You are NEVER hooked in.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=30048
I launched with my harness UNBUCKLED

Steve Seibel - 2013/10/03 04:59:31 UTC

launching with feet not in leg loops

Try "legs not in leg loops". We've got way too much use-whatever-the-fuck-word-you-feel-like in this sport already.

Here was my launch without leg loops at a coastal site...

Cape Lookout, Oregon

...a couple years ago. Note the huge PIO's as I tried to kick my legs up into the boot and things didn't feel right at all-- why was the boot so much higher than usual? Finally got my feet into the boot and zipped up.

http://vimeo.com/11287860


Went on to have a nice long flight

http://vimeo.com/11287969


And a good landing on the wheels, without unzipping

ALL landings on the wheels are good ones.

http://vimeo.com/11288066


I did alert a pilot on the beach to "catch" me because it was windy and I was afraid it might not be so good to be stuck there prone on the ground

Contributing factors to the problem--

There were no CONTRIBUTING FACTORS that caused this problem. You ELECTED TO forego the easiest and most effective method of satisfying USHGA's then nearly three decade old regulation mandating a hook-in check just prior to launch.

(now edited as I watched the video again and saw that my memory has deviated from what actually happened!)

Funny that you should mention memory deviating from what actually happened. That's THE issue and the ONLY issue which causes unsecured launches.

In essence, the harness was already hooked into the glider, with my radio cables connected, but I hadn't put the nose cone on yet.

I judged it too windy to put the nose cone on with the glider tail-to-the-wind, without a knowledgeable helper on the keel.

Just how knowledgeable a helper is required for something like this?

So I slipped one shoulder into the harness and moved the glider nose-into-the-wind and slipped out of the harness and attached my nose cone.

After attaching the nose cone, I was going to move the glider back to its original sheltered position tail-to-the-wind before going through the usual process of getting in the harness. Then I would have to move the glider yet again before launching.

So again I slipped one arm into the harness and started to pick up the glider. But then I stop, and slide in the other arm, and then I do the side zipper, and the side buckles.

So, somehow, I started by thinking "I'm going to move the glider again with one shoulder in the harness"

Then maybe-- I'm not sure-- I thought "wait, it would be easier to move the glider with both shoulders in, easier on the harness as it won't drag sideways so badly"

And then I changed to thinking "Since I have a bystander here who is willing to hold the nose down, so I have both hands free, why not just get ready here leaving the glider nose-into-the-wind and save all that moving back and forth?"

And that's when I forgot why I had one shoulder in the harness, and just continued the process of getting the rest of the way into the harness, never having put my feet through the leg loops.

1:25-1:45 are the crucial seconds in the video.

Bull fucking shit. There are ZERO crucial seconds in that video. You're not doing anything of any consequence at any time.

(Video of routine just before launch:
http://vimeo.com/11287752
)

I don't (or didn't) normally check the leg loops because it was normally so automatic for me to get into them before putting my arms into the shoulders.

Yeah, why bother checking leg loops. The chances of you missing enough of them to matter are microscopic and you could so much better spend your time checking to make sure that your chinstrap is buckled, your backup loop is engaged, and your altimeter is properly set.

The leg loops on this harness don't buckle, you have to step into them.

Spectators are distracting!

1. Fuck that.

2. At 0:29 when you pick of the glider he's got his hand on your upwind wire and at that point he becomes a valuable launch assistant. And he retains that status - active or on standby - until you're off the cliff.

It would have been better just to put the glider back tail to the wind and climb into the harness the usual way without the distraction of a curious spectator holding the nose and chatting.

1. Fuck that - again.

2. Name one person who flies hang gliders who wasn't first a curious spectator.

3. And I one hundred percent guarantee you that we'd:
- prevent a lot of crashes, injuries, crippling's, and deaths
- get a lot more airtime and have a lot more fun at a lot more sites and a lot less cost
- be:
-- in a state of technological advancement instead of stagnation and decay
-- a lot more effective in dealing with scum like Trisa, Matt, Davis, Rooney, Ryan
if:
- we had more non and future flyer curious spectators; and
- our current flyers, instructors, tow drivers, directors spent a lot more of their down time as curious spectators

It wasn't so windy that it was terribly risky to move the glider, just inconvenient.

Like a Rooney Link pop. Shoulda gone for it.

Ways to help prevent:

- Put the nose cone on before hooking up the harness (I just forgot this time)

Bullshit.

- Always slip on one shoulder only, not both, if you are just trying to bring the harness along with you as you move the glider on the ground. Or go ahead and get into the leg loops. Don't be in the shoulders unless you are already in the leg loops.

Bullshit.

- Be very cautious whenever you decide to get help from a bystander...

1. Once you decide to get help from him he's not a bystander any more - he's launch crew.
2. Be six times as cautious when there are no bystanders around from whom to get help.

...as you are surely changing your routine and also increasing your distraction level.

1. Bullshit.
2. You're DEcreasing your likelihood of getting blown over.
3. Your issue didn't have a goddam thing to do with distraction.

Take extra time to preflight everything.

1. Bullshit. Take whatever time you need to preflight everything - regardless of what is or isn't going on.

2. How much extra time do you need to check the things that:
- aren't blinding obvious; and
- matter?
I'm guessing three seconds should be plenty.

- Don't change your routine to involve bystanders except when really necessary.

