[Rick Masters]

Posted by Bob K, at the beginning of this blog:

Safety Advisory

The Accident Reporting Committee would like to remind all USHPA pilots of the dynamic risks associated with spring and early summer conditions. In 2013 there were two paragliding fatalities with springtime thermic turbulence as potential contributing factors.

...Pilots are reminded that spring and early summer can present some of the strongest and most turbulent thermic conditions of the year. Pilots face the temptation to fly in strong conditions after a winter of little or no flying. Spring and early summer are when our skills are at their weakest while conditions can be the most challenging and changeable - a potentially dangerous combination.

Recommendations:

Make conservative launch decisions. Avoid mid-day thermic conditions unless your skill level and recent flight proficiency are strong.
Maintain very active piloting focus and execution at all times. This is extremely important when flying under 400ft AGL (launching, scratching, low level ridge soaring, and landing)
Fly with others and encourage, model and support conservative launch decisions.

Fly High, Fly Far and Fly Safe

David Norwood
USHPA - Accident Reporting Committee Co-Chair (Paragliding)

David Norwood, the USHPA Accident Reporting Committee Co-Chair for paragliding, fell to his death under a collapsed paraglider on July 16 after encountering a thermal.

This drives home a simple point. Wishful thinking and chutzpah do not trump reality. Soaring parachutists are dealt a different set of cards than hang glider pilots but they do not recognize this. Hang glider pilots have always known that they must strive to bring their skill set up to match the level of performance of their airframed wing. Soaring parachutists try to do the same thing with their parachutes but for them it is a fantasy. Their "wing" is just cloth and is far from being up to the job. What are they thinking just before impact? "I did everything right - now this! It isn't fair!" Hang glider pilots can only shake their heads. Every time it happens, we know somebody made a very, very bad choice. But few will belabor the obvious.

[wingspan33]

If the fatal canopy collapse of the USHPA's Paragliding Accident Reporting Committee Co-Chair doesn't make MANY U.S. soaring parachutists think hard about their own safety, probably nothing will.

Now Rick, here's a few somewhat complex hypothetical questions for you.

- If the use of soaring parachutes was immediately stopped world wide (and I mean no one did it anymore) how many of these people do you think (guess) would begin hang gliding?

- Is the (arguably inaccurate) view of the average soaring parachutist, toward hang gliding, so bad that they would decide to stop flying all together?

- Do you think they are, on average, as capable of learning to fly hang gliders as they were at flying soaring parachutes?

- Or, is the easier (at the beginning at least) learning curve involved with soaring parachutes a feature of the product that would also cause X-soaring parachute fliers to be intimidated from trying and/or gaining adequate skills on beginner to advanced hang gliders?

- Put in another way, are soaring parachutists more likely to have a lower average sense of 3 dimensional travel? That is, considering their "natural talent" toward understanding the basics, such as flying speeds, yaw, roll, and pitch?

- Are inflatable canopies so much "simpler" to learn to fly that some number of them may not be "talented" enough to gain the skill set required to safely fly hang gliders?

- If a large number of X-PG pilots switched to flying hang gliders do you think accident stats for hang gliding might go up disproportionally?

Comment: Rick, the video you posted where the inflatable canopy occupant is calmly smoking a cigaret - because they are just that easy to fly - is part of what led me toward thinking about the above questions.

[Rick Masters]

If the use of soaring parachutes was immediately stopped world wide (and I mean no one did it anymore) how many of these people do you think (guess) would begin hang gliding?

One out of three.

- Is the (arguably inaccurate) view of the average soaring parachutist, toward hang gliding, so bad that they would decide to stop flying all together?

I have been told by soaring parachutists who seemed reasonably fit that they would rather die than carry a hang glider. So I suppose they would kill themselves first.

- Or, is the easier (at the beginning at least) learning curve involved with soaring parachutes a feature of the product that would also cause X-soaring parachute fliers to be intimidated from trying and/or gaining adequate skills on beginner to advanced hang gliders?

