San Diego Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association
  • SDHGPA
    • About Us
    • Minutes, News, & Articles
    • SDHGPA Calendar
    • Instruction Policies - Protocol
    • History - San Diego Free Flight >
      • Black Mountain Open Space History
    • Permits
    • Bylaws
    • Flight Videos
  • What's Happening
    • SDHGPA Calendar
    • Minutes, News, & Articles
    • SOCAL WX Dash Board
    • Weather Stations
    • Who's Flying Where
    • SDHGPA Tracking Maps
    • Web Cams - SDHGPA Site & XC Route live Cameras
  • Membership
    • Join SDHGPA
    • Current Membership Status
    • Member Only Pages >
      • Palomar Sign-In
      • Palomar Sign-Out
      • 2025 Membership Info-Gates-Cards
      • 2024 Membership Info-Gates-Cards
      • Member Only Pages
      • Telegram & Private FB Access
      • Gear Swap
      • Roster
      • Meeting Live Stream Videos
      • XC Maps & Master Waypoint Files
      • Clinic & Meeting Talk Materials
      • Incident-Accident Report
  • Sites Guide
  • XC Contest - SDHGPA
    • SDHGPA XC Contest Rules & Scoring
    • Join SDHGPA Leonardo XC Comp Filter
    • Generating Track Logs & Uploading Flights to Leonardo
    • Flight Animation
    • XC Maps & Master Waypoint Files
    • XC Records
  • Palomar Point Series
  • LiveTrack24 SDHGPA Group
  • Schools - Tandem
  • Selecting the Right School - Instructor
  • Visiting SD Incident-Accident Report
  • USHPA
  • Links
  • Meeting - Non-Flying Guest BBQ Donations

Meeting Minutes, News, & Articles

September 2020 Meeting Minutes

9/24/2020

0 Comments

 
 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
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    SDHGPA

    The San Diego Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association


    Categories

    All
    Articles
    Elections
    Equipment
    FAQ
    Flight History
    Flight Report
    Flying Site News And Updates
    Fly Ins
    Meeting Minutes
    News
    Press Release
    Safety & Accident Reports
    SDHGPA Weather Stations
    Telegram SDHGPA Communication
    Travel
    Weather
    XC Clinic

    Archives

    May 2025
    January 2025
    August 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    November 2023
    August 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    June 2022
    April 2022
    January 2022
    November 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    April 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    September 2020
    July 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    January 2014
    November 2013
    July 2013

    RSS Feed

SDHGPA logo
SDHGPA is a local chapter of 
Picture
USHPA 
(United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association)
SDHGPA, PO Box 720895, SAN DIEGO, CA 92172
Photo from Free Public Domain Illustrations by rawpixel