http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXRmJtm4Z7I
My worst crash ever...Hangliding
Mitch Graham - 2018/10/19
This is still hard for me to watch.
It's hard for all of us to watch. But thanks bigtime for all the smoking gun train wreck documentation.
This happened on the 5th of OCT.
Shit like this happens all the fuckin' time - with wide ranges of consequences.
It was a combination of a lack of proficiency...
Bull fucking shit.
...wind changed directions as I took the first step forward (glider yaws)...
Yeah, Murphy will do that to ya every time.
...strong conditions...
Not strong enough.
...wing tip caught a bush...
That bush...
91-61028
http://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1964/45556027412_5fc1d872fb_o.png
...was a factor just this side of zilch. Your wing was totally stalled. You were gonna eat mountain on that one no matter what.
...and not far enough forward on the launch ramp (clean air to both wing tips)
Yeah? Ya think?
It's pretty fucking obvious that your original intention was to launch from a safe position but that was gonna be FAR too dangerous for you nose man down there. Three nose men have been killed in that drill at that launch in just the past five years.
And it was also far too dangerous for your nose man to become a wing man in position behind your port sidewire - and down the ramp in what everyone and his dog is saying would've been a safe position for you to be. And if down the ramp would've been a safe launch position for you tell me how immediately to your left WOULDN'T have been a safe position for Robin to be stationed to act as a safety.
And pitch was NEVER the slightest problem for you. It was ENTIRELY roll. And if Robin had been in the obvious proper position relative to your glider at the obvious proper forward position on the ramp and had done anything along the lines of a proper job you'd have logged another hour of easy airtime and would still have a pristine glider and a hang gliding career.
Furthermore... You didn't launch with a nose man. Robin was long gone and way the fuck out in right field...
88-60948
http://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1929/31734431608_2a12dc2899_o.png
...when you initiated. And show me one single frame from any point in this video - prior to impact - in which that motherfucker performed a single function north of totally useless.
And funny we're not hearing anything from him in this discussion - or any other one anywhere.
And both of these motherfuckers were perfectly OK...
80-55728
http://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1908/44731434905_af1ac98dc2_o.png
...with EVERYTHING you were doing...
37-12541
http://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1953/31734441748_6e8966931e_o.png
39-12621
http://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1923/44692730365_59a2d2b5b8_o.png
40-12647
http://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1921/31734441128_4e254f8031_o.png
41-12730
http://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1925/44692729005_f867da93f6_o.png
...as you were commencing this launch effort.
]I can only be thankful that I was not seriously injured.
Pretty shit returns for the evening's efforts. Do consider the checkers option.
]You can see the few seconds after impact I didn't move...but I dont remember doing that.
You can bet your bottom dollar that Nelson and Robin remember you doing that. 'Cause they were both considering the possibility that you were dead, quaded, vegged - and running the math on how that would be impacting on the rest of their lives.
]My neck and back were very sore for about a week but I feel almost fully recovered after 2 weeks.
Don't worry. The hang and para gliding communities will join forces to heap on more misery to get the consequences more on par with what this impact should've cost you.
]I dont know If I will fly hangliders again.
If you do try spelling them right.
]I dont fly them enough to stay current...
Nobody does. And if currency were an actual issue this sport would've gone extinct in the early Eighties. But flying hang gliders is pretty much like riding bicycles. Videos and incident reports documenting currency issue crashes are nonexistence - just like studies and anecdotal evidence which correlate lack of currency with increased risk.
I haven't flown for a bit over a decade now but I would have zero concern about plopping a glider on a launch cart in prime thermal conditions if that were something I felt like doing.
]...and fly at difficult launch sites with strong conditions.
You weren't AT a difficult launch sites with strong conditions. If you hadn't allowed your instincts/judgment to be influenced and overridden by your douchebag buddies you'd have been fine.
]I have not repaired the glider.
Maybe you should have Nelson and Robin repair the glider.
]If you have interest in buying it feel free to send me a message.
I got a message for ya. Whatta waste.
]Hadley Robinson
Thanks for posting this. I know it's a tough decision. In case the rest of you dont know, I'm the guy in the blue shirt who dived out of the way. This video is the first time I've seen the crash; even though I was there, I was too busy dodging to watch. I just heard crunch bang owww!
Yes conditions were too strong for an occasional HG pilot. I expressed concern, both to Mitch and Robin, but in retrospect I should have been more firm in advising him to not launch, or at least wait. 20 minutes later it was much calmer.
I can't fault Mitch, because I too have flown in conditions too strong for my skills and used up one of my nine lives.
