http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=34243
Fatal HG crash in Tres Pinos CA 4-3-2016
Andrew Vernon - 2016/08/16 19:04:58 UTC
Bay Area
it's been months...
Close to four and a half.
...no word?
http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=25656
The young girl who died hang gliding solo
Jim Rooney - 2012/03/06 18:34:14 UTC
ND's onto it.
No one ever wants to wait for the accident investigation... they want to know "NOW DAMNIT!" and there's always a lot of self-serving arguments surrounding it.
And it's always the same.
The same damn arguments get drug up every time. And they're all just as pointless every time.
We have a system in place.
It works.
Let it work.
Our procedures are well established at this point in time and there are no gaping hidden holes that need to be addressed immediately.
RR asked what the status was.
ND's provided the answer (thank you).
Please take a deep breath. And wait.
Accident investigations involving fatalities take a long time. And by long, I mean they can take years.
(yes, years, I'm not kidding)
The sky is not falling.
I read through that whole thread trying to find out what happened. Nothing but a whole lot of speculation and pissing contests.
And Ryan Instant-Hands-Free-Release Voight very definitively lost his pissing contest.
ziggyc - 2016/08/18 22:08:22 UTC
Woodland Hills
Tragedy at Tres Pinos April 3rd, 2016
There's been no new information because everyone involved has turned chicken...
Nobody TURNED anything. These motherfuckers were all chickenshit scum at birth.
...and is scared to talk about it...
With the most excellent of reasons.
...even if it may help improve safety in some way.
Since when has Mission EVER been the slightest bit interested in improving safety in ANY way?
Several things about the horrible tragedy on April 3rd at Tres Pinos came to light in the past few months. First and foremost, there has been zero investigation.
Duh.
As in NO ONE called the police.
Fuck, it was just a hang gliding fatality. Somebody else dying doing what she loved. Get over it.
There is no police report. NO ONE called the sheriff department. There is no sheriff's report. They have only begun to investigate a couple weeks ago after we called them on it. In what seems to be a vicious turn of events, the scene was very quickly cleared so as to make it look like nothing had happened.
What? Did something happen?
And the absolute worst black eye to the entire hang gliding group, which is actually quite the cool pastime ( I hold nothing gainst individual hang gliders doing their thing, looking after each other, taming the skies, etc.)...
It's a dickhead magnet and you get what you'd predict. Wish I'd understood that three dozen years ago.
...is that their very own USHPA is doing nothing in the way of investigating this.
Go to:
http://www.ushpa.org/page/fatalities
Nobody's died as a consequence of the suffering of fatal injuries for five days shy of a year now. And:
2015/08/23
Rafael Lavin (69), an Advanced (H4) pilot and USHPA member since 1993, suffered fatal injuries during a flight at Fort Funston in San Francisco, CA. The circumstances surrounding the incident are currently still under investigation.
2015/08/23
Craig Pirazzi (56), an Advanced (H4) pilot and USHPA member since 1986, suffered fatal injuries during a flight at Indian Creek near Moab, UT. The circumstances surrounding the incident are currently still under investigation.
The circumstances surrounding those incidents are currently still under investigation.
Mitch Shipley...
...is a sleazy u$hPa operative who's sole function is to suppress whatever evidence and information he can and misrepresent whatever evidence and information he can't.
...has...
...yet again...
...proven slow, resistant, and ultimately useless.
Not the least bit ultimately useless to u$hPa and its objectives.
He's had over 30 days, well over 30 days (which is by far a reasonable amount of time) to complete an investigation. Yet he refuses to do so.
He's just trying to be THOROUGH, motherfucker. Accident investigations involving fatalities take a long time. And by long, I mean they can take years. (Yes, years, I'm not kidding.)
He blames it all on not having the time or resources to do it, which is total BS.
Total BS. Time and resources ain't limitless, ya know. If you wanted to devote more time and resources to preparing and releasing you'd hafta diminish the time and resources you devote to suppression and misrepresentation.
That's pretty obvious code for the fact that he's covering up some pattern of mistakes on the part of Mission Soaring Center.
Along with everything else he's ever been involved in.
And USHPA is also protecting the manufacturers of the safety equipment which failed Nancy when she most needed it.
And here's an extinct major u$hPa operative documenting the quality of the "safety equipment" on which Nancy was locked out and slammed in:
http://www.ushawks.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=607
Understanding Tow Releases
Peter Birren - 2011/08/29 18:40:45 UTC
In my 1000+ tows, I've had to use my hook knife three times... the first was on a pulley tow when an old 2-string release didn't work. Sure did need that hook knife... and RIGHT NOW! Though it worked fine and I lost the bridle and release, it gave me the inspiration to come up with the Linknife.
...
