landing

[Tad Eareckson]

http://www.facebook.com/peter.holloway.5245
(38) Peter Holloway

Peter Holloway - 2018/01/02 14:36

The following post concerns Emma Martin who is well known to all my hang gliding friends, however some of my non hang gliding friends have also met her and this post is for their benefit.

I am just writing a few words to try to help people reconcile and explain what happened to Emma last Saturday evening.

There have been reports in the press that suggest that that Emma was having a problem with her glider or was in distress some time prior to her accident. In other words that she knew she was in peril minutes prior.

Let me be very clear, this is totally and utterly false and has caused extreme distress to Emma's family and friends.

I am not suggesting that there was deliberate misrepresentation or falsification of the facts, simply that the press articles were poorly written and poorly fact checked. I would have hoped for better.

Here is what we know so far from the expert accident investigation.

Emma was competing in the Annual Forbes Flatlands International Hang Gliding competition. This competition runs for 8 days and involves more that 60 world class pilots from Australia and overseas. Emma was an advanced pilot and was equal to this task.

The day in question was not a practice day but the second official competition day. The competitor's in Emma's group were racing from Forbes airfield, 70 kms north to Peak Hill airfield. Competitors launched by being towed aloft to 2000 feet by a fleet of special tug aircraft and then they used the invisible rising warm air thermal currents to gain as much height as they could before gliding towards their goal looking for another rising lift source on the way as they slowly glided downwards.

In order to get to Peak Hill they would have been expecting to repeat this climbing and gliding process several times over a period of 2-3 hours. All competitors carry special parachutes and have sophisticated electronic equipment with them to help them know when they find rising air and to navigate. They also have radios to communicate with each other and people on the ground. The gliders they fly are well tested and strong.

Emma was nearing the goal at Peak hill but probably needed one or two more good thermals to get there. Unfortunately she was unable to locate the needed thermals and correctly had chosen to land quite routinely in a farmers paddock. The paddock she had selected was ideal, being large, relatively flat and with no obstructions. She would have been aiming her glider into the prevailing breeze (to give as low a landing speed as possible) as she had been taught. Emma was meticulous in her landing approaches and always followed correct procedures.

She had radioed her intention to land just prior to another pilot high above and had indicated that everything was fine. There was absolutely no indication that she was in any difficulty (if she had been, she was trained to use and would have used her special emergency parachute). There was no suggestion that she was expecting anything other that a routine landing.

It would seem that Emma got into difficulty within the last few seconds of her landing approach and within only a very few meters of the ground. It is presumed that a strong random swirly gust of wind temporarily turned her glider away from pointing into the prevailing wind and before she could turn it back into the wind her glider impacted the ground facing down wind at a shallow angle but unfortunately at a high speed. This has been determined from expert analysis of Emma's glider and examination of the crash site. Emma would have been immediately rendered unconscious and would have felt no pain.

We are hoping the GPS data logger she was carrying will give some useful data and allow us to see her speed and position over the last 3-6 seconds.

There are no known witnesses to the accident on the ground and no one on the ground called emergency serviced prior to the accident.

The fellow pilot high above did not see the actual landing but within seconds of the landing became concerned when he could not raise Emma on the radio and could see the glider laying in an odd position. He immediately spiraled down, landed, rushed to Emma and began first aid. He had been trained in emergency resuscitation techniques. The emergency services were called immediately by this same pilot with Emma. They were called a second time by an experienced ambulance officer standing next to me at Forbes airport. Her location was known exactly as she was carrying a "SPOT" (GPS) tracker and we could see her location on my phone.

The accident investigation is on-going and will take a fair amount of time but we would be very surprised if any of the basic details described above change.

If any of Emma's family or friends want to talk further please FB message me and I can give you my phone number.

The following post concerns Emma Martin who is...

Was.

...well known to all my hang gliding friends...

What a coincidence.

...however some of my non hang gliding friends have also met her and this post is for their benefit.

And fuck all of Emma's non hang gliding friends who aren't also your non hang gliding friends.

I am just writing a few words to try to help people reconcile and explain what happened to Emma last Saturday evening.

Lucky we have you - and only you - to do that for us.

There have been reports in the press that suggest that that Emma was having a problem with her glider or was in distress some time prior to her accident.

She was having a lethal potential problems with her glider from Day One, Flight One but not in any distress about them until those final seconds when one of them bit her in the ass and it was too late for her to do anything about anything.

In other words that she knew she was in peril minutes prior.

Too bad she didn't. If she had she would've at least had the potential to walk away with her glider intact.

Let me be very clear...

Sure. Never too late to start.

...this is totally and utterly false and has caused extreme distress to Emma's family and friends.

Much more so than her actual death.

I am not suggesting that there was deliberate misrepresentation or falsification of the facts...

As is virtually always the case in the wake of any serious glider crash.

...simply that the press articles were poorly written and poorly fact checked.

And boy aren't we lucky to have the benefit of your excellent writing and fact checking.

I would have hoped for better.

Well, we'll all be fine now.

Here is what we...

Who's "we"?

...know so far from the expert accident investigation.

Gotta love those expert accident investigators the sport is so privileged to have available at all relevant points of the globe.

Emma was competing in the Annual Forbes Flatlands International Hang Gliding competition. This competition runs for 8 days and involves more that 60 world class pilots from Australia and overseas.

Got that, people of varying ages? With something over two hundred solo flights under her belt Emma was a world class pilot.

Emma was an advanced pilot and was equal to this task.

Gawd only knows how serious the consequences might have been if she HADN'T been an advanced world class pilot and NOT equal to this task.

The day in question was not a practice day but the second official competition day.

What do advanced world class pilots equal to the task need with practice days anyway?

The competitor's in Emma's group were racing from Forbes airfield...

1. Competitor's WHAT in Emma's group?
2. What was "Emma's group"? The top of the advanced world class pilots more than equal to the task?

...70 kms north to Peak Hill airfield. Competitors launched by being towed aloft to 2000 feet by a fleet of special tug aircraft...

As opposed to a special tug seacraft.

...and then they used the invisible rising warm air thermal currents to gain as much height as they could before gliding towards their goal looking for another rising lift source on the way as they slowly glided downwards.

Must be a real bitch LOOKING for those invisible rising warm air thermal currents.

In order to get to Peak Hill they would have been expecting to repeat this climbing and gliding process several times over a period of 2-3 hours. All competitors carry special parachutes...

And ya sure don't wanna be flying with ordinary parachutes.

...and have sophisticated electronic equipment with them to help them know when they find rising air and to navigate. They also have radios to communicate with each other and people on the ground. The gliders they fly are well tested and strong.

And that's more than enough to compensate for the cheap total crap we use to connect to and release from the special tug aircraft which tow us aloft.

Emma was nearing the goal at Peak hill but probably needed one or two more good thermals to get there.

