My Scary Utah Flight

[max]

My first time flying in Utah was quite exciting. It started that Saturday morning at Hurricane, where we all met at the gas station. We then met the mayor and the police chief. Hungary Joe then gave us the weather report. The report for all three days was the same, developing clouds in the afternoon and rain . Hungary Joe gave us some safety instructions, like do not fly close to the clouds and do not fly in to the rain. He also told us to not get far behind the ridge and to have plenty of altitude when you're crossing the canyons. Basically the same thing what Joe Greblo is always telling us. Some of the pilots stayed flying at hurricane, but most of us went to Kanarraville where we packed up the gears and went up to the launch site. The launch site is about 9300 feet up and the Valley floors were about 5800 feet. I decided to wait and let some of the more experienced pilots go first since I’ve never flown there before. After not too long pilots started reporting back on the radio saying they were at 14 K. Another pilot was at 15K. Now everybody started getting ready to launch, about five pilots were waiting in line including me. Next thing I knew, the winds started to blow down, this was not good news after sitting on the ground for an hour and sweating. I finally got off the ground, shortly after I caught a smooth thermo that took me up to 15K . I started flying towards cedar launch going north. I was still trying to catch up with those gliders who had launched before me on the cross country trip, while I was on my195 falcon HA HA HA. At cedar launch I got down to 12 K but had no problems finding another thermo, this one is really good it got me up to 16,840 feet. I was flying in between the clouds the view was great but I was freezing my butt off. I decided to continue flying north and crossed the canyon in front of cedar city, but crossing the canyon I lost quite a bit of altitude. I was then at 13,000 plus and trying to find the next thermo. I started noticing clouds were over developing but that thermo was nice and smooth. I was doing a nice big 360 and going up 500 to 700 feet per minute. While I was still climbing I noticed rain to the north about 6 miles away at the same time people were on the radio saying that the wind speed on that ground picked up 5 to 10 miles. So I checked my angle to the valley floor and I had more than 45° and I was at 15 K. Still climbing, I didn't notice that I was drifting to the east over the mountain range, I was paying attention to the rain north of me and I didn't notice that rain was coming at me from the southwest. Here I am again at 16,000 plus and freezing my butt off, getting very close to the cloud base. I decided to fly again north and stay east of the rain storm. Just a few seconds into the flight I felt like my glider was hit by something and my vario maxed out (going up) and the beeper was beeping like crazy. I pulled the bar all the way in and there was almost no difference, I was still going up and now I was in the clouds where the turbulence was very strong, my heart drops down to the bottom of the harness. I had never experienced that kind of cloud suck, the only thing to do was to go into a steep spiral dive, now the turbulence and wind were so strong I didn’t know if I was going up or down. The only thing I knew was I had to stay in the spiral dive. I don't know how long I was in the clouds but it seemed like it had been forever. Finally I had broke loose from the clouds, I kept on spiraling until I reached 14 K. That's when I leveled out. Still very scared I decided to fly to the valley floor and call it a day. A few minutes into the flight I did notice that I didn't make much progress so I looked down onto the ground and there was no ground speed and the air was getting more turbulent. So I pulled the bar even more in to get some ground speed but all I got was a high sink rate, on top of that it started to rain. I really didn’t want to land on top of the mountain with all the small canyons in between, so I decided to drift parallel to the north, hoping that I was going to make the valley floor. In the meantime the rain and the wind increased and I was getting pushed further east. Now I realized I was not going to make it to the valley floor so I started looking for a place to land. I noticed the dirt road going out to the mountain top with two green fields a mile apart. I aimed for the first green field, with the rain pouring down on me there was no other place to land and the canyons to the east were nothing but steep rocks, trees and large bushes. There was absolutely nowhere to land. If I landed there I would be dead. So I pulled my bar all the way in to stop the drift. As I start unzipping my harness I got hit by the strong rotors from the mountain ridge. I got into the upright position and the bar became glued to my body, I was falling like a rock. All my concentration was on making it to the field that was the size of two basketball courts. I landed safely and had few feet to spare from a tree and a wall. I looked down at my vario, I was still at 8000 feet. And even after the landing I still had to hold onto my glider because the rain and wind was so strong. A few local workers who were working on a dirt road came rushing up to me, and one of them said he had never seen a hang glider before only in the magazines, and the other guy said he had never seen a hang glider landing here in the mountains. So I explained what happened and I told him I didn't have much choice. I noticed some metal debris laying in the landing field so I asked him what happened, he pointed to the steep hill in front of me and said some off our heavy equipment rolled down the hill and wiped out every tree in the way and had came to a stop few feet of where I was standing. I ask them if anybody got killed, he said no, nobody was in it. So I packed up my glider and ask the guys how far down the road the nearest Highway was. He answered about 7 miles, that is a long walk with a glider, but he offered me a ride down. It took us a 30 minutes to go down the winedy dirt road to the nearest Highway exit. I had to stand on top of the truck bed to hold onto my glider while it was still raining but I didn't mind. After one hour of waiting, the chase vehicle showed up. Hungary Joe got out the vehicle and said, "we were looking for you." He asked me where did I land? I pointed to the canyon close to the mountain top. "What you landed in dead mans canyon, you're lucky you're alive", he said. I think he just said that to scare me even more. Next morning at the pilot meeting he used me as an example of what not to do. I hope Joe Greble doesn't read this article, after all the safety instruction he gave me in the past. I feel like an idiot ignoring all the signs. He probably would take my pilot license away and sent me back to ground school. I still have a chance, by the time I get back to the sylmar L.z he will hopefully have forgotten. This is a warning to all of you. This is what can happen if you don't pay attention to your surrounding and you ignore instructions. MAX
P.S. sorry about the grammar and spelling errors I’m still learning English.

