South Side Student Side Hill Non Injury

A student soaring late in the morning suffered a small wing tip deflation on the side closest to the hill.  The instructor called for opposite brake but the student who had never demonstrated left - right confusion pulled the wrong brake and turned toward the hill. He was uninjured.

PPG Accident South Side

A visiting pilot launched a paramotor very late in the morning when everyone else had stopped flying. The pilot then flew to the top of the South Side. Video shows the pilot aimed downwind at the power lines on the east end of the hill ( east - west power lines ) when the pilot makes a brake input so excessive that the glider spins almost immediately and he crash lands a moment later. His injuries were considerable. It's no wonder that the pilot was alarmed and gave a huge input. Ground speed was likely in the 40 mph range. Even emergency turns should be developed smoothly and then finished more deliberately. The error is often in making a gigantic input first. Usually, looking where you want to go is the first step. After that, some weight shift, progressive brake followed by delibarate correction happen more naturally. This is incentive to consciously develop turns on a daily basis. Look, lean, gentle brake, let the turn develop and then turn the glider as needed.

We know that the pilot reached out to a local for information about the area but didn't manage to link up with a site guide. That would have been key.

Deflation on Speed Bar Central Utah Non Injury

A pilot flying an intermediate glider was on speed bar at a few hundred feet and suffered a large deflation. The glider did not recover before landing. The pilot deployed the reserve but it did not open in time. Pilots are reminded not to push speed bar when low. Also, the decision to throw the reserve was a good one. On a different day or a bit higher, it may have opened. There is no such thing as too low.

HG and PG Ground Collision South Side

A hang glider top landing toward the west end of the hill hit a kiting paraglider during landing. The paraglider suffered a shoulder injury. The hang glider top landed near the kiting paraglider due to crowding. Object fixation may have been a factor.

Mid Air South Side PG ( Mid Air )

Two students were on approach to landing when they were involved in a mid air. Both suffered injuries.

South Side Student Injury PG

A student practicing top landing, caused a pendulum swing by pulling too much brake at some point. The resulting surge made for a hard landing on top of the hill. The pilot had a back injury.

Deep Stall North Side Injury

A new P2 pilot visiting from out of town took off in light AM thermal conditions and got excessively deep in the brakes. It is unclear if he was trying to get comfortable in the harness or if he was just exploring too deep into the range of brake travel for too long. He was observed to have entered into a deep stall condition and a subsequent spin event. He suffered a back injury. 

Generally good take away from this event:

- if unfamiliar or not current, seek guidance including radio guidance if possible

- the use of a stirrup is highly recommended in an effort to make the transition from launching to comfortable in the harness as seamless as possible

- knowing the range of brake travel from a starting point of 1) the minimum amount of brake that a person should fly around with to 2) ----> the most brake a person would apply to prevent a deflation IS SUPER KEY  ( an instructor can help you to find these to benchmark brake settings on your glider)

- having an awareness about your hand position is essential - its even possible that this pilot was not aware that his hands were so low - this happens 

- if you think you may have started to stall it or deep stall it, again let off before it manifests into something worse - like you touched a hot stove, let off

-if you manifest a spin event, fix your posture, arms in, feet together, look away from the hill and see if you can fly away. The usual rules apply, if the glider is behind you, let off, if its out in front, brake it. If it's behind you, expect for it to surge out in front. Do this surge management with your feet together and elbows in. It drastically increased the odds that you will handle the situation well. Believe that you can fly away from the hill. The more you believe that it is possible, the more likely it will become. If you believe that there is no chance, there is likely no chance. All this presumes that you are very low as this pilot was. If you are above 40 or 50 feet and you are having problems along these lines you should throw your reserve FIRST. Don't wait, just throw it. 

The V Frontal Injury

A seasoned P3 pilot on a familiar wing suffered a frontal deflation at low altitude. He suffered an injury to a disc in his neck but is otherwise ok. He cited strong thermal conditions as the strongest contribution factor. 

As this accident was quite recent we will respectfully give the pilot a chance to offer his thoughts on the event after some consideration. 

Beacon/ Wire Mtn. Speed Flying

An unknown pilot on a mini wing with a reported sub 20  flights had some sort of accident somewhere close to the top of the hill. Wind reports and an an analysis of the crash location indicate that he may have been in a lee side area on a very windy day.

Most pilot had declared that evening un flyable due to strong gusts etc. The pilot was self taught but he did have contacts within the community that encouraged him to seek formal instruction.

The pilot suffered femoral fractures and suffered some level of head injury which were the cause of his fatality a number of days later.

There were no known witnesses to the event. We naturally wish the friends and family of the pilot the very best and would like to offer our support even though he is not known within the community.

South Side Deflation Injury

A advanced rated visiting pilot suffered an asymmetric deflation. Compounding factors may included:

- unfamiliar equipment

- unfamiliar site

- characteristically strong day ( most had stopped flying PG )

- aggressive maneuvering

- fatigue

That's a long list. We feel for the pilot because any one of those elements by itself might be easily overcome. The combination of all of them at once would generally be too much for any pilot to overcome. 

We will respectfully wait to draw any strong conclusions until the pilot and his fellow pilots can make a statement about what they feel transpired.