Close enough. We don't need to know the actual location at which she crashed.

Unfortunately she was unable to locate the needed thermals and correctly had chosen to land quite routinely in a farmers paddock.

1. If only she'd been able to locate the needed thermals.

2. Good thing she'd correctly chosen to land quite routinely. Gawd only knows how serious the consequences might have been if she HADN'T correctly chosen to land quite routinely.

3. As opposed to having chosen to land quite routinely in a software engineer's paddock.

4. A "farmers paddock" and the "competitor's in Emma's group".

The paddock she had selected was ideal, being large, relatively flat and with no obstructions.

Good thing she'd selected a paddock that was ideal, being large, relatively flat and with no obstructions. Gawd only knows how serious the consequences might have been if she HADN'T selected a paddock that was ideal, being large, relatively flat and with no obstructions.

She would have been aiming her glider...

As opposed to FLYING her glider. (Sounds like she's strapped to a guided missile tweaking knobs.)

...into the prevailing breeze (to give as low a landing speed as possible) as she had been taught.

Good thing she was taught that. Otherwise she might have been aiming her glider WITH the prevailing breeze (to give as HIGH a landing speed as possible). Sure gotta hand it to you top notch Aussie hang gliding instructors.

Emma was meticulous in her landing approaches and always followed correct procedures.

Like aiming her glider into the prevailing breeze (to give as low a landing speed as possible). Wouldn't expect anything less from an advanced world class pilot equal to this task.

She had radioed her intention to land just prior to another pilot high above...

An even more advanced world class pilot equal to this task.

...and had indicated that everything was fine.

It usually is before that nasty ground issue starts rearing its ugly head.

There was absolutely no indication that she was in any difficulty (if she had been, she was trained to use and would have used her special emergency parachute).

The way all us advanced world class pilot equal to this task always do.

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Whenever we have absolutely some indication that we are in any difficulty of any kind we always use our special emergency parachutes - as we're trained to. It's really amazing how excellent our training is (and trainers are).

There was no suggestion that she was expecting anything other that a routine landing.

Got that right, motherfucker. Don't ever train your advanced world class pilot equal to the task to ever expect - or configure and prepare for - anything other THAT a routine landing. (Keep up the great writing, Peter.)

It would seem that Emma got into difficulty within the last few seconds of her landing approach and within only a very few meters of the ground.

Got any evidence for that? Or are you just speculating?

It is presumed...

By whom? Names. How come we're not identifying the instructors of this advanced world class pilot equal to the task? Seems a bit unfair not to credit any of the individuals responsible for having developed Emma into the advanced world class pilot equal to the task she was when she was so tragically snuffed in circumstances over which no one would've had the slightest chance of altering for a less severe outcome.

...that a strong random swirly gust of wind temporarily turned her glider away from pointing into the prevailing wind...

Damn those strong random swirly gusts of wind that temporarily turn our gliders away from pointing into the prevailing wind. I'll bet this one was invisible too.

...and before she could turn it back into the wind her glider impacted the ground facing down wind at a shallow angle but unfortunately at a high speed.

Oh well, could've been worse. That strong random swirly gust of wind could've PERMANTENTLY turned her glider away from pointing into the prevailing wind. Just think what the consequences of THAT could've been.

...and before she could turn it back into the wind her glider impacted the ground facing down wind at a shallow angle but unfortunately at a high speed.

Wow. And here I was thinking that the strong random swirly gust of wind just TEMPORARILY turned her glider away from pointing into the prevailing wind.

This has been determined from expert analysis of Emma's glider and examination of the crash site. Emma would have been immediately rendered unconscious and would have felt no pain.

Wow. Those are some really super experts you've got to deal with situations like that. How many of them had advised Emma of the possibility of something like that happening to her? I didn't see anything on her Facebook page indicating that she was aware that the sport in which she was engaging was really nothing more than a lower probability version of Russian roulette.

We are hoping the GPS data logger she was carrying will give some useful data and allow us to see her speed and position over the last 3-6 seconds.

And maybe we could get some more information concerning how her glider wreckage was found turned downwind after having been turned just temporarily turned from pointing into the prevailing wind.

There are no known witnesses to the accident on the ground and no one on the ground called emergency serviced prior to the accident.

Emergency serviced is what you use when emergency services will have no bearing on the outcome. There's really not much point to the job but the qualifications are nonexistent and the pay is pretty good.

The fellow pilot high above...

Whom we're also not naming and who isn't identifying himself or commenting on this catastrophic temporary turning away from the prevailing wind incident.

...did not see the actual landing...

The actual LANDING that immediately rendered her unconscious (but not actually dead, of course) such that she felt no pain.

...but within seconds of the landing became concerned when he could not raise Emma on the radio and could see the glider laying in an odd position.

And not being moved because its advanced world class pilot equal to the task had been rendered unconscious and was feeling no pain.

He immediately spiraled down, landed...

Wow. Good thing there was no strong random swirly gust of wind around to temporarily turn his glider away from pointing into the prevailing wind at that point.

...rushed to Emma and began first aid.

She was only unconscious and feeling no pain at that point.

He had been trained in emergency resuscitation techniques.

Just not in identifying situations in which they were stupidly inappropriate.

The emergency services were called immediately by this same pilot with Emma.

Were they able to resuscitate her and advise her how to more quickly point her glider back into the prevailing wind after having it temporarily turned away from pointing into the prevailing wind by a strong random swirly gust of wind?

They were called a second time by an experienced ambulance officer standing next to me at Forbes airport. Her location was known exactly as she was carrying a "SPOT" (GPS) tracker and we could see her location on my phone.

And determine that she'd just been immediately rendered unconscious and not feeling any pain.

The accident investigation is on-going and will take a fair amount of time but we would be very surprised if any of the basic details described above change.

I'd be totally fucking AMAZED.

If any of Emma's family or friends want to talk further please FB message me and I can give you my phone number.

And if you're not one of Emma's family members or friends you can go fuck yourself. 'Cause this son of bitch sure ain't gonna expose himself to a dialogue involving a party who knows which way is up.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://www.facebook.com/peter.holloway.5245
(38) Peter Holloway

Peter Holloway - 2018/01/05 11:02

This is a follow up to my post from a couple of days ago for the benefit of my non-hang gliding friends who knew Emma.

We have finished the analysis of the two GPS data loggers Emma was carrying last Saturday. They provide what is best thought of as a "bread crumb trail", like in the story of Hansel and Gretel. This allows us to track Emma's speed, altitude and map position at intervals of between 1 and 5 seconds apart for the whole duration of her flight.

Their analysis confirms our initial suspicions that Emma's glider was flying normally until the last minute or so of her flight. She then experienced some extremely turbulent air at low level during a normal landing approach. This in itself would not normally be a concern and the pilot would normally make corrections and land normally. However as I have previously speculated, somewhere about 5-10 seconds before her flight ended, she was pushed into a sudden right hand turn down wind by an unusually strong gust and could not turn back unto the prevailing wind with the altitude remaining. It is inconceivable that she would not have been rendered unconscious immediately during the landing.

