​Rene Falquier 

Site: Sage Hill
​1-18-2021

Sage Hill is a non-maintained flying site in the Santa Ynes Valley, north of Santa Barbara. The takeoff sits on a spine that protrudes perpendicularly from the north side of the east-to-west running valley. The launch is therefore west facing into the westward valley wind. Local conditions were very protected from the influence of the prevalent Santa Anas that were battering SoCal at the time, and this was a primary factor in site choice. Conditions were considered typical, if a little on the strong side, per local guidance.

Like many incidents, mine followed a chain of flawed decisions/mistakes before the "primary one". I am embarrassed to admit that some of these were very rookie mistakes. There is an undeniable element of complacency and intermediate syndrome in this incident. 

Dan Zaslavasky and Razi Alon witnessed the incident and were crucial contributors to a thorough and honest debrief. Their inputs and insights were indispensable in the writing of this report. 

Going into the day, I was tired from the day before, somewhat dehydrated, and held a sense of skepticism about the site I had chosen to fly but committed to taking a look with no qualms about hiking back down. After assessment of conditions on launch (~30 minutes spent on launch before making a decision/unpacking), it seemed within the limits of my skill and relative comfort while recognizing an above-average risk factor and a lower risk-reward factor than I usually take. In retrospect, I also recognize a more distracted mental state than my baseline due to high stress in my non-paragliding life.

​I set up on the slope of the spine, rather than the top of it. This made sense to me at the time because I wanted to avoid being in the compression on the top of the spine due to the strong conditions. I forgot to consider that on the slope, you can get plucked rather than dragged. On some launches, a gust can mean getting inadvertently plucked. On others, a gust can mean a dragging - on all launches, it is better to avoid both while considering the respective probability and consequence of each. In retrospect, this particular launch had a large grassy slope with a gentle gradient behind launch and presented low impact in case of being dragged. My decision to launch on the slope was therefore suboptimal from this standpoint. There is also less debris up top than on the slope.

Another mistake was to try and hook up and clear my lines in the takeoff area as opposed to doing this in a more sheltered place, which there was. I should not have been on takeoff unless I was one hundred percent ready to go. Being on launch, regardless of the type of launch, means EVERYTHING has to be ready to go. ​

I had originally set up for a cobra launch and asked fellow pilot Dan Zaslavasky to help me with getting the wingtip into the airstream it was later determined that I had not made it sufficiently clear what I wanted Dan to help with at this point. The cobra was not working for me, so I chose a traditional reverse launch instead and had a nice wall built up but saw a stick in my lines, which Dan helped me clear. There was a lot of potential for more debris to be captured upon inflation in the particular space I was occupying.

I inflated my wing from a reverse launch position during a relative lull in the base wind, and as far as my memory serves me, the wing came up completely clean: free of debris and with no cravats/line overs. The cycle felt weird, and I insisted on kiting my wing as I did not want to set it down and risk picking up debris again. In retrospect, I should have just put the wing down, and I think this was the key mistake. As I was turning, I took a sizeable deflation on the left side, which caused some adverse yaw/roll towards the left side of the wing. This was followed by a smaller deflation on the right, which popped right back open.

A gust came through right after this moment and picked me up as Dan was yelling that I had a cravat on my left side wingtip, likely from the aforementioned large deflation on the ground. I completely failed to identify it between the moment the deflation occurred and getting picked up by the gust. My flight was thus initiated with the cravat engaged on my left-side wingtip. ​

​I immediately focused on steering my glider and keeping it open/flying. I had an acceptable glide to the main LZ (which was large, grassy, and open) but with compromised penetration into the wind and an increased sink rate. There were some power lines I would need to cross just before the LZ. I committed to trying the main LZ while keeping an eye on the power lines knowing I could effectively steer into the wind (i.e. towards my right) with the open right-hand side and therefore abort the crossing over the power lines if needed. Aborting would have meant a tree landing, but this seemed acceptable relative to my options.  