Tad, you ignorant slut, if you read further than your selective snipping reaches to somehow prove a point, you would have read how this works. And, pray tell, what is the title of that page? Could it be "opinion"? as in a thought/idea. Surprising, isn't it, that I've heard from a couple of instructors (both with more credibility in their little fingers than you have in your self-inflated ego) who have been using similar systems for years to prevent hazardous scenarios from happening... and it works. But you'll never consider what actually works, just your own concepts of reality.
Peter Birren - 2011/09/18 22:27:52 UTC
Because at the top of tow, my headset screwed up and I couldn't tell the driver to stop, so she kept driving and started pulling me down, increasing tension to the point that the pin wouldn't pull.
Though it worked fine and I lost the bridle and release, it gave me the inspiration to come up with the Linknife.
And further documentation of the performance of Mission's state-of-the-art two-string release:
http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=30306
Non-fatal crash in Tres Pinos, CA
Scott Howard - 2014/11/06 16:06:31 UTC
...the best i can do for now is a clip of the day b4 when i told the instructor about release problem. (still released by normal method but had to yank 3 times on release to get it to release.)
at Mission.
There are no do-overs when you're in the air.
Depends a lot on whether or not...
163-20728
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8655/16487364578_83864d7bac_o.png
...you can get a parachute out in time.
Here's what happened. A seemingly simple towing exercise at Tres Pinos went horribly wrong.
No. If it was SIMPLE nothing could POSSIBLY have gone wrong.
The pilot, Nancy Tachibana...
FINALLY! We have a last name!
...who had an H1 rating and nearly 30 tows over the past few months, was well versed in the activity...
Well versed in MISSION's version of the activity. Don't recall her having registered at Kite Strings in order to discuss another perspective.
....and the how and when to use the quick...
...and very easily reachable...
...release.
Which only requires three pulls to get it to work. WAY better than the Lockout Mountain Flight Park...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNq1WKy0EqE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNq1WKy0EqE
18-10115
http://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8281/29660706145_8aec1431f6_o.png
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http://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8002/29660703075_9ff03a21a9_o.png
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http://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8414/29660700435_60e7a82e47_o.png
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http://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8168/29036020063_02116a2fdd_o.png
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...offering.
There are substantial videos that show she was not only comfortable doing this, but she new what to do, and when to do it.
1. Where?
2. There are substantial videos showing everybody and his fuckin' dog being comfortable with easily reachable Industry Standard shit...
09-03110
http://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7498/27174352572_20d38b525e_o.png
http://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7292/27271447185_4f295a2d3a_o.png
13-03136
...and knowing what to do and when to do it whenever things are going just fine. And I don't know how many more tons of examples we need to provide of it all being totally useless at best on all the occasions when shit is hitting fans - Hang Zero through Five.
Yet, somehow, on her fourth tow on that day (she had three successful tows on April 3rd, that very same day) through a failure in the quick release system...
A quick release system that's neither quick nor a system and ceases to be a release under any kind of load.
...and it's backup...
Oh. The Birrenator didn't work either? Oh well, Peter's still got it documented at:
http://www.birrendesign.com/LKOpinions.html
...she plummeted 300 plus feet to the ground...
What? No hook knife?
...smacked her head (yes she was wearing a helmet...
Obviously a salad bowl on a string.
...and protective safety gear), and was brain dead instantly.
Doesn't sound like her backup loop or locking carabiner did her much good.
How 'bout the guillotine?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifQk5L3Ux7U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifQk5L3Ux7U
Surely mission installed a guillotine in their system right after the...
109-15221
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8615/16487544910_41f57852ac_o.png
...2013/06/15 Lin Lyons fiasco.
Do you have any idea what it's like to "get the call" from frantic doctors and nurses, drive your ass off for hours hoping against hope, then arriving to find your loved one brain dead and being kept alive by machines? DO you??
Yeah. Not that specific scenario but I know what it feels like.
I will NEVER forget. And I will make sure NO ONE forgets.
I don't think you know what you're up against. Read the non public u$hPa report on Arys Moorhead - a year and a week prior to Nancy - that I've made public at:
http://www.kitestrings.org/post7910.html#p7910
...and see how well he's identified much paper he gets and look at the Jack and Davis Shows to get a gauge of how much in the way of a flying fuck the hang glider community really gives.
The death of a loved one should not be reduced to a pissing contest.
No. It should be reduced to a discussion of what's TYPICAL and how we need better efforts in risk management.
Ever. The fact is, there's a split amongst the hang gliding community over whether this is a "safe" activity for an H1 pilot or not.
The way Mission does things it's not safe for ANYONE.
Hey, nothing in the air is safe. Or, rather, it's as safe as we are willing to make for ourselves and for each other.