The devices also show, as we would have expected, knowing Emma, that she behaved professionally and was continuing to try to fly the glider in a to a safe landing until the very last moment.

The accident was not caused by anything that Emma did wrong, it appears that it was simply unprecedented, unbelievably poor luck. If she had been in exactly the same place a minute prior or after, the accident would likely not have happened.

Once again if anyone of Emma's friends or family need to talk further, please FB message me and I will give you my phone number.

This is a follow up to my post from a couple of days ago for the benefit of my non-hang gliding friends who knew Emma.

Oh good. Follow-up crap to follow up the crap from a couple of days ago for the benefit of your non-hang gliding friends who knew Emma. I'm positive they'll all really appreciate knowing that this advanced world class pilot equal to the task got killed instantly in normal prime XC conditions doing everything as right as humanly possible 'cause in hang gliding shit just happens sometimes.

We...

"We" WHO - motherfucker?

...have finished the analysis of the two GPS data loggers Emma was carrying last Saturday.

Yeah, I can sure understand how that would've taken an extra couple days.

They provide what is best thought of as a "bread crumb trail", like in the story of Hansel and Gretel.

Like the "bread crumb trail" that nobody ever got to see 'cause the birds erased it immediately after it was laid down?

This allows us to track Emma's speed, altitude and map position at intervals of between 1 and 5 seconds apart for the whole duration of her flight.

So what were we working with, Peter? One or five seconds? 'Cause if it were the latter the only info that really mattered could easily have escaped recording entirely.

Their analysis confirms our initial suspicions that Emma's glider was flying normally until the last minute or so of her flight.

Until the last minute or so. Total fucking bullshit. What mattered happened in the span of something on the order of three seconds.

She then experienced some extremely turbulent air at low level during a normal landing approach.

You've got all that really great data and the best you can tell us was that the shit happened at low level during a normal landing approach?
- This shit probably happened under ten feet and NOT during APPROACH. It happened at ten feet or under near the end of final.
- Why aren't you making the track log available for EVERYONE to see? What are you hiding and why?

This in itself would not normally be a concern and the pilot would normally make corrections and land normally. However as I have previously speculated, somewhere about 5-10 seconds before her flight ended, she was pushed into a sudden right hand turn down wind by an unusually strong gust and could not turn back unto the prevailing wind with the altitude remaining.

Ten seconds? Ten seconds is a LONG TIME. Five seconds is a fairly long time. I don't buy that she could've been hit by something that couldn't be dealt with over a span of five seconds a few feet off the deck in a big flat landing field.

It is inconceivable that she would not have been rendered unconscious immediately during the landing.

1. Oh. It was a landing. And here I was thinking it was a FATAL CRASH.

2. Bull fucking shit. It can't POSSIBLY be inconceivable that she would not have been rendered unconscious immediately during the "landing". Either the impact was so devastating that she was obviously killed instantly or you're totally talking out of your ass. I'm going with both. And if it was so inconceivable that she would not have been rendered "unconscious" immediately during the "landing" then what was your anonymous fellow pilot who'd been trained in emergency resuscitation techniques doing trying to emergency resuscitate her?

The devices also show, as we would have expected, knowing Emma, that she behaved professionally and was continuing to try to fly the glider in a to a safe landing until the very last moment.

Amazing that you can tell what she was doing by looking at those little dots spaced one to five seconds apart.

The accident was not caused by anything that Emma did wrong...

Couldn't possibly have been. After all, she was an advanced world class pilot equal to the task and underwent the best training possible by her advanced world class instructors. Pity you're not identifying any of them. And none of them are stepping forward to claim credit for making her the advanced world class pilot equal to the task she is today.

...it appears that it was simply unprecedented, unbelievably poor luck.

Oh. After around four decades of modern hang gliding this was entirely unprecedented. She invented a totally new way to kill herself. Nobody has ever so much as snapped a downtube in a similar incident. And you're confident in stating this:
- 'cause you are intimately familiar with every landing crash in the history of the sport
- based solely on the evidence of the wreckage and a few dots on a GPS log spaced one to five seconds apart

If she had been in exactly the same place a minute prior or after, the accident would likely not have happened.

No shit.

Once again if anyone of Emma's friends or family need to talk further, please FB message me and I will give you my phone number.

I don't wanna talk to you, motherfucker. I know who you are and I recognize the bullshit pattern of the fake reporting. This was a biggie, it's a no fucking brainer that you - at an absolute minimum - were heavily involved in training and qualifying her, this is just another nauseating example of the Industry investigating and reporting on itself. Obtuse beyond all imagination but it doesn't raise an eyebrow 'cause this kinda crap is all anyone's ever heard for decades and everyone's become properly acclimated.

[Tad Eareckson]

So let's take a look at most of what we have of her flying...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9HGMdH2xRk
Hang gliding - Winter flying at Locksley

Emma Martin - 2016/06/13

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9HGMdH2xRk


A calm winter day flying at Locksley airfield.

Sixty frames per second but odd numbered frames are duplicates of the preceding evens.

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- 40 - frame (60 fps)

Easily reachable Quallaby release crap.

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Uh-oh...

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Here comes the...

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=27494
The exciting bits

Jim Rooney - 2012/05/28 11:49:58 UTC

Guys
Your questions hold the answers.

What you're writing about and what your seeing are two very different things.
Your theories are what are doing you in.

What you're talking about is coming out of the cart too early and not having enough flying speed.
What you're watching is Davis coming out of the cart at Mach5.
He is absolutely no where near coming out too slow!

I've said it before, I'll say it a million times... a 582 tug is NOT the same thing as a 914.
Using 582 techniques on a 914 will put you in the shit

All this "hang onto the cart till it's flying" stuff is fine for 582s. It is NOT for 914s.
Why?
In a word... propwash.

I'm not kidding.
It amazes me how people underappreciate the propwash. It's an afterthough... a footnote.
Let me tell ya guys... on a 914, it's the #1 factor when you leave that damn cart.
You SLAM into that propwash.

I'm towing out here in the desert at the moment. Out here, like it or not, you get to see the propwash. You see it in a big way. Even when we're towing on the pavement, you get to see it. It sucks and you know exactly where it is... because it's a big old cloud of dust and rocks. We insist on our passengers wearing glasses because of it (we provide them if they don't have their own).

Crosswinds of course make a huge difference. But again, we see the propwash... it's clear as day. Sometimes we can even steer around it (that's an other topic though).

The reason I make such a big deal about the difference between the 582s and the 914s is because behind a 582, you're still on the ground when you hit the propwash. You're rolling on the cart and you roll right on through it. No big deal.