The pilot suffered some lower leg fractures and a pelvis fracture.

South Side afternoon deflation injury

A visiting pilot was flying the south side in the mid afternoon on a Spring day when he suffered some level of deflation. Not much is known about this accident. The pilot suffered a back injury but was on track to make a full recovery on last contact.

By flying the first few hours of the day and the last few hours of the day at the Point of the Mountain and doing so in fair weather, pilots can drastically reduce the odds of suffering a surprise deflation.

The V Deflation Injury

A very experienced pilot flying a familiar wing was thermalling and then pushing speed bar to transition to in between thermals on a post frontal day.

He suffered a surprise asymmetric deflation in which one line caught on his helmet. This precluded him from being able to recover and it also made reaching the reserve impossible.

He suffered a broken femur.

We will respectfully wait for the pilot to share his summary of the events before drawing an conclusions and we reserve the right to amend this report to reflect facts that are revealed over time.

North Side Blow Back PG Injury

A seasoned P2 pilot was flying the north side on a strong evening. He was flying a glider that he had never flown before. He had flown for more than an hour and completed a few circuits in which he had flown out front etc. To his credit, he was out in the direction of Lone Peak where the wind is known to be much lighter than above the parking lot.

 Late in the evening, he flew back to the upper hill toward the North East end. He apparently went a bit too far back toward the hill all at once because when he turned into the wind, he wasn't going forward.

Normally a pilot could slide toward the South Side while maintaining position in front of the hill and then turn toward the south once clearing the end of SW end of the north side. The prescribed technique would be to fly south bound over the south side and then down I-15 before finding a field and turning into wind. This is North Side blowback technique. Blowback avoidance is a different subject. Get trained on that if you are not up to speed.

This pilot had the unusual experience of blowing back at the other end of the hill with very little altitude. Efforts to use the speed bar to go forward were not fruitful. The pilot was in the rotor at less than 100 feet AGL. He perceived this as being too low for the reserve and tried to "fly the glider." He suffered some deflations and before he landed there was a big surge.

He suffered a broken femur. Pilots are reminded that there is basically no such thing as too low to throw. You can even throw the reserve and then go back to flying your glider ----> see which one works first/ best.

Pilots are reminded that just because some people bench up to the upper hill, it doesn't mean that it is a good idea. On a strong night. Don't bench up. Most nights, it gets lighter as it gets later. This doesn't always happen. On the night in question, it may have even gotten stronger as it got later in the evening.

Also, if you do bench up then test how far out an front you can soar. Do this first thing. IF you choose to drift back to the hill to gain more altitude, then do it slowly. Fly back toward the hill or do some mellow circles way out front and check out your drift. Take opportunities to point into the wind and check out your forward speed.

Recite your understanding of strong wind flying techniques on the North side to your instructor to check and make sure that you have all of the pieces of the puzzle.

North Side PG Spin - Injury

A seasoned P3 on a familiar wing was landing at the bottom of the north side. He was carving a turn to final when he felt something on the right side. He immediately thought it was an asymmetric deflation and leaned opposite and pumped the right brake.

What he really felt was the wing starting to spin which was likely due to not enough weight shift and too much brake. The left lean and right brake that he mistakenly exercised served to fully manifest the spin. He subsequently stalled the wing completely and landed on his back protection. He suffered a non surgical fracture of his pelvis.

Know your emergency procedures but try not to confuse them. A glider will not deflate on the side you are turning toward ( for sure there are exceptions to this < thought I can't think of any> ).

If you feel a spin start to manifest, let off ASAP - like you touched a hot stove. Then, fix your posture. Legs together and elbows in. manage any resulting surges and heading issues. Resist the temptation to default to the overwhelming desire to seek equilibrium by putting your hands out.

This is a new phenomenon re: confusion of recovery techniques between spin and asymmetric. We find ourselves quite sympathetic to this pilots situation knowing that this was an innocent mistake by a pilot who was fundamentally in the moment and current on his recovery techniques. Interesting case. Lots to learn from this.

Paraglider wings want one thing one second and another thing the next. They want one response to a certain malfunction and a completely different one to a malfunction that is quite similar ref: asymmetric  vs. frontal recoveries.

Mini Wing Low Circle South Side Injury February 2017

An avid mini wing pilot did a circle at the South Side in characteristically thermally and light conditions. He failed to complete the circle and met with the hill at training hill level. He suffered a back injury with some associated paralysis that appears to be temporary. Pilot are reminded that choosing to make a circle on a mini wing should not be taken lightly. Many mini wing pilots have never made a circle. Circles on mini wings at the South Side are so uncommon that many, many, many avid pilot and even instructors that are at the hill daily over decades have never even seen one executed. A pilots first circle/ barrel roll etc. should never take place at a small hill. In most cases a first circle can only be done safely with thousands of feet of altitude clearance and with a reserve parachute. It's impossible to predict if a pilot might over brake and spin the mini wing on his/ her first try or if the turn will be so big and slow that it will take up 500 feet and lots of horizontal distance. This is absolutely one of the greatest potential pitfalls for mini wing pilots. Proceed with caution.