I considered other options on my glide. There was a large field behind me, but it was in the lee of the takeoff spine, and setting up would have required a downwind turn toward the cravat side and then counter steering back into the wind with the open side or some other combination of inputs that could have caused a stall, a spin, or an auto-rotation. I could have also aimed for the narrow, winding, mostly dry riverbed below, but this would have also led to a likely tree landing. Trying the main LZ while being mindful of the power lines seemed like a better option. I generally avoided steering in the direction of the cravat because I wasn't convinced I could counter-steer using the open side without stalling/spinning the wing. 

​In-flight, my priority was to maintain my heading, but I did attempt to clear the cravat with my stabilo line, and the left side A's / B's. The cravat did not budge, and I decided against more aggressive inputs (like big break pumps, spin-touch, or tail slide) due to my low terrain clearance. At one point, I tried a big ear on the open side to balance the cravat, but this was a mistake. It highly increased my sink rate, killed my glide, and made my glider feel less stable. I had to lightly pump out the big ear wingtip on my right side, and soon after it opened, I took a small deflation on that same side. The wing reopened with a slight dive before I could reach for my reserve. I still had terrain clearance but considered throwing my reserve anyway as I felt that if I took another deflation, it might result in a ground impact. The wing felt stable over my head, and I still had a good heading as well as an acceptable glide to the LZ, so I pressed on but recognized that there was a huge element of luck at play. I could not afford any further flawed inputs. 

I kept a close eye on the power lines. I had acceptable clearance, so I committed to crossing over them. It was not by a hair but still closer than ideal. Once over the main LZ all it took was a slight adjustment into the wind for my final, and I came down lightly and on my feet. Upon depowering the wing, the cravat came out. 

Fellow pilot Razi Alon suggested two alternative possibilities for the cravat:

• The first possibility he suggested was that Dan might have inadvertently caused a line over when he was helping me with my cobra mess.
• The second possibility he suggested was that setting up on the steep section of the hill and building a wall there could have caused the front lines to be taught during pre-launch wall but not the back lines – and that these could have created the cravat once they tightened up during inflation.

​While these hypotheses are very much worth considering in the given context, I distinctly remember a clean wall and the whole wing being open and free of line-overs or cravats when I brought it up. Furthermore, I suspect a line over would have taken more effort to clear than just depowering the wing upon landing. As such, I do not suspect that this is what happened in this particular case, but it doesn't change that it very well could have happened that way in a similar situation. Regardless, these hypotheses add weight to the reminder that I am responsible for clearing my lines and that extra diligence is required in unmaintained launches with lots of debris. 

This was all a considerable mistake that should not have happened, and there was a lot of luck in making it back on the ground safely. My skills only kept me barely outside the margin of a bad accident. This is not an acceptable margin. There is an ego component, a complacency component, a headspace component, a bad practice component, and a skills component in this story. It will be wise for me to pay heed to the lessons learned.

This article has been a long time coming and is a collection of posts and input from multiple respected pilots in our area.

As pilots, we should not underestimate warnings about Santa Ana (devil/ satin) wind.  
​
Santa Ana winds can be violently unpredictable. However, "mild" SA conditions can give sites like Elsinore lovely ridge lift in the late afternoon & evenings. But how does one know if it is a mild event?

• Look at the gust factors at the site AND surrounding stations 10-15 miles away.
• If the gust factor is 2-3X the base wind, it will not be good, even if the base is light. https://www.sdhgpa.com/weather-stations.html
• Are there opposing wind factors? (those need to be added)  A West wind @ 5 meeting an East @ 5 = a wind factor of 10)
• Remember, predicted winds and models do not consider micro environmental factors
• Are the gust factors and predicted gust factors within USHPA recommended flight parameters for your rating?
• ​Get it wrong and there can be dire consequences. This is one reason that we closed Fuzz.

​
Simply, Flying Elsinore 500' off the deck parked in even mellow gusty conditions is really not all that fun with a high pucker factor. 