So when you "wait till you're lifting the cart"... you're WELL BEYOND the propwash.
When you exit at Mach5, it's no big deal.

Now, when you do this behind a 914... it's a huge deal.
As I said, you slam into the prop wash.

And you're wondering why you're breaking weaklinks????
Are you kidding me?

Think about it... you're going a million miles an hour under huge (relatively speaking) line tension as you come blazing out of the cart struggling to "stay down"... as you slam into turbulent air. Hell yes you're going to break weaklinks. That's what they're there for!
You're subjecting them to massive loadings.
(The shock loading a weaklink sees as you hit the propwash is far greater than people appreciate)
That's why we have them... they're doing their job.

The solution to your problems is first and foremost to realize that a 582 is NOT a 914.
Holding the cart for grim death behind a 914 will make your life considerably harder, not easier.

...propwash.

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Oh well...

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Seems to have gotten through it well enough.

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And maybe we'll hear from Nick regarding your recent career ender. (Just kidding.)

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And nice job dealing with the propwash.

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A little look around Locksley Field. (Major Peter Holloway base of operations.)

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Sequence starts with Emma upright on the control tubes - fourteen seconds prior to touchdown.

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Devout Aussie Methodist.

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[Tad Eareckson]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksdToS1ZZ3s
Hang Gliding - Thistle Hill

Emma Martin - 2017/03/05

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksdToS1ZZ3s


Footage from my flight on March 5 2017 at Thistle Hill, Victoria, Australia.

2017/03/05
launch:
37°07'25.09" S, 145°24'49.82" E
landing:
37°08'39.60" S, 145°24'20.34" E

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- 01 - chronological order
- -0 - minutes
- 00 - seconds
- 11 - frame (30 fps)

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Yeah, never get into a harness that isn't properly connected to a glider.

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That way you'll never hafta worry about launching unhooked.

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And what do ya know... Same bar clearance you had last time.

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Wheels. Total safety overkill for an advanced world class pilot equal to the task who'd undoubtedly perfected her flare timing within a hundred or so solo foot landings.

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Aussie Methodist hook-in check.

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Left hand down on the control bar.

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Both hands on the control bar two and a third seconds after becoming fully airborne. Clear and flagrant violation of the Christopher LeFay Five Second Rule.

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And fully proned out after less than another second.

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Not yet, ferchrisake. You need to be fully upright with both hands on the control tubes at shoulder or ear height in case a narrow dry riverbed with large rocks strewn all over the place suddenly opens up in front of you.

21-11904
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22-12205
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And in full narrow-dry-riverbed-with-large-rocks-strewn-all-over-the-place mode about nineteen seconds before the glider is brought to a full stop.

23-12216
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24-12410
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Right hand back down to the basetube.

25-12423
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Vestigial survival instinct kicking in a bit.

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Back up.

31-13409
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Slow.

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Slow.

40-13827
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Behind the glider.

41-13915
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Running to catch up.

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Good thing nothing was going on with the air, huh Emma?

46-14213
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And don't ever be in that harness unless it's connected to the glider - even in the LZ. Right? Even though walking to the shade in it would make you look cool.

47-14802
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And no strong random swirly gust of wind to play havoc with your (unattended) glider this time - about a week shy of ten months prior to the end of your career and life.

[Tad Eareckson]

And the last we'll ever see of Emma...

Emma Martin - 2017/12/10
Locksley, Victoria
My 200th solo flight in a hang glider! Making the decision and finally learning to fly is still the best decision I have ever made

http://www.facebook.com/em.adele/videos/10155063189421551

01-0000
- 01 - chronological order
- 00 - seconds
- 00 - frame (30 fps)

01-0000

02-0408


(The dark splotch is an insect coming across from the right.)

03-0816

04-0919

05-1309

06-1319

07-1410

08-1522

09-1610

10-1700

11-1709

12-1720

13-1726

14-1803

15-1818


And comments from the glider yahoos.

Nick Chitty
Picture Perfect on the uprights early.

Mykell Jaxsson
Well done Emma.

Dave Moore
Perfect form on the landing. Made it look easy

Gabriel Toniolo
That's awesome Emma.

Bin Duan
Nice landing!

Victor Hare
Perfect!

Raul Larenas
congratulation. now you are hooked with clouds. your life sparked

Marcos Munhoz
Pouso suave. Lindo!!!!

All this praise and encouragement for this stupid dangerous stunt that's gonna get her rendered unconscious immediately during her landing twenty days later.

Nick Chitty
Picture Perfect on the uprights early.

Great job, Emma! Upright for the entire 18 seconds of flight we see. But she wasn't ON the uprightS until a second and a third into her (slow) ground skim. She's left up / right down until 06-1319. She's on the uprightS for the last four and a half seconds before the glider's stopped.

Mykell Jaxsson
Well done Emma.

Dave Moore
Perfect form on the landing. Made it look easy

Yeah, ain't it wonderful how well things can go in a Happy Acres putting green with the air doing zilch.

Gabriel Toniolo
That's awesome Emma.

Bin Duan
Nice landing!

Victor Hare
Perfect!

Perfect landing in perfect landing conditions. Let's rewind and see just how well that goes in really crappy conditions.

Raul Larenas
congratulation. now you are hooked with clouds. your life sparked

Now, twenty days later, her life is over and she's flying with the angels.

Marcos Munhoz
Pouso suave. Lindo!!!!

The last one wasn't all that soft or pretty.

And not one of these motherfuckers has come back and posted anything in the way of a rethink.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4702/24787058877_7bb98c822c_o.jpg

Locksley

http://www.facebook.com/peter.holloway.5245
(38) Peter Holloway

Peter Holloway - 2018/01/05 11:02

The accident was not caused by anything that Emma did wrong, it appears that it was simply unprecedented, unbelievably poor luck.

http://ozreport.com/8.133
The European Championships at Millau

Gerolf Heinrichs - 2004/06/24

Bad news from the Europeans in Millau - and it's not just about the weather!

This is the major hang gliding event of the season and was expected to be the highlight of the European competition flying. Due to a most competent organising team around meet director Richard Walbec everybody expected only the very best from it.

Now, one task into the meet we are all hanging our heads as we just get confirmation about the fatal accident of Croatian team pilot Ljubomir Tomaskovic. He apparently encountered some strong turbulences on his landing approach. He got pitched up and turned around from a strong gust at low altitude, then impacted tailwind into some tree tops from where he fell hard onto the ground. Despite instant attempts at the landing field, Ljubomir Tomaskovic died very soon after from his severe head and internal injuries. The organizers have just informed us that at a request of the Croatian team we will not have a task on Wednesday - nobody objects.

The Dutch team had more bad news. One of their pilots, Frank GroenVander attempted to land in a very high grass field when his base bar apparently got caught in the grass while he was still going at a significant speed. Despite cracking one or two vertebra, he apparently got away without signs of paralysis and will hopefully be okay soon again.

