Beginner here - Thanks for sharing your accident Richard! Super helpful!

Was there also a twist in the left riser? It looks like it on the video.

Thanks for sharing this unfortunate moment and your analysis. The video doesn't show a violent fall, but we're fragile: a little bit of speed and angle and... badaboum. One more reason to be carreful when in the harness on the ground. A lot of pilots I discuss with only know to rotate on one particular side. On a launch with slow straight wind, this is ok. But as soon as the conditions gets more demanding (wind angle, wind strength, short launch, steep slope, failed launch, wrong rotation when wing falls back...), it might not be confortable enough. I had my share of wrong rotations, thus I decided to work on it. Several kiting sessions later, I found a visual clue to help me figure out with side I should turn on. Now, I always check which side I should turn before pulling my A risers, and I'm also choosing which is better according to wind direction. Practise makes perfect.

Thanks a lot, Sir! Wish you a full and pleasant recovery

Hey Richard, Saw your name at the start of the video and wondered if it was you. A very useful lesson from Greg and yourself there. Thanks for sharing the video. Hope you are back on your feet and flying again soon mate. Take care. Tristan

As someone who is going to start flying this next spring here in Montana, this is a good comment to see! Trust my gut and if it doesn't feel right, back away 🤘 Thank you

I've had it happen to me. It all happened so fast. The wind picked up, I lifted the wing, and I wasn't in a position where I was ready to kill it. I didn't even have the brakes unclipped. That was a huge mistake. I was lifted sideways on the launch at first, and then I was airborne, at which point I've already launched despite NOT being ready. Being dragged sideways lasted for 3 seconds and then the launch happened by itself for the next 5 seconds as I was frantically trying to grab and unclip the brakes. It was freaky seeing the launch moving away from me as I was facing it. Usually on this launch I would have had to run a bit, but this time it was happening on its own. I was luckily lifted a few meters during this which moved me further away from obstacles. I managed to steer myself slightly towards the open air. This was off a slope on a 1900m high mountain that would have been awful, probably even deadly, to crash land at. After the 5 seconds of launching, it took me 10 seconds, while being backwards, to grab the brakes in my hands and manage to turn. Once I turned to face the proper way it looks like my glider changed direction by almost 90 degrees, luckily towards a good direction. This might have been me intentionally steering it though, I'm not sure... I don't remember much of this whole incident, I'm mainly going by what my GPS recording is showing. I wasn't really processing the situation, I didn't have time, I just had the urgent feeling to regain control ASAP. As soon as I realized I wasn't gonna be on the ground anymore on the launch site, I realized that I had to salvage as much of this launch as possible because it was already happening and too late to abort! I honestly am not too sure what I did intentionally and what was just luck. Once I had control and was facing a safe direction, I realized how serious the situation was and how incredibly lucky I was to be alive and be able to actually fly to the landing uninjured. Definitely a wake up call to myself. I should not have been flying that day for several reasons: I wasn't feeling the best and wasn't as responsive as I usually would. The conditions were windier than usual and it was less people flying than usual, and it was more advanced people on the launch site. I had a feeling in the back of my mind that I shouldn't be flying that day. I should have listened to it. But I didn't and I was extremely lucky to have survived this. Next time I will definitely try to have access to the breaks and the C risers at all times in case I need to abort, and making sure if I have my harness on, and everything connected fully so I'm ready to launch at any time if needed. And to fix any tangles or line twists asap before having the wing in a potential shape to be inflated on its own.

Glad it was helpful!

whew! lucky escape and some well-deserved beers! lesson: fly the wing first, then consider the spins.

@@FlyWithGreg ah. And also learnt that day to be conscious of direction i intend to turn, and to understand that my dominant left foot will cause me to spin the opposite direction when im off balance.. thanks for the vids!

It will change your life! Best regards

Good luck!!

That's great, and a good start. But I think it is useful to train yourself to train the other way as well, because it teaches the brain in another way, to think with the wing (and not think with the hands, which can lead to confusion when twisted). Also, for crosswind launches, there will be a better way to rotate depending on the slope, not always clockwise or anticlockwise, so having the ability to rotate either way is good.

Thank you so much 😀

close shave! glad you're OK

We often get plucked, but it is only easily controlled if you are using As and Cs. You will be running under the wing, you get lifted. Keep a firm grip on the Cs! That will bring you down, perhaps after a shallow hop. Kite the wing with As and Cs until you can turn, or until you decide to abort with a strong pull on the Cs. On my channel I have a video about this exact thing.

yes the earlier you can abort a launch the better, but I wanted to remind pilots to go and practice it so you know exactly where you have control (and how hard it is to abort once it's really flying). this changes your mindset from 'pulling it up to see how it looks', to analysing the launch the second it starts to rise, with a ready-to-kill attitude.

