the 11th. So I've highlighted those two regions in yellow below.

I don't see anything particularly unusual at either of those times, so I don't see anything to justify blaming the conditions. As with most of these incidents, it's hard to tell what really happened because the people telling the story have their own agendas. I'm just happy to see that they didn't call it a "hang glider" as they have in the past when paragliders have crashed!! :roll:

Attachment:

weather_during_PG_crash_August_2011_ann.png [ 24.72 KiB | Viewed 6237 times ]

By the way, this link will give you the 72 hour weather history at Torrey where I got that plot:

http://w9if.net/cgi-bin/torreywx/wxhr.pl?dur=72

It's also listed in the "Handy Torrey Links" topic in this (Torrey Hawks) forum.

Paraglider Crash at Torrey (August 12, 2011)

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