Don't forget to strap up...

[Phillbo 11]

I would have broken my other wrist on the pilots face...

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/opinion/audience/roger-simmons/os-ae-florida-man-hang-glider-20181127-story.html

[BIGUN 1,307]

That's called, "Motivation."

Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

[MikeJD 0]

I can't open that site from the UK - but assuming it's the story I'm thinking of, the passenger showed incredible resilience in hanging on for as long as he did. Mind you, I guess that's why we say 'as if your life depends on it!'

In the video (which I saw on YouTube) it looks as though he could have saved himself from any real injury if he'd held on for a few more seconds. But what the heck - he broke his wrist, but did a great job of saving his own life.

[JerryBaumchen 1,362]

Hi Mike,

Quote

the passenger showed incredible resilience in hanging on for as long as he did.

If it is the one that was all over the news yesterday, what puzzled me was why the pilot did not put the hang-glider down immediately. From the videos that I saw, he had numerous clear fields in which to land yet he continued to fly.

Jerry Baumchen

[RiggerLee 61]

Saw the same thing. Looked to me like the passenger had most of his weight hanging from his left hand on the control bar. It's weight shift. The pilot was all the way to the right. He got it lined up to land in that field, and I was like, "you got this." but you'll see the glider turn slowly to the left even with the pilots body far right. I think the passengers weight hanging from the bar, normally it would be from the top point, turned the glider against the will of the pilot out over the valley. You'll see the pilot reach down and grab his harness. I don't think that was just him trying to save his life. After that he seemed to have better control over the glider. pulling up there shifted some of that weight onto the top point and made it more controllable. My interpretation.

Lee

Lee
lee@velocitysportswear.com
www.velocitysportswear.com

[MikeJD 0]

JerryBaumchen

Hi Mike,

Quote

the passenger showed incredible resilience in hanging on for as long as he did.

If it is the one that was all over the news yesterday, what puzzled me was why the pilot did not put the hang-glider down immediately. From the videos that I saw, he had numerous clear fields in which to land yet he continued to fly.

Jerry Baumchen

From what I could gather from YouTube, he wasn't able to descend easily. For one thing, he was struggling a little to fly because with one hand he was holding onto his passenger.

I don't know anything about hang gliding, but I assume that if you're being subjected to a lot of lift - which presumably the launch site is designed to give you - then it's actually pretty difficult to go down.

Under a parachute canopy, we'd lose height in a hurry by spiraling (unless you're feeling really adventurous and want to deliberately collapse your canopy! ) - I guess a series of hard turns also works for hang gliding, but that would have subjected his passenger to even greater stress. I doubt he'd have been able to hold on if the pilot had started pulling G's.

[JerryBaumchen 1,362]

Hi Lee,

Quote

It's weight shift.

I can understand your thoughts; however, given one of two choices:

1. Keep flying with a high probability that the PAX will fall & die.

2. Crash in a left-hand turn & break a few bones.

I do not need to flip a coin to determine which door I would choose.

But, that is just me.

Jerry Baumchen

[RiggerLee 61]

He couldn't descend rapidly or change his glide angle much at all with the passenger hanging from the bar. That locked the bar down and the glider into one trim. They are lucky that it was set up well to fly at that one trim.

Lee

Lee
lee@velocitysportswear.com
www.velocitysportswear.com

[JerryBaumchen 1,362]

Hi Mike,

Quote

I don't know anything about hang gliding

I'm in the same boat. Maybe Lee & you are correct.

It just seemed to me that to keep flying was the poor choice.

I wasn't there, I have only seen the video a number of times.

Jerry Baumchen

[Phil1111 1,149]

JerryBaumchen

Hi Mike,

Quote

I don't know anything about hang gliding

I'm in the same boat. Maybe Lee & you are correct.

It just seemed to me that to keep flying was the poor choice.

I wasn't there, I have only seen the video a number of times.

Jerry Baumchen

This has happened quite a few times before.

B.C. hang-glider pilot pleads guilty in woman’s death
A British Columbia hang-glider pilot whose failure to hook in his passenger caused a dramatic mid-air struggle, which ended with the woman falling 300 metres to her death, pleaded guilty Friday to criminal negligence.

William Jon Orders pleaded guilty to criminal negligence causing the death of 28-year-old Lenami Godinez-Avila, who fell from Orders' hang-glider shortly after takeoff above B.C.'s Fraser Valley on April 28, 2012.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/bc-hang-glider-pilot-pleads-guilty-in-womans-death/article16749684/

Prior to launch a safety check is done called a "hang check". Whereby you hang from your harness to ensure you are hooked in. You look up to your locking carabiner to ensure that your suspension harness in untangled, lines are straight and that you're hooked in. Its similar to ensuring flight controls of a AC are
free.

He should have immediately done a 180 turn and landed on the up slope of the hill he took off from. Most cases like this end up with the pilot falling to their deaths. Usually within a half minute or so of launch.

The way the passenger was hanging from the lower control bar and the harness of the pilot. Wouldn't affect the control forces for the pilot much at all. As seen by the fact he was only flying with one arm for most of the flight down. The BC outcome would be the norm for this type of very serious mistake.