Another way to put it:  If local hot pilot Chris Cote is not flying due to SA conditions, you should think twice about launching on an SA day.  Chris routinely flies bronco air and still doesn't like SA conditions.  

SoCal Santa Anas are similar to Bay area and Central Cal "Diablo" wind patterns caused by descending cold air  in the Great Basin.

The Devil Wind: A Brief History of the Santa Anas The Devil Wind: A Brief History of the Santa Anas 

Southern California usually sits in a delicate climatic balance. On one side, the chilly waters of the Pacific, transported from Alaska via the California Current, stabilize air temperatures and provide a ready source of moisture. On the other, a palisade of mountains blocks the extremes of the desert from coastal communities.

​The Santa Anas upset that balance, ushering in hot, dry, desert-like conditions. But while the Santa Anas are often called desert winds, the term is misleading; the winds are not simply blowing desert air over Southern California's coastal plain. Instead, Santa Anas result from a cool, dry air mass that hovers over the continental interior of the American West. When that air descends from the higher-elevation basins to sea level, it warms and becomes even drier. 

KCET Lost LA episode
The Devil Wind: A Brief History of the Santa Anas

Also great Article along with the above show: ​https://www.kcet.org/shows/lost-la/a-brief-history-of-the-santa-ana-winds 

David M:

Flying SA conditions is always rolling dice. If you like that sort of thing, go for it - but if you have kids, a spouse, a pet, anything that depends on your continued productivity, remember that you're rolling dice for them, too.

Chris Cote:

I consider Santa Ana as advanced pilot conditions. They can change in strength quickly which can move the convergence line quickly to the west.

Have a look at the site you are choosing to fly and imagine the wind flow reversed. Where's the rotor now? What landing options? Any new dangers?

It can be done and can work very well at times, but it's for advanced pilots, not new pilots hungry to fly.

A post from winter, 2018:  For any visiting pilots, the NE winds we've been experiencing will continue today, but should ease a bit in the afternoon. This is not a typical Santa Ana where the air is warm, it's very cold. This allows it to gather speed as it descends towards the coast and push under the ocean air-mass.

The foothills is where it's the strongest.

On a typical hot SA day it's possible to get a flight on the convergence line(usually the ocean side). I've never personally flown this type of condition.

​Today is probably a good day to do some site seeing as the viability is quite good.

Horse & Fuzz Site Guide on SA conditions:   Sub Site Fuzz Launch:  (Closed)
​
​Fuzz was a rarely used historical launch on the southwest side of the valley (across from the primary Horse Canyon launch site).

Due to the conditions is works in (east winds), it is extremely dangerous and should be considered closed. Fuzz should not be flown in easterly Santa Ana wind conditions. Santa Ana winds and lift tend to be highly unpredictable and often violent.

On Convergence days, it is better to wait for the convergence winds to go to 0 or slightly blowing in on the Horse side of the canyon, then cross the valley with altitude if flying over Fuzz is desired. 

Launch at Fuzz is 1/3 height of Horse altitude and ground clearance, as well as being small and unimproved which lead to additional problems.  

Most advanced pilots find the risk to reward ratio not worth the effort to launch Fuzz.

​Fuzz is closed and use is highly discouraged.

What makes the Santa Ana winds blow through Southern California?
Summary Recap of WX Article from the LA Times: (worth reading the fill LA Times Article)

• Cold Great Basin high pressure airmass flows through the mountains toward low pressure on the coast.
• As the air sinks, it is compressed and warms.
• The air heats up and dries out as it flows down slope over the mountains multiple times.
• Mountain ranges block the air in places as it heads toward the sea. The winds seek openings such as passes and canyons, which accelerate the velocity, creating a venturi effect much like a nozzle on a garden hose.
• Winds can gust from 45 to 100 mph as they squeeze through passes and canyons

Gusts become more and more unpredictably sporadic and turbulent as the winds get chopped up over and through each mountain leeside, pass and canyon.