1. Bullshit. Take the path of least resistance.
2. Fuck your routine. Try thinking for something new and different.

- Check leg loops before launch, every time.

Yeah? How long before launch?

(now edited as I watched the video again and saw that my memory has deviated from what actually happened!)

What's the maximum length of time you are one hundred percent positive that your memory hasn't deviated from what actually happened - and willing to bet your life on it?

Just "having a routine" isn't good enough.

Hang Gliding - 1981/05

Just Doing a Hang Check is not Enough
Article and photos by George Whitehill

Over the years I have observed the problem of pilots taking off not having hooked into their gliders. I've also read about and seen the tragic results. Some pilots have gotten lucky; most have not.

Since I believe that the only person responsible for my personal safety is myself, I've developed habits to insure that I won't make such a careless error. Wire assistants, launch assistants and my friends can never be to blame if I am forgetful. I must take the full responsibility. You must, too.

Just doing a hang check is not enough.

The point I'm trying to make is that every pilot should make a second check to be very certain of this integral part of every flight. In many flying situations a hang check is performed and then is followed by a time interval prior to actual launch. In this time interval the pilot may unconsciously unhook to adjust or check something and then forget to hook in again. This has happened many times!

If, just before committing to a launch, a second check is done every time and this is made a habit, this tragic mistake could be eliminated. Habit is the key word here. This practice must be subconscious on the part of the pilot. As we know, there are many things on the pilot's mind before launch. Especially in a competition or if conditions are radical the flyer may be thinking about so many other things that something as simple as remembering to hook in is forgotten. Relying on memory won't work as well as a deeply ingrained subconscious habit.

In the new USHGA rating system, for each flight of each task "the pilot must demonstrate a method of establishing that he/she is hooked in, just prior to launch." The purpose here is obvious.

Sooner or later you may find a way to screw it up.

Ya know what's REALLY, REALLY resistant to screw ups?

Rob Kells - 2005/12

Each of us agrees that it is not a particular method, but rather the fear of launching unhooked that makes us diligent to be sure we are hooked in every time before starting the launch run.

A solid foundation of threat assessment. Any you'll NEVER get that through mainstream hang gliding instruction 'cause all that bullshit is geared towards making the marks feel safe about what they're doing. And you don't seem to be smart enough to break away from that programming.

Last edited by aeroexperiments on 2013/10/03 19:25:52 UTC; edited 5 times in total

Yeah. Edited five times. And at least one - and probably all - of those was due to a memory issue.

No Jack Show poster has ever died within seconds as a direct consequence of clicking a submit button. But let's say that you would be killed unless the final character was a period.

- Would you need a checklist to help you remember that issue?
- Would a checklist reduce or increase the probability of a fatal mistake?

For me this is Post 3773 on this forum. I don't wanna look any more stupid than necessary so I run virtually everything I've written through a spellcheck first. I've occasionally violated that rule for short posts and cheated on long ones by editing after pasting into the submission form but I've never once FORGOTTEN to run the check. The fear of looking more stupid is what keeps me forgetting.

And a lift and tug is a tiny fraction of the pain of running a spellcheck and can be executed inside of a second. And the consequences of not running the hook-in check can be a lot more severe. I'm totally confident that I won't ever launch unhooked or unsecured because I'm totally terrified of the likely consequences of doing so and attach zero value to my routines and memory.

People who understand the issue NEVER find ways to omit hook-in checks.

1:25-1:45 are the crucial seconds in the video.

Your crucial seconds are all in THIS video:

http://vimeo.com/11287860


0:04 through 0:06 - when you're doing nothing instead of something. Those two seconds were your:
- most critical
- easiest
- best
- last
chance to catch a common issue which has killed some of your predecessors - the last less than eight months prior. All you had to do was allow the glider to float up a little - but instead you worked a little to hold it down.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=30048
I launched with my harness UNBUCKLED

Greg Porter - 2013/10/03 05:12:44 UTC

Excellent clips Steve.

That's what I really love about this sport - the great videos.

What a beautiful place to fly.

And the spectacular scenery! That Oregon coast is really something else.

And what did you think about all those ribbons all over his flying wires? I really like the way he's gathering valuable data on airflow through various maneuvers to help make this a better sport for us all while he's flying around with no leg loops.

And how 'bout that launch run. Smooth, level, aggressive... Hard to beat.

Agree with all your points.

1. How many would that be? I wasn't able to find any actual points myself.

2. I think it's really great the way you guys who skip hook-in checks and launch without your leg loops are so agreeable with each other. Maybe you could bring Rooney into the discussion - he's one of our leading authorities on unhooked launches and why our only hope is for our friends to notice our dangling carabiners. That's an excellent point to agree with as well.

I think what you have here will help many folks.

Which is basically NOTHING.

Thanks for the reply and your experience.

I guess you wouldn't be terribly interested in my experience of never coming close to launching unhooked or minus leg loops in a couple of decades of foot launching.

We are lucky to tell the tale I think.

And the rest of us are all so very lucky to be able to hear you tell it.

Paul Edwards - 2013/10/03 13:02:49 UTC

Thanks for telling the story. It's never 'good' to hear about events like these, but it is valuable to try and share the lesson.

Hang gliding's been pulling this bullshit since the Seventies, Paul. What valuable lesson are you expecting it to get from this one that it missed the previous five hundred times?

Fly high, fly safe!