Organizers, CIVL officials and pilots are all shocked by this shocking news. But, to make it clear, this is all not about some organizers pushing a dangerous task through or us pilots just pushing our luck - we were simply very unfortunate on this first competition day. So, if we like it or not, once more we have to acknowledge that in a sport like ours we don't need to get things very wrong to still heavily pay for it.

The Europeans started on the first day with a first, prefrontal task. The organizers and pilots all wanted this task, because we knew we most likely would have a few more days of rain during this first period of the competition after the first day.

With a forecast for flyable, but strengthening winds in the afternoon we did our best to hurry up and get going, and right after the start it all looked like the biggest problems were solved when the whole field finally managed to make cloud base and fly off on course.

The task - a nice 80km tailwind-crosswind-headwind zick-zack course looked still all makeable then. A couple of cloud bases got us quickly around the first turnpoint, but half way towards the second turnpoint clouds started to suddenly disappear. It was too late when we suddenly realised most of us wouldn't be working any more thermals for the day. The predicted south-east breeze had hit the plateau earlier then expected and with gusts of 30-50km/h there was no way to climb out from the lower elevations there.

Within minutes several gaggles with all together about 60 to 70 pilots fell out of the sky and pilots set up for some rather improvised landings in the various fields around the second turnpoint with the turbulences over these rolling hills unexpectedly wild.

I'm in a group of fifteen. All very familiar faces, and I must admit in this moment you are happy you are surrounded by just these familiar pilots, who know how to make it into only one field - all at the same time.

As we pack up we hear the pilots who remained still airborne on all frequencies asking for hints and help, but most of them can't do any better then the first group and will finally land nearby.

Still, some who had been really high at this critical stage of the task got away and where heading towards goal. Oleg, Antoine and Manfred are three of them rounding the turnpoint. But, while Antoine and Manfred manage to climb out in a ragged core again, Oleg misses it and the next thing now is finding himself in a 1:2 heaven-and-hell-sled-ride into the gorge behind the plateau.

So, Oleg's search for potential lift now gets traded in quickly for a search for potential landing fields. But these gorges though pretty generous with rotors that day are very stingy when it comes to landings. In the end, there is no choice left but one field and no time for hesitation. He just clears the trees, chucks his wing around and puts his Combat down - without a scratch!

Oleg, Frank and Ljubomir. Three ambitious, certainly experienced pilots and their respective stories about landing out in a difficult competition task.

Yet, what is it, that makes someone like Oleg pull off a horrifying situation just like that, while his unfortunate mate Ljubomir ends up in a situation he couldn't survive? Superior glider handling skills? Quicker final decision making? Or just better karma?

Hang gliding competition flying will always remain risky, very risky at times. More so for those with less skills, that's for sure. So the crucial question every competitor should ask to himself well before he plays it to the limit is: Am I an Oleg-type of pilot or just an ordinary talent?

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=25536
Whoops! Snapped another tip wand :-O

NMERider - 2012/03/14 15:17:14 UTC

Landing clinics don't help in real world X/C flying. I have had the wind do 180 degree 15 mph switches during my final legs. What landing clinic have you ever attended that's going to help? I saved that one by running like a motherfukker. And BTW - It was on large rocks on an groomed surface.

Jim Rooney threw a big tantrum and stopped posting here.

His one-technique-fits-all attitude espoused on the ORF has become tiresome to read. It does not work in the fucked-up world of X/C landings and weary pilots.

Christopher LeFay - 2012/03/15 05:57:43 UTC

January's canonization of Rooney as the Patron Saint of Landing was maddening. He offered just what people wanted to hear: there is an ultimate, definitive answer to your landing problems, presented with absolute authority. Judgment problems? His answer is to remove judgment from the process - doggedly stripping out critical differences in gliders, loading, pilot, and conditions. This was just what people wanted - to be told a simple answer. In thanks, they deified him, carving his every utterance in Wiki-stone.

NMERider - 2012/03/14 15:43:09 UTC

I refuse to come in with both hands on the downtubes ever again. I have had some very powerful thermals and gusts kick off and lost control of the glider due to hands on the DTs. I prefer both hands on the control bar all the way until trim and ground effect. I have been lifted right off the deck in the desert and carried over 150 yards.

I like what Steve Pearson does when he comes in and may adapt something like that.

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=27086
Steve Pearson on landings

Steve Pearson - 2012/03/28 23:26:05 UTC

I can't control the glider in strong air with my hands at shoulder or ear height and I'd rather land on my belly with my hands on the basetube than get turned downwind.

Gil Dodgen - 1995/01

All of this reminds me of a comment Mike Meier made when he was learning to fly sailplanes. He mentioned how easy it was to land a sailplane (with spoilers for glide-path control and wheels), and then said, "If other aircraft were as difficult to land as hang gliders no one would fly them."

Christian Thoreson - 2004/10

Thus wheel landings, the safest and easiest way to consistently land a hang glider...

But...

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=54608
2018 Forbes Flatlands
http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=54616
Sport pilot dies landing at goal at Forbes Flatlands
http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=54634
Emma Martin
http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=54706
Niki Reflects
http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=35813
RIP Emma Martin

Not a single word anywhere from anyone about staying on the fucking control bar until rolling/bellying in or even bleeding off to trim in a ground skim. And this issue will NEVER get fixed because the sport is so deeply committed to the concept that dangerous turbulence does and can not exist in any critical situation involving an airborne glider. It's permissible prior to a launch - slope or tow - because we CAN and SHOULD be monitoring conditions to make go / no-go decisions. But once the glider is in motion and committed... Not a plausible threat. And if something bad happens...

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=30971
Zach Marzec

Paul Tjaden - 2013/02/07 23:47:58 UTC

Beyond these facts anything else would be pure speculation. I have personally had numerous weak link breaks on tow, both low and high, after hitting turbulence and have never felt in danger of a tumble. I have witnessed countless others have weak link breaks with no serious problems. We train aero tow pilots how to handle this situation and I am certain that Zach had also encountered this situation many times before and knew how to react properly. Apparently, Zach simply hit strong low level turbulence, probably a dust devil that could not be seen due to the lack of dust in Florida, the nose went too high and he tumbled at a very low altitude.

Strong dust devils in Florida definitely do exist even though they are rare. My wife had a near miss when she encountered a severe dusty a couple years ago and I almost lost a brand new $18,000 ATOS VX when it was torn from its tie down and thrown upside down.

I wish I could shed more light on this accident but I am afraid this is all we know and probably will know. Zach was a great guy with an incredible outlook and zest for life. He will be sorely missed.

Simply unprecedented, unbelievably poor luck.