Mitchell's true love is PPG and PG. If he lived somewhere that HG was practical, he would fly more. But here in El Paso, it's just too logistically difficult to fly HG unless you are semi retired and have a sturdy 4x4.
Thanks for posting this.
Yeah Mitch. Thanks for posting this. Fuckin' Golden.
I know it's a tough decision.
WHAT's a tough decision? Posting this video? Which combines the clip you provided him with his stuff from the keel? Why on earth should this be a tough decision? 'Cause it reveals to the world what a total asshole this guy is? Nah Hadley, what it most reveals to the world is what a total asshole YOU are. But nice effort on the distraction ploy.
]In case the rest of you dont know, I'm the guy...
Who's conspicuously not revealing his actual identity.
]...in the blue shirt who dived out of the way.
When you had to. Not to be confused with the guy in the red shirt who dived out of the way when he didn't have to.
You're also the asshole who kept things safe and under control by having Mitch launch from way the fuck up the ramp in crappy air with crap around and in front of his wings and his port wing not flying.
]This video is the first time I've seen the crash; even though I was there...
And setting this guy up for totally predictable disaster.
]...I was too busy dodging to watch.
It's NOT the first time you've seen the LAUNCH. And we're not the least bit concerned with anything that happened after:
88-60948
http://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1929/31734431608_2a12dc2899_o.png
'cause every single one of you motherfuckers agrees that what was gonna happen next was a foregone conclusion.
And we all know perfectly goddam well what you were seeing, saying, doing 'cause we've got a camera on you, your perspective through your camera, and a nice audio recording from your camera of you giving Mitch the instruction that's gonna get him seriously crashed and could've easily gotten him quaded or killed.
]Yes conditions were too strong for an occasional HG pilot.
Bull fucking shit. Mitch states they were twelve to fifteen, it was sunset glass, he's obviously a mid level Three or better, there was NOTHING in this incident related to currency, and something like 99.99 percent of recreational hang glider pilots are OCCASIONAL pilots - 'specially the ones dependent upon mountain launches (outside of Southern California anyway).
And furthermore... The only "CURRENCY" issue u$hPa has EVER recognized is that of the pilot steadily dumping membership dollars into its coffers.
]I expressed concern, both to Mitch and Robin, but in retrospect I should have been more firm in advising him to not launch, or at least wait. 20 minutes later it was much calmer.
- Well that's OK. 'Cause when you expressed concern both to Mitch and Robin about launching farther down the ramp you used such a healthy dose of firmness that there wasn't a millisecond's worth of hesitation to comply from either one of them.
- You're not posting under your name but you just did a pretty good job of identifying yourself as the ranking pilot on site.
- You OBVIOUSLY never advised him not to launch and I majorly doubt you advised him to wait until things calmed down. Everybody notice that Mitch isn't saying "Yeah, you tried to warn me. Should've listened. Sorry."? And there would be no reason for him NOT to say this if it weren't a load o' crap. He's not holding back at all in beating himself up and taking all the blame. And the fact that he doesn't even acknowledge a single punctuation mark's worth of your post - while engaging eight other participants (Anthony Vella, Robert Michiels, Tom Kubat, H5-Phil, Turo Tales, Felix Cantesanu, Ignacio Galaz, Aaron Swepston) pretty freely and straightforwardly - is rather telling.
- Choppy air wasn't the SLIGHTEST issue on this one. Somebody show me a blade of grass moving somewhere to indicate otherwise.
]I can't fault Mitch...
Me neither too much. I fault your sleazy ass twenty times the extent to which I'm faulting Mitch for anything.
..because I too have flown in conditions too strong for my skills and used up one of my nine lives.
Suck my dick.
Mitchell's true love is PPG and PG. If he lived somewhere that HG was practical, he would fly more.
Duh.
But here in El Paso, it's just too logistically difficult to fly HG unless you are semi retired and have a sturdy 4x4.
And for the love o' gawd let's not consider towing - aero, platform. That's so much more dangerous than foot launching off of ramps like Dry Canyon due to all the complexity involved. And besides, one would have much more currency than would be healthy for him.
Gawd we're lucky to have all this material. 2010/06/26, John Seward, Packsaddle, fatal. Similar deal but all we got were scraps.
---
Tad Eareckson - 2018/11/03 14:00:00 UTC
Heavily amended. I was overwhelmed, exhausted, seeing triple when I first wrapped up and posted this one. Missed a few issues and commenting on a block of text from Mitch's original posting comment on the video.
I hope that you are doing well.