Why don't you learn to do it yourself first before you go doling out advice.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=30048
I launched with my harness UNBUCKLED

Steve Seibel - 2013/10/07 19:49:30 UTC

lift and tug doesn't work for me

Bullshit. It WORKS for EVERYONE. If you do it two to five seconds prior to launch you will not launch unhooked and you'll have your leg loops.

Hooked in...

You are NOT hooked in. You are NEVER hooked in. You just flunked the test and increased your chances of launching unsecured - again - twentyfold.

...with the glider on my shoulders, I'm supposed to lift it till the hang strap is tight?

Might as well. It's ALMOST certainly gonna be tight...

http://vimeo.com/74791555


...a couple of seconds after your foot starts moving.

I guess I need to go the gym or something.

How much strength seems to be involved...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9G8ERElpjM

13-03110
http://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3697/13700915564_87a2a336b0_o.png


http://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2912/13700562685_86575e9220_o.png
14-03129

...in Eric's actions? It has nothing to do with strength - it's a geometry issue.

I can't even do that with my Falcon, in no wind.

How often do launch in no wind? How often do you launch when there's not enough wind to float your glider? How much wind did you have here:

http://vimeo.com/11287860


...when you were holding the glider down just before running off the cliff with no leg loops?

As I noticed Saturday.

You've been flying for how long? And you just tried this for the first time Saturday - Steve AEROEXPERIMENTS Seibel?

Guess I didn't try breaking out of the grapevine grip into the pistol/bottle grip, that might have helped. I can't see waiting around for a gust of wind to help...

Isn't that pretty much what EVERYBODY does for ALL launches when there's not enough wind to float the glider? Wait around for a gust of wind to help - for fifteen or twenty minutes sometimes?

...as was suggested on that link of helpful hints...

You mean my article? That wasn't a link of "helpful hints" - that was a definitive bulletproof work on how to make sure you won't land a lot sooner than your glider some lovely afternoon.

Checklist is the best answer for me--

Yeah Steve, you need a CHECKLIST to remind yourself of the only two things that really matter and aren't otherwise blindingly obvious - pitch and roll trim, airflow, traffic - at the critical moment. People who are too fucking stupid to understand where the primary threat...

Rob Kells - 2005/12

Each of us agrees that it is not a particular method, but rather the fear of launching unhooked that makes us diligent to be sure we are hooked in every time before starting the launch run.

...is coming from without having to look at a pieces of paper clogged with crap about chinstraps and vario settings deserve whatever happens to them.

I put my hands down on the legloops and feel that they are in place...

Five idiot hang checks while you're prepping for launch here:

http://vimeo.com/11287752


...and you don't have your leg loops at any time and run off the cliff without them. Oh well, I guess you were really sure your clearance was about right.

Greg Porter - 2013/10/08 01:21:40 UTC

Good put Steve. Just shows that not all techniques work for everyone.

It would have the one time he really needed it.

i am with you on feeling for the legloops being in place.

Are you quite sure you're willing to risk the kind of political capital a hard stand on that position is likely to cost you?

I think the key is for everyone to find some technique that works for them...

And I think the key is for all you motherfuckers to adhere to the goddam regulation:

With each flight, demonstrates a method of establishing that the pilot is hooked in just prior to launch.

regardless of whatever personal wacko ideas you undoubtedly have on the issue.

...and then find a way to consistently follow through on actually performing the steps each time. Thanks for the reply!

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

Deltaman - 2013/02/16 22:41:36 UTC

How is that possible to write so much ..and say NOTHING !?

Hell must have an endless supply of assholes like this to derail any and every attempt at rational productive discussion.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=30048
I launched with my harness UNBUCKLED

yoshi - 2013/10/09 02:42:53 UTC
Japan

yet another one.

No shit.

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

Kunio Yoshimura lite.

- No hook-in check.

- Good move getting into the control frame. (Shoulda spread his feet towards the corners.)

- Needed to relax and let his butt sag all the way back to slow down to a normal trim speed. Never stops oscillating - just kicks the flare at the middle of a cycle still going way too fast.

Mark Selner - 2013/10/09 03:04:17 UTC

yes this is what i did.it gets bumpy ha.

It didn't GET bumpy - he MADE IT bumpy.

Mark Selner - 2013/10/09 03:07:36 UTC

but i ran it out and didnt wack

Are you sure? A really hard whack WOULD explain the kind of writing you're doing.

Greg Porter - 2013/10/09 04:21:01 UTC

Wow, that was even scarier than my experience...

Too bad.

http://www.chgpa.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1153
Hooking In

Steve Kinsley - 2005/10/06 22:57:44 UTC

But I did have an incident where I failed to hook in. At High Rock. Eddie Miller saved my sorry butt. Sure woke me up. Too bad Bill did not have a scare like that. I now have a nice DSL line through the tangle of Alzheimer's plaque. That was at least ten years ago and there is still not a blade of grass on that neuron path. So that is not how I am going to die.

What we really have to do is to vaccinate pilots, like I have been, but without the scare. How do you do that? How do you get them to internalize a procedure so that they do it no matter what distractions are present? I don't know. But I have come to feel that the communal effort to assure that pilots are hooked can be destructive of this purpose. I never intended to advocate that wire crews should not be vigilant; just that they avoid hijacking the process.