There can be no situation on a:

- tow launch:

-- that can't be easily remedied by:
--- making a timely easy reach to an Industry Standard release; and/or
--- an appropriate weak link with a finished length of 1.5 inches or less

-- in which recovery from the functioning of an appropriate weak link with a finished length of 1.5 inches or less can be the least bit problematic for a properly trained pilot

- landing approach from two hundred feet on down in which there will be a dangerous control compromise as a consequence of one being upright with his hands on the control tubes at shoulder or ear height

The only real good thing the sport ever had going for it was glider certification standards. And The Industry has figured out how to take that off the table with easily reachable releases, Standard Aerotow Weak Links, pro toad bridle, and extra safe foot landing approaches terminating with perfectly timed flares.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=54634
Emma Martin

David Williamson - 2018/01/05 14:55:03 UTC

I see that Emma was in the habit of flying with wheels, for her 200 earlier landings.

She wasn't using them for ANY of her landings. She was using her feet for her 200 earlier landings. The wheels were just there to maybe mitigate things WHEN her flare timing was less than perfect.

I can't help wondering if she still had them for the competition.

Maybe...

Emma Martin - 2017/11/26

Today's task was to fly to Lake Boga, 70km from the tow paddock. I left the paddock with only 2300ft AGL, struggled a bit then got called over to a good thermal and got up to 6000ft. Had a low save at 650ft that got me up to just over 7000ft AGL. Made it to goal in 2 hours, my longest flight in the Gecko. Loving It! Thermaling is so much easier!

http://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4755/24824636717_499fb7f670_o.jpg

Probably not though...



Note that Peter says NOTHING on this rather critical issue which is a fair indication that she WASN'T.

But whether or not she was flying with them it's a no fucking brainer that she was coming in with zero intention of using them. And when you come in configured like she was there's a good chance that they'll make no difference whatsoever in the outcome.

NMERider - 2018/01/05 18:09:23 UTC

Good point! I whiplash injured my neck by not having wheels when I needed them as have many others. Good food for thought for the rest of us.

A lot of the rest of us aren't allowed to participate in or even see what's on the Davis Show. And all of the public is totally excluded.

NMERider - 2018/01/08 03:46:30 UTC

200 solo flights and how many were on a Moyes Malibu 2? (another super-easy glider to fly and land)

This wasn't the glider.

Since I wasn't there in the fatal LZ, I couldn't remark on whether any of the following is relevant to Emma but I am confident all of the following is very relevant to many.

For the purpose of the exercise Peter Holloway wasn't any closer to the fatal LZ than you were. And just look at all the amazing proclamations he was able to make about the incident.

I wonder how pilots of varying years and types of experience would answer the following:

How many flights have you made in big air then landed in strange places in mid-day thermic conditions with no visible wind indicators anywhere?
What were the outcomes?

The ones you wanna hear from most can't respond.

How many streamers or smoke grenades do you drop to augment your surface wind reading ability in the absence of local indicators?

How many landings have you made with the glider in certified configuration?

Do you own any drop streamers or smoke grenades with a small chute attached?

If Emma were so equipped how much of a better outcome would you have expected? Peter reports no more than ten seconds from impact before things started getting interesting.

Do you ever use a drogue chute in order to get onto the ground ASAP during a good or an unknown landing cycle?
Do you own any drogue chutes?
Have you ever used a drogue chute even if you didn't need it?

How do you know a drag chute won't put you into the nastiest available shit and deprive you of the option of staying up the extra seconds you need to let the critical shit disperse?

Do you know the difference from 500' AGL between a good landing cycle and a bad landing cycle?

Does anybody with much in the way of reliability?

Do you know what a landing cycle is and how it compares to a launch cycle?

I know I can always choose the latter and not always choose the former.

Do you forecast surface conditions as a regular part of your X/C flight planning?

Most of us do. And we tend to always shoot for the best soaring / most danger potential landing conditions possible.

Do you know how to forecast likely surface thermal or dust devil conditions?

Yeah. If I don't have then I stay in bed.

While flying X/C do you find yourself planning landings at periodic intervals regardless of your altitude AGL?

On the Delmarva Peninsula or over the back from most of our Mid Atlantic ridges you don't need to. And the stuff that Emma was flying over...

When you set up a landing in a place you've never seen before do you give yourself one or more escape routes if things go all pear shaped?

If things go all pear shaped when you're at a relevant altitude you seldom have escape route options. And that was obviously the case in Emma's situation.

Do you know how to crash safely?

Use your glider as a crush zone. Dave Hopkins can tell ya all about it.

Do you know how to make your glider collapse on impact in order to reduce the g-forces on your body and head?

Nah, I'm always too busy working on not crashing. Emma wasn't taught how to land a glider properly and safely. How do you expect this advanced world class pilot equal to the task to handle the emergency situation when she didn't even know how to avoid the emergency situation in the first place?

Do you know how to avoid breaking bones and tearing ligaments by getting bruised instead?

Just perfect your flare timing and it'll never be an issue.

Have you ever prepared to deploy your reserve chute as a safe landing aid when the need arose?

The person who gets into such a situation isn't gonna be the one to toss his reserve.

Are you a cowboy who thinks all of these things above are for sissies?

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=29884
Hat Creek Power Whack

Mike Bilyk - 2013/09/07 17:07:26 UTC

Wheel landings are for girls!

Are you influenced by peers who would publicly shame you if you ever dared do any of the above?

Dunno. Don't have that many peers in this sport - fortunately.

How many falsehoods and superstitions do you think exist in the sport of hang gliding?

How many elements of hang gliding doctrine AREN'T falsehoods and superstitions?

Can you describe any you have been told as if they were established fact but were not?

The Standard Aerotow Weak Link is in widespread use TO THIS DAY. What else do we need to talk about?

Are you getting the picture?

Nah, I got the full picture a couple years into this project.

This is thumbnail survey as far as I'm concerned.

And you're posting on The Davis Show so what are you expecting to get?

Since 1973 far too many friends and acquaintances have either died or gotten badly injured from free-flight related accidents.

The towing ones don't count / aren't relevant?

I'm not even certain there's anything I can do or say that will change this trend...

Nah, Tim Herr and his pet cocksuckers have everything covered pretty well.

...but I do what I can.

Can you say anything about staying on the control bar through the most critical and dangerous phase of our flight?

In the distant past I had concerned discussions with pilots who exhibited habits likely to result in serious accidents and in spite of their verbal assurances, died doing more or less the same thing.

And who were the individuals who signed them off?

I later learned some techniques from various pilots that seem useful...

Ever tried the Voight/Rooney instant hands free release?

...and I believe have helped me be a more positive influence on my peers based on interacting with those who have adopted safer attitudes and practices.

Gotten any instructors converted, SOPs revised?

I'm confident it can be done.

I'm confident it can't - on any measurable scale.

What works for one pilot may not be effective for another.

Gravity's gravity.