Good Articles on Santa Ana weather conditions:

• Santa Ana winds (wikipedia)
• ​​What makes the Santa Ana winds blow through Southern California? (LA Times)
• Santa Ana Wind Event Over California (NASA)
• The Santa Ana Winds (UCLA)
• The Santa Ana Winds FAQ (UCLA)
• Why do Santa Anas form and what makes them dangerous? (10 News SD)
• Santa Ana winds explained (CNN video)

​

Proposal to change bylaws in order to un sync chapter elections with chapter renewal paperwork timing.  USHPA Chapter Renewals are typicaly due Dec - Feb.

Figure out better onboard process for new board members

Need Volunteer Help:

• Would be great to have help with membership processing. Candidate should have good Excel / Google Sheets & Google Forms knowledge. 

Next weather station?

• -Vulcan
• -Blossom if we can figure out a location?
• -where current streamers are?  Is that in Open space area?
• -Brad, where is open space?
• -mobile station to test potential sites
• -Kestrel
• -Holfuy

-expand capabilities of Palomar (and other) WX stations

• -solar radiation
• -barometer

​Phil Russman suggestion: on all site guides, Pilots should use flight tracker (Implemented: Not is on all Site Guides)

Tracking Conversations:

• -LiveTrack 24 still merging cell data & satellite track? Need to test. Worst case is that multiple tracks are listed.
• -what’s the cheapest hardware you can buy to be on XCFind?  (Spot)
• -If running Cell Tracker App, run cell with battery backup (Anker brand recommended)
• -run 2 phones
• -does XCFind charge money for cell phone tracking? (suggested Donation)
• -XCFind doesn’t use cell phone tracking
• -use LiveTrack24 (free)
• -look on club page under Whats Happening “Tracking Maps”
• -inReach mini, $100 off at REI
• -older Spots don’t have altitude
• -syncing Sat & Cell GPS to LiveTrack 24 see SDHGPA Live Track24 Group page under more

-meshtastic talk lead by Nik

-suggestion to hear about their notable flights

• -Brad’s notable flight from Blossom past Dudley’s

-what type of shirt do we want to do for flight distance shirts?

• -collared shirts
• -Patagonia t-shirt
• -Patagonia fleece
• -Randy to print shirts?

-how to get awards out?

• -have shirts for past 2 years

-work party at Palomar and Horse?

• -need to mow bailout
• -need to mow Horse

-Wild Bill weather flow at Karnezis house

What we know as of today/ the above post date. . .

Some SD Sites are back OPEN but Some have closed again due to Fire Hazards.
​
Flying Site Status with all of the COVID-19 and Fire Closures. We will try to update this list as we receive updates, but no guarantees and always check the referencing links.
​
If you have or know of any updates, please let us know and we will update this list.

Sites that we know are Closed :​

• Laguna: Upper Launch & Earthquake Valley LZ: Closed (The ABSP has not yet renewed our SDHGPA or any other Event & Special Use Permits for 2020 due to COVID-19.)

Some Sites are listed as OPEN; However, the County stay-at-home and social distancing orders except for essential needs are still in effect. ​Also the status of these sites may change to to Fire Hazards. Keep an eye on Sky-vector for TFRs & the Cal Fire maps this time of year. Also, flying XC from many sites will put you over CNF closed access terrain.

​Sites we know are open (if following City & County mandates):