Maybe if you'd been scared properly shitless we wouldn't hafta be listening to all the brain dead crap you're writing.

he did a great job of keeping his cool and surviving.

Bullshit.

- He screwed the pooch.

- The only people who've had serious consequences from missed leg loops have been the ones who've lost the armpits option immediately after launch - and I think all of those serious consequences were immediately fatal. It's never been a big fuckin' deal for anyone who hasn't.

- How the hell do you know how much of his cool he kept? I'd rate it as adequate/marginal at best. He never got the speed and oscillations under control and he had tons of time to do so. Kunio could've SO EASILY come through his without a scratch or slightly bowed downtube if he'd just slowed it down.

And we shouldn't even be talking about what happened AFTER 0:42 anyway.

[Steve Davy]

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=30048
I launched with my harness UNBUCKLED

I can't even begin to express just how much I've been enjoying the videos in this thread. Splendid work you guys!

If you idiots had to cross an interstate half of you would need a checklist, the other half would be looking skyward for falling rocks.

P.S. I wonder if the manufacturers will ever start behaving responsibly and install back-up leg loops in their harnesses.

[Tad Eareckson]

If you idiots had to cross an interstate half of you would need a checklist, the other half would be looking skyward for falling rocks.

THANKS! This is an excellent summary of potential issues involved and how to guard against them. Vehicles zipping along at seventy miles per hour are just one element in a host of things that can spell disaster. Many thanks for this this thought. I have converted it to a PDF file and saved it in my library.

And these two measures are in no way mutually exclusive - like:
- a hang check and a hook-in check
- the Aussie Method and a hook-in check
- turn and learn and a hook-in check
- a USHGA red rubber FOCUSED PILOT wristband and a hook-in check
- two USHGA red rubber FOCUSED PILOT wristbands and a hook-in check
- a solid breakfast with a good cup of coffee and a hook-in check
- moving onto the ramp with empty leg loops and a hook-in check
- moving onto the ramp with a dangling carabiner and a hook-in check

You could read a checklist AND look skyward for falling rocks. You could have a laminated checklist on a bright red streamer secured to your ankle reminding you to check for vehicles zipping along at seventy miles per hour from the sides, rocks falling from the sky, clothing appropriate for the weather, matching socks, cell phone settings, red FOCUSED SPRINTER wristband...

Then, just after checking to the sides and above and a little before you hopped the guardrail and sprint, you could secure it in your shoe where it wouldn't interfere with your climbing and running. Probably a good idea to have another card in your pocket to remind you to make sure your shoe is properly and securely retied.

It's really good that we have a forum here that permits this free exchange of ideas in a environment of civility to keep us advancing towards a better future for interstate crossing.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://www.ushawks.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=646
Failure to Hook In

Bob Kuczewski - 2011/07/22 21:30:23 UTC

I just talked with Joe, and he said that hang checks do have limited usefulness in protecting against hook-in failures, and that their value in that regard decreases with the time between the hang check and the launch...

What's his data on that, asshole?

He was a was a collaborator with Paul Voight and Rob McKenzie on UHSGA's Bill Priday whitewash video, has students launching unhooked left and right, and, as far as I can tell, has never committed a single word to print on the issue or any incident discussion.

He teaches people to preflight their connections, assume they're hooked in from that point on, and launch whenever.

...(he's absolutely correct here).

What's YOUR data on that, Mister Bob I-Just-Checked-To-Make-Sure-The-Pistol-Was-Unloaded-A-Few-Minutes-Ago Kuczewski? Both of you assholes are absolutely full of shit.

He also said that doing a hang check the moment before launch was just as good as a hook-in check at launch...

Yeah?

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?p=298335
Rescue 911-Episode 415

michael170 - 2012/10/20 01:34:25

Rescue 911-Episode 415 "Hanging Hang Glider (Part 1)"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls2QiDtSO7c
BeatleMoe - 2008/05/14
dead

Rescue 911-Episode 415 "Hanging Hang Glider (Part 2)"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZX_6UZ2UWEE
BeatleMoe - 2008/05/14
dead

Michael Nester - 2012/10/22 18:40:15
North Carolina

I was involved with the local club at the time, and if my memory serves me, the production company brought Joe Greblo to do the reenactment. Local pilot Doug Rice and others assisted.

So here's Joe doing stunt double for Gilbert Aldrich in the reenactment. The time that elapses in the reenactment - which is probably quite close to what the real deal was - between completion of the hang check and too late is less than a minute. And it's FUCKIN' OBVIOUS that the hang check not only was of no positive value but was, in fact, a contributory factor. It put both people at launch off guard.

...but that a hang check can catch things that a hook-in check might not (like a hang strap routed around a down tube, as just one example).

Fuck you. Nobody's ever been killed because he launched with a hang strap routed around a downtube. And that, along with any other connection issue that could matter in the least, can be better and more easily addressed standing up.

So your claim that hang checks aren't needed by pilots who use the same glider/harness combination is invalidated right there.

'Cause Thou hast declared it so. Fuck you.

Rob Kells - 2005/12

My partners (Steve Pearson and Mike Meier) and I have over 25,000 hang glider flights between us and have managed (so far) to have hooked in every time. I also spoke with test pilots Ken Howells and Peter Swanson about their methods (another 5000 flights).

Not one of us regularly uses either of the two most popular methods outlined above.