All I can say is, find a technique that works for you to be a better influence on others and attract peers who are a positive influence on you.

http://www.hanggliding.org/wiki/HG_ORG_Mission_Statement
HangGliding.Org Rules and Policies

No posts or links about Bob K, Scott C Wise, Tad Eareckson and related people, or their material. ALL SUCH POSTS WILL BE IMMEDIATELY DELETED. These people are poison to this sport and are permanently banned from this site in every possible way imaginable.

This is undeniably an extremely peer-driven sport.

Which is why it's totally fucking doomed.

Use it to everyone's advantage.

Fuck it. Wilbur and Orville got the physics right a bit over 114 years ago and aviation EXPLODED all around the planet. Hang gliding emerged from a bunch of stupid jocks who NEVER understood basic aeronautical theory and the sport very rightly regards anybody who does as a dangerous threat to its continued commercial existence.

The sport has zero in the way of both competence and integrity - ya can't really have one without the other. Peter Holloway murdered this little chick and...

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/her-eyes-would-light-up-tributes-flow-for-victorian-champion-hang-glider-killed-in-nye-crash-20171231-h0bwea.html
'Her eyes would light up': Tributes flow for Victorian champion hang glider killed in NYE crash

Daniella Miletic - 2018/01/01

Police and hang gliding experts will investigate the crash and prepare a report for the coroner.

...got to write the report. And the rank and file always let's these motherfuckers...

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=31392
Peter Holloway on aerotowing

Jim Rooney - 2013/03/13 08:24:27 UTC

I like this guy

Real straight forward and drives home the things that actually matter.
Bloody good.

...get away with everything.

08-19
http://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5277/30076449505_1f6ed2f804_o.png


Thank you, gravity, for doing the job we couldn't with this son of a bitch.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=54634
Emma Martin

Angelo Mantas - 2018/01/08 15:11:25 UTC

It looks like severe turbulence turned her right as she was about to land.

Or left as she was about to stunt land.

This is what scares me. There are occasional pieces of air out there that are too much for even the best pilots to handle.

And she was definitely one of the best. An advanced world class pilot equal to the task after just a bit over two hundred solos. And, going by her most recent video, had her flare timing perfected. Constantly doing everything as right as human physiology and reflexes make possible.

This happened to Nikki Longshore, and to Davis years ago.

1. Pity the motherfucker survived.

2. Another Davis incident in which everything was being done as right as possible:




with results the were moderately serious and could have easily been much more satisfying.

My good friend (and excellent pilot)MIke Haas was killed by severe turbulence just after launching off a cart years ago.

Ever wonder why the tug, a couple hundred feet in front of him, flying into the exact same severe turbulence just after launching, wasn't the slightest bit fazed? Any chance that the instantaneous loss of over two hundred pounds of thrust on the decision of a loop of fishing line is an issue worth looking at?

Fortunately, these extreme events seem fairly rare...

So why bother addressing any of the relevant issues? Just look at all the advanced world class pilot equal to the task who WEREN'T rendered unconscious immediately during any of their landings at the recent Forbes Flatlands.

...but their very existence is a sobering reminder that we may find ourselves in situations beyond our control.

Pity she didn't encounter a narrow dry riverbed with large rocks strewn all over the place. For that situation she was so superbly prepared.

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=35813
RIP Emma Martin

jlatorre - 2018/01/07 02:14:09 UTC

My condolences to the family.

I can totally understand how this could have happened.

Yeah. No-brainer.

In my days flying the Sandias in New Mexico, we'd often encounter dust devils upon landing (maybe even triggering them).

And I'm guessing you'd deal with them by reaching higher up on the control tubes for even better roll control authority.

I think that there was a fatality directly related to that in the Sandia landing area in the early 1980s, just after I left there.

Probably didn't reach high enough. Or maybe he hadn't even gone upright at all at that point and thus wasn't able to get his feet below him to properly and safely absorb the impact.

It doesn't take much for a gentle headwind, or no wind at all, to become a hellacious crosswind or tailwind.

Duh. We're all taught this before Day One, Flight One and instructed on how to properly deal with it, right?

And there's no predicting it at all.

Kinda like an unhooked launch, right? So shouldn't we just assume that it WILL happen on each and every exercise and adjust our procedures accordingly?

It's just one of those random, one-chance-in-a-thousand things.

One chance in a thousand is fucking HUGE. I've got 1882 flights in my log so it's happened to me nearly twice in my career. If ten pilots each log fifty flights a year one of them is gonna die within two. And the sport can't sustain an attrition rate like that.

But in hang gliding you need to have completed your final turn and gone upright to line up with the old Frisbee in the middle of the LZ by two hundred feet so I guess we're all just playing Russian roulette with a thousand round cylinder hoping that we don't score 741.

You totally nailed it. This IS *EXACTLY* what's going on with the sport. We're all just rolling dice every time we go up. So how many new students are getting advised of this reality before they commit to hang gliding?

We certainly don't have any indication that Emma was ever advised of this, believed she was rolling dice, would've pursued the sport if she'd believed that's all she was doing. And she's an OBVIOUS Peter Holloway / Freedom Airsports product/victim.

And Peter, even in the fatality report he gets to write despite the grotesque conflict of interest issue, never says that this was just one of those random, one-chance-in-a-thousand things. He says that "it was simply unprecedented, unbelievably poor luck" - like being hit by a small asteroid. This was just a totally unprecedented once in untold millions event - nothing any rational person should be the least bit worried about.

Here's your major smoking gun shot:

http://www.facebook.com/em.adele
(38) Emma Martin

Emma Martin - 2016/02/28

Coming in to land

http://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4620/24837109917_61d7ca6378_o.jpg

Peter Holloway
Lovely shot Emma.

with the motherfucker responsible for this one privileging us with his set of crystal clear unmistakable fingerprints.

Absolutely horrifying. The only thing that's keeping her alive is the strong, smooth, laminar ocean breeze. This was a serious accident waiting to happen for years and on 2017/12/30 it finally did. Unfortunately there was no prior severely bruising wake-up call to trigger some serious brain activity.

Wanna see somebody who's SERIOUS about coming in to land?

04-0822
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8645/16629729046_bc8d5d3750_o.png

06-1000
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8603/16654265061_5c000fda41_o.png

07-1014
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8604/16469500399_1f72de17ae_o.png

09-1221
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8625/16468267520_3bf3809a5f_o.png

13-1820
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8571/16035767533_a1fbc16504_o.png

16-2221
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8645/16629727136_be532ef249_o.png

26-2719
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8562/16035765793_3b03dc8736_o.png


Compare/Contrast.

Who taught him to fly like that? Does ANYBODY teach ANYBODY to fly like that at ANY level?

Note:

Tad Eareckson - 2018/01/15 00:57:38 UTC

A lot of the rest of us aren't allowed to participate in or even see what's on the Davis Show. And all of the public is totally excluded.