[jsc1959]

cmon max... dont leave us hangin... pardon the pun

Jeff

[abinder]

yea Max, hopefully part 2 comes quickly!!!!!!

allen

[Lynn McLaughlin]

Ah, C'mon dude... you're killin' me! This is very close to my flight story and I can't wait to see how we ended up...

I concur the cloud suck was incredible. Lot's of hail and rain cells around us. Although miles a part, they created huge changes in wind direction. There were plenty of LZ's too; ASSUMING one left the range with ample altitude and a clear head. I can't do 15,800 (my max that day) w/o oxygen and come away without a massive headache. And, as you described, maintaining airspeed through all the gradient tubulence on landing approach was also a great challenge.

Still, it was WAY FUN flying...

Looking forward to Part Two of your flight account.

[max]

to the north, hoping that I was going to make the valley floor. In the meantime the rain and the wind increased and I was getting pushed further east. Now I realized I was not going to make it to the valley floor so I started looking for a place to land. I noticed the dirt road going out to the mountain top with two green fields a mile apart. I aimed for the first green field, with the rain pouring down on me there was no other place to land and the canyons to the east were nothing but steep rocks, trees and large bushes. There was absolutely nowhere to land. If I landed there I would be dead. So I pulled my bar all the way in to stop the drift. As I start unzipping my harness I got hit by the strong rotors from the mountain ridge. I got into the upright position and the bar became glued to my body, I was falling like a rock. All my concentration was on making it to the field that was the size of two basketball courts. I landed safely and had few feet to spare from a tree and a wall. I looked down at my vario, I was still at 8000 feet. And even after the landing I still had to hold onto my glider because the rain and wind was so strong. A few local workers who were working on a dirt road came rushing up to me, and one of them said he had never seen a hang glider before only in the magazines, and the other guy said he had never seen a hang glider landing here in the mountains. So I explained what happened and I told him I didn't have much choice. I noticed some metal debris laying in the landing field so I asked him what happened, he pointed to the steep hill in front of me and said some off our heavy equipment rolled down the hill and wiped out every tree in the way and had came to a stop few feet of where I was standing. I ask them if anybody got killed, he said no, nobody was in it. So I packed up my glider and ask the guys how far down the road the nearest Highway was. He answered about 7 miles, that is a long walk with a glider, but he offered me a ride down. It took us a 30 minutes to go down the winedy dirt road to the nearest Highway exit. I had to stand on top of the truck bed to hold onto my glider while it was still raining but I didn't mind. After one hour of waiting, the chase vehicle showed up. Hungary Joe got out the vehicle and said, "we were looking for you." He asked me where did I land? I pointed to the canyon close to the mountain top. "What you landed in dead mans canyon, you're lucky you're alive", he said. I think he just said that to scare me even more. Next morning at the pilot meeting he used me as an example of what not to do. I hope Joe Greble doesn't read this article, after all the safety instruction he gave me in the past. I feel like an idiot ignoring all the signs. He probably would take my pilot license away and sent me back to ground school. I still have a chance, by the time I get back to the sylmar L.z he will hopefully have forgotten. This is a warning to all of you. This is what can happen if you don't pay attention to your surrounding and you ignore instructions. MAX
P.S. sorry about the grammar and spelling errors I’m still learning English.

[Lynn McLaughlin]

Max, I was in the truck when we picked you up at the gas station alonside the road. I recall your initial flight account and, as I said at the time, I am very happy you are okay. It was scarey to hear what you went through... What a huge lesson and experience you had.

I've seen a lot of pilots become hypoxic at the altitudes we were flying and I wonder if most of your decisions were not influenced by hypoxia? Also, this was your first XC clinic -- we're allowed to learn and always hope to do so, without severe consequence.

Thanks for your flight account and willingness to help us all learn from your experience.

[abinder]

glad everything ended up okay Max.

Thanks for the report.

Allen

[max]

Lynn. hypoxia I felt normal and no other symptoms, except I was extremely cold maybe my brain was already frozen. max

[abinder]

hmmmmmmm.................

"Mad Max beyond the Thunderdome"!!!!!!
(well, not actually mad, but seems like a good title!!!)

Or........

Thunderdome Max!!!!!!!



allen

[Groundhog]

My Hurricane trip advertisement reads: This free trip attracts intermediate and advanced HG/PG pilots and their non-flying companions (yahoos and wusses can stay home). Max proves that the wusses really needed to stay home.

But I also said: Cedar Mountain is a morning site with easy XC flying over wide-open fields.
I guess I was wrong on that one!

Sorry 'bout that!
--Groundhog

[Steve90266]

OSU! Sounds like you made the best of a bad situation. Good story to tell your grand kids. Keep flying safe! OSU!

Sensei Steve