Hang checks were developed to flush total idiots out of the gene pool. It's working...

http://www.ushawks.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=821
Fatal hang gliding accident

Sam Kellner - 2011/11/07 02:47:58 UTC

Preflight, Hangcheck, Know you're hooked in.

...but not anywhere near fast enough.

Joe recognizes (as most people do)...

Yeah, I'll give ya that. Joe's right on board with MOST PEOPLE. Definitely not one of those Extremist One Percent types who isn't allowed to post on the Jack - and Bob - Shows.

...that a hang check (just like a hook-in check) has a value that decreases from time that it's conducted.

What's your data on that, asshole? In a case in which somebody's just unhooked to access a helmet or adjust a camera I'd predict just the opposite - that the person who last did an idiot hang check fifteen minutes ago is more likely to harbor doubts about his connection status than the person who last did an idiot hang check one minute ago.

That's not the same as *NO VALUE* or "mathematically ZERO".

I'm getting negative five.

As Joe pointed out, if the hang check is done immediately before launch, it's just as good as a hook-in check.

Joe's full of shit. I don't give a flying fuck what he's pointed out.

But as he said, it can also catch things that a hook-in check doesn't.

Yeah. You just said that. And you're totally full of shit as well.

And a couple of thoughts on that Rescue 911 video just occurred to me.

As I've said before, it was Doug Rice who signed me off on my Two on 1980/04/07 at Kitty Hawk Kites and I worked under him as an instructor that fall.

It was then, 33 years ago minus maybe a couple of weeks, that another instructor, not Doug, whom I can't remember turned me onto lift and tug as a substitute - which I regarded as a cheat-around - for a hang check.

So Doug would've had to have seen at least a couple of us using it if he wasn't himself.

The message from the episode is that hang gliding's a dangerous sport, sometimes shit just happens and there's really nothing you can do to improve your odds. And:

- the incident happened over eight years after George Whitehill's article, the implementation of the hook-in check regulation, and Doug Hildreth starting to push lift and tug as newly installed Accident Review Committee Chairman

- when the episode aired on 1993/02/09 Doug Hildreth was still in that position still pushing that message

- Doug Rice was on the magazine staff filling it with a lot of his photos.\

And none of these motherfuckers, including the star, uttered a single syllable to make any suggestion that this was in any way preventable - before or since.

[Tad Eareckson]

Eugene Register-Guard - 1997/04/06

Questions still remain after pilot's accident

Death: Tom Sapienza's family and friends try to piece together the puzzle of the hang glider crash.

By Suzanne Hurt
The Register-Guard

Searching for answers Saturday, more than a dozen hang glider pilots went to the site of a crash that took the life of their friend.

Tom Sapienza of Junction City, a 49 year old hang gliding instructor, died Friday after crashing on Mount Tom in the Coburg Hills north of Eugene.

On Saturday, his wife and friends struggled to understand how an accident took his life, ripping a hole in their lives with the force of a treacherous crosswind. They said his hang glider inverted, a rare occurrence.

"It was quite gusty yesterday, but that's where the thermals are," said Jeane (Jeani) Sapienza, his wife of 28 years. "Normally it's a very safe thing."

Tom Sapienza had been hang gliding for 12 years and was known as a safety-conscious, conservative pilot. He was certified to teach hang gliding through the U.S. Hanggliding Association. He ran a business, Airtime Oregon, from his home that offered instruction and new and used equipment.

He also used state-of-the-art equipment, his wife said, and was flying a 2-year-old glider Friday.

"One of the things he loved about hang gliding was that he could fly with the eagles. Up around Mount Tom, the eagles fly," she said.

She said he wanted to fly all his life, dreaming as a child of running down a slope and launching himself into the air. He was a champion diver and gymnast in high school, and he also scuba dived, windsurfed and paraglided. He broke bones in other sports, but never while hang gliding, she said.

She said he tried to teach her and their 19-year-old daughter, Julie, to hang glide, but they preferred to keep their feet on the ground.

But Jeane Sapienza always drove her husband to and from launch and landing, and she did the same early Friday afternoon, taking him to Mount Tom. The peak, at 2,700 feet, is the highest in the Coburg Hills. It's also a warm-weather favorite of hang gliding pilots.

The weather seemed acceptable Friday, and two other hang glider pilots had no trouble. Then Tom Sapienza took off.

"It was a perfect launch. It was just fine," his wife said Saturday, her voice breaking.

After the launch, she turned away briefly. When she turned back, the hang glider was upside down and plummeting to the ground.

"It's very difficult when the glider is inverted to right it. Gravity is working against you. It's falling instead of flying," she said. "He was a very strong man. He really had to use a lot of force."

Sapienza laid back on the keel, but couldn't clear the forest. From at least half a mile away, his wife watched as his hang glider hit the trees and he fell hard to the ground.

A witness grabbed a machete and began hacking his way to Sapienza while another witness called authorities on a citizen's band radio and drove for help.

About 20 rescuers lead by Lane Search and Rescue struggled for two or three hours through steep, rugged terrain before reaching the injured pilot. The carried him half a mile to a spur road where he was airlifted to Sacred Heart Medical Center with multiple internal injuries. He died at 6:25 p.m.

On Saturday, nearly all the active pilots in the area went to the mountain to get Sapienza's hang glider and gear. Dan White, one of Sapienza's former students, climbed about 100 feet up a tree to tug the glider free.

