Sylmar Hang Gliding Association

I am putting this in amazing flights. The amazing thing is that I’m still alive.

l have long wanted to launch the saddle. The shallow slope and bushes below the paraglider launch made it spooky. The fire fixed the bushes. A major modification to the ramp that wouldn’t be done for another hour or two made this the day. Suiting up I was thinking, what do I do if this goes wrong? What do I do if that goes wrong? So much thinking about what was coming up I neglected to think about the NOW. I forgot my leg loops. Launch felt good. The glider starting floating early, I held my angle of attack, ran all the way to the end, prone out and flew away. Sweet. The flight was good. In 90 minutes I had taken my Falcon twice to Lance’s and twice to the 15 hundred. The air was kind of bouncy though. I had a drift from the north when I climbed over four thousand. I seemed to get randomly slapped from the right, left, east, west, up and down. It was time to land. Flying over the LZ and checking the wind, I could see it was about 90 cross from the east and had some velocity. That isn’t uncommon. You just have to land anyway. I go upright just before I enter the box because the fewer things I have to deal with during my approach the better. The harness opens up wider than usual. Something’s not right and I realize what it is. Don’t panic. I feel like I can support myself by just keeping my elbows down and hanging from the armpits. My next thought is to do an RLF and get down quicker. I had enough altitude to make one more circle. That last circle started going fast, very very fast. I am looking at my target from a spiral dive. I try to level out and I am inches above the ground. I think I might have enough speed to pop up and get my feet under me. Then the wingtip hits, I go through the control frame and the glider pancakes on top of me. Nothing hurts. I hear somebody yelling “Call 911�. “No No No!� I yell back. “I’m ok�.

I made many mistakes. My method is to hook in first, inspect the connections, and then get into the harness. I thought that if I’m hooked in before I even go to launch, I can’t launch unhooked. That’s not exactly true. Greblo teaches the three C’s. Connections, Crotch, Chin strap. Now, I am no Michael Jackson. I don’t like going for my crotch in public. But, I could still do that stuff away from launch and not be a potato.

After I figure out I have no leg loops, I decide to do a RLF. Restricted landing field approaches are hazardous under any circumstances. You don’t do them to be safe. You practice them in case someday it’s necessary. Necessary means landing in a small field, not landing quick. Having one thing terribly wrong, the better choice was a conservative approach.

I believe I have enough altitude to do another circle. Under normal circumstances I did. The really good pilots recognize patterns. I saw the pattern for the day was turbulent. I should not have expected the LZ conditions to be any different. My last turn that 90 degree cross wind turned into a 110 degree cross down.

As I am diving down I am looking down at my target. That spiral dive may have been because of the cross down. It may have been because without leg loops my weight was more forward than normal. I knew it was fast but too fast? Hungary Joe told me you cannot judge altitude looking down. You have to see two things in relationship to one another, the angles. There are a couple of corollaries. You can’t judge your airspeed by watching the ground wiz by your feet. You can’t judge you angle of attack if your eyes are focused on the end of the launch ramp.

I have a superstition. Whenever I find a penny at launch, or in the LZ before going up, I have a good flight. That day I found two. Someday, I hope to find a nickel so I can have a good flight and a good landing in the same day.

Jay,
Glad you landed safely. Joel did something similar at Crestline two months ago but pulled a wheel landing: http://www.crestlinesoaring.org/forum/20090216/1957
Cheers,
Jonathan

Jay,
Thanks for sharing that information. I hadn't heard about it at all and appreciate hearing your perspective on how things went. Mostly happy to hear you were not injured except perhaps your pride.

I forget to mention that two other SHGA members have launched with their leg loops unbuckled: one at Crestline and another at Elsinore. Both were white knuckle flights but ended safely. I hope everyone practices some good mnemonic trick for remembering to connect everything.

Tuesday, I did my usual pre-flight routine and discovered the VG was jammed on my T2 up at Crestline launch. I had to break the glider down and reassemble the right downtube to make it work. It set me back maybe 45 minutes and may have cost me my chance to follow rebardan and Bruce B who flew the back range to the 14 and then up the 395. The winds switched during my fiddling but I don't like flying in 1/4 VG and besides, there may have been some other problem that I wasn't even aware of.

I use the 5 Cs myself:
Connection
Chin strap
Chest strap
Crotch
Clearance

I start at the top and work my way down.

I once launched with one leg-loop buckled and one loose. The harness didn't actually have clip-buckles, but those insert the webbing between the buckle ones. I did that, but somehow didn't fully get one of the straps through. It slid loose in flight somehow. It wasn't fully released, but if I'd hung on it I doubt it would have held. But as I said, the other one was just fine. Uncomfortable on landing, but not unsafe. I changed my procedure to include a good hard tug. -- On the leg-straps! You have a dirty mind! I like that in a person.

I concur about the "5 Cs" as Jonathan (and Greblo) have said. Having a checklist on paper is best. That's tough in our sport, so a good solid mnemonic is second best. (Or a taped to the basetube checklist?)

My version is:

Connection
Chin
Chest
Chute
Crotch

Mine includes chute, since I've seen issues w/ loose pins and/or velcro covers. Once I even saw a chute "leaking" out! (Not mine.)

Hadn't thought of "Clearance" but maybe 6 C's is better. I stick with single words. Easier to remember. For some reason, I start at the bottom and work up.* I think Jonathan's top-down is better.



* I suspect I do the Connection last because subconsciously I want to do my hook-in check closer to launch time. But the fact is, that the hook-in check should be done just before you pick up the glider to launch, not (only) at the time you are checking your equipment. It should be done within a couple of seconds of actually starting the launch.