If hang glider pilots took them under their wings and gave them a floater to learn on, I really believe their progression to competent double-surface flying would be rapid. I also think they would find greater joy and much less stress. I just read an account by a soaring parachutist who flew the Owens in the 1990s. It was a typical turbulent but normal day. Hang gliders were flying all over the place. But this guy on a soaring parachute experienced multiple collapses and shock openings all the way down. He gets down to about 30 feet and thinks, "Now if I get a collapse, maybe I'll only break my legs!" He sounded relieved. That is crazy. That is insane. If that's what they think flying is, you don't need to ask me what I think. You need to ask a psychiatrist.

- Put in another way, are soaring parachutists more likely to have a lower average sense of 3 dimensional travel? That is, considering their "natural talent" toward understanding the basics, such as flying speeds, yaw, roll, and pitch?

I doubt it. Just put them on floaters. They'll figure it out quickly, on the first flight or the first day. Then we'll have a new set of problems to deal with - similar to giving a bunch of bicycle riders a fleet of superbikes. With proper guidance, they'll be okay.

- Are inflatable canopies so much "simpler" to learn to fly that some number of them may not be "talented" enough to gain the skill set required to safely fly hang gliders?

Absolutely. Hang gliders take a little more skill throughout their speed range. Paragliders take less skill in smooth air, about the same amount of skill in lightly-turbulent air, and they demand a level of skill (and luck) far beyond the worst nightmares of a hang glider pilot when things go wrong in Big Air.

- If a large number of X-PG pilots switched to flying hang gliders do you think accident stats for hang gliding might go up disproportionately?

No. My impression is that intermediate hang gliders like the Sport 2 are easier and safer to launch, safer to fly and safer to land. They respond quickly and they go where you point them. They don't have a Dead Man's Curve, they don't suddenly go crazy in turbulence and make you a helpless (doomed) passenger, and they don't collapse and kill their pilots on landing approach or in thermal turbulence.

Comment: Rick, the video you posted where the inflatable canopy occupant is calmly smoking a cigarette - because they are just that easy to fly - is part of what led me toward thinking about the above questions.

I think I worry the most about guys on paragliders trying to prove to the world and to themselves that they can do on parachutes now what we did on hang gliders long, long ago. Too many of them get killed trying. What's the point? It's like trying to ride across the country on a unicycle. Yeah, maybe you can do it. But it's more fun on a Harley, you get there faster and you're not as likely to get sideswiped. Plus, all the guys on Harleys think you're an idiot.

[wingspan33]

Plus, all the guys on Harleys think you're an idiot.

[OP]

This video belongs here:

"Awkward talk show interview about the PG v HG issue"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... BgfqM#t=19

Yo Rick, release the pod people dvd on youtube. charge $.99 a view.

[Rick Masters]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sK8Y8_RUHik#t=24
PG fatality #1276
Help with German to English translation appreciated.

[Bill Cummings]

I'm not much help but this is all I can find out:
nachrichten = news
Zentralschweizer Fernsehen = Central Swiss Television
Gleitschirm-Ungluck Innerthal = Paraglider misfortune Innerthal
Innerthal = http://www.bing.com/search?q=innerthal& ... &mkt=en-US
http://www.bing.com/search?q=innerthal&qs=AS&sk=&pq=Innerthal&sp=1&sc=8-9&form=BDKTMA&pc=BDT3&shash=&BDParam=0000&mkt=en-US
Innerthal = Country Switzerland, Canton Schwyz, District March. 47°6′N 8°55′E Population 193 (Dec 2013) Postal code 8858 Area 19.37 sq mi

Fluebrig = Mountain, elevation 2,092 m (6864 ft) 47°3′41″N 8°53′0″E
Florian Grossmann = (man doing the interview ???)
Sprecher Kantonspolizei Schwyz = Canton Police spokesman Schwyz

Beat Stockmann (red shirt white hat)
Fluglehrer Flugschule Win-Wings Rickenbach / SZ = Flight instructor flight school win-Wings Rickenbach / SZ