• Palomar -OPEN watch out for new well pipe in near the road in the LZ & other Hazards, look for new parking lot area, walk Palomar before you fly the site.: via Bill H: well pipe, about a 1’ in diameter and 4’ high in / near original Approach path. The Ranch is requesting that we land to the NW side of the building where HG typically land. 
• Horse: OPEN again after Fire hazard closure for drive up and hike in uses. Check for Road closure status: : Sheephead Mountain Road (15S18) , see the SDHGPA CNF Road Closure article and check the CNF Road closure page. 
• Laguna (Lower Cliff Launch): Open (only if flying the HG Cliff Launch and Kwaaymii Point road is open to traffic. ) (Kwaaymii Point road is BLM, but may be gated or restricted by S1 access thorough CNF & ABSP)
• Big Black: OPEN again after Fire hazard closure for drive up and hike in uses. Check for Road closure status: Black Mountain Road (11S04), see the SDHGPA CNF Road Closure article and check the CNF Road closure page. 
• Little Black - Black Mountain Open Space  : OPEN
• Blossom - keep it Chill & Keep an eye on Fire TFR and other possible fire related air support ops pulling water out of the local reservoirs. If the water drop spotters see HG, PG, RCs, or drones in the air, they will flag off air drop water support aircraft operations and may impact fire fighting efforts. 
• Otay is probably open weekends. Closed mid week due to construction activity on road.
• Elsinore: OPEN again after Fire Hazard closure: Technically both launches are in the CNF. South Main Divide (6S07) check the CNF Road closure page.  Open to local residence only? Parking along or off the road for recreational use may lead to vehicles being ticketed.
• Torrey Pines Glider Port: OPEN - Check in with the TPGP office for TPGP status updates.

Status of SD City Parks/ Flying & Kitting Locations: as of 4-20-2020
Be sure to check the PDF List at the Above link as some of this may change. Note that larger/ higher use areas and trails remain closed. The following areas are open or closed for Passive Use only (walking, jogging, or hiking​). We have no formal interpretation if this included passive Free Flight)

• Black Mountain Open Space (Little Black) : OPEN
• Torrey Pines City Park, Shoreline Parks (also known as Glider Port): as a Park is OPEN, including pilots
• Black Mountain Ranch Community Park (Ball Fields / Kitting Location): OPEN
• Hilltop Community Park (Kitting Location): OPEN
• Hilltop Recreation Center: CLOSED
• Kate O. Sessions Neighborhood Park (Kitting Location if south): OPEN
• Mission Bay Park (Kitting Locations):  Tecolote Shores and Most locations:  OPEN

 Kiwi SAR - As of 9/17/20  
Kiwi was found the next day.  The latest hypothesis is that he went unconscious during a spin, the wing ripped away from his harness and he hit the ground hard enough to render his GPS tracker inoperable.

Telegram evolution and management for a SAR.   
Multiple threads, including Ground Search, Air Search, General, Satellite Imagery, Machine Learning, Logistics, Fundraising.

David Hunt & Nik Hawks flew up to assist in the air search on August 26/27th

Recommendations for all pilots:
Passive Safety
Make sure your wing & reserve are super bright colors and will contrast with the ground.
You may not be able to activate any of your rescue tools.  Make sure you can be found even if you're unconscious.

Active safety
Radio and GPS tracker are mandatory but didn't function in this case because Kiwi was unable to deploy them in time.
​PLB406 beacon, $400
Carry a strobe or light

Rene Falquier
Briefed satellite imagery and resolution.  Keep in mind that satellite resolution is pretty low, on the order of a 1 meter grid
Shoutouts to Chris Galli for tremendous effort and to David Wheeler of XC Find

Brad Stevenson
Don’t clog up the comms 
If something looks funny, look into it. (Kiwi’s position stopped)
Set up Livetrack24 to ping off cell phone, not inReach

Zach Armstrong
-active vs passive comms
-satellite comms
-ham
-APRS, every 2 minutes it sends out GPS data, programmable
-APRS.fi
-radios (VHF) talking to buddies & other pilots, voice com
-bluetooth headset (handsfree)
-LoRa: open dev, open software, 4 km - 100 km depending on antenna/transmission power
-meshtastic.org
-comms, distance & bearing to other nodes
-Gotenna
-there is a national distress freq but it can also vary state to state

Phil Russman
-keep your radio on until everyone is in the car
-don’t wait to start the search.  Better to start and quickly call it off than to start late.

