[Rick Masters]

Wind halted flights on day of glider crash
6 January, 2016
Times, Cape Town, South Africa
http://www.timeslive.co.za/thetimes/2016/01/06/Wind-halted-flights-on-day-of-glider-crash
    Brittany Siguenza, 24, from Seattle, took the full brunt of the impact on Monday when she and the pilot of the tandem paraglider crashed into the wall of the Promenade in Green Point instead of landing on the grass.
    Parapax, the company Siguenza flew with, says on its website: "We do not take any chances with the wind! Parapax has thousands of tandem flights under the belt and has in fact never had any safety issues or injuries to any of its passengers. The flight log is a testament to being the safest paragliding company in Cape Town." http://www.parapax.com/
    It did not respond to questions yesterday.
    Four other paragliding companies said they were unable to provide details about what happened because they had decided not to fly on Monday and were not on site on Lion's Head or Signal Hill.
    One company said it received a call from its pilots in the morning advising it to cancel bookings for the day due to the wind, while another stopped operating between 7am and 1pm because of the southeaster.
    President of the South African Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association Jon Pio said the organisation was investigating but "weather conditions and proximity to buildings/people/trees do not appear to be relevant".
    "The craft was seen to 'stall' and impact a sea wall. The organisation involved has been grounded by the association pending a review of procedures. More information will be released as it becomes available."
    A funding campaign has raised more than R170000 in less than a day for Siguenza. The campaign was launched by her family and friends to raise $35000 for her care.
    The campaign page, started by Jamie de Guzman, reads: "We know you are as anxious as we are to receive updates on Bri and we thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for the prayers, thoughts and support. From what we know, her condition is still very serious . consistent but precarious."
    Siguenza's parents were on their way to Cape Town and "an emergency medivac to Seattle is very likely", the page said.
    ER24 spokesman Russell Meiring said Siguenza was in a "stable condition" in Christiaan Barnard Memorial Hospital in Cape Town.
    "She was unconscious at the time. Medics on the scene assisted her with breathing.
    With any head, neck or chest injury the patient would be immobilised. Any fractures that were detected were bandaged and she was rushed to hospital," he said.
    The paraglider pilot sustained minor injuries.

[Bob Kuczewski]

... show some responsibility. Not this crap:



-- Form a national hang gliding association --

Super post Rick. The RRG is being designed from the ground up to protect the very people who do "this crap".

[Rick Masters]

Yes. The photo represents EXACTLY why "hang gliding is in trouble."
Combining paragliders with hang gliders into one organization has been a disaster.
Time to fix it.

Nobody seems to be thinking about an issue as bad or worse than the insurance debacle.
That issue is WHY ARE SO MANY HANG GLIDER PILOTS GETTING KILLED ALL THE SUDDEN?
I can't straighten out your sport for you.
I can only make suggestions.
I suggest hang glider pilots pay more attention to hang gliding.
Pay more attention to your fellow hang glider pilots and discuss hang gliding safety more often.
Pay particular attention to hang gliding squabs fresh out of "I'd-Rather-Be-Paragliding" schools.
"Real" hang gliding doesn't happen at $chools.
We all know you can't rush hang gliding training like they do with paragliders.
Skills are honed and advanced skills are learned only by flying with hang gliding clubs and with hang glider pilots with advanced skills.
Hang gliding accidents really are are caused by pilot error.
We can change that.
Take a squab under your wing and focus.
Stop diluting your sport and your issues and your time and your money and your reputations with parachuting and USHPA..
Focus. On. Hang. Gliding.
Form a national hang gliding association.

[Rick Masters]

A 23-year-old woman was killed in Argentina yesterday along with her joyriding paragliding operator.
Her name was Fiama. Her entire life was ahead of her.

[JoeF]

Fiama Haydee Sangiorgio (23), native of San Nicolás, Buenos Aires, Argentina
also spelling: Fiama Haydé Sangiorgio
http://www.clarin.com/sociedad/instructor-parapente-murieron-San-Luis_0_1502849905.html
Incident: Monday, January 11, 2016.

PIC: Sergio Hernán Casas (37), also died in the incident.

==========
About a year earlier Martin Páez (30) in similar area reportedly died in paraglider incident.
http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1744434-un-joven-murio-al-caer-con-su-parapente-en-san-luis

====================
http://parapentemerlo.com.ar/wp-content/gallery/bipla/dsc04993_0.jpg Youngster in Merlo region in tandem.

