Close Encounter with the Powerlines

[JD]

Don't trust your vario to always get you home!

Yesterday I was awarded the new moniker of "Powerline Jonathan" and not just because Mike moved up North. Here's why:

I came in about 1800' over the LZ and began spiraling down. Several other gliders entered the pattern and I decided to fly out towards the Volcano and park for a few minutes so I could have the runway to myself. It hit some sink along the way and turned back kind of low. My Flytec 5030 indicated that I still had 252' above the LZ on glide in my T2 144. So I went on a long airliner style approach. I was about 100 yards from Gavina Street when I realized I was gawd awfully low and there were two sets of landings in front of me. There is a small grassy area East of the wash and just North of Gavina that was a risky possibility if I pulled a fast 360. But I recalled that Bill Vogel died last Saturday doing this very maneuver in similar circumstances. http://sonomawingsbb.yuku.com/topic/273 ... -news.html

After cursing up a storm I pulled the only arrow I had left in my quiver and yanked on full VG and pulled in and dove for an imaginary horizontal line running from the utility pole to the West of the wash running to my left. I couldn't see either set of wires but I knew damn well they were there. As I crossed Gavina Street at 35 mph I felt and heard a thud on my right base bar wheel when it ticked the third cable.



I knew the second set was a short distance ahead and I couldn't see that either. I stuffed the bar and headed for the deck and leveled out at bush-top height. I looked up and watched the 3 wires of the second landings whiz by overhead.



Now I was faced with landing in the badly eroded part of the wash and so I stayed on ground skim as long I could before rotating upright. I was now over the smooth part and did a normal landing but with full VG. I had a nice, crisp flare with a 1/2-step landing and a long walk back to the LZ. Rick with his 20/5 eyesight had seen me dive under the second set of wires so I was 'busted'. He didn't see me kiss the first set but I let him know. Word spread quickly and BudRob re-dubbed me with my new moniker.



A moral of the story is to trust your eyes and senses and don't believe everything your vario tells you. Another moral is to never let yourself panic, but stay focused and determined. I have had my share of close scrapes and the ones where I stayed calm and focused always had the best outcomes. Not that I recommend living on the edge, which I personally do not care for. As it is, all my vario data files got corrupted and I couldn't download my precise flight track. Luckily I have a backup but it lost track of my altitude for part of my flight. I was able to salvage that but the last part where I did my approach and landed went all wonky: http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/272478 .

So remember, the next time you find yourself between the devil and the deep blue sea to stay calm but focused and determined. But for god's sake don't put yourself in that situation if you can avoid it.

Cheers, Jonathan

[JT]

I think Rob over-stepped the bounds of good taste by christening you with such a prejudicial and un-charismatic pseudonym. It's also a mouthful. Thinking about your brief encounter with a taught wire, I thought something musical would be more appropriate... And more likely to stick.

I dub thee, Jonathan TWANG! Dietch.

Long live Twang!

[JD]

...............I dub thee, Jonathan TWANG! Dietch.

Long live Twang!

Sounds kind of kinky.

[jcflies]

mitch makes bitchin electricity bolts for undersurfaces! 1-800-callhim! we need a special
t-shirt for the few, the stupid, the survivors...

forget the tree landing "been there done that," t-shirt; we need the full-on plasma arc, "i am SO cumulonimbus!" t-shirt!

congrats on living to tell the tale! seriously, no more vids????

haven't you seen the movie, dude? never trust a machine!!!

(p.s. the names'll die down.)

yours truly,
jcfries

[JD]

................seriously, no more vids????
..............jcfries

I've still got a 30-hour backlog of editing to do from past XC adventures. You guys crack me up. The real story is that while I was above Magic Mountain I spotted a humpback whale calf in distress off of Point Fermin that had been separated from its mother. Later, while climbing West of West Towers I spotted the calf's mother circling in distress North of the Channel Islands. I had to think quickly about how I would alert the mother humpback to the location of her offspring. I got to thinking about ULF (ultra-low frequency) sound waves and remembered that a 5Hz sonic frequency could be generated by a taught wire separated between supports, 400' apart. Not unlike a giant guitar. I got to wondering what I would use for a guitar pick until I looked down and noticed my 6 1/4" diameter streamlined plastic wheels. So my fret work worked and this evening I received a sea-mail from a reunited mother and child. You see it was only a motion away. Meanwhile, Glenn Campbell would like to serenade us......

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qoymGCDYzU[/youtube]

[OSCAR]

I personally have never seen these wires. but I'm glad you just twanged and didn't try to take them down like GODZILLA.

[dhmartens]

Your wonky gps tracklog shows you flying over about 45 houses west of the wash. I wonder what the pitch of the powerline was tuned to - it is in essence a big bass guitar string. I always wondered if it sounded more like a Fender Jazz bass or a Rickenbacker, but I was afraid to strum.

[JD]

Your wonky gps tracklog shows you flying over about 45 houses west of the wash. I wonder what the pitch of the powerline was tuned to - it is in essence a big bass guitar string. I always wondered if it sounded more like a Fender Jazz bass or a Rickenbacker, but I was afraid to strum.

at 2,000 to 2,500' AGL it's a bit hard for me to pinpoint my exact position over the ground. Use the shadow feature in Google Earth if you really want to be sure.

Not to make light of the situation but I intentionally flew over those lines on my base leg yesterday (with sufficient height) and cringed something fierce just thinking about that landing approach. I hope I never get into or see another pilot in that situation again.

BTW - It sounding nothing like Christian McBride either....
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wci8y_JZIKM[/youtube]