"We were a pretty quiet group up there today," said a fried, Ken Dawe of Eugene.

Dawe, 50, had known Sapienza about five years. He said that on rainy days, he and Sapienza were often the only glider pilots on Mount Tom and talked as they waited for the weather to change. He remembered Sapienza to be a peaceful person.

Dawe, who has flown hang gliders since 1973, said he and other pilots looked over Sapienza's hang glider Saturday to try to figure out what happened.

"There's still some debate going on. We're not quite ready to talk about what we found," he said. "Nobody really saw the whole episode, so we don't really know. It's not that it's such an exceptionally high-risk sport that something would go wrong. But the consequences would be so great."

He said the accident will force pilots to take a closer look at their attitudes and safety margins.

"I won't stop flying because of it. It'll certainly change some of my attitudes. But the thrill and the pleasure of flying free -- I know of nothing I can compare it to."

http://www.parapentebrasil.com.br/parapentebr/1998/02/msg00317.html

Jeani Sapienza - 1998/02/21 18:35:44
airtime@televar.com

To: WindPilot@aol.com
CC: DJones6016@aol.com, hang-gliding@lists.utah.edu, paragliding@lists.utah.edu
Subject: Helicopters for rescue (repost)

Kenn:

I am responding to your request for info regarding helicopter rescue from trees. I feel the need to relay my story so that maybe all of you out there will check into the helicopter procedures for the county/state that you live in so that a similar situation will not be your fate.

On April 4, 1997, my husband, Tom Sapienza, owner of Airtime Oregon (hang gliding/paragliding business) out of Eugene, Oregon, was killed in a hang-gliding accident in the Coburg Hills near Eugene. Tom was a very conservative, safe pilot and this was his 927th flight.

I am pursuing vigorously getting helicopter rescue procedures here in Oregon and Lane County changed. At the time of the accident, the Lane County Sheriff's Office had sole decision-making capabilities as to whether a helicopter was to be called in for a rescue procedure. Due to the length of time for a Deputy Sheriff to get "on-site" in this particular rescue effort and due to the "wrong helicopter" being called in by the Office of Emergency Management (the State agency in Oregon that actually dispatches helicopters for the whole state), Tom bled to death.

When the first rescue personnel arrived on the scene approx. 1 1/2 hrs. after the accident, it was determined and called in to 911 that a helicopter was needed, but nothing could be done until the deputy sheriff arrived approximately 2 1/2 hrs. after the accident and then the wrong helicopter was called in.

In a situation where a pilot is either in a tree or under the canopy of trees, the optimum choice would be to call in a helicopter that has "hoist and winch" capabilities. It was decided by those in control to call in a helicopter which was not equipped with hoist and winch capabilities, which was too big to land near Tom, too heavy to land on the hospital which was 8 miles away so that he would have to land some miles away and additional time taken to ambulance him to the hospital, etc., etc.

So because of this, Tom was transported by foot over horrendous terrain causing internal bleeding. This was a lesson in what could possibly go wrong, did go wrong.

The consequence of this particular botched rescue effort was that Tom died from internal bleeding. Ironically, there was a Coast Guard helicopter with hoist and winch capabilities (that could have been called) doing touch and go landings on the hospital where Tom was taken at the time that the initial people on the scene made the determination that a helicopter was needed.

I have only love and respect for the fine rescue people who assisted Tom. They made the best decisions they were able given the circumstances and that the choice of helicopters was out of their control. I am having difficulty getting the powers that be to accepting change to save lives in similar rescue operations. I have sought legal counsel, not to initiate a law suit, but in order to get information documented and to get the County/State changes made. I have been in communication with my local County Commissioner, my State Representative and the Governor's office.

As of this date, as far as I know, nothing has changed and it is almost a year since the accident occurred. A similar fate could be in store for anyone else in a like situation. I will keep pursuing this situation until the procedures are changed. If you have any ideas or suggestions as to ways to get this changed, I would appreciate hearing them. Fly safe.

Bill Bryden - 1999/03

Fortunately, we do not have any recent fatalities to report this month. However, we will reference one from about two years ago to further this month's discussion.

The accident occurred in April of 1997 while the position of USHGA Accident Review Committee Chairman was vacant. Consequently, the important lessons were not reported in the magazine; lessons that the pilot, Tom Sapienza, would certainly have wanted others to learn, consistent with his spirit as a fine instructor. I also know that his family would like his story to be told, and I apologize for it having taken this long. This incident also has a degree of similarity with an accident I recently learned about (reported by our friends from the New Zealand Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association), which is in part why I chose to discuss it here.

Tom performed a hang check and proceeded to foot-launch his competition glider from the ramp normally. As he cleared the launch area he transitioned to a prone position and shouted a thank you to the launch assistants who turned away, and who thus failed to witness the events that followed. Details are not precisely known, but the conclusion is that Tom's harness detached from the glider. He held on to the control bar, which possibly inverted and dove the glider into tall trees well below the launch area. He fell approximately 110 feet to the ground below and died four or five hours later after a lengthy evacuation to the hospital.

The mystery is how his harness separated from the glider. The carabiner was found closed and locked, and the hang loops on the glider were intact and properly connected. A search of the launch area revealed a third intact hang strap on the ground midway between launch and crash sites. Prior to launch, Tom had to make some hang loop adjustments to accommodate the shorter straps on the harness he was using. It seems that this third strap was used to make the adjustment.