Steve clued me into the fact that the statement about public exclusion is no longer valid, that the Oz Sociopath has opened it back up - again. No clue as to when or why.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=35665
Landing chum

Doug Marley - 2018/03/10 22:46:46 UTC

Given your experience with powered GA flying, you are well aware of the requirements for absolute and quick control on final. Correct? You are not holding the yoke or control stick by it's lowest mechanical advantage positions, are you? Certainly not. Why do an approach on an HG while attempting to control your glider using a low-mechanical advantage hand position?

I have GA flying experience as well, but what we lack in HG flying (flexies) are a reasonably consistent CG, controllable moving surfaces, and powered propulsion. If while piloting a powered aircraft the pilot experiences a severe updraft, power can be applied for a go-around, or he can fully deploy flaps and dive it in with a slip if a go-around is not possible. In a sailplane, the pilot can deploy full flaps and down elevator, or fully deploy the Schempp-Hirth-style airbrakes, and slipping is beneficial as well.

HG pilots have two tools for turbulent LZ's, ok, three... Don't launch, or deploy the drogue, or pull the foocker in hard. The only method of giving yourself the most pitch control if you get thrown is to have the control bar well in hand and be in a position where the pilot's body does not interfere with the control bar. I've been in a few situations where I was very glad to be riding the control bar all the way into GE, and once firmly within GE, had little (no) problem with the hand transition. The glider is in it's most stable flight regime while within ground effect, so why not use that moment of maximum stability to best advantage?

Why not go ahead and land the fucking plane the way all other planes are landed and omit the moronic transition and perfectly timed flare?

I suppose it boils down to first: the pilot's comfort level with a 'late' transition, and second: the amount of practice a pilot is willing to put in to ensure accurate transitions. I have witnessed quite a few experienced pilots with truly sloppy and misplaced hand transitions, even at altitude, so I can understand their misgivings and unwillingness to explore the alternate possibility. I've also seen some rather beautiful, graceful approaches and landings in some very gnarly conditions. But that only occurs when the pilot is aggressive and in full contact with the CONTROL bar.

It's been my experience that previous experiences with other high-speed activities, such as closed-course and/or road motorcycle racing, motocross, speed-skating, etc, all where the athlete is very close to the ground at high speeds (especially if body parts are routinely in contact with ground or ice), can help to 'train out' a pilot's anxiety caused by high-speed proximity while approaching the ground and trains him for clearer thinking in fast-paced situations. Activities like these also trains a pilot to keep his eyes on the prize, rather than on his demise.

Rubbish.

To my thinking, a pilot should do everything he/she can to maintain positive and instantaneous control in the event of turbulence on final. Everything that reduces control, i.e. hands on DT's in a fully upright position much above GE-altitude, is merely waiting to be thrown off the chosen glide slope. Being thrown off GS may not be such a big problem on approach into a large LZ, but we don't have that luxury most of the time. Perhaps you do?

Oh. So you'd be an advocate of executing the landing with the glider in its certified configuration. Now there's a novel thought.

To my recollection, no one ever mentioned keeping the legs in the harness on final, and why would a pilot not be able to maneuver to the upright position as the point of zero pitch moment approached?

But then here is a possible scenario.... a pilot's harness zipper snags and the velcro doesn't release. If the pilot is so accustomed to approaches while upright and hands up, not being at all familiar with an approach on the control bar, it's almost likely that the landing is not going to be spectator-approved. Perhaps worse.

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=27086
Steve Pearson on landings

Steve Pearson - 2012/03/28 23:26:05 UTC

I can't control the glider in strong air with my hands at shoulder or ear height and I'd rather land on my belly with my hands on the basetube than get turned downwind.

Anyway, Thanks for all your ideas. I hope this conversations generates further thought.

On The Jack Show? Good fucking luck.

Gil Dodgen - 1995/01

All of this reminds me of a comment Mike Meier made when he was learning to fly sailplanes. He mentioned how easy it was to land a sailplane (with spoilers for glide-path control and wheels), and then said, "If other aircraft were as difficult to land as hang gliders no one would fly them."

Look around. Read Calef Letorney's 2018/03/10 assessment from the last u$hPa Board meeting. It's taken around a couple dozen years but that's FINALLY what's happening now - literally. And tell me how that's ever gonna be reversed with a bunch of inbred douchebags like Joe Greblo controlling all the training.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=35918
Why certain insurance is not acceptable at USHPA flying sites

flysurfski - 2018/03/25 01:17:44 UTC

keep in mind that discriminating against a person is completely different than discriminating against an activity. I don't fly PGs but under this argument they would have to allow them at Funston. And the site 10 minutes away from where I live would have to allow H2s to fly which I don't think is a good idea either.

Yeah? How 'bout Sarah Kurtz here?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOWyjvsP3H0


Topless glider so at least a Three, probably a Four. One of the scariest videos I've ever seen. For the thirty seconds it takes her to separate from her kite she's one light medium wave away from virtually certain death by drowning. Hate to beat up on her too much but it's an idiot culture and she's a member in good standing.

Hook-in check performed - as usual - as she's running off the cliff. And it's a no brainer she's never performed a preflight sidewire stomp test at any point in her career.

Lazy slow turn following launch puts her out away from the cliff face and maximum lift.

We don't see a north end turn but it's highly unlikely we're missing anything worthy of being written home about.

When she next appears - heading south - she's again/still way the fuck out from the face and barely maintaining at cliff top level.

Doesn't speed up and drop back for a tight efficient south to north, another slow wide turn, holds out from the face, unzips pod.

Sinks, wimpy wide turn, starts majorly squandering the dry runway she's gonna be really needing in another fifteen seconds.

Running "base" again fails to hug the cliff face.

Nice safe wide shallow easy turn onto FINAL (bigtime FINAL - nearly permanent) then a high slow half-assed landing flare which pancakes and beaks her into the surf.

Then the longest and nearly last thirty seconds of her life getting her goddam moronic locking carabiner open and herself finally separated.

You fly in range of surf or calm water deep enough to present a potential breathing problem you treat it like plutonium. Crash it back into the fucking cliff ferchrisake if that's your only other option.

Sign of intelligent life on the video comments:

K Judd

If you lock your carabiner when flying next to water it's a quarter of a turn (all you need if at all).

No, you don't need or want ANY at all. Unscrew the goddam thing all the fuckin' way. Never once in the entire world history of hang gliding has a locking carabiner had an effect other than to make a flight more dangerous. (But at least you spelled it right.)

Even with all I know about hang gliding culture it just blows me away that in a high Darwin factor environment like this there can be this level of mind blowing total cluelessness.

P.S. Check out the Funston site: http://www.flyfunston.org/bbs/

They never heard of this incident. Inflammatory information not relevant to the club, no doubt.