An experienced pilot with many years flying but flying less than 100 hours per year currently and flying an EN B glider suffered a fatality falling from the harness due to unfastened leg straps.
The accident category was "Distracted pre-flight preparation and checks." Witness accounts describe the pilot having difficulty with a spot locator beacon, radio, and oxygen system. For this flight four new or unfamiliar factors were present. 1 new site, 2 new oxygen system, 3 new locator beacon, 4 unfamiliar radio.
It is recommended practice to fly with only one new factor per flight. In this case, the site alone was significantly more advanced than sites the pilot was familiar with to be a major distraction. Adding on the other three factors could very well have been overwhelming.
Not hooking in or up is a potential killer. Recommendations to combat this potential hazard include buddy checks, even a quick “did you pre-flight,” as a pilot walks to launch could be a life saver. If your harness easily allows you to hook up the chest strap without hooking the leg straps, an up grade to a new harness could save your life. If you have not done the work to visualize the terror of launching and attaining a few hundred feet AGL supported by the chest strap and then falling out of the harness as you sit back, doing so could trigger your memory to complete a thorough pre flight.
1) pre flight is super important
2) buddy checks used to be a thing and should be revived, they can save the day
3) there is a thing called a killer pre- flight in which you glance at your biners, leg straps, risers and reserve as you are launching to make sure that the first pre flight really worked
4) forgotten leg strap protocol is essential information - practice this technique in a simulator, most pilots fail to execute on their first practice but always execute successfully from then on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2-UCZ-lplo
5) this can happen to any pilot on any day
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