Various methods were tried to recreate likely modifications and determine the most probable cause of the failure. It would appear that the third strap was looped three times to extend the main and backup straps, and that Tom only hooked into two of the three loops. It appears that no additional backup or redundancy system was used. When recreated, this arrangement could support some weight momentarily, but the straps would eventually slip and separate.

The New Zealand accident began in a strikingly similar fashion. The pilot had acquired a new harness and adjusted hang loops on the glider to accommodate it. However, he elected to use his old harness for this flight which hung at the wrong height. The pilot attempted to address this and determined that by clipping the harness to the spreader bar (presumably it was fastened securely to the main hang strap as opposed to sliding like some designs) he'd hang at the correct height. After a hang check with some difficulty on launch, a backup carabiner was installed which likely resulted in the carabiner being put through the same strap as the first instead of the backup. Near the completion of the flight, the pilot performed a wingover prior to landing and the spreader bar failed from resultant higher G forces. He was detached from the glider but successfully deployed his parachute and landed with only minor injuries.

The message is quite clear. To articulate it bluntly, you should never fly with equipment that has to be jury-rigged to make it work.

Think for a moment. Over the course of your flying career, how many times have you rigged something "to make it work"? The incidents mentioned above highlight hazards associated with hang loops that aren't right, but the lesson applies to every other piece of equipment, including tow releases, parachute bridles, carabiners, battens, parachute containers, harness zippers... the list continues.

Tom and the New Zealand pilot were not any more careless, reckless, or different than most of the rest of us, just maybe less lucky. They were likely even more careful than most of us when it came to their hang checks before these flights. However, they experienced failures, the potential for which normal inspections and hang checks wouldn't reveal beforehand. The only way to avoid situations like this is to never fly with any gear that isn't rigged perfectly "normally".

[Tad Eareckson]

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/skysailingtowing/
Hook in failure

Larry West - 2007/12/16 04:49:29 UTC

The cart seems to be the "only" way to keep a pilot from forgetting to hook in to a towing system.

1. The cart prevents anyone whose suspension isn't tensioned two seconds prior to commitment from going off unhooked. Most people can ELECT to not commit unless the suspension is tensioned two seconds prior. And EVERYONE can do SOMETHING to check connection status two seconds prior. But you're not doing ANYTHING and you're not saying that the guys you're towing are incapable of doing the lift and tug so I'm gonna assume that they are but choose not to.

2. The problem isn't forgetting to hook in to a towing system once in a couple hundred flights. The problem is ALWAYS violating the USHGA regulation which states:

With each flight, demonstrates a method of establishing that the pilot is hooked in just prior to launch.

I'm shaking my head thinking that hooking in should just NOT be one of things that kills or maims us.

It doesn't have to be. That issue could SO EASILY be eradicated from the sport.

There are so many other things in flying to do that without something so simple being one of them.

And there's NOTHING else for which the fix is SO SIMPLE. And there's also nothing else to which there's such monumentally stupid coordinated resistance.

Locally here, we talk about checklists...

Which are ten miles south of totally useless on this issue. We've had this issue since the dawn of foot launch hang gliding. Anything that's being "TALKED ABOUT" is still being "TALKED ABOUT" because IT DOESN'T WORK. Try focusing instead on what people like Rob Kells, Eric Hinrichs, Chris Valley, Helen McKerral, and - most of the time - Allen Sparks are DOING which DOES WORK.

...and try, but there is still the "yes, yes, yes, already done that" coming from both ends of the line after three or four tows and it's really easy to fall in to a rhythm of saying "yes" on the radio and sometimes you really DO think you checked that from a memory of the previous launch.

1. Maybe you'd launch fewer gliders unhooked if you eliminated all the trivial useless crap off the checklists and pared them down to the one thing that matters - and is also the one thing that's most likely to have been fucked up - at that point.

2. That's why we've got a regulation that states:

With each flight, demonstrates a method of establishing that the pilot is hooked in just prior to launch.

Notice that it doesn't say anything about checklists or hang checks. It says DEMONSTRATE a method. And if the pilot DEMONSTRATES the method it can be seen by the person at the other end of the line - and anybody else at his end of the line.

We are SOOOO lucky that someone sees the problems before we roll so far (we have lots of eyes usually.

If you've got a situation that's benefitting from luck you need to change your procedures. Luck - by definition - isn't gonna work a very high percentage of the time.

I won't go out without at least one observer at the pilot end anymore, and prefer to have one in the truck with me too, but have had great days where it's just me in the cab.

It doesn't matter. Unhooked launches occur in front of entire stupidities of observers all the time. Think Bob Gillisse, Bill Priday, Martin Apopot, Jon Orders / Lenami Godinez-Avila.

I'm thinking one way is to always have two observers near the pilot (since more seems to get missed at that end)...

Yeah, if something isn't working you can never go wrong by doing more of it.

...but that would probably miss something eventually too.

What SOMETHINGS are you worried about missing at that point? Twisted straps, unlocked carabiners, unbuckled helmets... Even a jammed release tends to be a nonissue relative to a dangling carabiner. You need one or two other things to go seriously wrong before a jammed release matters much. With a dangling carabiner you've already got something that matters much.