[Rick Masters]

[Rick Masters]

Another probable joyriding fatality from Argentina on the 17th. This time on a hang glider but referred to by all reporters as a paraglider. Probably locked out on tow from a height of 30 to 45 feet. The pilot was killed. The passenger, a "tourist" from Buenos Aires, is not expected to live. He was placed in intensive care with a broken collarbone, broken ribs, broken pelvis, broken hip, broken femur, broken tibula, broken fibula, broken forearm, broken jaw and a lung injury. The severity of his injuries illustrate the added danger of towing weight-shift aircraft, which causes the glider to accelerate rapidly and arc into the ground when things go suddenly wrong.

I think it's important to realize that paragliding and hang gliding worldwide are insured through a reinsurer. It's no longer a national issue.

Although this may not be true, I have heard all policies ultimately end up in the lap of Lloyd's of London. Whatever the specifics, this is turning out to be a bad year for reinsurance.
------------
Reinsurance: a single-digit-return game – and worse to come
Adam McNestrie 12 January 2016
After another round of rate cuts non-life reinsurance is a mid-single-digit-return business and there is every sign that through 2016 and on into 2017 its level of returns will be eroded still further.
------------
Recent news: All eyes on Ebix after CSC offer becomes unconditional
Reinsurers can endure further softening: Bernstein
Charlie Thomas 8 January 2016
Bernstein analysts have suggested that earnings are "not yet painful enough" and that reinsurers could withstand a further one to two rounds of softening. In their latest note published this morning (8 January), the analysts said that increased pressure on reinsurance rates and a suggested return on equity of between 6 and 7 percent in 2015 meant that the sector wasn't earning its cost of equity anymore.
-----------
This tells me that an ugly surprise is coming to anyone expecting to insure marginal activities such as extreme sports 3PL. The cost will even go up for RRGs because reinsurers insure board members against lawsuits.

[JoeF]

Posted at another forum:

"focusing on safe flying"

Ergo, fly not PDMC soring parachutes.
Since u$hPa won't drop P,
then form a focused H national association,
step aside of towing, tandem, joyride, commercial instruction;
go after pilot-community mentoring, coaching, solo- recreation.
Let competition physical events be on their own.
Forget 3PL RRG altogether. Let incidents merit community response.
Use all-states' premise-manager immunity. Have millions of sites.
De-crowd sites. Let commercial sites stand on their own.
Let pilot mills stand on their own fully apart from recreational hang gliding association affairs. Aim for deep community mentoring of new pilots. Forget the pilot rating system beyond HGP rating: Hang Glider Pilot.

The never-ending rise of the P influence commerce will continue to injure conservative recreational hang gliding if the PH marriage continues.

[Rick Masters]

Joe, I think we need to keep novice, intermediate and advanced ratings. I don't care about the others.
It provides a way for clubs to evaluate visiting pilots who wish to fly from sites where they have agreements in place with private landholders.
A single HGP rating will instill suspicion and fear in totally reasonable pilot groups who have gone to a lot of effort to secure their sites.
I think a better alternative would be to transfer recognized HG ratings directly over to the US Hawks rating system.
It's part of the obligation of the sport to self-regulate itself under FAR 103.

[JoeF]

Agree on the N, I, A. That will serve some situations, pilots, and niche participation keenly.
I am seeing a variegated hang gliding flow in the US where it will be very appropriate for there to be several types of rating systems open to pilots. One pilot might even choose to go for ALL the options; or a pilot might aim for just one system of ratings; or a pilot might create his or her own rating system; a particular KIND of hang gliding activity might form a rating system to fit just that KIND of activity.

There will be in the US four or more rating systems for HGs and sites:
1. HGP (mode of self-regulation for certain pilots who are willing to face the open knowledge base for each immediate launch challenge; they are encouraged to be student and instructor at all points of their hang gliding recreation; if they are not ready for a given launch, they don't launch, one would hope). This rating system will best fit some pilots, but not others.
2. N, I, A. (novice, intermediate, advanced) This system will be adopted by some clubs and associations.
3. u$hPa system inside and also outside that corporation. This system will be pushed and pushed and pushed until low participation in it occurs.
4. Recognition of non-US rating systems. Clubs and sites will recognize such systems as they might.
5. Commercial instructors will offer public one or more of the several rating systems
or even create their own rating system to respect their perspective of what hang gliding is about for them. Hundreds of perspectives over hang gliding are optional. Rating within particular perspectives is an open adventure.

Sites will have tiered rating depending on wind direction, force, and weather … calm, thermic, etc.
Sites will invite more respect from all rating systems depending on conditions. Recall how river rapids are rated; each person is to make a judgment about readiness to face a certain rapid.