Inappropriate Pattern or Preparation for Landing

Mid Summer on the South-side, mid-morning, with light winds, an H0 pilot under instruction flew off course of the the planned approach to the lower LZ and struck a vehicle parked near or possibly in the LZ. 

Mistakes happen and getting off course was a mistake.  The crash, as with most crashes, was caused by multiple mistakes.  The pilot’s second mistake was inflexibility in reacting to getting off-course.  At the time the pilot realized the mistake the pilot was fixated on landing in the designated LZ.   As a result the pilot was not able to recognize that better options existed for a landing point outside of the park.  This same fixation resulted in a crash on the North-Side this year and a PG mid-air.  

Practicing flexibility might help.  Ken HudonJorgensen teaches a mental drill wherein you stop in random places and devise a landing approach for that location.  This drill could also be adapted for designated LZs.  Walk to a spot away from the normal pattern and devise a landing patten to land form that spot and altitude.  This would be a great drill for instructors to do with students.  It not only teaches mental flexibility; but, also the skill of devising landing approaches.  

From the Book of Risk:

How to avoid it.

• Study good landing pattens.
• Learn to judge angles over distances.
• Arrive over your LZ with enough altitude to make at least one full 360 and to begin the patten form any direction.
• Always keep a safe lZ within reach.
• Do not get downwind of your LZ in strong winds.
• Practice flexibility by randomly stopping at any location and devising a landing pattern for that location with existing conditions. Also do this exercise around your designated LZ from points outside of the normal approach (include looking for other places to land outside the designated LZ, but safer from the unusual point or unusual conditions.

Published with permission of the pilot.  By Ian Brubaker

The hang gliding accident that occurred on August 16th, 2020 at the Point of The Mountain, North Side had several key decision making factors that ultimately left the pilot in a position where he had no outs and crashed breaking his femur, and breaking both downtubes. The following is an analysis of his flight.

The pilot is a H2 rated pilot and has held his rating for many years. On his most recent trip to The Point, he was getting back into hang gliding not having flown in some time, though he had flown the site years ago. The pilot flew a similarly rated site the previous day, Crafwords Ridge, without issue.

Upon launching, the pilot remained low on the ridge, as it was late day and the lift was becoming light. The pilot set up an approach after making a couple passes along the ridge. He was heading Eastbound along the ridge and turned once he reached the East corner of the lower LZ. He traveled away from the ridge before heading Westbound towards the pond. The pilot continued this path until almost reaching the farthest West end of the LZ, and attempted a left 180 degree turn back towards the hill. During that

turn he was downwind, entering a severe wind gradient, and had little airspeed left due to his lack of altitude at that point in the approach. He completed about 150 degrees of the turn before impacting, stating that he had “no airspeed” despite looking like the glider was diving fast towards the ground.  The pilot also stated that he did not realize how low he was until already in the turn.

There are three main factors that contributed to this accident: Lack of a proper flight plan, lack of currency, and misjudged altitude cause by not looking back at the desired landing zone. These are the factors that lead up to the accident, but the final cause of the accident was a low turn to the ground, combined with lack of airspeed near the ground, exacerbated by a strong wind gradient. 

A flight plan was not formulated before takeoff, as reported by the pilot. Such a plan is imperative in each flight, and planning for different outcomes, alternative flight paths, and emergency procedures are as important as the original flight plan.

The pilot had many opportunities to land in other LZ’s, but was unaware of the risky situation building because he was not looking back on his desired landing target. His focus remained ahead on his downwind leg, causing him to incorrectly judge his altitude for landing. The base turn had a steep bank angle. Then, 90 degrees into the turn, the glider slowed down, likely due to the pilot realizing he was low to the ground. Finally, the glider appears to have stalled in a turn into the ground as confirmed by the pilot reporting he had “no airspeed” all the way to the ground. It should be noted that where the pilot was turning to land, a consistently strong wind gradient exists there, especially in Northeast winds.

While proper planning, pilot decision making, and pilot currency are important takeaways from this

accident, the most critical error was not looking back at the desired target for landing, and insufficient airspeed when approaching the ground. Though sometimes unnerving, it is imperative that pilots constantly look back at their desired landing target to judge their angles of approach and adjust their approach as necessary. Had the pilot looked back at the target, realizing how low he was, he may have initiated the turn sooner and kept more airspeed throughout the base to final turn.  

Below is a visual depiction of the flight path (red), possible alternatives (blue), and alternative LZs (yellow).

The random factor. Lack of physical or mental preparedness

An experienced P4 XC pilot flying tired in very strong thermic conditions was slow catching a forward surge of his glider resulting in a full frontal collapse.  The glider, a two liner, recovered aggressively from the collapse again catching the fatigued pilot off-guard resulting a late block of the surge.  This time the glider dove horizontal with the pilot and twisted three times.  

The pilot attempted to clear the twists with the brakes resulting with tendencies to spin.  The pilot then threw his reserve.  

The reserve was a rogallo attached to the rear attachment points.  The pilots head was forced down by the rogallo risers which deployed twisted making steering control difficult resulting in brushing against a tree damaging his equipment slightly.

Recommendations:  First, keep in mind that the glider here was a two liner.   Two liners often react very unpredictably in a non flying configuration.  Even advanced pilots will find them hard to bring under control during a cascade.

With that in mind, avoid flying strong conditions fatigued.  Almost always, even in strong conditions, you can avoid a frontal collapse with timely and adequate brake or B-line inputs.  

Even if you cannot fully prevent a collapse, strong inputs at the time of collapse pull the trailing edge down preventing cravats and keeping the tips of the glider apart.  

Experience is necessary to time the release of the glider to recover flight with a controlled surge.  Too late and the glider can deep stall; not enough control of the surge and the glider frontals again resulting in a possible cascade.

When your glider is cascading you have to kill its energy.  Locking the brakes in down low below your chest might be enough.  If not a stall and back fly will kill the energy and allow you to assess your altitude and or throw your reserve.  This works even with twists.

If you are already too low you must throw the reserve before the energy builds.  Whenever you are below 500 feet consider already making the decision to throw immediately upon losing control of the glider or entering a configuration you are not familiar with; again before the energy builds.  

If you allow the energy to build the glider could interfere with your reserve deployment or cause you to black out.  

From the Book of Risk:  Lack of physical or mental preparedness.

How to avoid it.

Learn to recognize it.

Separate your ego from the decision to fly.

Stand down and fly another day.

Practice the above at least once by repacking your glider on launch and standing down with out explaining why.  Just say something vague such as “I’m just not feeling it today.)

From the Book of Risk:  The random factor.

How to avoid it. 

The random factor cannot be avoided.

Acknowledge that with the safest practice paragliding carries a higher level of risk of death or injury than most other activities.