There's a limit to how safe hang glider towing can be made. We CAN make it safer than the drives to or from the tow site but there's no fuckin' way u$hPa and its operatives will allow any movement in that direction. Can you imagine what would happen to their visibility as a liability target if Mission ordered a shipment of a few dozen Kaluzhin releases at this point?
The "story" is that Nancy may have turned away from the line without disconnecting, which directly led to her being killed.
'Cause from that point on she'd have needed BOTH hands to fly the glider.
Well, this is not the entire truth. A more likely and accurate story goes like this: Nancy was a student who aspired to hang glide. She had taken many lessons and gone through all the preliminary trainings through at least 2 or 3...
...useless, stupid, dangerous but...
...different instructional groups, the last...
...and least...
...of which was Mission Soaring Center. She gained her H1 rating, and was so proud. She was having so much fun. And she also knew the risks...
If she actually did she'd have never allowed herself to be put into that situation.
...that actually added to the fun (as it does for many of you.)
Then she got what she paid for, had a fantastic experience on her last flight, and did the gene pool a favor.
From what I've been told, and seen in videos, there are two safety releases in a tow.
Two more than I've ever seen in any Mission video.
One of them is operated by the pilot.
Probably thought she could fix a bad thing and didn't wanna start over.
Should that safety release...
What the fuck do you mean by a "SAFETY release"? Is this sailplane dude:
31-B00050
http://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7658/27583391246_91c5048748_o.png
operating his SAFETY release? As opposed to what other kind of release? If somebody runs a red as you're starting through an intersection do you step of your SAFETY brakes? A release is part of a glider's control system. We know what it's supposed to do and we don't need a redundant adjective connected to it.
...fail, then there is a backup which is supposed to be a fail safe.
According to whom? Has anybody ever done any simulations to provide the slightest evidence that this is fail safe? Or did some total fucking asshole(s)...
http://ozreport.com/9.098
The thin 1500 pound aerotow bridle
Davis Straub - 2005/05/03
Bob Lane said that Quest Air sold over 40 of their bridles (and Bob sold 15 or 20) during the Nationals. The Quest Air bridles use thicker Spectra and are designed not to whip around and accidentally tie themselves to the carabineer. Bob says his bridles will not do this either.
It is great to see these safer, simpler, and easy to use aerotow bridles becoming popular.
...just declare them the to be fail safe?
Neither of these releases functioned on Nancy's fourth flight on April 3rd, 2016. They had not been thoroughly checked, just presumed to be working.
Sound familiar...
218-24426-51222
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...people of varying ages?
That's the job not only of the pilot, but also, more importantly, the job of the instructor, who is the last line of protection for his students.
The same instructor who outfitted him with the easily reachable two-string release and fail safe Birrenator backup?
He failed. He allowed the equipment to fail.
How can it fail if it was never designed to work in the first place?
And believe me, he...
Pat - is our understanding.
...feels badly about it I have no doubt.
He must. Why else would he have spent these past months in total lockdown mode?
I feel tons worse. And so does Nancy's mother. So do Nancy's siblings. So do the multitudes of her friends who still cry wondering why she is no longer with us.
None of whom have come ever to Kite Strings to get understandings of the incident and/or done anyhing to reduce the likelihood of this happening to somebody else.
The instructional group, Mission Soaring Center used faulty, unchecked equipment, and ended up killing a perfectly talented and well-taught pilot.
Yes...
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bRrpHNa68iY/UQ6Pv9gRZyI/AAAAAAAAjTg/Hc22bx5122Q/s2048/20943781_BG1.jpg
Well taught.
And now they and the USHPA continue to cover it up. Witnesses who were actually there, and there were at least 4 or 5 who saw what happened, have remained mum (or have been instructed to not say anything) about the whole incident.
Big fuckin' surprise.
It should trouble you, as it does me, that a community of hang gliders, that are supposed to have some kind of integrity and care about each other in the air...
...when push comes to shove...
...they disappear and hope a painful tragedy like this just "goes away."
And viciously attack anyone who bring it back to the forefront in an effort to have it actually addressed.
I wouldn't wish this kind of tragedy on anyone else.
There are PLENTY of more than deserving motherfuckers in this sport. If Jim Keen-Intellect Rooney had bought it in place of Zack Marzec on 2013/02/02 I'd still be barely able to contain my joy.
But I do hope that the community pulls together and talks about this, aims the sharp finger of responsibility (and blame), and fixes the problem: 1) Using unchecked, faulty equipment, and 2) an overprotective, biased, ultimately useless home-brewed fake organization like USHPA will bring more bitter tears.
Yeah. Hang gliding people will now suddenly start developing character and decency.
More tragedies. More blemishes and bruises to what could still turn out to be a noble and fun pastime if people own up to their mistakes and truly try to protect those who need protecting.
Wouldn't start holding my breath just now if I were you.