I remember a systems design book saying "humans make mistakes, so we have design systems to find them and fix them before they cause a mission failure", but... even high reliability systems (like airlines, spacecraft, and medical equipment) seem to find the holes in the quality control system they use... eventually. Sure they have more cycles before something is missed and sometimes the system just wasn't designed to catch that thing that killed the pilot/patient, but damn...

So you have to ASSUME that THIS mistake is about to be made EVERY TIME *JUST* *PRIOR* *TO* *COMMITTING* *TO* *LAUNCH*. It's way easier to do the check than it is to make the mistake and at the point of launch all other mistakes likely to be made are relatively insignificant.

It's definitely a conundrum and something that I guess we just have to keep working on.

Sure. Let's keep doing the same things over and over and hoping for better results.

What is it that you're gonna keep working on that hasn't already failed miserably many times over?

Thanks for this discussion.

This discussion didn't do you any good, Larry. Within a max of seven months and three days you're gonna hit the gas on an unhooked glider.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbCNyZzHD84
VERY FIRST scooter tow Albuquerque hang gliding lesson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbCNyZzHD84

Larry West - 2008/07/19

The very FIRST hang glider launching and landing at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta Park in New Mexico using a stationary winch to pull the pilot (in a Wills Wing Condor 330) into the sky. We were just testing the controls and the setup and hope to be training with the rig next year or sooner. Pilots were Steve Cortez and Chris Gwin and the "whoa, whoa, whoa" clip was the pilot realizing he wasn't hooked in to the glider.

Yep. That's a WW Condor 330 that belongs to Steve Cortez here in town and that's him piloting it.

Steve Cortez - 62709 - H4 - 1998/06/04 - John Nagyvary - FL AWCL CL FSL RLF TUR XC

I wasn't at that end of the line, so I don't know. He is an instructor...

How reassuring! What does he teach his students to do to prevent unhooked launches in lieu of complying with the regulation?

...and advanced pilot...

AND he has both flavors of cliff launch signoffs.

...and we had full radio communication and very little energy in the system and it was energy we could remove quickly.

Yeah. So most of the time unhooked launches aren't big fuckin' deals.

http://vimeo.com/16572582

password - red
2-112
http://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7600/28811055456_925c8abb66_o.png


So we don't really need to get too bent out of shape about them unless something gets really bent out of shape on one.

In addition to that, I had good visibility on him...

Did you have good enough visibility on him to see an action like Eric...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9G8ERElpjM

13-03110
http://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3697/13700915564_87a2a336b0_o.png


http://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2912/13700562685_86575e9220_o.png
14-03129

...Hinrichs does - JUST PRIOR TO ALL OF HIS LAUNCHES?

Yeah, not everybody is physically capable of tensioning the suspension in dead or light air. But if you just use a double pump as your universal ready signal it gets pilot, driver, launch assistant, casual observers to THINK about the issue. And just that much is almost certainly gonna prevent unhooked launches as effectively as actual tensioning of the system.

And I'll tell ya sumpin' else...

If I were the driver for remote foot launches I'd have a pair of binoculars or telescope at my end and nobody who wasn't connected to his glider as he reached hook-up position would be hooking up to my towline until he was.

...he had big wheels on the wing...

Big wheels on the wing don't do you much good if you land before it does.

...and we were on soft and moist/slippery grass, so hurting each other was improbable.

Great! Tons of my launches early in my career were on shallow slope dunes where hurting myself was pretty much impossible. But I still treated the unhooked launch issue like I was standing at the edge of a cliff with my carabiner dangling. Kinda the way Jonathan...

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=30163
Landing Approaches on Restricted Landing Fields?

NMERider - 2013/10/22 06:42:04

Make every landing an RLF landing even if it's in a great big flat field full of streamers. Set up the scenario in your mind before you get low and then execute your plan when you do land and if it were and RLF. Pilots bug me about flying XC and almost never treat their local landings as mock RLFs. You can practice and improve your crisis situation skills in safe environments. Failure to do this on a regular basis lowers your odds of survival in critical XC flying.

...and I treat every Happy Acres putting green landing like we're coming into a postage stamp.

When I start offering lessons with this, I'll use a turnaround pulley so I can be near them and do a hang check with them .

Great!

This guy:

http://ozreport.com/forum/files/copy_2_of_imgp1239_197.jpg
http://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7220/13949046702_ccfa0fafab_o.png

http://www.thekiteboarder.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/opener-532x800.jpg

the inspiration for the Peter Show discussion, almost certainly did a hang check because it was a new used Falcon for him (Allen's previously) and he needed to check clearance (which is the only thing a hang check is good for). And, regardless, he WAS securely hooked in PRIOR TO that life altering launch and if he'd done a hang check he'd have passed with flying colors. Unfortunately he WASN'T hooked in *JUST* PRIOR TO that life altering launch - which, of course, was why it was life altering (and not in a good way).

Hang checks do NOTHING to prevent unhooked launches. They CAUSE them.

If you're not gonna make hook-in checks mandatory for EVERY foot launch - like it says in the SOPs - then don't introduce people to the sport and don't tow established people. It's unlikely that anyone's gonna get scratched at a scooter tow operation but you're setting them up for disaster at Mingus and helping maintain and foster a really toxic environment.

[llwest@comcast.net]

Good to be reminded of this one Tad. Thanks! I haven't towed a hangie in a while, but the subject comes up about ever three months though. I like the "double pump" signal to prove hook in.