Lessons Learned G-doc

Steve Rohrbaugh
Use Livetrack24 & SDHGPA LIvetrack24 group
Connect & Feed both devices (GPS & cell) into Livetrack24


Wing Choice & Weather Calls - Elsinore
-flying Elsinore on a Santa Ana day.  Santa Ana days are wild, and even the tamest SA day can kill you.
-There isn’t a good AND easy AND safe test to assess pilot skills; P3 can mean lots of things
-Ron Davis; the nice thing about waiting at Palomar is it usually gets better
-Steve R: The uncomfortable choice of the experienced pilots.  Take new pilots under your wing or ignore them.  When you’re new, ask to tag along on big days.
-when to learn (shoulder seasons, with your crew)
-Wing choice is NOT formulaic
-Phil volunteered to take someone through their next wing choice so we see the process


Club Business & Announcements
Site Status - Check for updates
All National Forests closed due to high fire hazard
-Marshall, Crestline, Elsinore
-Elsinore used to require an Adventure Pass
Horse (Cleveland National Forest)
Big Black (CNF)

Laguna (HG launch is open, BLM land, but upper launch is closed)

Other:
Laguna : ABSP has not renewed event/special event permit for us
Other PG clubs also have closed sites, check before you go to fly
Phil R points out that air authority rests in the FAA, when you touch the ground the law reverts to the landowner
Fines in the region of $150-250

Once it cools off, we need to schedule another work party to clean out the brush in the Palomar bailout as part of our use agreement with Pala

2. Blossom Ownership Change:  Much Ado About Nothing.
Nik thought Blossom had been sold, but it turned out that only a small chunk of the property on the south side of Quail Canyon road had been sold.  ​

3. Dusting off the idea of Adding in Waypoint buoy races for our sites: 
Examples:

• -Point Rat Series in UT: http://www.uhgpga.org/event/point-rat-series/
• -http://freeflightcomp.appspot.com/comps/pointratseries2020/ 
• -Other series using the same SW: http://freeflightcomp.appspot.com/

1. -Santa Barbara Free Flight Hoe Down
2. -CSS Cross Country Rodeo (Just starting but they need to reformat/ scale back to comply with the guidance along with submitting Risk Management and other)

Butch suggested we hold a "Rookie meet".  Experienced pilots are paired with rookies, the mission is to get your rookie to a specific goal.  This got lots of thumbs up!

Actions:

1. Need some members to volunteer to organize & run the activity
2. Lay out the Comp and select scoring platform
3. Waypoints for each site, keeping in mind safety factors for intended pilot base
4. Risk Management for the Waypoint Comp activity
5. Update the Site Risk Management Documents in the RRRG system with a Change request. 
6. If we did things right, it could be accepted, could be included as a normal day of flying activities. (better and more flexibility)
7. If activity gets pushed out of a normal day of flying, would need to apply for ACE coverage for the activity. (like the NorCal XC League)

4. Weather Forecasting
a. Bill’s forecasting and recent forecasting updates have been awesome, thanks Bill!
b. Some great videos on the subject added to the SDHGPA YouTube playlist
i. Lisa Verzella Explains XC Skies (NOAA Pilot) on Cloudbase Mayhem / Gavin's
ii. Top 10 Wind Forecast Models
iii. SD Weather Overview, V1

5. Site guide updates (SDHGPA Site Guides)
-syncing data with USHPA/RRRG data
-goal is to produce a template for any club to use
-site guide for Blossom will be the first one
-raw video has been shot and is being edited and worked on
Bill Helliwell recommends we submit that video for a “best USHPA video” award

6. Blossom Safety and Landowner relations at the Base of El Cap
a. landing north of the power lines on El Cap, where to navigate to and where to hit the road

7. July Meeting: Q&A with USHPA Executive Director Martin Palmaz July 16 2020

8. Nik's advice:  Keep the banter a little friendlier.  My personal guidance on this: aim for fun, joy, and building things up.  Stay away from controversial non-flying issues.  BUILD the community wherever we can.


Next club meeting suggested topics:

• -USHPA Exec Director Martin Palmaz Q & A
• ​-how to use websites to understand weather and how to use all the latest gear.  
• -Butch asked for help using all the sites and geeking out on his gear.  Maybe hook him up with Connor?
• -Brad updated property knowledge on Blossom.  We’re safe for now.