Sandra Felder (sunglasses white striped shirt)
Flugschulerin aus Zurich = Flight Schoolgirl from Zurich

[Rick Masters]

A resident of the Tyumen region, hunting elk with a paraglider, will stand trial.
10/13/2014, 10:55 | News / Crime | Reporter: Tatyana Shevtsova

The other day the prosecution Nizhnetavdinsky district were sent to court the criminal case brought against 43-year-old Stepan Pysya living in the village of Isca-Tchebakova. Man charged with illegal hunting using a motor vehicle. As established in the course of the investigation, February 16 this year, the accused, together with his friend decided to hunt moose. Note that hunting moose in February prohibited by law. To this end, a man sitting on a snowmobile, and his friend went to the glider to track down big game. Flying a paraglider, accomplice Pysya noticed a couple of moose and made a few shots at him, then he Pys snowmobile approached the animal and also shot in their direction. Their trouble shooting poachers was spotted by employees on the protection of wildlife, who immediately went to the forest, where he was detained for poachers butchering carcasses of elk killed. Later it was found that one of the poached animals were pregnant elk. In this case, the total damage inflicted by poachers nature was valued at 320,000 rubles. Currently, District Prosecutor's Office approved the present case the indictment and submitted materials Nizhnetavdinskoye District Court, where it will be sentenced. Note that in order to establish the whereabouts of the poacher-paraglider materials of the case against him was a separate procedure. Poachers face 2 years in prison.

[soar8hours]

I have flown HG's regularly since 1972.
That is 42 years. Got a PG in 1991.
Flew them 20 years, until 2011.
11 am in 5 mph winds it collapsed.
300 feet or less over the LZ.
I went verticle like a rock.
Lost half my altitude in 3 seconds.
It reinflated before I could even react.
Takes time to realize, react & recover!
I landed ok. The drive home was quiet.
I was 2 seconds from injury or death.
I was just lucky.
No skills or experience could help.
Simply not enough altitude or time!
Never flew a PG again.

I own a slope launch nearby.
Fly my hang glider there regularly.

INFLATED WINGS CAN NOT MAINTAIN AN AIRFOIL UNDER NEGATIVE "G's"

Believe what you want to.
YouTube has 100+ of these collapses.

USHPA # 2531 since 1973
LIFE MEMBER ( #13 of 32 ) 1980
Charter Member since 1991

Private Pilot / Airplane owner &
Hang Glider pilot
FAA Repairman Certificate
Ex Army Paratrooper / Skydiver
Ex utralight & sailplane owner
EX PG flyer

[Rick Masters]

Nowhere in my 6-year history of accumulating PG accident and incident reports have I found any evidence that collapses are anything but random. Collapses happen to every type of soaring parachutist. "Active flying" and pilot experience cannot be seen to play a role. In my opinion, the most confident soaring parachutists are only fooling themselves and have only been lucky up to this point. Most incredible to me is that when a soaring parachutist has an incident like Tommy's, he does not heed the warning. He returns to the sport in short order. He does not consider other flying alternatives. How is it that Tommy can give up paragliding, yet others cannot? I think it is because flying is like heroin. Tommy could still get his "fix" with hang gliders but the others would have to go "cold turkey." For them, withdrawal is too brutal and overrides survival decisions. Here, again, I encourage hang glider pilots to grab one of these unfortunate individuals, tie that old hang glider that's been hanging in the back of your garage for 20 years onto him and march him up the training hill. If he's still alive at the top, start showing him how to fly it - just like we did in the good old days. Forget the U$HPA and their protocols. With 1275+ confirmed kills, the legitimacy of HG+PG organizations has been destroyed. The final nail in the coffin was the elimination of the Special Observer rating that made it impossible for us hang glider pilots to train new pilots outside of (mostly) paragliding schools. What bullcrap! We need to start over and realize (1) parachutes are for emergencies, (2) safe aircraft have airframes and (3) we are the ones who will carry on the sport of hang gliding.