On Saturday the weather forecast was telling me that it would not be blowing up at Laguna. Five of us went to Horse for a fly around day, getting there a little before 1:00. Wind at launch was 10 mph and a little from the right, not really an issue. We all had good take-offs. John, Mike L and Chris H each managed to find a thermal that took them over 7,000'. They were then able to fly around staying above 5,500'. At least that is what it looked like to me.
Glenn and I could not find the elevator to 1,000' over.
We struggled to stay at ridge level. At least a half hour of my flight was below the ridge top. Not wanting to give up too soon, I scratched around and eventually ended up landing at the postage stamp. The other pilots were able to make it across the freeway to Anderson's field. The wind there was parallel with the road from the North.
Glenn and I could not find the elevator to 1,000' over.
We struggled to stay at ridge level. At least a half hour of my flight was below the ridge top. Not wanting to give up too soon, I scratched around and eventually ended up landing at the postage stamp. The other pilots were able to make it across the freeway to Anderson's field. The wind there was parallel with the road from the North.
Sunday the weather forecast indicated a chance for taking off at Laguna. Anna, John, Mike B and I arrived around 11:30. Floyd had arrived just before us and was setting up the GOAT. Wind was Easterly at 10 mph. Everybody took off into a decent breeze. I was last to go.
When I walked up to launch the wind was zero. Now I am thinking that I want to get off and up with everybody else, and it is getting ready to blow down. I was anxious to get off and did not wait to stabilize the glider. The breeze was light and swirly. I took off in a left turn, went out a few tens of feet, rotated around and crashed into the cliff about 50 feet below launch and slightly to the left. I am ok, legs a little banged up. That is the short story.
Once a year or so the fire and rescue folks do cliff rescue training at the cliff at Laguna launch.
They were there on Sunday. They were in the process of packing up when I took off. Instead of wire-help-friends having to make phone calls and wait, who knows how long, the rescue folks were down to me in a couple of minutes. They disconnected me from my glider and put on a climbing harness over my harness. I expected to be able to use my feet against the rocks and sort of walk up the cliff as I was pulled up with ropes. I have three injuries, a contusion with slight scraping on my left tricep, the same on my left outer thigh, and a groin pull on my right leg from being yanked by the harness. The groin pull, yelling at my brain, would not let me use my right leg for anything. They ended up hauling me up in a basket. Paramedics had arrived and checked me out. They said they had notified a hospital, they wanted to move me from the basket to a back board, and were ready to take me. I told them I wanted them to help get my harness off, then I was going to sit up, then stand up, and assess the damage. We did it my way. My assessment was I had no broken bones, no bleeding, no stitches required, no head or back damage. The head paramedic, a very sensitive and caring woman, wanted me to drop my trousers so she could check out my legs. I complied. A couple of paramedics helped me walk/shuffle to my car.
Where did it all go haywire?
It turns out a person was there with a high def video camera and recorded the whole thing. He posted it on YouTube and we were watching it while driving home. His video is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoJKlgI75sA
Anna extracted the few relevant seconds and slowed it down. :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co6Z8Vx7peQ
Allison, an experienced wire person, is on the right. A friend of Floyd, who had not helped launch a flex wing before, is on the left. You can see that when I say clear both wire people do exactly the right thing and let go. Behind launch I talked to Floyd's friend and went over the take-off procedure. He indicated he understood what to do and he subsequently did it exactly correct. (I want to make this clear. He was very upset after my crash, and felt horrible that he may have caused it. This is not the case.)
It turns out a person was there with a high def video camera and recorded the whole thing. He posted it on YouTube and we were watching it while driving home. His video is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoJKlgI75sA
Anna extracted the few relevant seconds and slowed it down. :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co6Z8Vx7peQ
Allison, an experienced wire person, is on the right. A friend of Floyd, who had not helped launch a flex wing before, is on the left. You can see that when I say clear both wire people do exactly the right thing and let go. Behind launch I talked to Floyd's friend and went over the take-off procedure. He indicated he understood what to do and he subsequently did it exactly correct. (I want to make this clear. He was very upset after my crash, and felt horrible that he may have caused it. This is not the case.)
The main cause of the blown launch is clear to me, I screwed up. In the video, especially the slow motion version. you can see the wing oscillating -- the wing tip going up forward down back. When I said "launching" the right wing was moving up and forward. After one step I am in a hard left turn. It also looks like I may be letting the nose come up. My recollection is that the glider wasn't flying and I didn't want the base tube to hit the ground. Once I am out a bit you can see I have shifted my weight right to counter the left turn. I should have been pulling in too but if I was it was clearly not enough to get airspeed to fly the glider. I was locked in a left turn.
Lessons?
Bill H.
- Never be in a hurry to join your friends in the air.
- Never be in a hurry because the wind conditions may change and make it impossible to fly.
- Balance the glider so that it is stationary before taking the first step.
- The instant before a crash, let go and use your limbs tucked in to protect your body.
Bill H.
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