Chat Text:
19:38:49 From  Jeff Brown : http://www.tasma.org/repeaters/2m-repeaters/
19:38:56 From  Jeff Brown : http://www.tasma.org/TASMA-2m-Band-Plan.pdf
19:42:17 From  Jeff Brown : Maybe try 145.525 or 145.600
20:00:48 From  tom zylak : Blossom sign-in book, with a space for USHPA#?
20:01:36 From  Nik H : Interesting idea Tom.
20:06:18 From  Nik H : Love the Rookie Meet idea.
20:07:32 From  Scott Larson : as a rookie, that sounds very cool!
20:16:25 From  Jason Virskus : There's a free app called Drone Deploy that you can use for creating 3D models also. Very cool
20:16:57 From  Jason Virskus : https://www.dronedeploy.com/



__________________________________________________

Notes taken:

Elsinore Site Guide, Bill Soderquist
-About a dozen locals fly it
-Been landing over by O’Hara’s (terrible place to land if it starts to blow down)
-Mostly top land in cleared areas (via chop and controlled burns)
-The bank may own it, caretaker usually is the only one to come out and interact.

Sites we know are open:

• Palomar - watch out for drilling rigs, look for new parking lot area, walk Palomar before you fly the site.: via Bill H: well pipe, about a 1’ in diameter and 4’ high, requesting that we land to the NW side of the building where HG typically land.  Need to update site guide regarding LZs
• Blossom  - keep it Chill
• Laguna is open if flying the Cliff Launch, but we do not have an Active permit for the State Park and the Upper Launch being in the State Park is technically Closed due to COVID-19 .  The ABSP haven’t cashed the check paying for our permit. The Earthquake Valley LZ is also closed (being in the State Park. All entrances to Anza-Borrego (Earthquake Valley) have been fenced off with tape.  Nothing has been put on our gate at the upper launch.  Rangers unlikely to be cool about us going to the upper launch.
• Otay is probably open

Site that we know are Closed:

• Horse closed
• Little Black closed die to being in a City Park
• Big Black closed

In San Diego, the situation for impacted hospitals and service workers is just starting to ramp up and we can expect hospitals to be triaging similar to what was experienced in Colorado this past weekend.

There was an incident in Colorado this past weekend where a snowboarder ended up with a broken clavicle (collarbone) and at the ER, he was turned away from treatment at triage with the explanation that collarbone surgery is elective. They were an impacted hospital and not doing any elective procedures . . . that are not life-threatening. At Tiger (WA Site), there were also two separate incidents requiring ER and hospitalization in an impacted area this past week. 

Hoping we get through this and back in the air without complex social health concerns.

Regards and Safe Flights!

Steve Rohrbaugh  (SDHGPA President) and the SDHGPA Board

Horse Road Rain and Fire Closures:
The road up to the launch at Horse Canyon, Sheephead Mountain Road  (15S18), may closed before and after periods of heavy rain or severe fire danger. If that is the case, the gate just past the postage stamp lz will be locked.

The reason if and when the Gate is locked for rain, is that the road is wet and they don't want vehicles tearing up the road. The plan is typically that closures would be for just a few days until the dirt dries out a bit. With periods of heavy or extended rain this it will likely be a few more days. 

Border Patrol activity during an active pursuit might other reason that the Gate could be locked. In this case, closure would be for a very short term and not show up in the following tables.

The road to Horse is the Sheephead Mountain Road  (15S18).
When the road is open it will not appear on the table. I have been told that the table is updated right away whenever there is change to a road status. So you can check each morning to see if a road is closed or not.

Big Black Road Rain and Fire Closures:
Also on the table is the Black Mountain Road (11S04), the road we use to get to Big Black. Road closure due to wet ground is rare at Horse, and more common at Big Black. A few years ago when there was an unusually wet winter the road to Big Black was periodically closed throughout the rainy season. It was closed just after a rain when it was wet and the wind was West. Then it would be open for a few days when a Santa Ana wind dried things out. Such is life.