@@FlyWithGreg that makes sense, analyse early and abort if necessary, thanks!

The best point to abort is before you turn. If conditions are strong enough to be plucked, you will be launching with As and Cs. So you can abort with the C's before you turn. Don't turn, unless you think everything is good, and don't let go of the Cs until everything is good!If conditions are not strong enough to be plucked, then you can safely abort by going to deep brakes, which will stall the wing without plucking you.

i'm not expert enough , but i'd say, if you still know which side you are killing , e.g. light wind forward launch, killing one side is better. The standard german specially beginners traineing is more aimed for such launches . In the video is a typical example where someone in stress does not has the level to fastly know which side of the wing will be steered while looking ot the wing. With this doubt killing symmetrically (best on back risers, but see above: actual skill level) might be better even whe it causes lift. ( rotated position and pulling wrong side with unlucky body position not strong enough will cause an even more massive swing as in the accident movie )

yes! if you don't pull hard enough you can induce a wicked whip turn. Also in strong wind you're very likely to rotate your wing and smack it leading edge first into the ground, causing damage. I do not recommend that technique.

We in Austria learn that too that way - just one side. Reason is if you pull both lines - you can create lift and fly away. With the steep slopes you have in Austria/Sizerland (mountains in general) you are more concerned with staying on the ground than damaging your glider. Second reason is that A gliders used for beginners are probably not so easy to kill (they don't want to be stalled easily). In the end every pilot has to decide whats more important or better in his situation.

But wouldn't it be much easier to use the C's (backrisers) to kill the wing? From what I experienced (and learned), it kills the wing without generating as much lift.

@@haukewalden2840 yes but most of the time when you are about to fly you have transitioned to the brakes and you'll lose a second trying to find the Cs again.

@@r.c.z.7139 we've just watched a video that demonstrates the danger of that technique, on a steep slope. The pilot had a lot of brake on one side, but not enough for the one-brake abort to work. With either technique you need to be strong, aggressive and abort before your feet are lifted.

I think one problem could be that you have hardly any chance to grab the brakes or backrisers that you need to keep the glider down once it has fallen down. And *if* it does reinflate while falling done, and you still have the A's in your hand, it will get very hard to control the wing.

The A risers are the most loaded ones, you would need to pull very hard to collapse it, not possible to do it the same on both sides at the same time. Pulling the A make the wing launch faster. You can only collapse it when its overhead, so too late, you would already be flying.

May I suggest a ground-handling seminar? I just attended one, and it helped me a lot in gaining some confidence how to control (and kill) a glider in strong or gusty wind situations.

very good point, the twist often locks in asymmetry ... yet another reason to reach above the twists and use rear lines.

Depending on the country, county, and the type of land it happened on (public, private, etc.), it can be fairly standard procedure. Sometimes when firefighters are called, the police has to come too. Only certain part of the emergency services are habilitated to make the call on the mean of transportation. For the double helicopter situation, it is possible the air ambulance was called first then because of the angle of the slope couldn't land and had to be replaced by the coast guard helicopter. I have heard of 5-6 fire trucks and a couple of police cars for an incident in the US on public land that was accessible by car. I'd be curious to hear from the pilot himself or witnesses, but it is also possible he/they didn't get the reasons why it happened the way it did.

​ @Maxime Lasserre Hi Maxime, You are right about the angle of the slope being too steep for the air ambulance. The slope was too steep for me to be manhandled down on a stretcher. There are protocols for air accidents which I guess the services where following that day. Some might say that it was a lovely day on the first day out of lockdown and the emergency services guys wanted a nice afternoon out - who am I to argue! I was pumped full of all sorts of painkilling drugs, so we where having a great time! Here's a newspaper report at the time. I only broke the one leg and didnt narrowly miss the hangmans gibbet. www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8327731/Paraglider-celebrating-release-lockdown-breaks-legs-crash-yards-hangmans-gibbet.html

I just don't get, why they send many? What can 3 fire engine do in the situation like this that 1 can't? I'm just worried they can't assist somewhere where they really needed because actually they are sitting on a top of a hill watching how a helicopter doing its operation and chatting with people around so they than can tell an interesting story what happened with them that day... Just saying that it feels the public services have to put a lots of effort to avoid lawsuit and maintain "good relation" with the public so that dramatically degrades their efficiency and effectiveness. www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/18778948.six-met-police-officers-injured-glades-bromley/ News from 2days ago. 6 officer injured by a single 15 year old kid. I think that is ridiculous... (sure journalists always pump up everything but even if only the half is true of that article, still seems worrying)

yeah funny that, it's one of the only wings I know of that can be a dog on the ground, but really good in the air.

coming soon!