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Archived posts from this Category
Wednesday, 25th August 2010 (UK)
Posted by Geoff on 25 Aug 2010 | Tagged as: Other
Geoff writes: what can I say? It’s raining….. we really should start a new category for rain.
Monday, 23rd August 2010 (UK)
Posted by Geoff on 23 Aug 2010 | Tagged as: Other
Geoff writes: It rained. A lot.
And I realised from looking at the League just how much better yesterday the Peaks were. Far from being blown out, it was a great day with loads going XC, and at least two flights great than 100km.
Friday, 6th August 2010
Posted by Geoff on 06 Aug 2010 | Tagged as: Other
Geoff writes: whilst we were on holiday yesterday, we got a phone call from Simon in Brighton, to say that Mark Stewart, a hang gliding friend of ours from around here, had had a heart attack just before he was about to test fly a glider, and was in hospital. We heard nothing else, so hoped that was good news. Unfortunately, we heard today that he had died. Very upsetting. He had had heart problems before and had received a heart bypass, I think. He found the original problem himself, when trying out a new stethoscope on his heart – he was a vet – and on hearing some irregularity, went straight to the doctor, resulting in the bypass operation. But that was a few years ago, and all seemed ok, as far as we knew. We last saw him just a few weeks ago, in the hang gliding competition which was held on the LMSC sites, and had a few drinks with him in the evening. Mark was an extremely nice person, and we will miss seeing him on the hill. Our condolences to his family.
Friday, 16th July 2010
Posted by Geoff on 17 Jul 2010 | Tagged as: Other
Geoff writes: it does seem that after an exceptionally good few months, the UK has returned to its usual, crap, summer weather. Five continuous non-flyable days (unless you count today as flyable – some people flew the Mynd between “howling winds and torrential rain”). And more bad weather to come.
We went to Cirencester to see my family.
The webcasts are proving hugely popular, with a big spike in hits to the site.
Friday, 18th June 2010
Posted by Judith on 19 Jun 2010 | Tagged as: Other
The forecast was for a cold front to bring cloud by lunchtime and rain later, so we had a well deserved and much needed rest day today. I worked out that in the previous 8 days, I flew 5 days, a total of 14 hours and 279km.
Mick called us from Llangollen to say he had got high and conditions were good on the ridge but less so over the back, but I wasn’t tempted. Instead we did some gardening until the rain started and I was feeling so lazy, I couldn’t be bothered to drive across to Stretton to do archery once it had cleared. I did manage to perk up enough to go out for a drink and catch-up with Michaela though.
Wednesday, 9th June 2010 (UK)
Posted by Geoff on 10 Jun 2010 | Tagged as: Other
Geoff writes: yet another rainy day here. I went and visited my family in the Cotswolds. Thursday is rubbish, cloudy and windy. The sun might finally reappear Friday afternoon.
Tuesday, 25th May 2010
Posted by Judith on 25 May 2010 | Tagged as: Other
Today is a work day for us, since there’s no sun. I don’t usually use this blog to comment on things, rather as a diary and a way of describing and analysing our flying and flying decisions. However, we’ve started the accident season again and I have been contacted by various people for information and reassurance.
For those worried when they hear about accidents, I think it is worth pointing out that in my opinion, there is no such thing as a random flying accident. These days, paragliders are designed not to randomly collapse. And they don’t. They might collapse in very thermic conditions or when in rotor, but that’s not a design or equipment issue, that’s the pilot choosing to fly in conditions where a collapse can potentially happen. In nearly 15 years of flying hang gliders and paragliders, I know of NO accidents where the pilot wasn’t at fault (and I’ve seen/know of hundreds). It’s always the result of a decision (however small or innocuous) that a pilot made which lead to the resulting accident. Very often, that decision is preceded by hundreds of smaller decisions which compounded the problem or lead to over-confidence, or a feeling of invincibility in the pilot.
If someone tells you ‘I didn’t do anything wrong, it just happened’, then they either don’t know the cause or don’t want to admit to any fallibility on their part. Not knowing is very understandable … mostly accidents near the ground happen very fast, and, especially if it is serious, memories are often affected. However, being unwilling to analyse the cause of an accident I think is really dangerous. In a sport where attitude is everything, ignoring such vital safety information for your own flying and believing that random accidents can happen, is doing a disservice to yourself and other pilots.
I know why all my accidents happened: the first was due to complacency in not learning to land properly. I also thought that I was invincible and that I would keep getting away with it. My attitude was terrible. I was an accident waiting to happen. So I know what I did wrong and worked on that. My second accident could easily been written off as unlucky, wrong place for the wrong 30 seconds. But I was flying in Castejon de Sos, in August, with big CBs around. It doesn’t take a lot of wit to work out that in those conditions there would be a chance that the wind would be switchy in the landing field. But I chose to fly, accepting the risks. (The risks, of course, vary according to your experiences and skills – what is a more than acceptable risk for a highly experienced pilot, should be unacceptable for an inexperienced pilot).
In my view, accidents are most easily avoided by doing the following:
- Check your equipment every time you fly. Equipment failure, things getting snagged and twisted, caught, pulled out, etc. is down to poor pre-flight checking. We’ve all been there and most of us have got away with it too many times.
- Don’t take off in silly conditions. A paraglider may be able to fly in ‘peachy’ 25mph, but you are reducing your safety margins enormously. Similarly, fly a site in the right wind direction – otherwise there may well be rotor.
- Think! If it’s thermic then that throws a whole different set of conditions into the day. Gullies will work differently, the terrain will kick off in different ways but it’s predictable, and can be coped with, if you know what you’re doing.
- And finally, monitor your own actions all the time. I have had a few 360s recently when I have been a bit close to the hill; have flown to quarries where I got a kicking and should have known in advance it was a risky decision; not checked my equipment properly. I’m in a phase in my flying where it’s all going well, but I am at risk of a bit of over-confidence and complacency. A state to be guarded against at all times!
But remember it’s the pilot who is dangerous, not the gliders (in the same way that it is the motorcyle rider who causes the crashes, not the bike). There are always risks in flying, always will be. The risks will never be eliminated. Every pilot makes misjudgments at some point – both I and Geoff certainly have, and still do. But staying safe, and minimising the risk is a question of attitude, and we can all do something about that!